Online in Brazil’s Shanty Towns
The message of these two small examples is that when given the chance people in poor communities use the internet to gain economic advantage in much the same way as anyone else. Babilonia is one of many favelas in Brazil targeted for help by an aid charity CDI, Centre for Digital Inclusion, which works with poor communities to increase their access to technology.
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But Kathi Kitner, who works an anthropologist for the computer chipmaker Intel, says it’s not enough simply to provide the technology. To work, digital inclusion projects must come with measures to support poor people’s efforts to create income from using the internet. She says there needs to be an awareness of cultural sensitivities. For example, in India, she says, rural caste systems are still strong so it’s important to know where connected computers will be located as there are places that poor lower caste groups are not allowed to enter. She also cites the example of an internet access project in northern Brazil that may have exacerbated local inequalities.
