Equality does not end at “access” unless we define “access” to mean physical access (to a computer or some other device) with sufficient bandwidth, and the ability to use the resources effectively. Relevance of the resources is important, as is the freedom to adapt/modify and share alike.
The barriers alluded to previously apply.
Some General Comments
Early Adoption of FLOSS by the OER Community
The OER community is quick to adopt FLOSS and develop and integrate features to support their learners. Recently, this has been incorporation of Web 2.0 features (mashups, use of resources such as del.icio.us 1 , Flickr 2 , YouTube 3 , GoogleMaps 4 , etc.). This is all great – where sufficient bandwidth is available at all times.
Bandwidth and Learning Resources
Recognising the bandwidth issue in much of the developing world, a group of people came up with the idea of “Education in a Box” which later became “Education out of the Box” - a collection of CDs containing FLOSS and free/open content for Education. The intention was to set up a web site with resources from which one could select and download for use in a local setting. The recipients would be free to use, copy, learn with, adapt, improve and share - i.e. take control of their own destinies and offer professional services (such as localisation, redistribution, support, etc.) enhancing the potential impact of these resources on meeting local needs.
The project did not receive direct funding but was supported indirectly by the Developer Roadshows (OSI, OSISA 5 and OSIWA 6 ). It is a “libre project” - anyone is free to take the idea 7 further in their own way.
Initiatives in South Africa which provide FLOSS and free/open content, which have exchanged notes, include the Digital Doorway 8 (minimally invasive education), the FreedomToaster 9 , and tuXlabs 10 . The latter started out deploying FLOSS computer labs in schools, developing an effective methodology for doing this. At last count there were over 240 schools with tuXlabs. SchoolNet Namibia 11 has done something similar with over 340 schools so far. The FreedomToaster provides FLOSS and some free educational content to anyone who arrives with blank CDs/DVDs. The digital doorway provides access to people in environments not normally suitable for computers (on account of crime and vandalism for example).
For connectivity within a community, the WirelessAfrica 12 project suggests ways in which a community may set up a network. If there is high bandwidth to the Internet available somewhere in the community, everyone may gain access via the mesh.
Computer labs may not be a great way to support learning with ICT in schools with limited resources. One laptop per child 13 is one alternative poised to be launched in several countries in the near future. Mobile phone penetration tends to be much higher in developing countries than for personal computers. MobilED 14 is one project exploring use of mobile phones in education.
In terms of language barriers, there are research projects looking at tools to help with translation, text to speech, etc. See for example, the work of the Meraka Institute's HLT group 15.
Regarding FLOSS capacity building see Open ICDL 16 and Learn Linux 17 as two examples in South Africa. More broadly, a new project is starting to gain momentum: FLOSS4Edu 18 .
The golden thread running through all the initiatives above is the emphasis on FLOSS and sharing the learning - libre knowledge.
I hope the trend generalises towards a vision such as “Enabling individuals and communities to empower themselves with knowledge, towards wisdom, for a sustainable world”.
Defining “equality” is difficult, and the challenges around achieving it are significant. It seems to me that best we can do is endeavour to maximise the options and opportunities for individuals and the freedoms to take these opportunities, whatever their context.
The reading list below is indicative of the perspective of this posting.
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