Section Six
Tools and Strategies: Responding to the Issues

Overview
As we have seen throughout this discussion paper, factors affecting women's use of learning technologies are connected to structures and decision making at a range of levels. As well, the rapid changes in computer and communications technologies make it challenging to keep a current picture and to understand the implications of new developments.

In the midst of this complexity, it is important to remember that all these developments result from people making decisions, even though they are sometimes portrayed as the inevitable outcome of "technological forces." In many cases, these decisions take place in a context shaped by various levels of government policy. This means that it is possible, as citizens, to follow the thread of decisions until we reach the level of public accountability. It also helps to have a road map, a sense of the various components of the picture and how they interrelate. This section explores how we can develop our own road maps to the issues that affect women's use of learning technologies and how we can reach decision makers.

The strategies suggested here can be undertaken by individuals, by formal and informal groups that share and coordinate tasks, and by networks of groups using both conventional forms of communication and some of the new technologies. There are already many examples of women's networks using technologies for communication beyond phone trees to fax trees, e-mail, list serves and computer conferencing.

Finding and Sharing Information

Keep a Journal
Keep track of events, policy announcements, announcements of partnerships, funding allocations and so on as they appear in newspapers, newsletters, electronic bulletin boards. Maintain a clipping file of those that are of most interest. To make this more manageable, identify areas of interest among a group of people and set up a system in which each person keeps track of one area and keeps others informed of relevant items of interests. Develop a mechanism for sharing information, perhaps by preparing summaries of recent events and comments that can be circulated by letter, fax, computer mail, notices in relevant locations, and so on.

Keep in Touch with the Local Picture
As Menzies, Innis and many others have pointed out, the local picture is our ground, our touchstone, against which we can test the outcome of strategies and initiatives. It is important to maintain a "local reality file" to document and share experience and information on the local level, both to support local initiatives and to contribute to the bigger picture.

For example, if your community has a learning centre, collect information about how it is used, by whom, and when; find out who is not using it and why, and assemble information that can support recommendations for improved access and usage. If there are initiatives that may affect local access to learning (for example on the part of telephone or cable companies or educational providers), begin with local representatives to explore the potential impact and follow up, if necessary, to identify the level at which decisions are made.