Title: Demystifying Internet
Author: Linda Raftree
Source: Wait… What?
Date (published): 25/05/2010
Date (accessed): 26/05/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
I was in a workshop in the Upper West Region of Ghana this past week. The goal was two-fold. 1) to train a small group of staff, ICT teachers and local partners on social media and new technologies for communications; and 2) to help them prepare for a project that will support 60 students to use arts and citizen media in youth-led advocacy around issues that youth identify.

I was planning to talk about how social media is different from traditional media, focusing on how it offers an opportunity to democratize information, and how we can support youth to use social media to reduce stereotypes about them and to bring their voices and priorities into global discussions. But all those theories about social media being the great equalizer, the Internet allowing everyone’s voices to flourish and yadaya, don’t mean a lot unless barriers like language, electricity, gender, and financial resources are lowered and people can actually access the Internet regularly

Title: Training on Communication and Information Technologies, Employment and Youth: The Case of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico
Author Editor: Judith Mariscal, Antonio Jose Junqueira Botelho, Luis Gutierrez
Pages: 12 pp.
ISSN: 1544-7529
Source: Information Technologies & International Development, Volume 5, Number 2, Summer 2009, 19–30
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Date (published): 10/07/2009
Date (accessed): 13/11/2009
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML and pdf)
Abstract:
As information and communication technologies (ICTs) become widely used in most economic sectors, there are increasing opportunities for marginalized groups to join new productive processes. These career advancement opportunities are particularly attractive for poor, young individuals; however, this increased adoption may also widen social and economic gaps by providing few access points to already-marginalized groups. This study examines ICT training by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in three countries in Latin America: Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. Specifically, the study analyzes the use and effects of such training as a strategy for integrating marginalized youth groups into the knowledge-based economy. NGOs may play important roles as liaisons for effective adoption of ICTs. Professional training skills required by current market demands are, undoubtedly, a factor that contributes to the ability of marginalized youth to search for and secure employment. Today, these groups are socially and economically excluded. They face numerous obstacles, including a lack of both the quality education and the skills currently required by industries using ICTs and the support networks to obtain either employment or self-employment. ICT training offers unique opportunities for integrating marginalized youth into the new knowledge-based economy.

Title: ICT skills at the intermediate level in South Africa: Insights into private provision and labour market demand
Authors: Salim Akoojee, Fabian Arends, Joan Roodt
Pages: 72 pp.
ISBN: 0-7969-2198-9
Publisher: HSRC Press
Date published: 2007
Date accessed: 18/06/2009
Type of information: research publication
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf, 1,1mb)
Abstract:
Both the government and the private sector have recognised the invaluable role that information and communication technology (ICT) plays in responding to national socio-economic imperatives. The importance of ICT skills to the economic, social and political trajectory in a globalised context cannot therefore be over-emphasised. The potential of, and limitations to, intermediate-level ICT skills in so far as they contribute to South Africa’s human resource capacity is considered essential to the current form and future trajectory of the country’s development.

This research monograph examines the supply of, and demand for, intermediate-level ICT skills in South Africa through a study of selected training providers, giving insight into key elements of demand. People interested in current developments in the ICT training field, as well as legislators and regulators of the industry, will find this research monograph essential reading.