As we discuss access, I think it's important to keep in mind that
access is more than just the physical deployment of the technology,
but also to what extent it has an accessible, meaningful
interface.
APC, on their interesting website for which Jane gave us the pointer,
states that ICT tools should therefore be available to all so that
ordinary people can make their voices heard. Tools can be read to
mean a lot of things, and I'd tend to include software, multilingual
capabilities, and innovative use of the technology to give a wider range
of people meaningful access. Indeed, access itself can be
disaggregated into several concerns.
A Telecommons report Rural Access to Information and Communication
Technologies: The Challenge for Africa
http://www.telecommons.com/reports.cfm?itemid=122 highlights a useful
breakdown of the notion of access (p. 7): In considering the issues
of rural access, the authors make the distinction between 'physical
access' to ICT infrastructure and applications, and 'soft access', which
we define as software and applications which are designed to enable
rural African users to utilize ICTs for their own needs and uses once
the physical access has been established.
Another dimension in the amorphous access discussions is that of user
skills, even in places like North America where soft access is not as
much an issue (because Web designers there are constantly trying to
anticipate users, and they all pretty much speak and use the same
language(s) anyway). For more on this
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_4/hargittai/index.html .
The soft access and user skill issues bring in a broader range of policy
concerns extending to software localization, language, and education,
for instance. Hard access alone may serve mainly to replicate the much
referred to digital divide on ever more local levels, with perhaps
some tickle down benefits (to mix metaphors) as some with new hard
access begin to work on soft access tools (which is what seems to be
happening in the Joko clubs in Senegal for instance). The main point
here is that proactive attention to soft access issues while we discuss
expanding hard access, may benefit more people sooner and more surely.
Don Osborn [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*Bisharat! A language, technology development initiative
*Bisharat! Initiative langues - technologie - developpement
http://www.bisharat.net
Jane Stander [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
One of the most important ways we in Africa will spread access to ICT is
through changing the policy structure. Right now, most countries have
policies that discourage companies, and even nonprofits, from bringing
ICTs to the rural areas. We have to press our governments to make
changes in policies, but it is hard to know what the right policies
are. I do not necessarily believe that whatever the World Bank or other
donors believe to be the right policies are actually best for us in
Africa. And what is good for one country in Africa may not be good for
another. I came across this APC website that I think will help us
examine policies and decide what is best for ourselves.
-
APC PROJECT LAUNCHES ICT POLICY MONITOR WEBSITE
http://africa.rights.apc.org
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