Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publisher
Assocation for the Advancement of Computing Education
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
School
School of Education and Arts
Abstract
Universal service obligations (USOs) are designed to ensure that citizens of a modern state get access to basic services, from telecommunications to postal services. USOs are interventions in the marketplace to ensure that inequalities caused by geography or income or other impediments to access are compensated for. What constitutes access to 'basic' telecommunications, however, is being challenged by new technologies and new understandings about how people use telecommunications and media. In the past the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) was the 'basic' service. However, in this paper the authors argue that internet telecommunications makes 'persona' an important part of definition of USOs and in the delivery of essential telecommunications to modern digital communities and digital citizens.
Access Rights
free_to_read
Comments
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of: Balnaves, M. & Luca, J. (2006). Protecting the Digital Citizen: the impact of digital personae on ideas of universal access to knowledge and community. In E. Pearson & P. Bohman (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2006 (pp. 2918-2923). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Copyright by AACE. Reprinted from the Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2006 with permission of AACE (http://www.aace.org) Available here