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The revolution in information technology is all pervasive. It has brought with it a tidal wave of change: an explosion in entrepreneurship and opportunity, new jobs, access to global information, new markets, education, knowledge networks and new ways of community building. We see today an unprecedented and accelerated rate of change in every sphere, the exchange and flow of trade, finance, ideas, research and information among nations of the world. Yet the fruit of this abundance, of the new Information Age are out of reach for many in both developed and developing nations. This gap, which is referred to as the "digital divide", threatens to cut off populations from good jobs and all the economic handles that offer a chance to participate in the propserity of the broader society. For some, technology brings the promise of inclusion, opportunity, wealth and power; for others, it promises greater isolation and increased poverty. According to a recent US Department of Commerce report, women, African-Americans, and Hispanics constitute only 12%, 7.2%, and 3.6% respectively of the National IT workforce. Further the Global Digital Divide between developed countries and developing countries is widening at an alarming pace. The Internet is often referred to as the great equalizer. The same divergence found in society along cultural and racial lines is found online and offline. And those on the wrong side of that divide--who are poorer, less-educated, and disproportionately African American, Hispanic and female--are unable to get a get a foothold on this new playing field. How do you get left out? Government officials and agencies are increasingly reaching out online. During this presidential election, all political parties held significant online events and campaigned online, hence those on the net used it, to get access to information and participate in polls and chats etc. Many companies are using the Net to announce jobs, and Netizens who are in the right place at the right time are getting social benefits, conducting business, accessing education and meeting people etc. There is a wide and growing information divide between the haves and have-nots, and the future is getting worse. As government bodies, community organizations, and corporations redirect resources from the present channels of communication onto the Internet, the rich are going to be getting richer in terms of information while the information-poor will become more impoverished. The barriers of access are often economic: users, regardless of class, gender, or race, face two major barriers: cost and lack of basic skills and difficulty understanding how to use the Net. For the economically disadvantaged who need low cost IT courses online: http://www.cyberlearning.org/ooi/

Scholarships:
	This section will feature special resources and scholarships in IT training.
Articles Campaigns Workshops Conferences
	Campaigns: Digital Divide Digital Divide Fact and Fiction International Telecommunications Union: Digital Divide Programs Development Cooperation news: Bridging the Digital Divide Newmedia forum: World Digital Divide Workshop on Digital Divide: Brussels
Links to Associate sites and Foundations
	www.cyberlearning.org http://www.benton.org/Divide/ http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/peizer.shtml http://www.techsoup.org/articlepage.cfm?ArticleId=188&topicid=10 http://www.sba.gov/classroom/digitaldivide.html http://www.computers.fed.gov/School/user.asp http://www.iearn.org/