[Air-l] terminology to describe developing countries

[Carolyn Wei]

Hello, I am de-lurking here in search of some vocabulary insight. I have 
been working on questions about technology use in the post-Soviet Central 
Asian republics, a developing region of the world. I am trying to find a 
word to describe the level of technological development in the region. If 
I were to adapt the problematic geopolitical terms of First, Second, and 
Third World, I am looking for a way to describe the "Second World" of 
industrialized areas.

The Central Asian republics are not saturated in the latest digital 
gadgets, nor are they utterly devoid of electricity and technology. 
They're inbetween those two extremes: Central Asia has aging analog 
telecomm systems, some introduction of digital phone lines, and growing 
internet and mobile use. I've been using "digitally emergent" to describe 
Central Asia. Has anyone seen the term "digitally emergent" before? Or is 
there a more common way to describe this level of development?

Thanks,
Carolyn

Carolyn Wei
Dept. of Technical Communication
University of Washington