Summary of Webex session May16, 2006

I am preparing to investigate the possibility of informations systems becoming a major resource for redressing structural inequality.
I was putting together some information regarding the gender parity for wages of women working in technologically related fields compared to the wage gap in the general population. It seems that technology work is less likely to be reunerated differentially.
Stats Canada has some excellent resources on gender differences.
There is an analysis of the impact of technology for learning in a male dominated society..



Dr Gayol made some suggestions regarding the direction that I should be taking with respect to research for this KA.
The World Summit of Information Society
The Journal of Educational Technology and Society

There should be an effort to examine the economic impact of technology for at least three perspectives:

• international agreements and goals
• insitutional practices
• world bank initiatives in third world and Eastern European countries

Another perspective on technology could be gained by studying the experience of India where very young children are taught the basics of computer programming and develop the the creative skills skill sets for technology.
It is interesting to note that a Nicolas Negronte is being criticised for promoting technology in the third world. A recent report in The New Atlantis- A journal of Technology and Society skewered Negroponte's $100 Laptop initiative.

Of course, the blinkered enthusiasm of Negroponte and many others for “salvation by laptop” is the latest symptom of a delusion that afflicts millions: thinking that technology, and computing technology in particular, is the thing most needed to change the world for the better. ...
Yet rather than asking hard questions about unyielding poverty in an affluent world, it is far easier to praise “The Laptop That Will Save the World” (as the New York Times has called it) and to lionize Negroponte as a visionary (as ABC News has done). It is much more fun to speak of “integrated and seamless” educational experiences and “access to all the libraries of the world.” And it is nice to believe that one’s own favorite pastimes—like technological innovation—are what the most needy people most need.

So then why then is India such a hot spot for technology development, low wages aside.

Also of interest is the devleopment of information technologies in countries such as Finland and Hong Kong where very efficient practices have evolved.