ACCESS TO INFORMATION
What type of policies, actions, do we need to agree and promote in order to take full advantage of the internet infrastructure so that people (specially in underdeveloped countries) can find the information they need in such a huge growing information ocean? How to help effective fishing? And how to include local knowledge, promote local content development?
Libraries as important places to help on capacity development but governments should work on facilitating a context for this: policies, infrastrucutre, standards, interoperability, etc.)
IFLA and other institutions, promoting the inclusion of Access to Information in the Post 2015 Development agenda. Lyon Dclaration.
Access to information covers both consumers and accessibility in respective capacities.
Introduction need to ehnance access to information with different stakeholders despite of the boundaries.
I think there is need to find the role of stakeholders in information delivery, the government are not playing there roles to the maximum in reference to African context - especially Uganda, the private sectors does more work on information access compared to the government.
Accessibility can be technical or un technical
The technical goes towards Infrastructure development of accessibility channels and the consumer access.
Challenges in Africa
- Connectivity
- Internet connection / Internet Access which is coupled with limited bandwidth
- Electricity challenges
- Inadequate skills to create content for instance use of mobile handsets to access content and not create the content.
-problems with infrastructure
- -technical
- -social
- people have the education and the technical skill, but they have no access to the right portals.
What can be done to enhance Accessibility
There is need for great content for visibility and add to existing content.
There is a challenge between government and private sector because they all lack strategy.
There is need to switch to Open Access tools to research and raise awareness for the students and the lecturers.
There is need to switch to digital libraries and use of open source libraries. (cost of access to books must go down)
Different challenges for different areas:
- Rural areas need real local information sharing systems (biggest challenge for access)
- example: local copy of wikipedia.
Information is published in many different locations and from a lot of sources.
How can the grassroots organisations get access to that information?
Academics have done a lot, but its not reaching the local level.
Localization of local information
There is need for creating localised information