The term digital divide refers to the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and those without this access. It encompasses both physical access to technology hardware and, more broadly, skills and resources which allow for its use.

- Sources:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide and http://www.digitaldivide.org/dd/index.html

The concept of a “divide” applies to Atlantic Canada’s ICT sector in two ways:

The Technology Divide: The technology divide relates to agencies like the United Way who struggle to fund technology investments and provide training to members who could better serve their community through the use of open source technologies. Things like Microsoft Office and broadband internet access are immense barriers when lobbying for funding and conducting workshops.

A key contributor to this problem is the Moore’s principle which says that computing speed doubles every 18-months. Geeks on Ice responds to this challenge by providing new streams of revenue and access to intellectual resources for curbing the impact of Moore’s principle.

The Geographical Divide: Geographically and historically, Atlantic Canada has not been on the cusp of technological sector booms. While ICT clusters exist in places like Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Charlottetown and Halifax the region has had difficulty raising capital to fund R&D projects and fuel future growth that competes or compliments with other international markets like Silicon Valley.

Let us use the goodwill from Geeks on Ice to eliminate the geographical divide and connect the region to the rest of the ICT world.