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4.5.2.3 Empowering communities with information literacy and the skills
necessary to master new media, the Internet and multimedia
In order to create a demand-driven leT consumer community in rural areas,
hindrances to accessibility must be significantly reduced, either before or
during the provision of the technology. This necessitates training and skill
enhancement initiatives within other participatory development programs
such as focus group discussions, direct interviews and workshops (Bessette,
2004; Harris 2004:39). In support of this view, authors such as Ballantyne,
Labelle and Rudgard (2000) also argue that the use of ICTs is limited by lack
of awareness, insufficient skills and training, and a shortage of the capital
resources required to purchase and maintain equipment.
The study sought to determine the types of skills and capacity building
techniques required by rural women so as to promote the use and
management of ICT projects.
4.5.2.4 Encouraging the collection, classification, preservation and
dissemination of indigenous knowledge and cultural information artefacts,
and fostering appropriate local mechanisms for sustaining the equipment,
services and operations of community
based ICTs. (Harris: 2004:38)
Harris (2004) stipulates that traditional remedies should be recorded in
databases and afforded protection from foreign patent applications. The
author cites examples of stringent rules imposed by the state government of
Sarawak, Malaysia, over the collection of flora samples of a particular tree
that has promising results for an HIVjAIDS cure. Another example is the
Honey Bee network in India, which collects local innovations, inventions and
remedies, stores them online, and helps owners obtain incomes through
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