| E-Learning |
ISSN 1741-8887 | ||
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Volume 3 Number 3 2006 | |||
Other issues available | Journal home page | Publisher home page | |||
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CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text] | |||
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| SPECIAL ISSUE
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Visiting the Digital Divide: women entrepreneurs in Central America |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.271 |
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| Micro and small enterprises comprise approximately 60‑70% of enterprises in South and Central America. Most of these enterprises, particularly micro enterprises, are managed and owned by women. These women for the most part lack both skills and training in the use of computers and the Internet, and access to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). At the same time they have extensive experience in running their businesses. The connectivity of enterprises is generally fairly low, and the lack of computer literacy is high. The challenge is to provide an infrastructure and connectivity to these enterprises, as well as sustainable technological support and financing for the connectivity. This study analyzes some aspects of the training of women entrepreneurs in the use of ICT and the impacts of this training. It also focuses on lessons learned during the process of design and implementation of the training. The focus is particularly on female micro and small entrepreneurs’ ICT training in Costa Rica. This study also includes comparative data from Bolivia, a country with one of the lowest teledensities in Latin America and a low level of connectivity of enterprises. The impact of training has been evaluated and recommendations presented for sustainability of this kind of training. Three main recommendations resulting from this study were: training has to be connected to the needs of entrepreneurs; technological support has to be provided on a continuous basis; and financing of investments needs to be accessible and feasible. |
Translocalisation over the Net: digitalisation, information technology and local cultures in Melanesia |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.279 |
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| In the Western Pacific, the People First Network project has since 2001 been building a growing network of rural email stations across the conflict-ridden Solomon Islands. These stations are based on robust technology and consist of solar panels, short-wave radios and compatible modems, laptop computers and printers to provide email communication to rural people across the archipelago. The email stations are connected to the project’s Internet Center located in the capital city, Honiara, which operates as the ‘central email post office’ of the Solomon Islands and channels the traffic between the rural stations and the Internet. From the outset, the project has proved to be not only a local but an international success, receiving attention from various quarters. The project has significantly improved rural people’s opportunities in developing their grassroots businesses, connections with friends and relatives, and participation in national affairs. In the male-dominated local communities, a particular advancement has been the notable activity of women in using the email stations. The article analyses the project’s outcomes especially from the perspectives of translocalisation and social network models, and outlines experiences relevant to other regions and communities elsewhere. |
| A Multidisciplinary Approach to Open Access Village Telecenter Initiatives: the case of Akshaya |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.291 |
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| The Akshaya project in the rural Malappuram district of Kerala, India is home to the first and largest district-wide e-literacy project in India, and one of the largest known Internet Protocol-based networks. Through a network of 600 kiosks, the project has been designed to reach computer literacy into over 600,000 households, and bring 3.6 million residents of the district into regular affordable access to computer use. This study uses a regional analysis of Malappuram, and its parent state, to understand the context within which the project is situated and consider questions of generalizability from inferences drawn here. Second, the authors examine the technical network itself and read logs of how residents of the district are actually using the kiosks to discuss the case for content tailored to low-income users, and the larger case of state-underwritten shared-access computer centers. |
| PC Kiosk Trends in Rural India |
| KENTARO TOYAMA, KARISHMA KIRI, DEEPAK MENON & SUNEET SETHI Microsoft
Corporation, Redmond, USA and Bangalore, India |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.317 |
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| This article presents a series of preliminary, quantitative results on rural PC kiosks in India. An analysis of the data confirms many expected trends and correlations and shows that kiosks still face the challenge of sustainability as a business. This study is based on questionnaires presented to kiosk operators and customers of kiosks operated or franchised by Drishtee and n-Logue, two for-profit rural kiosk companies that operate in various geographies throughout India. Recurring surveys are being run with three questionnaires concerning the daily operation and demographic context of the kiosks. The recurring questionnaires will be repeated once a quarter for three years; the results for this article are from the first two sets only. |
| Digital Divide within Society: an account of poverty, community and e-governance in Fiji |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.325 |
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| The importance and potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to develop economies has been demonstrated through various studies around the globe. For the Pacific, especially Fiji, where development is hampered by dispersed populations, small sizes and vast ocean distances, ICT can help overcome these restrictive circumstances, of digital divide within society, by empowering the poor. An attempt is made to illustrate that, despite various initiatives and strategies designed by the governments in power, poverty in Fiji is still daunting and has in fact increased by almost 33% over the last 10 years. Therefore, it becomes prudent to look at government policies and e-governance initiatives in Fiji and analyze the reasons as to why results are not being achieved at the grass-roots level. Based on findings from a rapid appraisal among various stakeholders, the article highlights that e-governance initiative thus far could not be largely effective due to lack of participatory processes in e-governance and ICT practices. Community perception of e-governance and understanding of the issue are explored and it is argued that public awareness of e-governance is critical for projects to work. Along with this, some critical constraints facing e-governance in Fiji, with an emphasis on the role of community involvement to reduce poverty at the grass-roots level, are discussed. Solutions of citizen-centered e-governance are stressed and a down-to-earth approach to poverty is highlighted. This article asks for paradigm shifts in government’s perception to see society as partners of governance and not merely recipients of state policies and service delivery systems. It raises the issue of community involvement in dialogue and decision making at the public policy and practice levels by making government departments reachable to stakeholders by harnessing the potential of ICT, new technologies and media. It also talks about the need to bridge information-data gaps and lapses which lead to inappropriate planning and decision making divorced from sharable scientific statistical data amongst the government departments and planning agencies. It emphasizes shared visions for strategies both at horizontal and vertical levels of planning and management in e-governance. |
| Development of the Internet in the Gambia: the case of Nokunda |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.344 |
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| The global nature of the new information and communication network has been questioned because of the obvious exclusion of developing countries in the development of the contemporary structure. Leaving aside the troublesome term ‘developing countries’, it is still very obvious that the poorer southern countries are in a different position in applying new technology compared to the so-called advanced western countries. Even if there are good reasons to defend the argument for the unilateral and one-sided quality of the global network, this article will tell a story of its enlargement into the Gambia, one of the poorest countries of West Africa. While not generalizing from this example because particular characteristics apply, it is still suggested that there are good reasons for the extension of the network right across the globe. The emphasis will be on the cultural and social aspects of the network and less on its policy and infrastructure side. The article looks at the everyday ways and needs of exploiting the Net which explain its current expansion. |
| Responses of Chinese Higher Education to the Information Society |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.353 |
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| Compared to the advanced industrial countries, the use of information technology in Chinese higher education came relatively late. Nevertheless, recent Chinese practices have achieved significant progress in the country’s efforts to bridge the digital divide. This article focuses special attention on the responses of Chinese higher education to the challenges of the information society. It begins by introducing essential characteristics of the information society and the challenges posed for higher education. A presentation of responses to these challenges made by Chinese higher education in terms of strategic reactions, national infrastructure development, and the actions at the institutional level follows. The article concludes with an account of ongoing problems constraining the use of modern information technology in Chinese higher education. |
| A Case Study of a University in Uganda |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.361 |
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| Over recent years the issue of free and open source software (FOSS) for development in less developed countries (LDCs) has received increasing attention. In the beginning the benefits of FOSS for lower developed countries was only stressed by small groups of idealists like Richard Stallman. Now, however, it is moving into the hands of large international organizations like the World Bank, European Union and United Nations. At present FOSS is on the agendas of the donor organizations and international non-governmental organizations but not on the agendas of the decision makers in LDCs. There are growing numbers of initiatives to promote FOSS for developing countries in general and Africa in particular. At the same time there are very few organizations considering and actually implementing FOSS. The article describes the experiences of adopting FOSS in a university in Uganda with the aim of evaluating the promises made by the donor organizations and the FOSS community. The article concludes with an agenda for improving the effectiveness of adopting FOSS in LDCs. |
| The Digital Balance between Industrialised and Developing Countries: futures studies for development |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.373 |
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| The purpose of researching the digital balance between industrialised and developing countries was to discover how information and communication technology (ICT), content and e-services developed in Finland will work on the African continent, and vice versa. Globalisation and the associated new international division of labour and well-being require a continuous renewal of Finland’s national economy and production structures. This increasingly fast process of change is shaping the new economy, in the context of the information society, into a phenomenon characterised by cultural know-how and creativity. During the first phase of the information society the Finnish national economy made money with technology (with mobile phones, electronic machines, etc.) During the second phase, it is making money by using the technology (by content and services). During the third phase, the weight of development is moving away from the physical infrastructure towards social infrastructure. The products of the third phase include the concepts and formats of culture and well-being – education, innovation and health care systems and their management. The research identified two practical tools for developing this kind of social infrastructure for globally sustainable development: 1. networking African and Finnish futures studies experts, and 2. developing multidisciplinary development research clusters between Finland and Africa. Should such initiatives be taken they will eventually contribute to the diminishing of the current digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world. |
| Digital Empowerment as a Process for Enhancing Citizens’ Participation |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.381 |
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| The author proposes a citizen-and community-oriented approach to using information technology, whereby people are considered as participant members of the society. This empowering approach views people as subjects and actors who have abilities to develop, not as objects who lack these abilities and need one-way help from authorities. Empowerment of individuals and communities means increased control over life and coping skills. With information technology people gain new abilities and ways to participate and express themselves in a networked society. This can be called digital empowerment, which is not a direct consequence of having and using the technical facilities, but a multi-phased process to gain better networking, communication and cooperation opportunities, and to increase the competence of individuals and communities to act as influential participants in the information society. In this article empowerment is used in the sense of enablement – enabling people to do what is important to them, and enabling people to grow as competent subjects who have control over their lives and surroundings. When added to policies and programmes, this approach could bridge some of the democratic, cultural and content divides by bringing in more aspects. |
| Freedom and Sharing in the Global Network Society |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.396 |
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| This article focuses on some ideas from social and political philosophy concerning the ideal of freedom that may be useful for thinking about issues associated with the rise of network societies. The tendency for ‘freedom’ to mean very different things to different people has carried over to the context of thinking about issues associated with new technologies and network societies. This elasticity needs to be managed if ‘freedom’ is to do useful work in substantive debate about the issues that arise. This article considers three analytic tools that seem applicable to issues arising under the contemporary condition of network societies. They are, respectively, the ‘opportunity–exercise’ analysis of ‘freedom’, the ‘positive–negative freedom’ distinction, and the ‘triadic relation’ analysis of freedom. Each is discussed by reference to familiar current issues. |
| Memes and Affinity Spaces: some implications for policy and digital divides in education |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.411 |
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| This article focuses on the social practices of propagating and circulating memes within Internet environments as a significant dimension of cultural production and transmission. Memes (pronounced ‘meems’) are contagious patterns of cultural information that are passed from mind to mind and which directly shape and transmit key actions and mindsets of a social group. Memes include popular tunes, catchphrases, clothing fashions, architectural styles, ways of doing things, and so on. The chief purpose of this article is to contribute to the empirical study of online memes as new literacy practices by examining the key elements of successful memes. The article begins by developing a succinct definition of ‘meme’ and identifies key characteristics of successful memes in general. This set of characteristics is illustrated by way of two examples of successful Internet-mediated memes. The article concludes with a brief discussion of some of the implications memes and meme-ing have for contemporary approaches to literacy instruction and new digital technology use in schools. |
| ‘Intellectual Property’ and Knowledge Creation in Disorganisations |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.428 |
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| Given the current forms of economic production and corporate markets, the liberating and democratic potential of digital information is counteracted by the concentration of media ownership, as well as by policy, legislation, and the development of proprietary forms of technology. The notion of ‘intellectual property’ produces artificial scarcity where digital technology could remove it. This tension between the proprietary and non-proprietary aspects of the information society can be analysed by looking at two types of knowledge creation: organisational and disorganisational. While organisational knowledge work can benefit from a notion of ‘intellectual property’, disorganisational knowledge work is disrupted, if not destroyed, by proprietary barriers on information. This is unfortunate if and when the crucial innovations and ethical potential of the information society are connected to disorganisational communities, even though the organisational type is more visible and better represented in the traditional structures of society. |
| Configuring Knowledge: an essay on knowledge in the information age |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.434 |
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| This article attempts to articulate in broad outline the post-industrial regime of knowledge and information and point out its fatal flaw. The Internet is treated as a socio-technological complex animated by capital and information. The notion of information is interrogated and an alternative notion closer to our everyday intuitions is proposed. Through this idea of information and ‘being informed’ a bridge is found to ways of talking about knowledge that are valid in different realms. A brief narrative of the development of knowledge in the context of society is provided. This article locates the key to the new regime of knowledge in the normative framework of ‘knowledge management’ that is reflected in the practices of big corporations and governments. The absence of a model of knowledge quest in this framework is noted, and it is argued that this will eventually undermine this regime. The article concludes by affirming the possibilities of constructive knowledge work. |
| Why Would Information and Communications Technology Contribute to Development at All? An ethical inquiry into the possibilities of ICT in development |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.448 |
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| This article looks at the ethical implications of the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in bringing about development in developing societies. Any proposed means to enhance development has costs as well as benefits. Hence, the evaluation of a given means to development should always be a matter of ‘applied ethics’. When ICT is fully functional, it can help to overcome many problems of material resources that plague developing societies. However, reaching this point requires a lot of resources. As a complex technological system, ICT requires substantial material requisites before it is able to function within a given context. Further, the ability to use ICT will require investments in human capital resources, such as in people’s ability to read and write. The article concludes that ICT does indeed have many beneficial applications in the context of developing societies. However, a chosen means for bringing about development always excludes other possible means towards achieving the same goal. As ICT has very substantial requisites, its current use should be recommended with caution in many contexts, and always with the other possible means to development in mind. |
| Global Justice and Intellectual Property Rights: reforming the international IPR regime for balanced development |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.462 |
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| Today it is widely recognized that a uniform global intellectual property (IP) system requiring a high level of protection is inherently unjust and affects countries differently depending upon their level of technological and economic development. This article analyzes the functioning of the current international treaty framework having intellectual property connections – the TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Convention on Biological Diversity, bilateral trade and investment agreement and UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions – from the perspective of how it could promote a more socially and economically just international intellectual property framework. The article also brings forth some new initiatives which have been proposed to address some of the most critical issues related to the current system: providing an alternative to a patent-driven inventive system for medical research and development and a treaty proposal for access to knowledge and technology. The article points out that the problems faced by developing countries with regard to, for example, access to medicines, can be similar to those faced by those developed countries that are net importers of patented medicines. The main message of this article is that it is no longer possible to maintain a unitary IP system at the international level without grave economic and social losses to, in particular, developing countries. What is needed is a more fragmentary IP protection framework making it possible for each country to adapt it to its national level of economic, technological and social development. |
| Internet Co-governance: towards a multilayer multiplayer mechanism of consultation, coordination and cooperation (M3C3) |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.473 |
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| This article addresses issues central to the task of Internet governance and, especially, to the management of the Internet’s core resources. Early conceptions of the Internet as a virtual space that required no regulation resisted initial governance activity. More recently, work by people like Lawrence Lessig has clarified the complex relationship between code and the regulation of cyberspace, revealing on one hand a problem of how public policy is framed inside the global Internet infrastructure and, on the other, a problem of how the technical architecture of the Internet is designed. Cutting across such problems is the complex relationship between ‘real places’ (bordered) and ‘virtual spaces’ (unbordered), which are irreducible yet inseparable in the information age. The article explores concrete steps taken during the past 15 years toward developing a workable approach to Internet governance and looks ahead to consider the prospects of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) established in 2004. |
| The Public Interest in the Globally Sustainable Information Society: the traditional knowledge debate |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.488 |
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| Society increasingly perceives information as an owned commodity. As a consequence, laws born from this conception are removing uses of information from the public domain and placing them in an enclosed domain where they are subject to an owner’s exclusive control. It has been argued that this enclosure movement poses a threat to the diversity of information sources in our information environment and abridges the freedom of speech. On the other hand, the possibilities of development through the worldwide dissemination and accessibility of information made available by information and communication technology could offer great benefits for developing countries, especially in the field of life sciences, such as medical and agricultural research and development. In this perspective, this article examines where the balance should be struck between private, profit-oriented interests, and the public interest in maintaining some information free for all to use, as well as what should be the role of the public interest in intellectual property policy making. The article examines these questions in the context of the traditional knowledge debate. Over the past few years, the debate over the protection of traditional knowledge by intellectual property rights has attracted the attention of the international community and has prompted increasing scepticism amongst legal scholars, economists and historians. It has been argued that the world has already too much intellectual property and that none of the traditional arguments generally used to justify the creation of intellectual property rights could justify the expansion of the intellectual property rights system to include traditional knowledge. In addition, many argue that traditional knowledge is already in the public domain and should therefore be free for all to use and exploit. On the other hand, traditional knowledge holders wish for defensive protection measures to prevent intellectual property rights claims to their traditional knowledge from being granted to unauthorised persons or corporations as well as positive protection measures to allow them to acquire intellectual property rights over their knowledge, in the form of traditional intellectual property rights, or sui generis rights. |
| Investments in Global Health: private and public innovation systems of essential pharmaceuticals |
DOI: 10.2304/elea.2006.3.3.494 |
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| In recent years the scope and application of intellectual property rights has been expanded remarkably in the area of medical research and development. This has strengthened the role of the private sector in developing and producing new medicinal drugs. However, medical research is usually close to a pure public good and thus not efficiently produced by private firms. One rationale for the role of the public sector in financing medical research and development involves market failures such as imperfect competition among suppliers and externalities. Another justification for government intervention is inequality – a private market for medical research could be Pareto efficient, providing or even developing no medicines to members of the population who are too poor to pay for them. The main objective of this article is to analyse and compare the effects of private and public innovation systems in medical research and development on global health levels using the theory of (global) public goods as a tool of the analysis. |
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