Re: [gaia] Redefining affordability

[Paola Di Maio <[e-mail]>]

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 <[e-mail]> 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
>