Orientation of proposal

Support and encourage the promotion of contents satisfying the needs of populations (information on health, agricultural development, the procedures of democracy, etc.), by using all types of multimedia techniques (sound, image). Adapted applications should be developed to satisfy the specific needs of populations that express themselves in local languages, especially in Africa.

The Internet should never be the only medium for these contents. Increasing use should be made of CD-ROMs, which are easy to produce. To this end we recommend financing R&D programmes carried out in Africa and Asia, since they are better suited to the development of technologies adapted to linguistic and cultural diversity.

Context

Many experiences show that by using adapted tools - sound files, videos, PDF format, email with sound attachments, etc. - it not only possible to adapt tools to populations that have no written tradition and which are illiterate, it is also possible to develop new uses.