More than Access

Access is the key idea and concern of much of our capitalist, democratic rhetoric concerning education. However, concern with access, while valid to a certain degree, is also short-sighted. By virtue of the rhetoric, concern with access also places our concerns within a specific discourse, one that often describes technology in terms of being important to communication, skills, and future employment. We tend to understand the gap between time and space and language, as well as the needs of an at-risk population, as being about access in terms of whether a student can get to and use the computer and tap into the benefits of communication, skills, and culture employment.

To be sure, one cannot get on a computer without access, and there is a need to have particular skills to access the language necessary to communicate. But just because someone has access doesn't mean she'll use the computer. And just because we pound people with skills does not mean they will learn them. The Sharing Cultures Project team believes that we need to make people feel welcome and able. We need for our programs to be hospitable to students and instructors, and we need the technology and its settings to be equally as welcoming.