Subject: [gaia] Redefining affordability

From: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 19:16:02 +0000

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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From: Paola Di Maio <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2015 11:19:48 +0530

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

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From: Nagarajan M <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 16:23:56 +0530

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" <[email-masked]> wrote:

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