You Can’t Just say, ‘Here’s a Computer.’ You Can’t Just Say, ‘Here’s Cheap Internet,’You’ve Got to Teach a Man to Fish.

Every time I talk about transliteracy I mention this problem.

Providing access to highspeed broadband is only the first step.You have to think about the cost of hardware, the learning curve to use the hardware effectively.  After that is learning how to navigate the internet.  It’s not intuitive, there is no instruction manual and there is no formal training.

It is great that there is a national broadband plan but it does next to nothing to address the issues related the access and training once high speed is availabe.

So I love this quote from Waz: Top gadgets encourage broadband adoption

“You can’t just say, ‘Here’s a computer.’ You can’t just say, ‘Here’s cheap Internet,'” he said. “You’ve got to teach a man to fish.”

Read More:

• FCC’s Broadband Action Agenda Fails to Address Training and Education
• Librarians Play a Vital Role in 21st Century Literacies
• Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy Warns of “Second Class Citizens” in the Digital Age
• International Briefing on the U.S. National Broadband Plan
• Study: How The American Public Benefits from Internet and Computer Access at Public Libraries
• FCC Proposes Digital Literacy Corps
• Digital Literacy Skills Essential to Closing Broadband Gap #knightcomm