Brazil: Digital inclusion, but how?

@import url('http://www.cnet.com/css/ssa/news/special.css'); #h1 {background:url('http://i.n.com.com/i/ne/p/2008/brazil_980x182.jpg') left top;width:980px;height:182px;} #Sidebar h3 {background-color:#000;margin:0;padding:5px 10px;color:#FFF;font-size:1.3em;text-transform:none;} .upcoming {color:#999;} CNET News special report: Computing in Latin America E-mail del.icio.us Digg this Brazil: Digital inclusion, but how? By Ina Fried Staff writer, CNET News August 27, 2008, 4:00 a.m. PDT E-mail del.icio.us Digg this Editors' note: This is part of a series exploring . SAO PAULO, Brazil--At one end of the trendy Cafe Aprendiz, patrons enjoy dishes such as three-cheese ravioli and salmon salad with cucumber, but it's not the food that has drawn a group of older women seated in the back. They've come for the computers. They are part of OldNet, a program that has seniors learning computer skills from high school students at a PC lab tucked in the back of the cafe. While other diners eat and converse, a half dozen women surf the Internet, chat with friends, and send e-mail to relatives. "These are the poster girls of the program," boasts teacher Izabel Marquez, pointing to one woman who just did her tax return and another that was the first in the bunch to get an MP3 player. OldNet is just one part of the Aprendiz "neighborhood as school" concept put forth by Brazilian journalist Gilberto Dimenstein. Dimenstein does more than just pair old and young. A modern-day Robin Hood, Dimenstein has wealthy schools pay for their students to get the volunteer experience working with seniors while Dimenstein uses that money to pay the poorer youths who take part. There's a common denominator--all the youths who go through his programs have to go to college. Click here to read all of the blogs in The Borders of Computing series. Aprendiz is not your typical digital inclusion center, but it does embrace most important characteristics of the successful ones. It has at least three key elements beyond the technology itself: a clear curriculum, community support, and a model of sustainability. While these elements sound straightforward, they are often missing in programs that attempt to close the digital divide, whether here in Latin America or in the U.S. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on digital inclusion projects in Latin America, however critics say that too many of the programs start and end with the technology. "The computer is just 10 percent of the cost of ensuring lower income people or schools use these tools and have access to the Internet" said Maria Eugenia Estenssoro, an Argentine senator from the country's Coalicion Civica, an opposition party. "You go to many places today and the computer lab is closed or they can't repair them or they become obsolete because they don't have a plan to renew or buy more," Estenssoro said. Too often, says Gartner analyst Luis Anavitarte, countries use all their technology resources to buy a large number of PCs. "A computer won't reduce the digital divide by itself," Anavitarte said. "It's a first step, but it's not even the most important one in my mind." Beyond the purchase, computers have to be fixed and kept up to date. "When a company buys technology, there has to be an implementation plan," Anavitarte said. "Governments should do exactly the same on a larger (scale)." In many cases, Latin American centers have outdated technology ranging from dot matrix printers to low-resolution screens, says Daniel Brandao of Brazil's Instituto Fonte. "That gives rise to frustration and the sensation that there is 'half digital inclusion,'" Brandao said. Sao Paolo's Cafe Aprendiz is home to both gourmet food and an Internet cafe for seniors. It's part of a "neighborhood-as-school" concept advanced by Brazilian journalist Gilberto Dimenstein. Without sustainability, the PCs often fall into disrepair and disuse. But sustainability has many factors. The computers have to be working, for sure, but the centers also need a clear aim. Among the most successful inclusion centers are the ones that have a purpose--whether it is helping students with homework, providing job training for the unemployed, or helping the disabled to communicate. Microsoft's research shows that the average utilization rate for PCs at telecenters in Brazil is just 21 percent. Meanwhile, many credit for-profit Internet cafes, or LAN houses as they are called in Brazil, with doing the real work of digital inclusion. It is here that many people get their first and most sustained access to technology.

Brazil: Digital inclusion, but how?

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