In juni 2002 vond in Rotterdam het 30ste wereldcongres van de International Council of Social Welfare (ICSW) plaats onder het thema 'Bridging the Gaps: Economic, Social, and Cultural Opportunities at Global and Local Levels'. Jan Steyaert schreef een essay voor de congresbundel en organiseerde op dit congres een symposium over technologie. Hieronder kan u het essay ophalen en het verslag lezen uit ICSW newsletter:
Information is an important factor in social development at all levels, but especially at the local community level. Information and communication technology (ict) and modern media can play an important role in promoting social development. The digital divide runs not only through regions, but can also divide communities when only a small group of people has access to ict. The symposium The role of ict and modern media in promoting social development - bridging the digital divide focused on these issues among others.
The starting point for building information and communication technology should be the needs of countries and communities. Language for example is a prohibitive factor in the use of ict. Only 5 to 10 % of the people in some developing countries speak English or French, while most software is in these languages. In order to become accessible, ict should be looking towards local communities more, and target local languages.
The starting point for building information and communication technology should be the needs of countries and communities. Language for example is a prohibitive factor in the use of ict. Only 5 to 10 % of the people in some developing countries speak English or French, while most software is in these languages. In order to become accessible, ict should be looking towards local communities more, and target local languages.
Examples were given of ict put to use in local projects:
in Uganda, midwives used a radio system to get in touch so that information can be passed on quickly. They have moved to using mobile phones now;
Hong Kong has experience in using ict in disability projects, for example for visually disabled children;
in a street drop-in Centre in Glasgow run by the Salvation Army, old computers are used by homeless people for making their CV etc.;
in Thailand, a co-operative uses internet to order new products;
in Malaysia a web site for dead people and for disabled people has been developed.
The problems of access to ict and modern media are threefold: the availability of technical hardware and software, the access to the digital infrastructure, and the skills needed to work with these media. The technical machinery and the necessary software are expensive and therefore hard to obtain, but cheaply developed technology is becoming available through pilots in developing countries. India for example is developing cheap technology that is available and easily accessible. Access to the digital infrastructure, the cables and send needed for internet and mobile telephone systems, depends to a large extent on the importance that national governments attach to the availability of these systems for all their residents. At the moment internet provider addresses for African users can only be obtained from Europe or the United States. There are more telephone connections in Manhattan than in the whole of Africa.
With the need for skilled professionals, not just in languages but also in computer technology, a new problem is addressed. Especially in the ict sector, brain drain - the international migration of skilled professionals from less developed countries, matching supply and demand - is a well known issue. Silicon Valley has attracted professionals from around the world. The symposium discussed the possibilities to turn brain drain into 'brain gain', when professionals go to work in a developed country for a limited period and take the experiences gained back for use in their own countries. The symposium ended with two warnings: ict is not the be-all and end-all of social exclusion. Human contact is more important in the end. The other warning saw the start of a new divide: the fact that information on the internet increasingly needs to be paid fro, can create a new divide, between good but expensive information, and free but less trustworthy information.
Steyaert, J. (2002).
Much ado about unicorns and digital divides.
In J. van Beurden & P. de Graaf & T. Meinema (Eds.), Bridging the gaps (pp. 47-58). Utrecht: NIZW-ICSW.
