[governance] Internet for All ... this time from the UK

[MMKovary at aol.com]

May I add to the comments made here by Guru that "accessibility" also must  
include access to the internet for all persons with all types of  disabilities.
 
Myra Kovary, M.L.A.
_mmk29 at cornell.edu_ (mailto:mmk29 at cornell.edu)  
-- A UN Representative to the Convention on the Rights of Persons With  
Disabilities from MindFreedom International
-- A member of the International Disability Alliance CRPD Forum
-- A member of the International Disability Caucus
-- A member of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
-- A moderator and founding member of the new listserv for the  International 
Network of Women With Disabilities
 
 
In a message dated 2/1/2009 11:19:39 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
guru at itforchange.net writes:

Basically MG is suggesting (and I agree  with him) that 'internet for all' 
means actual ability of people to use the  internet and that needs to go far 
beyond 'access' if that only implies putting  some infrastructure in place. There 
are several obstacles/constraints to  people using the internet and non 
availability of infrastructure is only one  (albeit perhaps the first constraint 
that needs to be tackled)... this  includes social constraints (women not being 
able to access internet points  due to patriarchal pressures is one example), 
individual capacities -  including literacy, the lack of which means that most 
of the text based  internet is not accessible (though we have far more av 
content now), 'surround  infrastructure' including power backups, robust 
hardware, relevant  applications and content etc etc.

Just as 'education for all'  means much more than building schools and 
classrooms, though that is certainly  an important starting point ... in India for 
e.g. the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan  (the national program which has education for 
all as its basic goal) has  programs which look at free text books and 
learning material, free uniforms,  free meals for children, bicycles for girls  .. 
without these elements,  it is clear that hundreds of thousands of children 
would not be able to go to  school and universal education would remain a dream. 
However, with these  measures ('affirmative action'), enrollment has risen from 
around 70% a decade  back to over 95% today. 

In the same way, Internet for all,  requires several measures (global and 
national public policy) .... and  creating the infrastructure is one of them.  I 
am not suggesting that  'freebies' is the only way to go, but we need to look 
at different options and  see which have a good chance of ensuring meaningful 
access and  use.

As I suggested earlier, education in  todays world has to necessarily include 
acquiring capacities to navigate the  information society that the internet 
is 'creating' and in this sense, 'right  to education', which is part of the 
UNDHR, subsumes a 'right to the  internet'.

Also  Roland, the '90:10' ratio may be true in some places, but in most parts 
of the  world is likely to be more around 50:50 or even 20:80 ..... 
suggesting even  greater requirement of global efforts including those relating to 
public  policy.

Guru


Roland Perry wrote:  
In message  <C5C6560F9A524F4B826F15C29FBD7418 at userPC>, at 08:34:35 on Sun, 1 
Feb  2009, Michael Gurstein _<gurstein at gmail.com>_ (mailto:gurstein at gmail.com) 
 writes 

What I think needs to be added to Parminder's  comments though is that the 
simple provision of Broadband access is  quite insufficient without the 
parallel and associated investment in  socially directed training, enabling 
of locally accessible technical  maintenance and support and community 
focussed applications  development (as for example in the area of health 
management, support  for local education and locally based training, 
environmental  management and so on... In the absence of these investments in 
 
Broadband "access" are simply gifts to the telcos or other service  
providers. 


The *universal* access of which I spoke,  relates only to the remaining 10% 
of the population that telcos find too  expensive to service using normal 
commercial rules. Governments mandating  that they *do* service these customers (at 
the same price as the easy 90%)  doesn't sound much like a "gift" to those 
telcos. 

-- 

Gurumurthy Kasinathan

IT for Change

Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities

Tel:98454 37730

_www.ITforChange.net_ (http://www.itforchange.net/) 

_http://Public-Software.in_ (http://public-software.in/) 

_http://India.IS-Watch.net_ (http://india.is-watch.net/)  

_http://IS-Watch.net_ (http://is-watch.net/) 

_http://content-commons.in_ (http://content-commons.in/) 

*IT for Change is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with United Nations’ 
Economic and Social Council*



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