The World Economic Forum has released a ranked list of nations by information technology heft, and the leader is... Denmark. Other Scandinavian nations lead the pack, while the US come in seventh. I haven't had a chance to delve into the methodology, but here's a taste:
The Report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to measure the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments. The NRI is composed of three component indexes which assess:
- environment for ICT offered by a country or community
- readiness of the community's key stakeholders (individuals, business and governments)
- usage of ICT among these stakeholders.
I caught this story on the American Public Radio program Marketplace, and their account mentioned that one reason the US fell behind was our poor mobile phone market. I've been telling people this for several years, now, and Americans glumly trudge on with lame phones, limited services, few functions, and scarcely any social function.
Notice, too, the rise in state-based censorship of the net:
The number of states... that practice sophisticated forms of online censorship and surveillance... has risen sharply over the past five years, from a small handful to roughly three dozen as of 2007...
Not to focus too much on Nordic countries, the WEF addresses China:
Since 2004, China has been the biggest exporter of ICT goods, surpassing Japan and the European Union in 2003 and taking the lead from the United States.
It is important to keep in mind that this is a form of political advocacy, and not a measure of any particular import. The authors of this survey have a very specific agenda, which they publicize with the survey.
Posted by: Stephen Downes | March 29, 2007 at 16:16
Oh sure. The WEP's well known. But it's not insignificant - check out the media attention, and that the study has some content behind it.
More to the point, the assertion that the US has fallen seriously behind the world is unchallenged. (And unchallengeable)
For example, there was a great-looking conference on mobile computing and culture this past week. Did it occur in the US? Of course not. Toronto:
http://mobilenation.ca/confthemes.html
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | March 30, 2007 at 08:50
For instance, Chairman Bruce calls the US "digital hillbillies", and cites the AP report:
http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2007/03/its_official_th.html
It's fascinating to see how non-controversial this is.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | March 30, 2007 at 09:06