A meaning and usage of a multipurpose community telecentre as a mean of social integration in this lesson is analyzed by presenting UK case.
The 3 years duration project, stated in 1994, was dedicated to strengthen the cultural spirit of informational literacy of the Powys County (Wales) population. The main purpose of the project was to satisfy the needs of people, of the community, as well as those of small and medium business enterprises, and to increase and assure the accessibility to informational and telecomunicational technologies for the society. During the first years of the project, the greatest attention was paid to the stimulation of understanding of information technologies and to the implementation of the programme of social integration, as well as to the education of the local society. At present, the telecentres play already a major role in the economical and social development of the County. The telecentres established at Powys County are funded through the European Regional Development Fund. In such way, creating the possibility for everybody to use information technologies, as well as other services.
While speaking about social integration, we should emphasize the importance of local voluntary organisations. Powys County Council does not manage any telecentres, it harnesses and focuses the locally articulated support for the ideology. In brief, the support of self-motivated voluntary effort is the key to success of the telecentre network. For this reason, huge efforts are put into the development and support of these emergent community offices and embryonic businesses, both, technically and managerially.
The activity of telecentres is dedicated to all members of the community. Their creation and activity is dedicated to strengthen social integration. Thus, not only the unemployed and youth find the support in these centres, but also the disabled. A telecentre for the disabled, which is situated near, is like a window onto the outer world. Additional possibilities created by information technologies allow the disabled to feel full-fledged members of the society. They get all required support in telecentres, here they acquire self-confidence, meet other people as the barriers between the disabled and the rest of the society are destroyed by information technologies.
One of the main group of telecentres users in the United Kingdom is the disabled. They are not only taught to use information technologies, but they can also receive the latest information about the state policy on social integration of the disabled. Some telecentres have staff of advisors for the disabled, who help the disadvantaged to overcome their disabilities, present ideas and recommendations where these people could apply their knowledge and skills. This activity is very important, because in this way, the support system for the disabled is created, and they are stimulated for further more active social activity.
Telecentres provide the possibility for the disabled to gain the knowledge needed in social life. They not only learn computer literacy, but also, in some centres, they have possibilities to gain professional knowledge. For example, in a Castel-y-Dail telecentre in Powys County (UK), the disabled with mental disabilities are taught wood work and pet care. It is very important that the disabled would feel their personal importance, that s/he is able to do something, and that his/her disability is only the reason directing the sphere of his/her activity, but not isolating him/her from the world.
Another important factor in social integration of the disabled is communication. That is why telecentres for the disabled also become the institutions that open the windows onto the outer world and provide the possibility to communicate with other disadvantaged people. Informational technologies play an important role here. Besides e-mail or the world wide net WWW, that provide the possibility to communicate a synchronically, video conferences allowing real time communication are becoming more and more popular. Nevertheless, the video conferencing network, with telecentres included, has to be created to make such communication possible. There are various technical solutions of this problem. The simplest way is to purchase video conferencing cameras WebCam of a reasonable price and to use popular and accessible to everybody programming equipment MS NetMeeting. This particular solution was chosen by Powys County in the United Kingdom. They intend to supply telecentres with such cameras, and, having installed the programming equipment, to provide the possibility for attendants of the centres to communicate in a videoconference way. Such activity is also stimulated by directions of European Union.
