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Digital Inclusion - The Vision and the Reality

Authors:
Leela Damodaran
Wendy Olphert
Teresa Gilbertson
Jatinder Sandhu
Mary Craig

Keywords: Digital society; digital inclusion; accessibility; participation

Abstract:
The benefits of a digitally inclusive society are vast and the need for such inclusion is now a requirement for full participation in our society. While the basic concept of universal digital inclusion is simple, the reality is a long way from the vision. Despite efforts to reduce it, inequality of access still exists. The beneficiaries of a digital society are not just the individual, but all stakeholders in the wider society. While the challenges to achieve a fully inclusive digital society are considerable, the knowledge of how to create such a society already exists. The creation of local venues for inclusively designed ICT (Information and Communications Technology), support and learning in familiar places along with the harnessing of political will could make such a society a reality rather than a vision. With the cooperation of all stakeholders, actualisation of the vision of a digitally inclusive society, while challenging, will yield opportunities that eclipse the cost of implementation.

Pages: 22 to 28

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2015

Publication date: February 22, 2015

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-3956

ISBN: 978-1-61208-381-0

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Dates: from February 22, 2015 to February 27, 2015