This is a terrible practice - sending our garbage to the poor. But new or old, computers will not be useful without software designed for applications relevant to the users. If they are illiterate, at any age, the first software they will need is that for developing literacy, in all its forms. Since each learner is unique, it should adapt to the individual person. It is currently useless to connect an illiterate person to the Internet, or to provide them with any existing computer tools.
Illiteracy is not just a problem in the poor countries. It is all too common in the United States. So this software is needed everywhere, in many languages. Why is it not available now? Alfred Bork Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science University of California, Irvine _______________________________________________ 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.
