<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="country-region"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
@page Section1
{size:595.3pt 841.9pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-AU link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>>> </span></font>in Australia Telecentre is a medium
to engage the Youth. While in Countries like <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Burkina Faso</st1:place></st1:country-region>
& others who are struggling with twin issue basic literacy -(read and
write) and adapting to ICT tools (snip)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Hi Ashish, all,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>My apologies if by example I have given the impression Australian
Telecentre’s are limited to youth engagement. This is just one function
of one Telecentre cited for reason of highlighting diversity. Australian
Telecentre’s are as diverse as the community’s they serve –
from affluent urban centres to very remote indigenous communities with all the
problems associated with isolation, literacy, poverty, lack of services, and
the more than 280 native languages spoken by indigenous Australians.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>From a historical perspective the term ‘Telecentre’ is
accredited to Scandinavian efforts during the 1980’s however the concept
of Telecentre’s across the globe predate these efforts by many decades. The
first Australian Telecentre’s (places where people would congregate to use
ICT’s for community, education and tele-health purposes) were widely in
use during the 1930’s and comprised of communal homesteads on large rural
Stations (a Station being a large farm of several thousand square kilometres
historically populated by dozens of indigenous and immigrant families).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The technologies deployed at Station homesteads were the type of pedal-powered
radio invented by Alfred Traeger and linked by the Royal Flying Doctor Service wireless
network to community’s in other Stations as well as to nurses and doctors
able to offer remote tele-health services. During the 1950’s the network
was expanded through the efforts of John Flynn and Adelaide Miethke to include
tele-education through the formation of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s School of the
Air. This development resulted in the Station ‘Telecentre’ of the 1950’s
offering much the same range of services as many of today’s Telecentre’s
even though they were not named as such. The year 2001 was the 50th anniversary
of this type of Telecentre in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and for my part as a rural Australian is a legacy of our parents and
grandparents. There is certainly nothing new to this concept, and the long history
of communal ICT access centres probably explains why we have so many different
names for the concept we now call a Telecentre.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Tying this to the WSIS declaration – I must disagree with your assessment
that “Based on the demographics & literacy level, it will be a long
time before individuals can be at a stage to use the ICT tools independently”.
If by such you refer to the use of computers and the Internet then I agree –
however ICT’s are not limited to computers and online interaction; a
simple pedal-powered radio can offer a wealth of benefits with very little learning
or literacy requirements if supported by an appropriate network. Too often I
think we seek to drive change at the macro level rather than focusing on the necessary
micro developments required to achieve macro change. It would be foolish to
attempt to introduce a reliance on computers and the ‘net to people in
poverty who cannot read, write, or who speak many different languages. Such an
effort would not be supportive of a managed approach to development nor would
it be an empathic approach. ICT tools can be used independently by anyone
providing we provide the right ICT tools for the given stage of development. Learning
will occur, and in time more advanced ICT’s will be appropriate, accepted
and deployed.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Rgds, Don <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>