Riina Vuorikari's Profile

In the present economic environment encouraging women to choose a scientific career will not only benefit them but also the economy in general and act as a multiplying growth factor. There is a big pool of unused potential out there!

On 3 March, the European Commission will receive a signed Code for Best Practices for Women in ICT by some of the major actors in the ICT sector. The Code provides for practices which aim not only to attract women in ICT but also to keep them in the sector and help them reach their full potential.

These include prominent display of a "Report Abuse" button, switching online profiles of those under 18 to private by default, making profiles of those under 18 not searchable and discouraging registrations from those too young to use a site.

As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.

a negative relationship

Life-long learning and promoting new skills such as media and ICT literacy will be key if Europe is to become a world leader in education and training by 2010, argues a European Parliament report approved yesterday (18 December).

The basic findings of the paper are:

* The impact of ICT on education and training is visible, but not as great as it could be. The extent to which businesses and public services have been transformed through ICT is not yet reflected in educational systems;
* Embedding ICT in education and training systems requires changes across the pedagogical, technological and organisational settings;
* The potential for ICT to help develop a 'learning continuum' between formal, informal and workplace learning is clear and has to be built upon.

Daniel, Kanwar and Uvalić-Trumbić, 2005

Daniel, Kanwar and Uvalić-Trumbić, 2005

Nationally and internationally, designers are challenged with meeting the needs of diverse populations, and they are faced with the dilemma of how to integrate culture in the design of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This paper reviews the literature in the fields of human–computer interaction and instructional design to argue that the present methods of integrating culture in design serve a limited scope of what culture can be in the design process. Two conclusions were drawn from this research. First, it is apparent that integrating culture in the design of ICTs serves a broader scope, from the generic or culture-neutral, to the specialised or culture-specific. Second, this review indicates that design has not caught up with technology and that to create for diverse audiences the process must be deliberate.