ඇමරිකාවේ චිත්‍රපටි බලා, දේශීය සදාචාරය අමතක කරගත් මාගේ සමහර මිත්‍රයන් කියන්නේ, “වැරදිකරු යැයී ඔප්පු කරන තෙක් ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයෙකූ නිර්දෝශී බවය”. (Innocent Until Proven Guilty). බොහෝ දෙනෙකු නොදන්නා කාරනය වන්නේ, ලංකාවේ නීතී ක්‍රමයට අනුව, අපි සැමෝම නිර්දෝශීයැයී ඔප්පු කරන තෙක් වරද කරුවන් වෙන බවය. වරද ඔප්පු නොකර, සැක පිට පමණක් වැලිකඩ යැවිය හැකි බවය. නිවරදිකරු බව ඔප්පු කර නිදහස් වීම, සැකකරුගේ යුතුකම බවය.

ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්යැයී සැක පිට දෙමල කොල්ලන්ව අල්ලා හිර බත් කන්න දෙන්නේ මේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය අනුවය. විටින් විටේ, නඩු අසා නිදහස් කරන ලෙස හෝ දඩුවම් කරනල ලෙස ඉල්ලා ඒ දෙමලුන් උපවාස (උපවාස හූ හූ! අපි නොදන්න උපවාස) කරන්නේ ඒ නිසාය. දෙමලුන්ට මොනවා වුනත් මොකද. ඔය දෙමලූ ගැන අපි කොහොමත් ලොකුවට තකන්න ඕනෑ නැහැ.

පහුගිය වංගියේ කාන්තාවක් වසර විස්සක් නඩුත් නැතිව, බඩුත් නැතිව, සැක පිට හිරබත් කැව්වේ, තමා වැඩකාරකම් කරාපු ගෙදර නෝනා මරන්න ඇතෙයී කියන සැකේටය. පස්සේ ඔන්න ඔය බටහිරට ගැතිකම් කොරන ඇන්ජීඕ හැත්ත මානව හිමිකම් කැඩුවායැයී කියා ඒ ගෑනිව එලියට අරගෙන තිබුනා. හැබැයි ඉතින් වැඩකාර ගෑනියෙක්නේ, ඒ නිසා අපි ඒ වැඩකාර ගැනූ ගැන කොහොමත් ලොකුවට තකන්න ඕනේ නැහැ.

ඔන්න පහුගිය දොහේ සදලාල් ජයවර්දන කියලා සිංහල කොල්ලෙකු වසර හතහමාරක් සැකපිට හිරගෙදර තියාගෙන හිටියේ මේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය අනුවය. ඔන්න ඇන්ජීඕ හැත්ත ඒකව නිදහස් කරගෙන ඉන්නේ දැන්. ඒ කොල්ලා ඔය ගම්පලාතක දුප්පත් එකෙකී. අපි ඔය ගමේ බයීයලා ගැන කොහොමත් ලොකුවට තකන්න ඕනේ නැහැ.

ඔබේ අම්මා පට්ට වේසියකැයී කියා පොලීසියට ඕනෑම අවස්තාවක සැකපිට අත්තඩංගුවට ගැනීමටත්, පට්ට වේසියෙකු නොවනබව ඔප්පු වෙනතෙක්, පට්ට වේසියකැයී ඔප්පු නොකර, හිර බත් කැවීමේ හැකියාව ඇත. හැබැයී ඉතින් එහෙම වෙන්නේ පෙර කල පව් තිබුනෝතිනේ. පෙර පිං ඇති මම මක්කටයී, පෙර පව් ඇති උදවිය ගන වද වෙන්නේ.

to attract

A  nod

that means

‘ Don’t be shy

come say hi’

and another smile

to

calm you

to

relax the mind

that indeed is in need

of an outlet

to vent all frustrations

( pent up after months , weeks or just a couple hours for some).

So you go up to her

( walking with more gusto and

excitement than ever before)

and say things you would normally say

to those of the same species

as her

but she’s not like them (she isn’t any different either)

she’s ‘easier’

‘to get’ ( not understand)

than they are

she’s on the job

and needs to be

everything

you want her to be.

you don’t need charm

or witt

you don’t even need

to speak

all you need is just one thing

and that’s

money.

NB: With the shocking statistics of 1.8 million trafficked children and youth every year ( according to the International Labour Organization),the oldest ‘profession’ of mankind is spreading like wildfire…especially amongst foreign/ international students and children. So the next time you’re out on the ‘hunt’ for some good specimens, make sure to check for some sort of valid identity( it’s not retrenchment just protection of child/human rights, least you can do as  fellow human is make sure they’re legal right?). Just because.

first date fever.

breaking up blues.

pre-wedding woes.

post exam nightmares.

all come and go…

but those feelings

govern all actions

so i used to think

numbers and i

could never really get along

but now we’re beginning

to

“how did i do it?”

well there came a day ( a bright sunny one ofcourse)

when i was like hey!

what really matters

most

and is the flour of the cake we call

life,

that one ingredient that binds all

is…

what’s in between.

]]> http://galahsu.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/whats-inbetween/feed/ 0 http://niram.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/estimated-reading-time-of-posts/ http://niram.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/estimated-reading-time-of-posts/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:00:27 +0000 kottu http://niram.wordpress.com/?p=871 ]]> (இந்தப் பதிவை வாசிக்க சுமார் 2 நிமிடங்களும் 14 செக்கன்களும் தேவைப்படும்.)

அண்மையில் எனது வலைப்பதிவிற்கு நீங்கள் வருகை தந்திருப்பீர்களாயின், புதியதொரு மாற்றமொன்றை அவதானித்திருப்பீர்கள். பலரும் இந்த மாற்றத்தை அவதானித்து, இதை எப்படி செய்தீர்கள்? அருமையாய் இருக்கிறதே என்றெல்லாம் மறுமொழி, மின்னஞ்சல் என்பன மூலம் சொல்லி அனுப்பியிருந்தார்கள். அந்த புதிய விடயமென்ன? அதன் நன்மைகள் என்ன? அதனை எவ்வாறு செய்தேன்? அதற்கான காரணங்கள் என்ன? நீங்கள் அதனை உங்கள் வலைப்பதிவிற்கு எவ்வாறு செய்து கொள்ளலாம் என்பன பற்றி நாம் அலசுவோம்.

இப்போது, இந்தப் பதிவின் ஆரம்பத்திலும், இந்தப் பதிவை வாசிக்கத் தேவையான நேரம் பற்றிய குறிப்பைக் கண்டிருப்பீர்கள். இந்தப் புதிய விடயம் சார்பாகவே பலரும் ஆர்வம் வெளிப்படுத்தினார்கள். உண்மையில் வலைப்பதிவுகளில் எழுதப்படும் பதிவுகளை Scroll செய்து பார்த்துவிட்டே பலரும் வாசிக்கவே தொடங்குகின்றனர். பதிவின் நீளம் கொஞ்சம் அதிகமாகத் தோன்றினால், ஐயகோ, என்னைக் காப்பாற்றுங்கள் என்று வலைப்பக்கத்தை விட்டு, வேறு பக்கமாகிச் செல்கின்றனர்.

ஜெகொப் நீல்சன் என்கின்ற இணைய பயனர்களின் வழக்கங்கள் பற்றி ஆராயும் விற்பன்னர் இரண்டு வருடங்களுக்கு முன்னர் செய்த ஆய்வின்படி ஒரு வலைப்பதிவிற்கு வரும், வாசகர் அங்குள்ள பதிவொன்றின் 18 சதவீதத்தை மட்டுமே வாசிக்கிறார். எவ்வளவுதான் வலைப்பதிவர்கள் சிரமப்பட்டு எழுதி, சரி பிழை பார்த்து, தொகுத்து வெளியிடும் பதிவுகளின் முதல் இரண்டு பந்திகள் மட்டுந்தான் பொதுவாக அநேகமானோரால் வாசிக்கப்படுகின்றன. இது கவலையான விடயந்தான்.

இதற்கான முதன்மைக் காரணமாக பதிவின் நீளத்தைக் கண்டு வாசகர்கள் பயப்படுவதைச் சொல்லலாம். ஆக, இந்தப் பயத்தை வாசகர்களிடமிருந்து போக்கி, எப்படி அவர்களை 18 சதவீதத்திற்கும் அதிகமாக வாசிக்கச் செய்யலாம் என்பதே இப்போதைய கேள்வி.

பதிவுகள் பல நேரங்களில் நீளமாகத் தோன்றுவதற்கு இன்னொரு காரணம், அதில் சேர்க்கப்படும் நிழற்படங்களாகும். ஆனால், நிழற்படங்கள் சேர்க்காமல் பதிவெழுதுவது என்பது பொருத்தமான விடயமல்ல. ஆக, நீளமாகத் தோன்றினாலும், இந்தப் பதிவை வாசிக்க உங்களுக்கு இவ்வளவு நேரம் தான் தேவைப்படும் என்பதை வாசகருக்கு ஆரம்பத்திலேயே சொல்லிவிடும் போது, “இரண்டு நிமிடத்துக்குள் வாசித்திடலாமா?” என்று தன்னை கேட்டுக் கொண்டு, ஒரு அலுப்புமில்லாமல் வாசகர் வாசித்து முடிக்க ஆரம்பிக்கிறார்.

ஆக, வாசிக்கத் தேவையான நேரத்தை ஒவ்வொரு பதிவின் ஆரம்பத்தில் சேர்ப்பது உஷிதமானது. ஆனால், வாசிக்கத் தேவையான நேரத்தை எவ்வாறு கணித்துக் கொள்வது என்ற இன்னொரு கேள்வி இவ்விடத்தில் எழுகிறது.

அதற்கும் வழியுள்ளது. பாடசாலையில் ஆரம்பப்பிரிவில் கல்வி கற்கும் பிள்ளையொன்று வாசிக்கும் வேகத்திற்கும், பெரியோர்கள் வாசிக்கும் வேகத்திற்கு அவ்வளவு வித்தியாசமில்லை. மிகவும் வேகமாக வாசிக்கக்கூடியவர்களும் இருக்கிறார்கள். ஆனால், இங்கு பொதுமைப்பாடான வாசிப்பு வேகமாக நிமிடத்திற்கு 200 சொற்கள் கருதப்படுகிறது.

அதனடிப்படையில், எமது பதிவிலுள்ள சொற்களின் எண்ணிக்கையை அந்த நியமமான அளவைக் கொண்டு கணிப்பு செய்வதால், பதிவை வாசிக்கத் தேவையான மொத்த நேரத்தை கண்டு கொள்ள முடியும். அப்படியானால், இதனை கணித்துக் கொள்ள ஏதாவது இலகுவான வழியுண்டா? என்ற கேள்வி இந்நிலையில் உண்டாகிறது.

வாசிக்கத் தேவையான நேரத்தைக் கணிக்கும் வகையில் நானொரு இணைய செய்நிரலொன்றை உருவாக்கி எனது கணினியில் பயன்படுத்தி வந்தேன். இப்போது அதனை கொஞ்சம் மெருகேற்றி, நீங்களும் உங்களது பதிவுகளை வாசிக்கத் தேவையான நேரத்தை கணிக்கக் கூடிய வகையில் செய்து எனது இணையத்தளத்தில் சேர்த்திருக்கிறேன். Read-o-Meter என்று அதற்கு பெயரும் வைத்துள்ளேன். நீங்கள் செய்ய வேண்டியதெல்லாம் உங்கள் பதிவை Copy செய்து, குறித்த இடைமுகத்தில் Paste செய்து, Button கிளிக் செய்யும் போது, குறித்த பதிவை வாசிக்கத் தேவையான நேரம் திரையில் காட்சியாகும்.

பதிவொன்றை வாசிக்கத் தேவையான நேரத்தை பதிவின் ஆரம்பத்தில் குறிப்பிடும் நிலையில், வாசகர்கள் உங்கள் வலைப்பதிவில் அதிக நேரம் தரித்திருந்து பல பதிவுகளையும் வாசிக்கத் தொடங்குவர். இது எனக்கு நடந்தது. உங்களில் பலரும் “இந்த நேர அளவை நீங்கள் எவ்வாறு கணித்தீர்கள்?” என்று விசாரிக்கும் அளவிற்கு இந்த விடயம் அவர்களை கவர்ந்ததிருந்தது.

நீங்கள் எழுதும் பதிவுகள் வாசிக்கப்பட வேண்டும். நீளமாயிருக்கிறதே என்ற ஒரேயொரு காரணத்திற்காக அவை வாசிக்கப்படாமல் இருக்கப்படாது. Read-o-Meter ஐ பயன்படுத்தி, உங்கள் வலைப்பதிவிலுள்ள பதிவுகளுக்கும் அவற்றை வாசித்தத் தேவையான நேரத்தை அளவிட்டு ஒவ்வொரு பதிவின் ஆரம்பத்திலும் சேர்த்துவிடுங்கள். உங்கள் கருத்துக்களையும் அறியும் ஆவலெனக்குண்டு.

பின்குறிப்பு: அண்மையில், புதுநுட்பம் என்றொரு தொழில்நுட்பம் சார்ந்த வலைப்பதிவொன்றை தொடங்கியிருக்கிறேன். அது நுட்பங்களைத் தமிழில் தரும் இன்னொரு முயற்சியல்ல. புதுமையானது. அங்கும் வந்து வணக்கம் சொல்லுங்கள்.

- உதய தாரகை

මේ පිලිබඳව ඉංග්‍රීසි ලිපිය allmalyf .wordpress .com තුලින්

මට මේක හම්බ වුනේ ෆොර්වර්ඩ් මේල් එකක් විදිහට,
බිල් ගේට්ස් ටික කාලෙකට කලින් උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ආයතනයකට ගියපු වෙලාවක,
ඔහු ඉස්කෝලෙන් ඉගෙන ගත්තේ නැති දේවල් 11ක් ගෙන කිව්වා.
මමත් කල්පනා  කරලා බැලුව ඉස්කෝලේ යනකාලේ ඇත්තයි කියල හිතාගෙන හිටපු දේවල්
පහුගිය අවරුදු 7ට කොච්චර නං බිඳ වැටුනද?

කොච්චර නං දේවල් වැරදියට කරලා,
දරුණු පාඩම් එක්ක ඉගෙන ගන්න සිද්ධ උනාද?
ඒ අපිට ඒ සේවල් කියල දෙන්න කව්රුවත් හිටියේ නැති හින්දා.

බිල් ගේට්ස් තමන්ගේ දැනුම බෙදාගන්නේ අලුත් පරම්පරාව එහෙම අමාරුවේ නොදමන්න.
ඔහු කතා කරන්නේ දේශපාලන අභිමතාර්ථ ඉටුකරගැනීමට සහ විවිධ පාර්ශව සැනසීම සදහා
සකස්කෙරුණු අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිපත්ති නිසා බිහිවෙන ,
සමාජ යථාර්ථය වටහා ගැනීමට අපොහොසත් තරුණ සහ ළමා පරම්පරාව ගැනයි.

අංක 1
අපේ ජීවිතයේ හැමදේම යුක්තිසහගත සහ සාධාරණ නැහැ.
ඒක තේරුම් ගන්න,ඒකට පුරුදු වෙන්න.

අංක 2
අප ජීවත් වන ලෝකයට ඔබේ ආත්ම-අභිමානයෙන් පලක් නැහැ.
ලෝකය ඔබට ඔබ ගැන ආඩම්බර වෙන්න ඉඩ දෙන්න කලින්
ඔබ යම්කිසි ජයග්‍රහණයක් , යම් කිසි දෙයක නිපුණත්වයක්
ඔබෙන් බලාපොරොත්තුවෙනවා.

අංක 3
ඉස්කෝලෙන් අවුට් වෙච්ච ගමන්, නැත්තන් කම්පස් එකෙන්
අවුට් වෙච්ච ගමන් 80,000 0 පඩියක් හම්බවෙනවා නම් හොඳයි.
නමුත් එහෙම වෙන්නේ නැහැ.
කාර් එකකුයි මොබයිල් ෆෝන් එකකුයි එක්ක
ලොකු කොම්පැනියක CEO කෙනෙක් වෙන්න කලින්,
අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ඒ 2ම සල්ලි දීල ගන්න වෙනවා.

අංක 4
ඔබ හිතනවානම් ඔබේ ගුරුවරයා බොහොම සැරයි කියල,
කවදාහරි බොස් කෙනෙක් හම්බුනහම බලන්න.

අංක 5
ඉගෙන ගන්න කාලේ යන වියදම් පිරිමහගන්න බර්ගර් හදන රස්සාවක් කරන
එක තමන්ගේ අභිමානයට නොසරිලන පහත් දෙයක් කියල හිතන්න එපා.
ඔයාගේ සීයල ඕකට කිව්වේ වෙන නමක්.
ඒකට කියපු නම ” මහඟු අවස්ථාවක් “.

අංක 6
ඔබ වැඩේ අනාගත්ත නම් එක ඔබගේ අම්මගේ හරි තාත්තගේ හරි වැරැද්ද නෙමෙයි.
එක ගැන අන්ද අන්ද ඉන්නේ නැතුව වැරදුනේ කොතනද කියල හොයල ,
වැරදි හදාගන්න.

අංක 7
ඔබට වෙලාවකට හිතෙනවද ඔබේ අම්මයි තාත්තයි හරිම පරණ විදියට හිතන,
අලුත් තාලේ ෆැෂන් දන්නේ නැති , යාලුවෝ ඉන්න පොෂ් පාටියකට එක්කගන යන්න
බැරි තාලේ අය කියල?

ඒ දෙන්න ඔබ උපදින්න කලින් එහෙම නැහැ.
එදෙන්නට එහෙම වෙලා තියෙන්න ඔබ ඉපදිච්ච දවසේ ඉඳල ඔබට වියදම් කරලා,
ඔබගේ රෙදි හෝදලා,
ඔබගේ තොර තෝංචියක් නැති කතාබහ අවුරුදු ගානක් අහගෙන ඉඳල.
එක නිසා දෙමවුපියන්ගේ පරම්පරාවේ අයගේ වැරදි වැඩ හින්ද
විනාශවෙන්න යන වැසි වනාන්තර බේරන්න යන්න කලින් ,
තමන්ගේ අනවශ්‍ය වියදම් අඩු කරගන්න.

අංක 8
ඉස්කෝලෙදි හරි කැම්පස් එකේදී හරි ජයග්‍රාහකයෝ පරාජිතයෝ හිටිය තමයි.
සමහර වෙලාවට විභාග අසමත් උනහම සමත් වෙනකන් ඕනේ තරම් විභාගයට වාඩිවෙන්න
අවස්ථා දෙන්න ඇති.
මතක තියාගන්න.
ඇත්ත මේක කිසිම ආකාරයකින් ඇත්ත ජීවිතය හා සමාන වෙන්නේ නැහැ.

අංක 9
ජීවිතය පළමු වසර දෙවන වසර හරි .පලවෙනි සෙමෙස්ටරය දෙවන සෙමෙස්ටරය කියල
බෙදල වෙන් කරලා නැහැ.
අප්‍රේල් වලට නිවාඩු හම්බවෙන්නේ නැති වෙන්න පුළුවන්.
ඉඳල හිටලා තමයි කව්රු හරි හාම්පුතෙක් (ව්‍යවසායකයෙක්) තමයි,
ඇත්තටම ඔබ සතු දක්ෂතා මොනවද කියල ඔබට හඳුනාගන්න ඉඩ දෙන්නේ.

අංක 10
ටීවී එකේ පෙන්වන දේවල් ඇත්ත ජීවිතය නෙමේයි.
ඇත්ත ජීවිතේදී ෂොපින් මෝල් එකක් කෝපි බිබී ඉන්න වෙන්නේ නැහැ.
රස්සාව කරන්න යන්න වෙනවා.

අංක 11
ඔය හෝගාල මෙලෝ සිහියක් නෙතුව පාඩම් කරන,
පොත් ගුල්ලෝ ඉන්නවා නේද?
ඒගොල්ලන්ව ශේප් එකේ තියාගන්න,
කව්ද දන්නේ ඔය පොරකට
කවද හරි බොස් කියන්න වෙයිද කියල?

බිල් ගේට්ස් ලංකාවේ තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ වර්ෂය ගැන කියන දේ

pic by neslihans

Most Sri Lankans, and I think all the ones I know so far, live with their parents till they get married or something. If you’re not asian, you’re prolly lol’ing right now and all, wtf u fagz!111

But it’s true, in asian culture (mostly south asian and south east asian), as a rule of family-is-everything, people usually live with the families they’re born into until they move on to having their own families (aka marriage).

Good or bad?

Bad because, urgh, parents are annoying after a certain age. I can’t imagine how 25 year old men still live under their parents’ roofs, with mummy going ‘because I say so!’ Once you’re in your 20s, you hit adulthood at some point, and if you feel independent and if you’re without that conservative uber-respecteful mindset towards parents (you know, bring them tea in the morning, massage their feet, never disobey, be a girlscout etc.) then this cultural norm becomes a pain in the ass.

But also good, cuz I’ve seen the downfall of moving-out becoming a norm in western culture - allowing it to become a norm, leads to lots of people living all by themselves, and some consequent decadence of society’s general family unit. And I dunno bout you, but that’s scary. I have a friend in Colombo who has to live alone in this apartment because her family lives in Kandy, though her aunt is in the apartment next door… and let’s just say, there are days I walk in on her staring at the ceiling and talking to ‘the squirrels.’

Living alone can be freeing. You don’t have anybody telling you what to do, you live by your own rules, you’re the king of the castle. But in a sense living separate from family can just make you a very lonely little person. And personally I’d freak out imagining my place ever getting burgled when I’m the only one in it.   

SO. What about ROOMIES? How cool would it be to move in with a friend? And why is it so unheard of in Sri Lanka? Both would have jobs, split the cost, work out some ground rules. It’s like living with a single family member except they’re not dragging you around to boring family things or telling you to brush your teeth or making a list of orders from Hitler’s regiment.

Yet it’s ever so rare as far as I know for a young 20 something to live that way in SL, unless they’re maybe hobos or they’re growing up in a hippy cult or a seldom-found family of liberals. Why? Sure, the culture ensures that nobody dies alone and unheard of with their dozen cats, and strengthens the whole family-together-ness thingy, but really, is there any harm done with friends living together after 20? I guess it could lead to kids moving in with a messy crowd and parents can do nothing about it, but everything’s got its pros and cons.

Would normalizing the option of moving out after 20 really be a shot in the foot of family oriented Sri Lankan culture or maybe a step in social evolution we haven’t considered yet?

He looked at her leaning on his shoulder. He knew her thoughts be upon him, them.
The guilt gushed into him.

She knows but denies what she knows. She would swallow what he feeds her.
The illusions, the denials, the emotions and the lack of emotions.
She would just say “it’s okay.”

She was silent.
Strange for her. But normal when he was around.

“It’s not good to love someone so much.” He says softly.
“aha?”, her response.
“Not good for you”.
she does not understand. She smiles.

But it made sense, a little too late, she sees sense.

In the past few days I've come across many forums which have been posting a gossip about Tillakaratne Dilshan and three other players of our team ]]> http://kottu.org/2010/09/dilshan-case-slc-clarifies-issuing-press-release/feed/ 0 http://thepapare.com/tennis/tennis/harshana-godamanna-crowned-tennis-king-for-the-5th-time.html http://thepapare.com/tennis/tennis/harshana-godamanna-crowned-tennis-king-for-the-5th-time.html#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:18:24 +0000 kottu  

Atlantis 2:Milo's Return Part-2

වැලි කුණාටුවල අභිරහස මොකක්ද…?

දැන් ඉතින් ඔක්කොම ඉවරයි. ආයෙත් මුහුද යටට.. නෑ

පිස්සෙක් නිසා..

අවසන් තීරණය.. අත්ලාන්තිසයේ අනාගතය..

දැන්නම් ඉවරෙටම ඉවරයි..!!!

Atlantis 2: Milo's Return

අපේ අත්ලාන්තිස් කතාවේ වීරයා අයෙත් එනවා. හිතුවේ නවතියි කියලා නේද?

මොකාද මේ බූවල්ලා…

බූවල්ලට මොකද වෙන්නේ…?

වැලි හොල්මන්…

අයෙත් ආපු මේ කට්ටියට මොකද වෙන්නේ…??

ෙමහි සම්පූර්ණ විස්තරයක් සදහා http://vikalpa.org/?p=4100 ෙවත පිවිෙසන්න

LIRNEasia Senior Research Manager, Ayesha Zainudeen, was selected to review the paper; her written assessment is available here.

An excerpt of the executive summary of the paper follows:

What is clear from the Research ICT Africa (RIA) Household and Individual Access and Usage Survey is that the diffusion of ICT is highly uneven concentrating in urban areas and leaving some rural areas almost untouched. Access to these technologies is constrained by income as is usage, and as they become more complex, they are increasingly constrained by literacy and education. This analysis explores the inequities of access and usage further, by viewing them through a gender lens.

Of the limited demand-side data on Africa that exists, very little is disaggregated on gender lines. This study provides a descriptive statistical overview of access to ICTs by women and men and their usage of them. This is supported by focus groups that were undertaken in five of the 17 countries surveyed in East, Central, South and West Africa.