Learning technology and disability-overcoming barriers to inclusion: evidence from a multicountry study

The paper uses data from a 15-country study to discuss the factors which affect the use of Information and communication technologies (ICT) learning technologies by disabled people and consequently their access to education. Significant differences were found both between and within countries: income and language were the main factors affecting availability. Thus the greatest availability was in the higher income English speaking countries and the richer European countries. The main barriers to technology use included cost, lack of funding and lack of information. A particular disparity in technology access was found between the English speaking European population and Aboriginal speakers of indigenous languages in Australia, with considerably greater access by the former than the latter group. A number of recommendations are presented to increase access to learning and assistive technologies by disabled people. They include encouragement for developers to produce free of charge (minority language) technologies, research on more effective provision of technologies and personal assistance, assistive technology centres in all learning institutions, simple funding mechanisms and a fund to support technology provision in the poorer countries

The reach and impact of social marketing and reproductive health communication campaigns in Zambia

Background: Like many sub-Saharan African countries, Zambia is dealing with major health issues, including HIV/AIDS, family planning, and reproductive health. To address reproductive health problems and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia, several social marketing and health communication programs focusing on reproductive and HIV/AIDS prevention programs are being implemented. This paper describes the reach of these programs and assesses their impact on condom use. Methods: This paper assesses the reach of selected radio and television programs about family planning and HIV/AIDS and of communications about the socially marketed Maximum condoms in Zambia, as well as their impact on condom use, using data from the 2001-2002 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey. To control for self-selection and endogeneity, we use a two-stage regression model to estimate the effect of program exposure on the behavioural outcomes. Results: Those who were exposed to radio and television programs about family planning and HIV/AIDS were more likely to have ever used a condom (OR = 1.16 for men and 1.06 for women). Men highly exposed to Maximum condoms social marketing communication were more likely than those with low exposure to the program to have ever used a condom (OR = 1.48), and to have used a condom at their last sexual intercourse (OR = 1.23). Conclusion: Findings suggest that the reproductive health and social marketing campaigns in Zambia reached a large portion of the population and had a significant impact on condom use. The results suggest that future reproductive health communication campaigns that invest in radio programming may be more effective than those investing in television programming, and that future campaigns should seek to increase their impact among women, perhaps by focusing on the specific constrains that prevent females from using condoms

Mapping the Future of Scholarly Publishing, First Edition.

The National Science Communication Institute (nSCI) hosted a conference in late 2013 to explore the broad issue related to scholarly publishing. The Open Science Initiative (OSI) is a working group convened by the National Science Communication Institute (nSCI) in October 2014 to discuss the issues regarding improving open access for the betterment of science and to recommend possible solutions. The following document summarizes the wide range of issues, perspectives and recommendations from this group’s online conversation during November and December 2014 and January 2015. The 112 participants who signed up to participate in this conversation were drawn mostly from the academic, research, and library communities. Most of these 112 were not active in this conversation, but a healthy diversity of key perspectives was still represented. Individual participants may not agree with all of the viewpoints described herein, but participants agree that this document reflects the spirit and content of the conversation