More males are using Cape Town`s public ICT facilities, say the project facilitators.
This emerged during the ICT in Government conference in Gauteng this week.
Telkom and the City of Cape Town, which operate SmartCape Access Point Systems, highlighted the success of the facilities. They said the ICT platforms were piloted three years ago in six communities, and are now available in 99 libraries, catering for about 20 000 people. Ninety-five clinics have also been earmarked for roll-outs.
The City of Cape Town observes that 75% of visitors to the ICT platforms are males aged between 18 and 25. It was also noted that the most visited site is www.bmw.com.
A delegate at the ICT in local government summit suggested that girls could still be intimidated by ICT.
The SmartCape Access Point Systems project was initiated after research showed that only 14% of Cape Town citizens have access to PCs.
"Through this project, we aim to bridge the digital divide by ensuring all citizens of Cape Town have access to a basic PC," says Douglas Gelderbloem, City of Cape Town`s information systems and technology manager.
The project involves the installation of old PCs running open source software in public libraries.
Running in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, the systems are intended to promotes online interaction between government and the community as well as businesses and the community. Access to the PCs is free to all library members.
Telkom was in charge of implementing PC services. "We sought ways to make it practical for business to function effectively while providing connectivity to the community," says Troy Hector, Telkom`s government sales executive.
Members of the community and unemployed matriculants run the centres on a voluntary basis. "That way everyone takes ownership of the equipment. That is also why we decided to run with old PCs - so no one would steal them," says Gelderbloem.
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