Dealing with Diversity and Digital Culture

Cultural diversity is broader than ethnic and language considerations alone. It includes gender, age, economic or social conditions, education, technological infrastructure and computer and information literacy All of these have to be taken into account when digital information is received or provided. Understanding and respecting diversity in each country is a major issue for the country itself, as well as for the information providers from abroad. The main barriers for participating in the digital culture for Latin America are the differences of each of the countries: the few people that have access; the technological infrastructure; the lack of relevant contents in the primary languages; and the fact that English is the pre-dominant language of the Global Information Infrastructure. Nations should focus on three main areas: technological infrastructure, contents and access. Projects should be prepared so as to strengthen the Latin American identity.