Information and Communications Technology in the South Pacific

The convergence of information, telecommunication, and computing (ICT) technologies supported by the digitisation of text, video, audio and image have resulted in an ‘information society’. The rapid spread of the Internet, which has taken only four years to reach 50 million users is revealing a significant divide between the information ‘haves ’ and ‘have nots’. This threatens to further marginalise the Pacific Islands from world trade. However, the so-called information revolution also offers opportunities — by developing a modern information infrastructure countries can reduce isolation and exclusion. Potential for e-commerce A promising application of the Internet is in the area of e-commerce, which works through a buyer visiting a seller's web site, and making a transaction online. This could potentially give Pacific countries access to new markets. Despite all the hype surrounding e-commerce, it does present real opportunities to small entrepreneurs in developing countries. It could provide opportunities for artisans making such items as tapa cloth to engage in direct Internet selling, using digital cameras to display pictures of their wares. A project such as this has been successfully developed in Guyana by the Rupununi Weaver