Vecam

Two inseparable needs : training and participation

2002-10-04T19:38:28Z

Orientation of proposal

Any programme intended to promote connectivity in a country, region, city or district must incorporate training with technical and infrastructural requirements. The specifications that service providers must satisfy should include a specific section related to these questions. In particular, one specification should be that cable operators devote part of their profits to training.

Furthermore, all public access points should be simultaneously equipped with computer and connection tools and teachers-facilitators should be available capable of guiding the users not only in teaching them how to use these tools but also in the creation of simple contents, whether in textual or more sophisticated form - multimedia, artistic, etc. and in the processing and classification of information. The French experience of teaching jobs subsidised by the government (a youth employment scheme), currently called into question, is a good example that ought to spark similar initiatives in other countries.

Context

Access to ICTs is not just a question of equipment. Although much attention is given to the digital divide, the real issue is to focus on the question of access. Besides the real problem of connectivity, the capacity of access to ICTs supposes not so much the competency to use the tools themselves as the new cognitive functions called on by ICTs, i.e. the capacity to understand changing contents, the classification of information, its contextualisation, understanding of non-Cartesian logic based on uncertainty, etc. Thus control over the tools will permit each and everyone to progress from the stage of simple consumer of information to that of critical citizen, by being able to classify and sort this information, and by being able to act by producing their own content. It is in this way that ICTs can constitute a vector of both personal development and active citizenship.

Technical training, lifetime education and civic education :

2002-10-04T19:36:49Z

Orientation of proposal :

The training programmes to teach the use of ICTs should be given as a part of "lifetime education" programmes to permit individuals and communities to understand the ever greater complexity of the information society, so as to fulfil their role of citizen and exercise their creativity. This new type of education combines the acquisition of knowledge and competences of a general, technical and social nature at every stage of life. It promotes civic education, the use of tools (learning how to cooperate, learn, etc.) that privileges "knowing how to be" rather than "know-how".

Training with various and adapted dimensions

2002-10-04T19:35:44Z

Orientation of proposal :

Training to use ICTs should take into account a diversity of places of training (education establishments, libraries, community groups, e-cafes, access and specialised learning centres, companies and the work place) ; diverse contents and teaching methods (of school type, training adapted to target publics) ; diverse instructors (teachers, specialised and general educators).

Recognition of the unique expertise developed by community groups and organisations in the area of ICT training in poorer areas. Different customised and adapted training courses given by these groups as a function of the needs and capacities of different publics (disadvantages districts, the illiterate, young dropouts, itinerants, etc.) generally belong to an approach of participatory, community education that converges with the aims of lifetime education.

Set-up programmes to support training by providing basic finance to community organisations specialised in training and by calls for tenders and pluriannual contracts with the same organisations. Promote creative synergies and partnerships for training between the different actors, teaching establishments, organisations and companies.

Reassertion of education and training as an integral part of public service

2002-10-04T19:34:03Z

Orientation of proposal

The principle of a public education and training service needs reassertion at every stage of both child and adult education, as adults require increasing training in the information society. It should be incorporated in the constitutive principles of the European Union, as an integral part of our social system and it must be reasserted at major international negotiations, such as at the WTO, and universities, institutes, etc.

Context

Although there were no problems with user-friendliness with the initial experiences of open and e-learning, contrary to certain fears beforehand, the real danger comes from commercialisation. Teachers have now become the choice targets of the proponents of the total market. Taking advantage of the development of new forms of teaching linked to information technologies, such as remote tutoring, they aim at subjecting this sector to competition, concerning both the writing of the content taught and the choice of teacher. This allows them to undermine the principle of social mix so fundamental to the spirit of public education, since it is a factor of integration, equality and it helps to build civic consciousness. The WTO negotiations in the framework of the GATRS (General Agreement on Trade Related Services), shows that education is under threat from the private sector which uses the technical solutions used for e-learning as a pretext.

Multimedia contents and applications : the promotion of tools adapted to different cultures, especially cultures based on oral transmission, and to illiteracy

2002-10-04T19:32:36Z

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.

The link between community media

2002-10-04T19:30:51Z

Orientation of proposal

Community networks should make better use of the combination between different media and especially community media, with radio at the forefront, in order to increase the impact of their action.

Context

Although there is nothing new about community television and radio, the creation by communities of their own networks (community cable operators) and the combination between different independent media make them extremely useful. An example of their effectiveness was given by the considerable reduction of fraud in the Senegalese elections in 2000. Here, the Internet can be used in particular to strengthen the capacity and access to information of local structures that require it for their daily activities.

Create collective wealth, share knowledge : freeware and open content

2002-10-04T13:10:29Z

Orientation of proposal

Community Internet networks should move towards the almost systematic use of freeware, and make organisations and the social movements in general aware of the stakes involved.

Likewise, the contents produced by community networks should be designed to be open in order to share knowledge and diffuse know-how.

This attitude should also consist in an invitation made to local, national and international authorities to equip themselves with freeware, too, and ensure that all the contents developed with public funds and diffused are open.

Lastly, community networks should reflect on economic methods focused on freeware in order to profit from possible application to other areas.

Context

The rapid development and the quality of freeware has opened up a breach in what is thought to be the sacrosanct efficiency of the market. It has also shown that cooperative systems can be more fruitful than competition based systems. Lastly, it reveals one of the most salient features of the information revolution : in a society of know-how and knowledge, we pass from a zero sum game to a positive sum game, i.e. diffusing one's knowledge is not the loss of property, but participation in a cumulative process of wealth creation.

However, the system of freeware is still fragile and requires encouragement, starting with those that have the most to gain, networks and Community Internetworks. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to attack one of the foundation stones of our system of wealth creation, i.e. intellectual property, by demonstrating that other legal and economic systems can be considered.

Generally, that which is developed with public funds should be considered as public property : the development of university content for the Open University and E-learning could be used to increase the wealth of educational resources, with free schools in mind, rather than be sold in the form of continuing education packages. Likewise with the digital resources of museums, public libraries, etc.

Donating computers to developing countries : no transfer of tools without transferring competencies

2002-10-04T13:08:39Z

Orientation of proposal

All donations of hardware to developing countries should be accompanied with the transfer of competencies that allow local actors not only to recycle, maintain and adapt this hardware, but to acquire competencies that facilitate endogenous development.

Context

It has become fashionable for industrialised countries, where computers are replaced every two years, to ship their obsolete hardware to the poorest countries. The North thus buys itself a good conscious on the cheap (for the cost of transport) while pretending that this solves the problem of the digital divide, whereas it transforms the developing countries into waste computer dumps. As for the developing countries, they are so dependent that all they can do is thank the industrialised countries for this windfall.

It would be premature and counter productive to stop such donations, rather they should be made under certain conditions (by making technical follow-up possible on site) and transfers of competencies (use the donation of hardware to impel the development of local competencies), which are indispensable

Knowledge communities

2002-10-04T13:07:16Z

Orientation of proposal

The actors of the non-profit sector should invent new forms of transmitting experiences and knowledge related to ICTs, by taking inspiration from the mutual exchange of knowledge and learning in cascade. The tools for propagating these exchanges are still at an early stage of development.

Context

Regarding the use of information technologies, training by traditional means is less pertinent, though they should not be neglected, than the snowball effect of lifelong apprenticeship during work, services, leisure and social life. Experiences of knowledge exchange networks help to combat difficulties in assimilating knowledge by allowing the learner to be teacher at the same time and thus give them confidence in themselves. Applied to information technologies, these methods change relations between generations, for example (children teaching adults), and restore pride in knowledge. Different experiences carried out using knowledge trees in France and Prairienet7 in the United States demonstrate the pertinence of these approaches.

Creation of contents

2002-10-04T13:05:47Z

Orientation of proposal

Governmental programmes must ensure that content is rich and varied and not determined by commercial and administrative motives. Programmes must ensure the diversity of contents adapted to the realities and needs of different groups and categories of the population.

The basic principles of content creation and development programmes should : 1. be based on studies of the needs of groups and categories (the elderly, cultural communities, the unemployed, young persons, the handicapped, etc.) ; 2. favour and support calls for tender for the creation of original contents and the digitisation of already existing contents on other media (text, video, etc.) ; 3. support the development of databases and on-line diffusion of innovations and contents with cataloguing standards and specialised search engines. The programmes should encourage the creation of contents with local features just as much as thematic portals and contents that contribute to grouping knowledge and expertise in given areas of activity and on socially useful subjects : social economy companies, women's groups, senior citizens, rural interests, consumer organisations, community health, etc.).

Using finance, technical expertise and research, promote the creation and sale of technological tools (hardware and software) at low cost adapted to local needs for low wage earners and certain categories (the handicapped, etc.) [cf. Chebucto Suite in New Scotland, Canada].

Contribute towards creating a culture of freeware to encourage creativity and counter dependency on the technology and contents distributed by monopoly groups.

Encourage the use of commercial software with free source codes in public and training programmes, especially in the school system. The same applies to the research and development of such tools, their diffusion and appropriate training to use them.