- Skill development should be orientated to complementing and facilitating
home, and to a lesser degree, workplace usage. These programs should
begin with basic computer set-up and usage (how to plug in a PC and
turn it on/off), purchasing a computer/refurbished computer and available
non-computer orientated home access options (Web TV). Computer and Internet
usage-related software skills development should build from this base
and be transferable to and facilitate home and workplace usage. Creating
linkages between skills programming and usage from primary locations
will increase awareness of the changing role of access as a strategic
component of a basket of information and service channels and enhance
usage by those not yet connected, as well as reduce the belief public
access sites are an unappealing peripheral alternative to home or workplace
Internet usage.
- Disproportionate availability of high-speed Internet infrastructure
is presenting an additional divide between those households who have
Internet access. This emerging divide is most acutely felt between rural
and urban households. Rural Canadians are significantly less likely
to be able to subscribe to high-speed Internet services and are consequently
unable to access a substantively similar level of home access enjoyed
by urban Canadians. Continue investment in broadband infrastructure
will be a key determinant of the full inclusion of rural communities
in Canada’s evolving information society and global economy.
- The principle of equality is an important driver behind initiatives
to ensure all Canadians are able to access the Internet and the opportunities
presented by the global online community. This same principle, however,
requires that those who choose to remain offline retain the ability
to access substantively similar government-related information and services
as those made available to Internet users. As such, government at all
levels must continue to maintain a multi-channel approach to government
information and service delivery.
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