Intel is unique in that it has research
and development teams (Intel Research) comprised of social scientists, interaction designers and human factors engineers whose goal is to determine how people are using technology and then champion technology innovation and development within Intel that focuses on addressing these real-world needs.
Intel Research recently began one such project that looks at the role of women in relation to Information and Communication Technology for Development or ICT4D. This term refers to governments, private and public organizations who are working together to address how technology can overcome the barriers of the digital divide, or the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those without.
Intel’s research project is addressing gender inequalities and the economic development of women through providing access to shared computing in telecenters in rural India and urban Chile. Telecenters are equipped with one or more Internet-enabled computers and provide educational services through computer training. |
Intel’s research found out that although the telecenters were targeted at poor women, an “emerging middle class” of women (such as stay-at-home mothers and young, unmarried women) became the dominant users of the center. Participating in the telecenters is symbolically viewed as a “stamp” of reaching a middle-class stature and is linked to a women’s aspirations for herself and her children.
This study revealed a deeper understanding of how technology is viewed and its symbolic value for the world’s emerging middle class of women. |
