Digital inclusion is the term used to encompass activities related to the achievement of an inclusive information society. It requires removing barriers to take up or adoption of particular digital technologies for individuals and groups that are currently not participating or have difficulty in participating for whatever reason.
The candidate will demonstrate understanding of key issues related to digital inclusion in the context of work activities that are at times non-routine or unfamiliar. As a result of reviewing their work, they will be able to identify issues related to digital inclusion including actions to increase accessibility to digital information. Any aspect that is unfamiliar will require support and advice from other people.
A work activity will typically be ‘non-routine' or unfamiliar because the task or context is likely to require some preparation, clarification or research to separate the components and to identify what factors need to be considered. For example, the economic effect of lock-in to proprietary products and standards, cost and implications of change, convenience, data protection, licensing restrictions, time available, impact on minority interest groups and e-safety. The analysis required will involve a number of steps and at times be non-routine or unfamiliar.
Example of context – Issues involved in using web pages to communicate and present information as opposed to a proprietary desktop publishing products.
Set the scene [21]
1.1 explain key types of intellectual property (trademarks, copyright, patents)
Additional information for teachers and assessors
1.2 describe how copyright and licensing work together (copyright ownership, public domain, creative commons, open source, proprietary, commercial)
There are two distinct elements to the protection of intellectual property using copyright. The copyright itself is the user's right to license their work and it lasts for a fixed time usually 70 years in the UK. Terms such as "copyright free" are misleading because the owner maintains the copyright and defines how the work can be used through the associated license while the copyright is unexpired. Work in the Public Domain [29] has no copyright. One reason might be because the copyright time has expired. A copyright owner can declare their work to be in the public domain or they can license it for free use or use with certain restrictions. The term copyleft was devised to emphasise licenses that are designed to be viral and spread the work because normally copyright is associated with restricting circulation of the work. The copyleft symbol [30] is a mirror image of the copyright symbol. There are sound commercial reasons for licensing that is viral. If the owner of the work wants maximum take up they need to remove barriers and a restrictive license is such a barrier. This can be seen in the music industry where an artist might release their work to make it popular so that more people will come to their live concerts. In the IT industry programmers will make contributions to a prestige project because it enhances their CV, Learners can provide evidence of their IT user skills by contributing to community projects but they need to understand the copyright and licensing implications. In general lower barriers promote inclusion.
One other limitation of copyright is "Fair Use" [31] (USA) (or Fair Dealing (UK)). Under fair use short extracts of copyright work can be freely used by critics, for education and general reference.
1.3 describe effects of end-user licenses (ownership, costs, lock-in, rights, responsibilities, inclusion, exclusion)
Copyright licenses [32] are complex and there are a wide range of them. At one end of the scale, licenses can be very restrictive and complex [33]. At the other end of the spectrum is the Public Domain [29] where one line can confer everyone the right to do anything that they like with the work. Clearly there is risk in using licensed work particularly for end-users that do not fully appreciate the legal implications of how they use the work. That also has implications for employers when employees might use a range of digital resources in the course of their work. In general, the simpler and more liberal the license is the less risk to the user and that low risk adds value in itself. Some useful broad classifications of license are: Proprietary, viral, liberal and restrictive.
1.4 describe the effects of terms and conditions for using digital systems (ownership, costs, lock-in, rights, responsibilities, inclusion, exclusion)
Interoperability is important because without it monopolies can arise increasing prices and excluding the economically disadvantaged. By definition interoperability is digitally inclusive because it enables anyone to develop resources that can be included in the common information pool.
2.1 name important iso standards for data storage and transfer (eg .html, .svg, .png, .jpg, .mpg, .txt, .pdf, .odf)
ISO standards [48] are mandated by world trade agreements [49]. This emphasises the importance of open standards in providing a fair playing field for competition. Historically, IT has been an exception in that de facto proprietary standards for data quickly grew up as individual suppliers tried to establish monopolies on particular types of application. The shift from proprietary to open standards [50] in mature IT products is one of the most significant technological changes since the start of the microelectronic age. It has been catalysed by the Internet and supported by industry sponsored organisations such as OASIS [51] as well as large companies such as Google and IBM. The internet is fundamentally based on open standards with the World Wide Web Consortium [52] their custodian. This has enabled many providers to have competing products that interoperate [53]. HTML [54] is the standard that enables web browsers from different providers to consistently display web pages.
2.4 describe an important protocol and its significance (HTTP, TCP/IP)
Protocols are rules for exchanging information between IT systems. They are important because a system receiving information has to understand the way that information is being sent. So both the sending and receiving systems need to agree on the format of the data in the information. Note that the details of the content are not important, the protocol is just saying things like "this is the start of new information", "this information contains so many bits of information", "this is the end of the information", "this information is corrupt please send it again". Once the information is received intact, it is the job of a program on the receiving system to make sense of the data in the file. So for interoperability [75] we need systems that have protocols that enable them to send and receive information from other devices reliably no matter who makes the device. It is easy to see why a proprietary protocol could create problems. If one company owns the protocol they could either monopolise the hardware of all the devices sending and receiving information or they could charge a royalty on every message sent.
Skype is a good example of a VOIP [76] service based on proprietary protocols. It could be that without the proprietary protocols Skype would not be profitable. The danger is that if Skype took over global telecommunications as a monopoly provider, the owners could command a substantial premium from users. If it is quick and easy to install alternative VOIP systems (and there are already a number competitors including open alternatives [77]) the lock-in to Skype will be weak and so the scope to exploit the monopoly will be weak. Skype supports inclusion because it is cross-platform and it lowers the cost of telephony providing disruptive competition to the traditional suppliers. It is possible though that Skype could work against inclusion in the future.
A good example of a protocol that has promoted inclusion is http [78] (hypertext transfer protocol) that you see in every web URL. This is an open protocol devised by Sir Tim Berners-Lee [79]. It enables web servers to communicate with web clients so that web pages can be requested by a client machine and sent from a server. Apache [80] is an Open Source web server based on the HTTP standard and MS IIS [81] is a proprietary product based on the standard. Again it is important not to have a proprietary monopoly or prices are likely to rise excluding those that can not afford to buy the licenses.
Probably the most important protocol on the internet is TCP/IP [82]. This protocol enables packets of information to be reliably sent around the internet working with the IP address system that enables URLs to find information for users. HTTP and TCP/IP are open standards so all companies can use them on an even footing. This helps to ensure no-one can monopolise the internet and this in turn promotes digital inclusion.
The capacity to participate in on-line communities, safely, enables digital inclusion because such communities provide learning and support for any members. This requires the physical access to the network but also the education and support to be able to do it safely.
3.1 identify communities that can support IT user skills (support communities, development communities)
Specialist communities have grown up with the internet to support a wide range of technologies and interests. IT users should know how to search for such communities and how to participate in them with due regard to safety. This will contribute to their on-going lifelong learning and enable them to keep digitally literate as technologies develop and change. This will benefit their employers as well as themselves, improving competitiveness and inclusion on the development of useful technologies. They should be able to identify at least one community that would be beneficial to their work. There are literally 10's of thousands of communities to choose from. Try putting Inkscape community into a search and you will find links to the community supporting the free Inkscape drawing application.
3.2 identify communities by type (Open source, Creative Commons, business networks, social networks, sector specific)
3.3 join a relevant community (set up an account, check terms and conditions)
3.4 contribute usefully to an on-line community (information relevant to IT users)
3.5 describe safety issues associated with participation in on-line communities (Good citizens and exploiters, identity theft, persistence of information)
The basic theme of safety is that many people participate in on-line communities and simple statistics mean that some individuals and possibly even groups are there to do harm. This means that disclosure of any personal details has some associated risk. A starting point could be to do a simple risk analysis. There are many sources of tips about e-safety [83] and a lot would be seen to be common sense but it is well known that common sense is not all that common and what is common sense in hindsight might not have appeared as such at the time particularly for young people. Good citizens in a community are there to be helpful and for the benefit of others. Bad citizens tend at best to simply take from the community without putting anything back and at worst might be disinterested in the topics for discussion and simply want to get access to members that they think they can exploit. That exploitation could be financial, physical, psychological or emotional. All learners should know about the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre [83] site.
Some links related to cyber safety
http://www.cyber-safety.com/ [92]
Related to Facebook [83]
Related to Google [83]
General Teen [83]
Bullying [83]
You Tube simple [83]
You Tube [83]
4.1 Identify common accessibility issues for digital information (physical disabilities, economic constraints, geographical constraints, educational constraints)
Digital inclusion requires considering the full range of possible reasons [93] that an individual would have difficulties in participating. Economic reasons are covered in detail elsewhere. Physical disabilities can usually be mitigated by providing different input devices but the concept of "Design for All [94]" is intended to ensure that initial design is inclusive rather than adding facilities as an after-thought later. There are examples here [95]. Adapted keyboards, touch screens, and speech are examples of technology adaptations to support inclusion. Usually these non-standard devices are expensive which brings back cost-constraints. W3C publish detailed content accessibility guidelines [96]. It is not expected that the learner is fully conversant with all the details but they should be aware of a range of possible issues and demonstrate an ability to use relevant sources for reference.
4.2 Describe a use case that takes account of restriced access (provide information in open formats, ensure colours are viewable, reduce files sizes to support slow internet access, make available free software tools, provide text with graphics for web pages)
To satisfy this criterion candidates will need to show that they have applied accessibility principles to their own work. They should document at least one project showing how they have taken into account digital inclusion in the design and implementation. They might make information available in open formats as well as in popular proprietary formats so that other people are not forced to buy particular applications. They can describe how the colours used to present textual information have been chosen for high contrast and away from colours that becom indestinguishable for colour blind people. They could provide links to free software tools that can access and edit the information they provide, they can license work so that it is free to modify and share. When providing images in web pages they might provide text in order that text to speech synthesis can work. They might check that their information is compact and will download reasonably quickly on a slow internet connection. The key requirement is too take a digital project that is part of their normal work and describe the steps they have taken to make it digitally inclusive.
Links
[1] http://theingots.org/community/sites/default/files/uploads/user4/PupilFNC7.pdf
[2] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#1
[3] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#2
[4] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#3
[5] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#4
[6] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#1.1
[7] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#2.1
[8] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#3.1
[9] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#4.1
[10] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#1.2
[11] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#2.2
[12] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#3.2
[13] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#4.2
[14] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#1.3
[15] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#2.3
[16] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#3.3
[17] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#1.4
[18] http://theingots.org/community/Digital_inclusion#2.4
[19] http://theingots.org/community/node/15546#3.4
[20] http://theingots.org/community/node/15546#3.5
[21] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFdcPc-4Ris
[22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark
[23] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
[24] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
[25] http://www.wikipedia.org/
[26] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
[27] http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/softwarepatents.xml
[28] http://www.sacredcowdung.com/archives/2005/06/myth_patents_pr.html
[29] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain
[30] http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Copyleft_symbol2.svg/220px-Copyleft_symbol2.svg.png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Copyleft_symbol2.svg&h=220&w=220&sz=8&tbnid=3UA3wiCFI1boUM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcopyleft%2Bsymbol&zoom=1&q=copyleft+symbol&hl=en&usg=__KcsR69qdsuAoVCZM9IZ0D9aHlpo=&sa=X&ei=4CqPTNOZHYHEswaXqOHuCw&sqi=2&ved=0CC8Q9QEwBA
[31] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn_jC4FNDo
[32] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Copyright_licenses
[33] http://www.mentor.com/terms_conditions/embedded_software_license
[34] http://swik.net/License:proprietary
[35] http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/notabene/qwerty.html
[36] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_license
[37] http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
[38] http://creativecommons.org/
[39] http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
[40] http://www.android.com/market/#app=com.mobileroadie.TaylorSwift
[41] http://www.samanage.com/solutions/license_compliance.html
[42] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q25-S7jzgs&feature=fvw
[43] http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-152363-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
[44] http://www.lastminute.com/lmn/pages/tandc_popup.jhtml
[45] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie
[46] http://spam.abuse.net/overview/whatisspam.shtml
[47] http://www.ipit-update.com/copy18.htm
[48] http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html
[49] http://www.standardsinfo.net/info/livelink/fetch/2000/148478/6301438/inttrade.html
[50] http://www.talkstandards.com/tag/open-standards/
[51] http://www.oasis-open.org/home/index.php
[52] http://www.w3.org/
[53] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interoperability
[54] http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
[55] http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html
[56] http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp
[57] http://www.odfalliance.org/
[58] http://www.webmasterpro.de/portal/news/2010/02/05/international-openoffice-market-shares.html
[59] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format
[60] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_text
[61] http://www.jpeg.org/
[62] http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/
[63] http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/
[64] http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=JPeg+examples&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=3peQTLnnHYW6jAfL1KTiDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDgQsAQwAw&biw=996&bih=544
[65] http://palmzlib.sourceforge.net/images/dir.html
[66] http://theingots.org/community/sites/default/files/uploads/user4/teacup.jpg
[67] http://www.inkscape.org/
[68] http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html
[69] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_(computing)
[70] http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/02/25/online_video_editing_the_best.htm
[71] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3
[72] http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/alcatelmicrosoft-mp3-patent-row-apple-could-be-the-next-target/281
[73] http://www.myformatfactory.com/OGG-MP3
[74] http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/PortablePlayers
[75] http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci212372,00.html
[76] http://www.voip.org.uk/
[77] http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/Open+Source+VOIP+Software
[78] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol
[79] http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/
[80] http://www.apache.org/
[81] http://www.iis.net/overview
[82] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_Control_Protocol
[83] http://theingots.org/community/node/15546/edit
[84] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-licensing
[85] http://www.openclipart.org/
[86] http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home
[87] http://www.facebook.com/
[88] http://twitter.com/
[89] http://www.linkedin.com/
[90] http://www.google.co.uk/
[91] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netiquette
[92] http://www.cyber-safety.com/
[93] http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-roadmap/
[94] http://www.designforall.org/
[95] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_for_All_(in_ICT)#Examples_of_good_practice
[96] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
[97] http://www.sky.com/
[98] http://www.nomensa.com/
[99] http://www.bsigroup.com/en/Standards-and-Publications/How-we-can-help-you/Consumers/Accessibilty-day/BS-8878-form/Thank-you/
[100] http://www.djangoproject.com/