Dear All, I think Jayne has got a point.
One side issue that has to be considered is that most of the people we are trying to reach are illiterate, sometimes they are not english-speakers, so this jargon can even be more intimidating to them. Much as we are looking at ways of bridging the digital divide and the gender digital divide, the issue of localisation has to be considered as well. Back to Jayne's point, eDevelopment is a multi-faceted field, consisting of professionals from ICT, social development, agriculture, environment, health and so on, and it will be helpful that in order to be inclusive, that we stick to simple terminology. My views. Merci, Anna Badimo -- WITS University ---------- Original Message ----------- From: J Cravens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 18:27:28 +0200 Subject: [DDN] the digital divide in language > Twice this week, someone has written me with a comment that has > included computer/Internet technical jargon that I have no idea what > it means. It happens more frequently than I like to admit. And it > brings to mind times when I have interacted with people online, > particularly people from developing countries or people with little > computer or internet technical experience, and they have written, in > response to one of my emails, "I hate to sound stupid, but could you > explain the term such-and-such?" I have always happily complied, > even when I think, wow, they don't know what such-and-such means?! > I'm sure they have plenty of their own common terms that I would be > clueless about. > > While everyone on this Digital Divide list is concerned, ofcourse, > with the Digital Divide, remember that many of us (me, for instance) > do not come from a computer technical background -- our experience > is in a completely different area, often having nothing to do with > computers. So when posting here, or when writing someone offlist, > consider offering people links to explanations of, for instance, > acronyms that might not be understood by everyone. And if a person > writes for further explanation, don't assume they are stupid -- > assume, instead, that they have a different area of expertise than > you, and how smart you are may depend on the subject at hand. > > Just a thought. > > -- > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> > Jayne Cravens > Bonn, Germany > > Services for Mission-Based Orgs > www.coyotecommunications.com > > TECH4IMPACT Newsletter > www.coyotecommunications.com/tech4impact.html > > Open University Development Studies > www.coyotecommunications.com/development > > Contact me > www.coyotecommunications.com/contact.html > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the > message. ------- End of Original Message ------- _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
