[governance] Internet for All ... this time from the UK
MMKovary at aol.com
MMKovary at aol.com
Sun Feb 1 23:56:30 EST 2009
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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