Digital Inclusion

A collegue is conducting research on the digital divide…if you happen to know of any efforts that fit the following description…could you please share?

I am currently conducting research into the digital divide and how this affects disadvantaged people including individuals with disabilities.

Specifically, I am interested in initiatives that have found ways to encourage disadvantaged people to use the Internet, particularly e-government services. Put differently, I’m looking for initiatives and projects (at any level) that have used creative and innovative ways of introducing the Internet to people who might not have had the opportunity of using it.

If you know of any initiative or project that falls into this category, would you please share this information with me?
– Heike Boeltzig
www.communityinclusion.org

So, where have you seen bridges spanning the digital divide?

10 comments

  1. TRAVIS COUNTY – Site easier for disabled users
    Travis County on Wednesday announced improvements to the tax assessor/collector’s Web site that are designed to help people with disabilities register to vote, pay taxes and access other online forms.

    The improvements will be available starting Aug. 14.

    A link on the site, http://www.traviscountytax.org, will allow users to set their preferences.

    The features include screens adjusted for the visually impaired and forms that are compatible with voice-recognition software.

    Originally posted by Aaron Bangor to techlunch (an email list for accessibility issues)

  3. This comes from my good friend Ann Dobbs

    Heike Boeltzig should check out a couple of sites from iSchool. The first one is the homepage of one of the faculty, Dr. Loriene Roy, who has done a lot related to reducing the digital divide, especially with Native Americans. Her site is http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~loriene/ and the first thing to check out would be the Virtual Libraries for Tribal Colleges, but there’s more there that might fit in with what Ms. Boeltzig is looking for. Another URL she might want to check out would be one for the Discover Equity of Access site. I think it would be extremely helpful to her. Another couple of ones that seem obvious to me are Utopia and Austin Free-Net ( http://www.austinfree.net/about/index.html. ) There’s more, but hopefully that will help get her started.

  4. I swear I remember a couple of projects in southeast Asia that involved internet & bicycle couriers…something from C’s last college paper. I’ll see if I can find the information and post it here.

  6. Here in Western North Carolina we have a nice nonprofit ISP whose main work is to bring the internet to areas that otherwise, because of economic or geographic isolation, wouldn’t have it. They started by providing dialup service in 1996 and are now working to expand the reach of broadband.

    http://www.main.nc.us/about/

  7. (sent via email by John Slatin)

    Glenda, I’m sure you’ve gotten a lot of stuff by now, but just in case…

    During the Clinton administration there was an annual series of reports called “Falling through the Net” that looked at digital divide issues, including people with disabilities; the reports are obviously dated now, but may still be useful. There’s a group at Brown University that does an annual or bi-annual survey of e-government sites, and accessibility is one issue they look at though it’s not their primary focus (Global eGovernment 2006). You may also want to check out the Association of Tech Act Projects, which focuses on ways states use the federal funds they receive under the Tech Act, see Assistive Technology Programs .

    There’s more out there but it’s not coming to mind right now.

    It was great to see you on Sunday. Thanks so much for coming!

    John

  8. (sent via email by Saro)

    Well, the Trinidad and Tobago government proposed the Vision 2020 initiative in 2002, which is an attempt to bring the country (where I’m from) to developed nation status by the year 2020. I’m not sure how far along they are, but here’s the site for that http://vision2020.info.tt/default.aspx I would concentrate on the “Science, Technology and Innovation” and “Innovative People” sections.

    Also, I know I couple Haitian students from MIT had some initiatives (I think it was a class called D-Lab?); which also talked about a 3rd world initiative called Development Gateway. http://home.developmentgateway.org/

    Finally, I used to work with a group of students who were developing a computer lab and web platform for an after school program in MA. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/afterschool-1024.html I’m not sure if this program still exists though.

    I hope at least some of this is helpful!

    Saro

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