Unit 1.4 Local Divide

Bridging the Gap: Examples of Initiatives

There have been and still are numerous initiatives to bridge the gap sponsored by the national government, local government, private industry and charities. These are:

• UK Online is a major government project started in 2001 and this give access to people in the community to help them learn new ICT skills.
• University for Indutry(Ufi) is a partnership between the government and private industry aimed at improving job prospects for individuals and bossting competitiveness for businesses through the use of Learn Direct centres.
• Learn Direct aims to teach adults on how to use ICT.
• British Educational Communication and Technology Association (BECTA) aims to help education professionals such as teachers to make the most of ICT.
• Wired up Communities initiative connects seven disadvantaged communities to the internet to test what impact this would have on their lives.
• Computers within reach is an initiative  aimed at helping learners on benefits by enhancing their employment prospects and learning opportunities through providing  access to computers.
• Get Started campaign aims at giving a kick start to access for the elderly, the unemployed, the disabled and other disadvantaged groups to show them the benefits from accessing IT.
• Community Access to Lifelong Learning(CALL) aims to enable schools, libraries and other lifelong learning institutions to become conneceted to the internet.

Task:

Learn Direct

What is its purpose?

- Aim to transform the skills and productivity of the working population by using technology to bring people together to work, share and learn online.
 

How it relates to the digital divide?
- This relates to digital divide because it helps UK to reduce digital divide by helping people to learn ICT.
 

Who are its main target clients?
- It specialises in teaching adults on how to use ICT in school, libraries and colleges. It is also working with businesses to provide them with the skilled staff they need to thrive
 

What are its strengths and weaknesses?
- One strength of learn direct is it helps people to learn how to use ICT in order to find a job online. This also helps reduce digital divide in the UK. Another stregth is it also provides qualification that can be used in finding a job.
-One weakness of learn direct is it does not provide online lessons and the learners still need to go school, libraries and colleges.
 

What improvements could be made?

- One improvement that could be made is it should provide online lessons for the learners who are not able to go to learn direct centres.
 

Source: www.learndirect.co.uk
 

Unit 1.3 Digital Divide - Worldwide

ICT can be very empowering for example, it can be cost-effective.

Broadcasting:
Digital broadcasting is an example of both of an empowering technology and of the political barriers that sometimes may stall the elimination of the digital divide. Satellite broadcasting allows geographically remote areas to receive news and information in a manner that was previously unavailable or difficult to achieve. This provides educational, entertainment and informative benefits for the populations of otherwise remote places.
However, in some states such as some in the Middle East and North Africa, digital TV is a major problem this is because access to Western values and norm is not universally regarded as a good thing.

Mobile Phones:
The use of cellular phones has improved the quality of life in rural Pakistan and Bangladesh because it allows people to stay in touch in remote areas.

Governance:
Low technology solutions are not the only answer to problems. A major challenge often comes in the form of governments of the under-served nations.

Tasks:
Case Study: Laos

Source: Applied ICT book
             www.cia.gov/

Civil Rights

Civil rights refer to the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality.
ICT has also an impact to civil rights. Technology is used to monitor and control people in order to keep society safe. Data or information of people are monitored or can be gathered and this compromises the people's right to privacy and civil right as a whole.

Task:

• One of the issue that affected by the ICT is the gay rights. The article below shows how information gathered from a newspaper could lead to a murder of a gay activist. It also shows how a petition against Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill can be done online.

• Another issue that affected by the technology is the rights of neighbours. The article below shows how a factory worker woman created noise nuisance that affected her neighbours in Strafforshire. She continued to persist her behaviour and as a result the Environmental Health Officers put up a monitoring equipment in a neighbour's home to monitor noise nuisance.

• Technology also helps to regulate the safety of people. The article below shows how the US government planning to change their gun laws. As a result of a terrible incident wherein a man killed 20 children and six adults with an assault rifle, the US president is negotiating with the congress to ban assault weapons and reinstate strict background checks on those people who are buying high-capacity guns. The strict background checks could help to stop crime such as murder.

• Another issue that affected by the technology is the rights of job seekers. The UK government launched a jobwatch website where job seekers need to use it to apply for three jobs every week. If they fail to do this then they will be withdrawn from their benefits.

• Some countries issue death penalty for homosexual acts whilst other countries do not have any legislation for homosexuality. The article below shows the different legislation about homosexuality in different countries:

 

The Open University

The Open University is the world's first successful distance teaching university. It was founded with the belief that communications technology could bring high quality degree-level learning to people.

Why was it set up?

It was set up to open up higher education to everyone regardless of their circumtances or where they live. They have students of all ages and backgrounds: school students wanting expererience of university level, school leavers who choose to beging their careers while they study for a degree, people wanting to develop or update their skills, or change career entirely, and retired people wanting to explore new interests and keep mentally active.

When did it start?

The OU opened to its first students – 25,000 of them - in January 1971 with a choice of four multi-disciplinary foundation courses in the arts, social sciences, science or maths.

How was it different from other Universities?

The Open University has developed its own style of distance learning called 'supported open learning'.

• Open learning means their students work whenever they choose in their own homes, workplace or at a library or study centre, and can plan their study around their other commitments.
• Supported open learning means that their students have support from a tutor or online forum, they have students advisers and study facilities in theor own region and they have contact with other students at tutorials,day schools or through online conferencing, online social networks, informal study groups and events.

How many students have been taught by them?

• The Open University has more than 250,000 students.
• In November 2010, 18,475 students studied directly with the University overseas and more than 36,800 students on validated programmes.
• More than 12,000 people with disabilities study with the University each year.

Source: http://www.open.ac.uk/