“I recently blogged about a EU CARDIAC meeting in San Sebastian, discussing low income – ‘Identify human factors barriers to health, education, and participation of low income groups.’ stating that ‘There are significant and untapped opportunities to use technology better on behalf of citizens, communities, and digitally disenfranchised groups.'”

'Raspberry Tart' from the Raspberry Pi Logo Competition

I actually said  that the opportunities created by digital technologies are not enjoyed by the whole of society, indeed, there is a strong correlation between digital exclusion and social exclusion. There are significant and untapped opportunities to use technology better on behalf of citizens, communities, and digitally disenfranchised groups. However, to achieve inclusion, systems must be created seeing the human factor as a part of an integrated solution from the outset, not as an adjunct but also not as a focus. In addition, the multiplicity and ubiquity of devices and their interfaces are key to successful inclusion, and systems must be tailored to what users actually require and will use; as opposed to what organisations and government require and use. For instance, uses on low income may not be able to afford general-purpose computational facilities and therefore it may be more appropriate to deliver applications and content via other mediums such as mobile devices, games consoles, digital television, or other as yet undefined applications and devices. Only by making sure there is access to, what now seems to be compulsory digital interactivity in areas such as education and health care, can we make sure that the next generation have better chances than the current one.

Hey Presto – along comes the the Raspberry Pi Foundation who are planning to ‘develop, manufacture and distribute an ultra-low-cost computer, for use in teaching computer programming to children. We expect this computer to have many other applications both in the developed and the developing world.’ The system uses the TV and costs less than $25.00, you can see it in action on the BBC, thanks to Duncan Hull for this.