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COLUMBUS - Connect Ohio is pleased to have Gallia County Economic Development in conjunction with Gallia County Jobs and Family Services (JFS) as partners in the statewide Every Citizen Online (ECO) broadband training project and has already trained 198 adults throughout the county. Classes are forming now at the Gallia County JFS center, located at 848 Third Avenue, in Gallipolis. Participants can register by calling (740) 446-4612 ext. 257. The free computer and Internet basics course is helping area adults connect and communicate in ways many people take for granted. The coursework, geared toward first-time computer and broadband users, includes computer basics, an introduction to the Internet, and how broadband can be helpful in daily life.

Les inégalités d'accès aux technologies de l'information se réduisent nettement. Mais une grande partie des seniors et des catégories les moins favorisées demeurent à l'écart.

lors qu'une part croissante de la population mondiale a accès à Internet, les inégalités entre riches et pauvres se creusent. Demain, ces deux phénomènes vont converger. Nous aurons l'Internet des nantis, et celui du reste du monde. Cela ne veut pas dire qu'il y aura deux «réseaux» distincts ou que les internautes aux plus bas revenus n'accéderont plus aux immenses possibilités qui se sont ouvertes pour tous, sans distinction d'âge, de pouvoir d'achat ou de nationalité. De fait, la démocratisation d'Internet a servi, d'une certaine manière, à contrecarrer la concentration de la richesse et du pouvoir qui existe dans beaucoup de pays.

The Europe 2020 strategy acknowledges that a fundamental transformation of education and training  is needed to address the new skills and competences required if Europe is to remain competitive, overcome  the current economic crisis and grasp new opportunities. The strategic framework for European cooperation  in education and training ('ET 2020') recognizes that education and training have a crucial role to play  in meeting the many socio-economic, demographic, environmental and technological challenges facing  Europe and its citizens today and in the years ahead. However, to determine how education and training  policy can adequately prepare learners for life in the future society, there is a need to envisage what  competences will be relevant and how these will be acquired in 2020-2030. 

Dans notre société du savoir, les technologies de l'information et des communications (TIC) prennent de plus en plus d'importance. Ils deviennent des outils de citoyenneté. Leur importance se fait sentir dans le monde de l'alphabétisation, tant dans ses aspects pédagogiques, socialisants, mobilisateurs que ludiques. Nous vous proposons un dossier sur l'alpha et les TIC en milieu communautaire, car cet enjeu est toujours majeur. Vous trouverez dans ce dossier des portraits de la situation, des actualités, des documents de réflexion, du matériel pédagogique et de formation, des ressources en ligne, des outils, des chercheur-e-s et des organismes qui s'intéresent à ces questions. 

We all know poor people are on the wrong side of an uncrossable technological chasm known as the "digital divide." Their lack of iPads and data plans and broadband is just one more way they're doomed to stay poor right up until they become the shock troops of the zombie apocalypse, am I right? Indeed, a recent New York Times piece, "Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era" (or, as Gawker put it, "Poor People Are Wasting Time on the Internet!") asserts that while all kids are spending more time with media, those with lower socio-economic status were spending even more of it, and on activities like Facebook that aren't exactly conducive to learning. In other words: even when you give poor people access to technology, they don't know what to do with it! Might as well give a paleolithic tribe access to a chip fab, pffft.

One of the worldwide challenges in relation to the development of national broadband networks is equality. Broadband is critical for the digital infrastructure and it is essential that everybody enjoys the same level of quality and affordability. This is a major challenge and as a rough measuring stick approximately one-third of the people in developed economies would miss out if there were not a requirement for equality.

"While the rest of the state zips around the Web, a few remote areas of Washington lag years behind, crawling slowly but inevitably into the Internet Age."

From the "It Could Be Worse"-Department, the Canadian Press reports hundreds of thousands of Canadians are still stuck in the dial-up world, either because they live too far away from a cable company, their local phone company will not extend DSL service to their home, or they cannot afford the high prices Internet Service Providers charge for the service.

La question est particulièrement sensible  en matière d'accès à la téléphonie mobile  et à Internet. Parce que ces technologies  sont récentes et que l'on a mis du temps à  prendre conscience qu'elles étaient aussi  indispensables aux plus modestes qu'à  l'ensemble de la population.  On est trop  longtemps resté à une liste anachronique  des "  besoins vitaux  ", focalisés autour du  logement, de l'alimentation et de la santé  sans se rendre compte qu'il n'est pas possible  de mener une vie normale sans pouvoir être  joignable, téléphoner, se renseigner ou  s'inscrire sur Internet. Il devrait être évident  que l'accès à ces technologies devrait être  universel et que la tarification devrait être  compatible avec tous les budgets. C'est l'intérêt de cette étude d'avoir regardé  de manière approfondie la demande des  personnes les plus vulnérables et d'apporter  un éclairage précis sur les réponses qui  peuvent lui être rapportées. 

Matt Richtel's recently published article in the The New York Times posits that "Wasting Time is the New Divide in Digital Era." The article raises provocative and important points. Based on studies of media use among low-income communities, Richtel discusses an evolving notion of the digital divide-one that moves beyond access to machines towards a focus on what users do with the time they spend using technology.