I'm pretty sure this is not the forum for this topic though.
-Nigel
Often when we discuss accessibility, we ignore needs of people with
low or no bandwidth. So I think this topic is a great reminder that
accessibility is much broader than solely meeting the needs of the
disabled, although that's clearly a baseline to be met too.
I've been working with the World Health Organization and other UN
agencies for years. They (at least some folks there) see the need for
accessible web information in health and development all across the
world. It's not for us to decide who would have good uses for
inexpensive computers. I do wonder if adults would let children keep
such a valuable tool to themselves. I'll be watching to see what
happens. I also figure that this is a good first step in connecting
people who are so far unconnected to the Internet. I figure their
strategy was to raise funds and interest by limiting the project to
children. But it will certainly spread from there, if it actually
comes to fruition.
I've worked with a project called Health InterNetwork, which birthed
HIN Access to Research Initiative at WHO. HIN succeeded in getting
the really big medical publishers to allow access to lots of medical
journals to research institutes and health organizations throughout
the developing world through a WHO sub-site. ( http://www.who.int/
hinari/en/ )
I also work with Knowledge Management at WHO ( http://www.who.int/kms/
en/ ) I've just finished a report that was presented at WSIS, with
lots of statistics on ICT and health indicators for the WHO regions,
for those who are interested in the broad topic. The pdf is available
at the above address. In the next year, the research on a country
level will be added to the WHO site and will be published in book form.
Best regards,
Marilyn Langfeld
Langfeldesigns
http://www.langfeldesigns.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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