Niv Ahituv participates in UN World Summit on the Information Society

HOBOKEN, N.J. - Recently, Professor Niv Ahituv, a Stevens Institute of Technology Visiting Professor of Information Technology Management at the Howe School of Technology Management, participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) organized by the United Nations at Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 10-12, 2003.

The WSIS is a global summit that aims to address the problems and opportunities the world faces with the proliferation of information technology and the Internet.

The list of issues raised in the summit included, among others, problems of cyber crime, Internet governance, intellectual property, the digital divide in terms of accessibility to the Internet, financing and advancing the technology deployment in developing countries, improper exploitation of the Internet (e.g., hate sites, spam mail), and more.

The list of speakers at the summit included the Secretary-General of the UN; the presidents of Egypt, Iran, Switzerland, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Tunisia, and Mali; the French prime minister; and a large number of vice presidents, deputy prime ministers, ministers and ambassadors.

Dr. Ahituv's presentation at one of the sessions was titled "From Divide to Equality: The Internet as a Potential Equalizer," which he co-authored with Ms. Karine Barzilai-Nahon of Tel Aviv University (TAU).

"The 'digital divide' refers to the perceived gap between those who have access to the Internet and those who do not," says Ahituv. "I seek a modern definition based on four dimensions of inequality: infrastructure, which includes the classical 'have/have not' argument; the relative cost of joining the network; the required skills for usage; and social and institutional, including government, support."

Ahituv's paper also defines the divide in terms of hierarchical levels: Global, Domestic, and Individual.

Two initial documents of a proposed international treaty and an action plan were approved at the WSIS and with a view to finalizing them at the next summit, scheduled to be held in Tunis in November 2005.

Ahituv holds the Chaoul Chair for Research in Information Evaluation in Tel Aviv University. He is the former Dean of the Business School in TAU and the former VP and CEO of TAU which is the largest university in Israel (26,000 students). Being on sabbatical from TAU he is visiting Howe School for the entire academic year 2003/2004. He was a member of a special team that helped the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs devising the governmental position toward the issues addressed in WSIS, and was appointed to be a member of the official Israeli delegation to WSIS.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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