Digital Opportunity Index (DOI)

The digital divide is presently at the center of international development concerns. Many countries around the world have set up the strategies to eliminate the divide. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has developed the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) as a tool for mapping of digital opportunity worldwide. The DOI is the first e-index based on internationally agreed ICT indicators. This makes it a valuable tool for benchmarking those indicators considered to be the most important for measuring the information society. Because the indicators used for the DOI have been endorsed by the international community, they will increasingly be collected over time by countries, adding to the coverage of the index enhancing its inclusiveness.
The core infrastructure and use of ICTs by households and individuals indicators selected for constructing the DOI lend themselves to various analytical possibilities. On one hand, the index can be deconstructed along categories such as opportunity, infrastructure and utilization. This assists analysts to determine where countries are relatively strong and weak in order to focus attention on the appropriate area. On the other hand, the DOI lends itself to a fixed/mobile de-aggregation, useful for analyzing the degree to which each is impacting the path countries are taking towards becoming an information society.

The situation of digital divide in developing countries still need further attention. There are many issues concerning the divide other than the accessibility. Therefore serious action should be taken at all levels in order to bridge this gap, and provide more opportunities for people in developing countries to participate in the process of using multimedia and ICT for development.