**5.1. The digital divide**

From the social perspective, information and communication technologies are a means to access information that allows the creation of knowledge, which in turn leads to improvement and progress, thus forming a set of tools that contribute to decrease poverty indices [18].

However, in order to establish an interconnected society that benefits from ICT and reduce poverty rates in ethnic communities, interconnection indicators, such as access to networks in terms of availability, cost, quality of networks and infrastructure, must be integrated into productive and social activities, so as to favor the development and progress of the community. Despite the efforts of the Federal Government to make available ICT to all Mexicans, the results are not favorable. According to the sociocultural variables analyzed in the present study, there has been a lag in the consolidation of an information society in ethnic communities, which leads to the presence of the digital divide.

The digital divide (BD) is understood as an inequality of opportunities in the access to the ICT, such as personal computers, the Internet, and cell phones, among others, of some social groups with respect to others. The intensive and extensive use of ICT has accentuated the gap between the different social groups and their access—or lack thereof—to technologies, in a phase of economic, social, and legal development, which is called the digital divide. In a general conception, the BD is defined as "… the separation between people (communities, states, countries…) who use Information and Communication Technologies as a routine part of their daily life and those who do not have access to the same ones and that although they do not know how to use them" [19]. For the OECD, the BD concept refers to "the distance between individual, residential, business and geographical areas in the different socioeconomic levels in relation to their opportunities to access new information and communication technologies as well as to the use of the Internet, which ends up reflecting differences both within and between countries" [20].

The Federal Government has applied a strategy to reduce the digital divide to provide ethnic communities of Community Learning Centers (CLC), equipped with technological infrastructure, such as computer equipment and Internet access. However, it is not enough just to reduce the digital divide because, in addition to the infrastructure and connectivity, there is a need for qualified staff to provide preventive and corrective maintenance on a regular basis to the hardware for optimal state of technological equipment. It is also necessary that staff have technological skills to make use of the resources and services provided by ICT, such as educational use of virtual platforms, access to teleworking, e-commerce, portals of health and social welfare, among others (i.e., knowledge and mastery of the software).

The minority group has a material fortress. It is located in the set of goods and services (transportation, telephone, television, electricity, radio, etc.) that are in the community or that the community has access to. The percentage of the statewide as well as all the cases concerning cities in the present study shows that households have one of the major services required for the digital inclusion process: the electricity, livelihood of the digital age. According to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI), it is observed that the indigenous population at the State level has an electrical infrastructure of 91.5%. This certainly is an important fortress, in addition to covering one of the main basic needs of ethno communities, it is a factor that is considered as an aid in the process of the reduction of the "digital divide."

#### **5.2. Transition of knowledge**

The transition of knowledge in the ethnic community under study is constituted by the survey of data from people who have used a computer, the Internet, and a cell phone. The sample is composed of 801 people from nine communities of the Ñuu Savi population. As shown in **Figure 1**, there is a variation in the numbers, in terms of the total number of people surveyed. This variation occurs because some people have used computers, but they do not have access to the Internet; some have used computers and they also have access to the use of a cell phone; in other cases, there are people who have not used any type of device and have not used the Internet.

The transition of knowledge implies possession of the specialized knowledge and capacity for the use of information technology and communication, as shown in **Figure 1**. It is observed Usages and Customs of the Indigenous Communities in Favour of the Reduction of the Digital... http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69172 9

phase of economic, social, and legal development, which is called the digital divide. In a general conception, the BD is defined as "… the separation between people (communities, states, countries…) who use Information and Communication Technologies as a routine part of their daily life and those who do not have access to the same ones and that although they do not know how to use them" [19]. For the OECD, the BD concept refers to "the distance between individual, residential, business and geographical areas in the different socioeconomic levels in relation to their opportunities to access new information and communication technologies as well as to the use of the Internet, which ends up reflecting differences both within and

The Federal Government has applied a strategy to reduce the digital divide to provide ethnic communities of Community Learning Centers (CLC), equipped with technological infrastructure, such as computer equipment and Internet access. However, it is not enough just to reduce the digital divide because, in addition to the infrastructure and connectivity, there is a need for qualified staff to provide preventive and corrective maintenance on a regular basis to the hardware for optimal state of technological equipment. It is also necessary that staff have technological skills to make use of the resources and services provided by ICT, such as educational use of virtual platforms, access to teleworking, e-commerce, portals of health and social welfare, among others (i.e., knowledge and mastery of the

The minority group has a material fortress. It is located in the set of goods and services (transportation, telephone, television, electricity, radio, etc.) that are in the community or that the community has access to. The percentage of the statewide as well as all the cases concerning cities in the present study shows that households have one of the major services required for the digital inclusion process: the electricity, livelihood of the digital age. According to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI), it is observed that the indigenous population at the State level has an electrical infrastructure of 91.5%. This certainly is an important fortress, in addition to covering one of the main basic needs of ethno communities, it is a factor that is considered as an aid in the process of the reduction of the

The transition of knowledge in the ethnic community under study is constituted by the survey of data from people who have used a computer, the Internet, and a cell phone. The sample is composed of 801 people from nine communities of the Ñuu Savi population. As shown in **Figure 1**, there is a variation in the numbers, in terms of the total number of people surveyed. This variation occurs because some people have used computers, but they do not have access to the Internet; some have used computers and they also have access to the use of a cell phone; in other cases, there are people who have not used any type of device and have not used the

The transition of knowledge implies possession of the specialized knowledge and capacity for the use of information technology and communication, as shown in **Figure 1**. It is observed

between countries" [20].

8 Indigenous People

software).

"digital divide."

Internet.

**5.2. Transition of knowledge**

that the transition of knowledge is increasing in ethnic communities, as shown in the results, where 60% of people have used computers, 45% have made use of the Internet connection, and 66% reported using a cell phone. It is important to clarify that these figures correspond to people surveyed who are younger than 35 years. As already explained, policies on the use of technology and ICT implementation strategies in the country have contributed to the transition of knowledge, especially at the school level with students from the communities at primary and secondary levels (basic education), where the initiative of educational reform is a key factor for the transition of knowledge through the updating of the school curriculum for ICT literacy.

Ethnic communities are made up of nuclear families, where young people who have emigrated and stayed for long or short periods in large cities feel that having a cell phone, computer, and/or Internet connection puts them at the forefront of information and communication technologies. In a way they are right, except that even with this infrastructure, it is not enough when there are deficiencies in the speed of data transmission, a situation that still prevails in the communities. Surveys confirm this phenomenon where each household has at least one cell phone, a tablet, or a laptop. The last two, in spite of having an architecture that supports WIFI, are not used for this purpose in the homes, since in the communities, generally there is a lack of telecommunications infrastructure that hinders wide access to the service of Internet. However, the Mexican government has created a National System called e-Mexico [21, 22] through a federal policy, which focused mainly on four aspects: e-government, e-health, e-economy and e-learning. With the initiation of these actions, ICT penetration strategies have been implemented in marginalized communities, such as Community Learning Centers equipped with computers and Internet access, to provide services to the general population, provision of computer equipment to students of fifth and sixth grades, and satellite connection to health and educational centers.

**Figure 1.** Transition of knowledge.
