Re: [gaia] Redefining affordability

Dear Paola,

I fully agree with you.

Internet usage for self empowerment needs to be taught to people. More so
in rural areas.

In my district Sabarkantha in Gujarat we provided Wi-Fi connectivity in
tribal areas. However only 5% of population was aware of its usage and
benefits.

Now we are experimenting awareness programmes related to the persona.. viz.
Farmer, student, tribal woman, college students, labourers etc.

As a proxy to create model actors who can display model behaviour we gave
out mobile tablet devices to 330 Anganwadi workers and actively trained
them to use it for work and recreation purposes. We could readily see an
improvement in their confidence and learning.

Moreover in rural areas women are more likely to adopt and learn than men.
That's the experience we have got here.

As you said the finer aspects get lost in the aggregate of data.

Regards,

Nagarajan M
On Dec 11, 2015 11:19 AM, "Paola Di Maio" <paola.dimaio@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for Sharing, Arjuna
>
> The answer, in my view, is that money (affordability) is only one part
> of the equation
>
> Lack of Knowledge is the answer.
>
>  If people dont know 'what to do' with internet - they dont know that
> they can learn things, that they can improve their economy and change
> their lives - access per se doesnt do anything
>
> So, in short, lack of literacy, lack of intellectual stimuli to
> embrace the new opportunities offered by the internet can be a
> contributing cause to lack of increased adoption
>
> My organisation ISTCS.org, with associated programmes and initiatives,
> tackles specifically this: after people have connections, how can they
> learn to use it?
> We organise workshops and programmes to help rural communities
> leverage the benefits
> of internet, but we are becoming increasingly aware that massive social
> issues
> are in between. Women for example are still prohibited by brothers,
> husbands and other family members to change their situation of
> subjugation and practical slavery are not allowed mobile phones. My
> figures are not reliable yet, but informal survey seems to point to
> the fact that in the major households only boys have mobile phones.
>
> In the larger picture of reports like ITU statistics, the finer
> details of reality on the ground are often lost
>
> And  as you yourself may have noticed, despite a plethora of
> international efforts ' on paper' ,  internet access is still not
> coming and many of the initiatives are rather shadowy or even non
> existent, or certainly, not publicly audited.
>
> Paola DM
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 12/11/15, Arjuna Sathiaseelan <arjuna.sathiaseelan@cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
> > Global Internet prices are falling, but growth in use is slowing. Is it
> > time to rethink our definition of affordability?
> >
> https://social.shorthand.com/A4A_Internet/uyrTgE52Ic/redefining-affordability?platform=hootsuite
> >
> > --
> > Arjuna Sathiaseelan
> > Personal: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/
> > N4D Lab: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/n4d
> >
>
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