TAD Consortium April 2000 Information Update 1
********************************
CONTENTS
***************************
NEWS
--- PC and Net Penetration
Increases in Australia
--- Email Marketing Takes Off
--- Internet Use Skyrocketing
in Middle East
--- Samudra Haque of
Bangladesh Has a Unique Solution for Connecting Distant Rural Villages
--- Mass Movement
Needed To Bridge 'Digital Divide' In Singapore
ONLINE RESOURCES
--- Is good HR being lost in the
new media age?
--- Free project management tools
--- Math: Rick's Math Web
--- Social Science: Flags of the World
--- Khanya Publications
--- Nothing But Net: American
Workers and the Information Economy
--- Second
draft version of our World Bank report, Rural Access to ICTs: The Challenge of Africa.
--- Knowledge Management &
Best Practices Links
---
'... and justice for all'? Are environmental sustainability and social justice compatible?
ARTICLES
--- ‘A High-Tech
Twist: ICT Access and the Gender Divide’ by Mary Fontaine
***************************
NEWS
-----------
Taken from NUA Internet Surveys – 13 March, 2000
---
Australian Bureau of Statistics: PC and Net Penetration Increases in Australia
Half of all households in Australia owned a PC in November 1999 and a quarter of households had Internet access, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
This was an increase of 229,000 households with PCs to 3.5 million since November 1998, and an increase of 476,000 households with Net access to 1.8 million.
The number of adults who had used the Internet in the 12 months prior to being surveyed had increased by 1.8 million to 6 million, or 44 percent of adult Australians. The ABS study also found that Net users are still more likely to be young men living in urban areas.
The number of people who bought products or services online in the previous 12 months jumped from 2 percent in November 1998 to almost 6 percent of adults, or 803,000 people, in November 1999. Books or magazines were the favourite choice of 27 percent of online shoppers and 19 percent had bought computer equipment.
Another survey on Australian ecommerce was released this week by APT Strategies. About 30 percent of the 13,700 respondents had shopped online between two and four times in the previous 12 months. Only 6 percent of respondents had bought online more than 10 times, while 10 percent had purchased over the Net between 5 and 10 times. 16 percent said they only bought something on the Internet once.
----------------------------------------
Taken from NUA Internet Surveys – 13 March, 2000
---
Forrester Research: Email Marketing Takes Off
More than 200 billion emails will be sent by marketing companies in 2004 as they come to understand the power of the medium, according to Forrester Research. Each household will receive an average of 9 marketing emails every day.
The email marketing industry will be worth USD4.8 billion by this time and USD3.2 billion of this will be spent on retaining customers through email. The other USD1.6 billion will be spent on outsourcing the acquisition of new customers through email.
Forrester analysts say that marketers must come to understand that the traditional ways of measuring customer relationships, timing, frequency and money spent, must be replaced by amount of information shared by the consumer with the marketer.
Email marketing enables companies to market lower-cost goods to less frequent purchasers because it is so much cheaper to use. On average, each company surveyed had 205,000 names on their in-house mailing list.
<http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Release/0,1769,256,FF.html>
----------------------------------------
Taken from NUA Internet Surveys – 13 March, 2000
---
DITnet: Internet Use Skyrocketing in Middle East
There will be 12 million Arab Internet users by the end of 2002, according to a new study from the Research Unit of Internet Arab World magazine. The number of users is currently doubling every year.
There are now 1.9 million Arab users but this only translates into 0.7 percent Internet penetration in the entire Arab world, which has 248 million inhabitants.
Penetration in the United Arab Emirates stands at 15 percent, while it is 6.1 percent in Qatar, 6 percent in Bahrain, 5.7 percent in Lebanon and 5 percent in Kuwait. In Yemen it is only 0.07 percent.
Industry analysts in the region fear that Internet growth there could be seriously hindered after 2002 by the lack of adequate technological infrastructure.
<http://www.ditnet.co.ae/itnews/newsmar2000/newsmar20.html>
----------------------------------------
SAMUDRA HAQUE OF BANGLADESH HAS A UNIQUE SOLUTION for connecting distant rural villages, which he has just had a patent claim registered in Dhaka. "We're combining the best elements of radio engineering, telecommunications and computer science to offer a high-speed communication network in remote rural villages spread over large areas. And we are doing this will relatively small budgets too," says Haque. Using this method, 3 MBPS or more high-speed links are expected to villages, using wireless routers. He said 20-30 telephone channels and video phone sets could be offered for a capital cost of US$150,000 to villages which otherwise had no hope of being connected. "We aim is to provide mega-bits, not just kilo-bits," said Haque. Haque says that in Bangladesh, by 2002, there will be 129 million people who will NOT have access to telephone services, "a staggering error in judgement when compared to the lucky one million people who will have the privilege of calling someone using their own telephone". He called his paper a "partial report" of work in the continuing design, fabrication and deployment of a Broadband Wireless IP Router working in the S-band using Spread Spectrum in order to develop a flexible, portable data communications network operating at between 2 MBPS and 5.5 MBPS over 16-30 km or more."
Email contact: haque@pradeshta.net
See the full report at http://www.bytesforall.org
----------------------------------------
MASS MOVEMENT NEEDED TO BRIDGE 'DIGITAL DIVIDE' IN SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE -- A broad-based people-driven movement is urgently needed to bridge the "digital divide" among Singaporeans, said Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister of Communications and information Technology (IT), yesterday.
The "digital divide" refers to the gap between those who are Internet literate and those who are not.
Mr. Yeo said the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is tasked to promote awareness and the use of computers and the Internet. This is one of the key initiatives under the Infocomm21 masterplan which aims to develop Singapore as one of the top five information societies in the world.
Mr. Yeo said the digital divide is between the high and low-income households, the English-educated versus those who are not, and the "early adopters" who are more receptive to new technology against the late ones. "All these are possible entry barriers to the infocomm world," he said.
Latest figures from the 1999 IT household survey conducted here show that both personal computer (PC) ownership and Internet penetration in the one- to three-room flat owners market have doubled in the last three years. Today, PC ownership in this segment is at 41% compared with the national average of 59%, while Internet penetration is 27% as compared with the national average of 42%.
"With the rapid pace of development in the infocomm industry and new emerging technologies, we cannot afford to be complacent. We must continuously review our approach and strategy to bring infocomm to all Singaporeans," the minister stressed.
He said the efforts to "dot.com" the people sector "must be expanded to a movement," one which involves community groups and local government, industry and unions, institutions and civic organizations, volunteer welfare groups and the media.
An IDA source said the agency is tapping Community Development Councils (CDCs) to organize Internet training programs for senior citizens as well as homemakers. The source said the National Trades Union Congress and the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore have also expressed their interest to develop infocomm in their areas.
Moreover, the IDA has committed $25 million "as its contribution towards the movement" over the next three years to bridge the income, language, and mindset gap, Mr. Yeo said.
IDA will expand its programs to improve the affordability and accessibility of infocomm to the 30,000 low-income households with combined monthly incomes not exceeding S$2,000 (approximately PhP50,000). Mr. Yeo said IDA plans to offer a used PC bundled with free Internet access and basic training to each of these households. Broadband access will also be made available for free in community centers and clubs.
In addition, IDA is expected to work with industry and community groups to develop "locally-relevant content" in other Asian languages. Mr. Yeo said IDA will encourage the growth of infocomm applications and services catering to various segments via an incentive scheme. He said, "This will bridge the language barrier and generate interest in infocomm among all Singaporeans."
Furthermore, to nurture an electronic community, the IDA will expand an "e-Ambassadors program" that will involve committed early adopters of technology to volunteer as guides to late adopters in their use of Internet appliances. The government agency is expected to train 2,500 e-Ambassadors and tap groups like the People's Association's Youth Movement, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme, and the Parents Advisory Group for the Internet (PAGI).
Currently, the IDA is working with the Singapore Broadcasting Authority and PAGI to train 30,000 parents who are keen on learning the Internet and who are also concerned about their children do in the Internet.
Mr. Yeo said IDA will continue to "commit energies and resources" to support its movement to actively involve the public, the private and people sectors and work with the infocomm industry and other volunteer and grassroots organizations.
The minister of communications and IT spoke at the launch of eCelebrations Singapore, a five-week calendar of 27 infocomm-related events and a content-driven public education program. Events include the opening of Internet World Asia, a platform for professionals looking for business solutions in e-business; InfoSecurity, another venue for those in search of security solutions to protect their business operations from hackers and computer viruses; Scan-Tech Asia 2000, an exhibition of the latest technologies for data capturing solutions; and eFestival Asia, a multimedia experience for the public showing how the Internet is involved in daily lives through play, learning, creation, and exploration.
***************************
ONLINE RESOURCES
-----------
Taken from the LearningWire #92
---
Is good HR being lost in the new media age?
A feature article contributed by Ben Hedges of ITcounts asks the question again of what motivates employees and questions whether the new media companies have got the answer right. There is much to be said for good HR practices, and some of these lessons may be being lost in the new economy companies.
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=13715&d=1
----------------------------------------
Taken from the LearningWire #92
---
---
Here's a site which enables project leaders to manage projects, set objectives, track progress and keep everyone informed, all over the Internet and completely free. All members of the project team can self-enter their information, and an automated email service ensures that all the people who need to know are kept informed. Although we've not fully tested it, the service could be very useful, particularly for dispersed teams where communication is always a problem.
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=13716&d=1
----------------------------------------
Taken from Education Planet Newsletter
---
http://users.black-hole.com/users/rsch/indexnew.html Looking for additional Math worksheets tailored to specific math curriculum areas? Check out this site. There are a large number of specific worksheets indexed by math area along with math tips. All worksheets can be printed out directly from the web. A fractions area has recently been added. These worksheets are great to really tailor math work to every student's level. Eventually the site will include full coverage of K-12 math. This is also a great reference site for parents so they can brush up on their math before they try to help their kids out.
----------------------------------------
Taken from Education Planet Newsletter
---
Social Science: Flags of the World http://fotw.digibel.be/flags/index.html Everything you always wanted to know about Flags and more... This site features more than 5300 pages and 9900 images. If the main site is slow, make sure you check out the mirror sites for a closer location. The information is indexed by Country, Page Title or Keyword. Did you know that flags date back to at least 3000 B.C.? Or that flags appear on ancient coins? Or that national flags generally date back to only the 1700's? This information and much more is available here about all the different types of flags and how national flags changed over time. You can also look up proper flag protocol or determine the origin of the symbols on a particular flag. Many of the pages include links to other web resources and a glossary of flag terms is also available.
----------------------------------------
Khanya Publications
Dear colleagues
Some of our publications are now available to download from our Web site. These include the following. You are free to use these but please credit us as appropriate:
--- Institutional Support for Sustainable
Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe (July
1999)
--- Institutional Support for Sustainable
Rural Livelihoods in Eastern Cape
(main report) (November 1999)
--- Institutional Support for Sustainable
Rural Livelihoods in Eastern Cape
(summary report) (November 1999)
--- Poverty Eradication Strategy for the Free State (September 1999)
--- Rural Planning for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in South Africa (May 1999)
--- Spatial Development Framework In Rural
Areas In The Context Of Integrated
Development Planning (Report in relation to rural areas on South Africa's
Green Paper on Development and Planning, February 2000)
Ian Goldman
Khanya - managing rural change cc
Website www.khanya-mrc.co.za
----------------------------------------
Nothing But Net: American Workers and the Information Economy is the fifth in a series of Work Trends reports by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut. The study explores the implications of the information economy for American worker.
Two key findings are that The survey participant would like to see more proactive government leadership in this area and "Workers are also interested in distance learning, a technology application with the potential to provide workers with the skills needed in the new economy. Although the majority (61 percent) of workers would like to receive education or training via distance learning, only a fourth (26 percent) of workers have participated in such an opportunity."
The full report is available online at http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/news2.cfm?id=20
Executive Summary
Introduction
As the nation records its longest economic expansion in history, there are profound changes occurring in the workforce and in the workplace. The "new economy" has been forged with explosive growth in high tech jobs and the mass application of information technologies in the workplace. Nothing But Net: American Workers and the Information Economy explores the implications of the information economy for American workers. The report focuses on workers' experience with computers in the workplace, workers' perceptions about their future in the information economy, and the role of government in the information age.
This report also maps the landscape of computer access and use among American workers and finds distinct categories of workers based on their access and use of computers and the Internet. Refining the concept of the "digital divide" put forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce and covered extensively in the media, Nothing But Net classifies workers into five categories based on their degree of computer use: Digital Exiles, 9?5 Users, Browsers, Power Users, and Technophiles.
Nothing But Net is the fifth in a series of Work Trends reports by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut. This survey of 1005 adults was conducted from January 5 through January 19, 2000 and has a sampling error +/- 3 percent.
Computers and Work
Computer use is now routine among American workers and a large part of their daily work life. The majority (68 percent) of workers uses a computer every day and has access to a computer at home. On average, the American worker spends 35 percent of his/her workday (3 hours) on the computer and 23 percent of his/her workday on the Internet.
Most workers using a computer (87 percent) report using it for work?related activities and claim they are not abusing their workplace access to computers and the Internet. just 16 percent of workers report that they pay bills, shop on-line, or play games at work. Those having access to the Internet at work report that 82 percent of the time they spend on the Internet at work is for work-related functions.
Despite this widespread use of computers, American workers have a strong desire to use the computer for additional applications. One of the most attractive computer applications to workers is the option to telecommute at least part of the week. A significant number (41 percent) of workers believe that they could perform their job as a telecommuter, yet only 16 percent of employers offer this option and only 9 percent of all workers actually telecommute. Almost half (47 percent) of all workers agree that government should offer tax breaks to employers who give workers the opportunity to work from home or another location outside the office.
Workers are also interested in distance learning, a technology application with the potential to provide workers with the skills needed in the new economy. Although the majority (61 percent) of workers would like to receive education or training via distance learning, only a fourth (26 percent) of workers have participated in such an opportunity.
Optimism about Technology and the Economy
Unlike past technology innovations that have alienated large numbers of workers, the information technology revolution seems to have garnered support among all workers regardless of age, gender, race, income level, or education level. The vast majority of American workers believe that new information technologies such as the Internet are good for the economy, that the jobs created by the information economy are good jobs, and that computers have changed their lives for the better.
This optimism about the economy has somewhat quelled workers' concern about their job security. Nothing But Net finds that 62 percent of workers indicate that they are at least somewhat concerned about job security, while 37 percent say they are not at all concerned. These percentages represent a 9 percent decrease from February 1999 and a 25 percent decrease from September 1998 when 87 percent of workers were concerned about their job security.
The Role of Government in the Information Economy
American workers clearly want a proactive government to provide leadership and offer fiscal incentives to both the education and private sectors in order to stimulate their use and widespread adoption of information technologies. The public policies receiving the strongest support among workers include requiring all high school students to be computer literate as a condition of graduation and having the government provide subsidies to schools in low-income neighborhoods to assist them in purchasing computers and connecting to the Internet. In addition to supporting these education reforms, workers support government tax incentives for employers who offer computer skill training or the opportunity to telecommute.
Conclusion
Continued economic expansion for the country and individual prosperity depend on workers' ability to effectively use computers, the Internet, and other technology applications. Deepening public understanding about technology in the workplace provides important insights for employers, policymakers, and workers as they develop ways to provide better access to technology for all Americans, expand distance leaming opportunities, and increase opportunities for workers to telecommute.
----------------------------------------
We are presenting to you the second draft version of our World Bank report, Rural Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs): The Challenge of Africa. We had the opportunity to share our initial findings of the report at the GKII conference with a limited number of interested individuals, and are seeking more detailed feedback through the medium of the Internet.
The report can be accessed on the Internet (www.telecommons.com).
Please note that the URL for the Rural ICT Access Inventory, which is fully accessible on the Internet, is http://clients.tdg.ca/worldbank. Resources can be located via searches by title, author, and category.
Once again, we welcome all feedback. Copy your comments to the following two addresses: don@tdg.ca and scott@tdg.ca.
If you find that a recent document concerning rural ICT access is not listed in the inventory, by all means share the information with us and we will ensure that it is entered into the database.
Thank you again for your interest in this report.
Sincerely,
Don Richardson and Scott McConnell
----------------------------------------
Taken from BEST PRACTICES NEWSLETTER - March 2000
---
Knowledge Management & Best Practices Links
The new Knowledge Management and Best Practices Links Page contains an annotated list of web-sites focusing on lessons learned from experience in making our cities and communities healthier, safer, more equitable and sustainable.
They represent, to the best of our knowledge, organisations that are committed to the open sharing of information, tools and methods in support of: partnerships; participation; decentralisation and empowerment; networking and the use of information and communication technology.
Please visit our newly established links page at:
<http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org/blp/links>
----------------------------------------
'... and justice for all'? Are environmental sustainability and social justice compatible?
contributor(s): Andrew Dobson - University of Keele
04 February 2000
Is environmental sustainability compatible with the goal of social justice? Yes, many argue - they actually reinforce each other: less poverty and a more equitable distribution of resources such as land would lead to more sustainable environments as well as a fairer distribution of environmental 'bads' such as pollution. Not necessarily so, argues a path-breaking book from Keele University: while there are specific cases in which the twin goals reinforce each other, they still have different agendas. Advocates of environmental sustainability cannot entirely overlap arguments about social justice to promote their goals.
http://www.id21.org/static/8aad1.htm
To receive this piece by email, send a message to the following email address: mailto:getweb@webinfo.ids.ac.uk
Leave the SUBJECT field BLANK, and copy the following text into the BODY of the message:
GET http://www.ids.ac.uk/id21/static/8aad1.html
***************************
ARTICLES
-----------
[From TechKnowlogia March/April 2000: http://www.techKnowLogia.org/]
---
A High-Tech Twist: ICT Access
and the Gender Divide
By Mary Fontaine
The LearnLink Project, Academy for Educational Development (AED)
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take LESS," said the Hatter. "It's very easy to take MORE than nothing."
-Alice in Wonderland
Unequal access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) (a.k.a. the digital divide) is a rapidly emerging concern in the international community. Both computerization and connectivity are spreading faster in developing countries than any technological advance in history. However, the gap between the haves and have- nots is also growing, threatening to leave the latter excluded from the powerful networks that already are influencing the shape of the new century. As Castells explains, the global economy "does not include all people in its workings, although it does affect directly or indirectly the livelihood of the entire humankind"[1]. The purpose of this article is to discuss a subset of the digital divide - to provide a snapshot of a phenomenon that is emerging as an issue of substance in its own right: the gender divide.
Sources
Information for this article comes from a variety of sources. A few simple web searches yielded over 200,000 sites related to the topics of "women" or "gender" in computing and telecommunications [2]. When narrowed to the developing world, of course, the number of sites decreased significantly, as did the quantification of the data. Many new articles and books on ICT access and use, as well as the digital divide, are also available, with some attention to gender issues. In addition, active web sites, listservs and online discussions, launched and run mainly by women, are underway around the world. Many were prompted by a strategic objective that grew out of the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women to increase the "participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new technologies of communication." In preparation for the upcoming Special Session of the General Assembly for the Beijing +5 Review in June 2000, UN agencies, governments and NGOs worldwide are exploring issues surrounding women and ICTs, and virtual communities dedicated to women in development are linking individuals and groups around the world on an unprecedented scale [3].
Drawing on information from these sources, this article will provide a quick summary of the issues confronting ICT access, capacity and usage among women in developing countries. This will be followed by a brief comparison of worldwide trends with LearnLink's [4] experience in Ghana, where community learning centers (CLCs) are providing people in three cities with access to ICTs.
It is worth noting that while anecdotal information about gender issues and ICTs is plentiful, hard data are not. Given the apparent extent of the gender divide in developing countries and the serious nature of the issues, more attention to gender in project design is needed, as is more rigorous tracking, monitoring and evaluation of ICT projects and better analyses of results.
The same old story?
While efforts are underway to increase ICT access, improve capacity and enable usage for all (or at least for more) questions are arising about how well those efforts are reaching women in developing countries. It's the same old story, in some ways, with a high tech twist. Early returns suggest that women are neither participating in nor benefiting from the efforts at anywhere near the same level as men. The familiar and still formidable constraints are again rearing their ugly heads--poverty and illiteracy, lack of time, insufficient skills--with "technophobia" and male-dominated, corporate control of technology added to the list.
Accompanying the questions and constraints are the continuing debates about the relative value of "Women In Development"-type initiatives vs. "gender mainstreaming" as responses. Noteworthy progress notwithstanding, after a quarter of a century of exploring, analyzing, debating and experimenting with approaches to meeting women's development needs, we still face daunting difficulties and dilemmas when it comes to striving for gender equity.
It is important to note that ICT usage is still a relatively new phenomenon that is changing rapidly. Information available today is better viewed as a snapshot of the situation, the details of which may change by tomorrow.
Common cross-continental constraints
Generally speaking, the constraints to women's access, usage and capacity vis-a-vis ICTs are similar in many respects regardless of geography. On all continents, for example, poverty precludes access, and illiteracy, lack of education and skills, and language limit capacity and, therefore, usage. Psychological barriers, perhaps due to the perception of technology as a male domain, include ambivalence and even fear (technophobia) accompanied by a lack of information about the possibilities and potential of ICTs and a lack of confidence about mastering them, even among women who might have access. Of course, it is the most marginalized of women who are least likely to have access-minorities, the poor, non-speakers of mainstream languages, the elderly, and the disabled.
Training in the use of ICTs (by knowledgeable trainers) is a serious shortcoming. For the most part, women have little or no previous experience with technology, and many feel confused when confronted with the sudden appearance of computers and the Internet. Merely getting access to the hardware or connecting groups to the Internet without an adequate introduction to what it is and how it works - and in the absence of policies or guidance about usage, etiquette or communication techniques - is proving insufficient to promote intelligent usage. To effectively introduce and integrate ICTs at an organizational level, the group's "entire range of communication capacities needs to be strengthened." [5]. At both the personal and organizational levels, who assists with the capacity strengthening also can be an issue, especially if all the technical "experts" are males-and many are young. As one woman explained, "We find that mainly women over forty, who are just learning to use their computers, feel really uneasy when a young boy is the one in charge of hands-on-training"[6]. A similar concern, which also spans continents, is the ability of organizations new to ICTs to handle too much information. As one contributor to a recent online discussion group explains:
Many organizations leap, in the space of a few weeks, from a situation where updated information is hard to come by to one where they have an excess of information that they don't have experience in handling, don't know how to weed out what's useful to them. Also, many organizations have difficulties in processing, storing and disseminating their own information, which means their presence in virtual communities is relatively ineffectual [7].
With the vast majority of Internet and World Wide Web material posted in English, language is a constraint as well, so much so that some organizations are calling on the United Nations to promote, support and facilitate the development of affordable, easy to use and far more effective translation software. See Universal Networking Language article, TechKnowLogia, March/April 2000.
Outside of urban areas, women in developing countries are far less likely to come into contact with ICTs and tend not to perceive a need for them. In some places, this is due to a lack of telephones, electricity and infrastructure. In others, it is because women often control indigenous, traditional and popular forms of media which, many caution, should not be ignored in the rush to embrace computer facilitated communication. As one woman explains, "For generations rural women have been active participants in social communication networks using indigenous communication methods for information exchange and knowledge sharing. This rich cultural and creative environment should...be strengthened. The preservation of traditional forms of communication and new information technology are not mutually exclusive" [8].
Other concerns about ICTs, expressed by women in both developed and developing countries, relate to the ownership of telecommunications. As a participant in a worldwide online discussion forum explained:
Since the further deregulation of telecommunications in the U.S., there have been several huge mergers as companies try to seize all the possible pipelines in which digital communications might be operated....the 'broadband' highway is only in the business districts of major urban centers. Huge swaths of the country [U.S.], especially the mid-west and the poorer working class communities outside of central business districts, already have limited access to the new "broadband networks." Our concern is that this "digital divide" will only increase as these major "broadband" highways will be operated as corporate businesses, with the ability to restrict access, or set the conditions of access for everyone involved. This restriction will not only operate at the tollgates, i.e. getting on to the Internet. But because of the monopolization going on, it will occur at the level of browsers and search engines, too, restricting content or information itself. For example, none of the search engines provide more than 20% of the available sources on the Internet, which means they are already making many choices about what is available to people using their services [9].
In addition to these constraints to ICT use by women, their reluctance to use ICTs even when they do have access is also cited as a problem. While commentators from developing countries attribute the reluctance to an ignorance of the possibilities, some in high-income countries are less patient. "Is it necessary to hold multimedia-style 'Tupperware' parties [to convince women] to purchase a computer instead of beauty products or useless clothes" [10].
The same yet different
While the constraints to ICT use among women worldwide are similar, the difference in usage rates is significant. By the summer of 1998, for example, women in the United States accounted for more than 40 percent of the 42 million Internet users in the country, up from 10 percent just a few years before [11]. This tremendous increase in usage among U.S. women is interesting because a common theory regarding nonuse is that those who do not produce or construct a product are less likely to use it. As one researcher suggested, "Women tend to experience technology differently...and if those experiences are not addressed during 'construction,' then women are more likely to feel intimidated by new information technologies and resist learning about them and using them" [12]. There is no question that U.S. women are "underrepresented in every aspect of computer culture, from programming to product design to everyday use" [13]. Indeed, computer science is clearly a masculine domain, where "women comprise just 7.8% of science and computer engineering faculties," for example, "and only 2.7% are tenured" [14]. Yet U.S. women who have access are using ICTs enthusiastically, and there seems to be no evidence to suggest that they "would respond differently to computers if they were designed and programmed by women" [15].
There are few statistics indicating the prevalence of ICT use among women in developing countries, and we have no way of knowing if the trend experienced in the United States will be replicated elsewhere, assuming that ICTs become widely accessible. At present, it is probably safe to assume that women in developing countries are less likely to have access than men, less likely to have opportunities to develop usage capacity than men, and, perhaps, less likely to use ICTs even when they do have access.
At the same time, there are indications about how women in the middle- and low-income countries are using these technologies where they are available. One trend that is emerging is based on organizational, collective usage.
Networking is empowering
Rooted in the notion that "Sisterhood is powerful" - a slogan that swept the globe - the women's movement of the latter half of the 20th century adopted networking as its primary means of organization and operation. Today, women's organizations on all continents are starting to take advantage of ICTs to continue that tradition - to collect, synthesize, disseminate and, to a lesser but growing degree, produce information. In this way, those without access to ICTs are starting to benefit from the knowledge that flows to those with access. As a participant in a recent discussion forum on Women and Media explained:
If a road is built to my remote village, I will benefit whether or not I use that road to travel. If my community/network/organization gains access to the Internet, and uses it innovatively, I may benefit even if I never use a computer...information being received through e-mail and redistributed through other circuits illustrates this sort of strategy [16].
The other "circuits" used to redistribute information may include traditional communication channels such as popular theater and community radio, demonstrating a creative blending of old and new technologies. Through this repackaging of Internet-delivered information, it is possible to reach much larger numbers of women, including those in remote areas where the prospects for ICT access are remote.
Around the world, NGOs with ICT access also are using mailing lists and email for advocacy and activist purposes [17]. Through targeted marketing, for example, groups are flooding officials, stakeholders and decision makers with messages in support of positions favorable to women or public protests against perceived injustices-a breakthrough in communication in light of the persistent difficulty in getting mainstream radio, television and newspaper media to cover "women's issues." These efforts are beginning to link organizations around the world, leading to the creation of virtual communities focused on specific development issues and the forming of alliances enabling greater participation in international fora and decision-making [18].
While women's access to information and communication is increasing through these collaborative collection and dissemination schemes, there is less activity in the production of information. This field is fertile, however, for the future. With some skill sharpening and, perhaps, translation service, those who currently are collecting information also can produce it, drawing on local networks for valuable content. Another possibility is software development and the production of inexpensive multi-media material, which ICTs can facilitate.
At the organizational level, a new role for NGOs is managing the telecenters and community learning centers (CLCs) that donors are supporting to increase ICT access in the developing world. Three of these are operating in Ghana through the USAID-funded LearnLink project.
Ghanaian women online
LearnLink's experience with community learning centers (CLCs) in Ghana reflects some of the trends summarized above. Located in three Ghanaian cities, the centers tracked ICT usage, by gender, over a nine-month period. In general, the experience indicated that the higher or newer the technology, the less likely women were to use it. However, evidence also suggests that, over time, women warm to the online environment and move steadily from word processing, for example, to the World Wide Web.
The managers of the NGOs that run the CLCs in Kumasi, Cape Coast and Accra are all women, an intentional decision designed to encourage women to patronize the centers. Yet nearly three times as many men as women have registered. The usage pattern mentioned above also indicates a male bias toward higher technology and a female bias toward lower. For example, of those visiting one of the centers over a nine-month period, from November 1998 to August 1999, 1,904 men browsed the Internet compared to only 253 women. It is noteworthy that Internet usage by women grew steadily during this period, from only one woman in the first month to 85 in the ninth. Email traffic also was tracked, with a similar result. Women sent a mere 13 percent of the number of messages sent by men. While the percentage of male and female participants registering for typing, word processing and database courses were similar, it is not surprising that the percentages registering for a course called Internet Orientation were skewed in favor of the males.
To further promote ICT usage among women, one of the NGOs organized a Women's Week, during which women in Kumasi were invited to sample the center's wares. Targeted marketing to organized groups and institutions, such as NGOs, state agencies and religious groups, included flyers attached to invitation letters promising a free email address, one free email, and a 10 percent discount to those registering for a program at the CLC. With 212 women arriving over a five-day period, the event was successful in the short term, though the number of women returning to the centers dropped off slowly during subsequent weeks. The center in Cape Coast is planning a similar event now, taking into account the lessons from the experience of its counterpart in Kumasi.
According to LearnLink's Resident Advisor in Ghana, most of the women who frequent the centers are students, not working women. He cites as the three major constraints to women's use of the centers a lack of time, a lack of support from their male family members, and an element of "scientechno-phobia."
The CLCs will continue creative outreach to women and women's organizations, soon offering an Open Day for the Central Region Association of Female Entrepreneurs. Assuming that the initial lack of interest in the Internet is in part due to unfamiliarity with what it is and does, the day will focus on sensitizing invitees to the use of the Internet.
A happy ending?
It may be the same old story, and the difficulties still may be daunting. But there is a determination to solve the twin problems of ICT access and usage for women that is growing horizontally - on a planetary scale - and even vertically, from the top down through donor attention and the bottom up through women's groups worldwide. As participants in one of the multinational discussion groups put it:
If we can't deal with what is happening today, then the problems are being compounded for tomorrow. The lack of gender perspective in Information/Communications Technology means that women will find themselves shut out of information sources, less qualified for employment, unable to access more education, and unable to create and control the technology. We'll be virtual second class citizens [and] our struggle for equality will be set back and much, much more difficult [19].
This is the "boy's party" of the century, girls, and we are not invited"[20].
ENDNOTES
1 Manuel Castells, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume I, "The Rise of Network Society," Blackwell Publishers, 1996, p.92.
2 As such searches are accustomed to do, one revealed a site devoted to jokes about Why a computer is better than a woman ("because computers don't make you meet their parents, or ask you to call them in the morning, or because you can shut a computer down when you're tired of it") - perhaps a telling commentary on the need for continued attention to the issue. (URL withheld at author's discretion).
3 See, for example, http://sdnhq.undp.org/ww/women-media/ for a list of web sites.
4 LearnLink is a five-year Indefinite Quantities Contract (No. HNE-1-00-96-00018-00) of the U.S. Agency for International Development, funded by the Human Capacity Development Center in the USAID Global Bureau, the Africa Bureau, and other USAID Bureaus, offices and missions. It is operated by the Academy for Education Development (AED). For more information on LearnLink's activities, see http://www.aed.org/learnlink/
5 This and many of the following quotes are from the Virtual Working Group on Women and Media-with a special focus on ICTs as they impact women's lives-sponsored by WomenWatch and facilitated by Women Action 2000 during November and December, 1999. The Group's goal is to analyze, at a global level, which of the objectives from the Beijing Platform for Action, Section J, have been realized and which still need attention. Recommendations from the Working Group will be compiled for inclusion in a report to be submitted by UN WomenWatch at the 44th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2000. To access the Group's archives, go to: http://sdnhq.undp.org/ww/women- media/
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Dan Schiller, Digital Capitalism: Networking the Global Market System, The MIT Press, 1999, p. 139. (Note: Some of the most sophisticated tracking of Internet usage comes from the advertising world. In the case of women, Schiller quotes Procter & Gamble remarking that "the vast majority of [women Internet users] represent the target audience for most of our brands").
12 Ruth Anne Corley, Women, Technology and the Internet: How will the three get along? Working Papers in Communication Technology and Culture, Carleton University, 1994.
13 Leslie Regan Shade, talk given at Community Networking: The International Free-Net Conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, August 17-19, 1993.
14 Ibid.
15 Ruth Anne Corley, Women, Technology and the Internet: How will the three get along?
16 The Women and Media Working Group on the Beijing Platform for Action.
17 For a sampling of ways in which women are using ICTs for these purposes, see "40 activist ways of using the internet" at http://www.womenspace.ca/Campaign/Activism/activistways.html
18 Sally Burch, "Latin American Women Take on the Internet," http://www.connected.org/women/sally.html .
19 The Women and Media Working Group on the Beijing Platform for Action.
20 Ibid.
***************************
Telematics for African Development Consortium
P.O. Box 31822
Braamfontein
2017
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 +11 403-2813
Fax: +27 +11 403-2814
neilshel@icon.co.za
www.saide.org.za
* To view an archive of previous updates
visit:
www.saide.org.za/tad/archive.htm
* For resources on distance education and
technology use in Southern Africa visit:
www.saide.org.za/worldbank/Default.htm
***************************
***Back to Contents***
For Browsers that don't support frames:
BACK to TAD archive index