The goal of this paper is to begin dialogue on a framework for selecting network readiness and e-development evaluative tools and benchmarks for target communities Building on Sen’s (1999) theory of development as freedom, This paper challenges traditional conceptualizations and operationalizations of the digital divide by reconceptualizing and then reoperationalize the digital divide. The IIQ™, a systematic, flexible e-development model, is theorized and empirically test. Two case studies in conceptualization and operationalization of the digital divide are analyzed and reported. “The technological gains of the last several decades lie at the core of the staggering new surges of wealth and well-being within the richest countries of the world. Electronic commerce and related applications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become tremendous engines for economic growth and productivity and are changing the shape of the world in which we live. Yet the developed world is reaping the vast majority of these gains…[T]he appropriate use of information and communication technologies can also improve the lives of the 80 % of the world’s population that lives in the developing world…[M]any leaders in developing nations are left wondering how they can participate in the rapid changes going on around them. How can ICTs help their businesses, governments and communities become productive? How do they get ready for a networked world? ” (Sachs, 2000).