Hello!  I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself to everyone on this
listserv.  My name is Liz, and I am a first year doctoral student in the field
of English Education at Syracuse University.  My areas of interest include
gender equity in education, and issues of equity and power in education that
are impacted by such things as the economics and availability of technology.
I particularly thought that the article describing Microsoft?s research
program in India was an interesting one, because it brings up a variety of the
issues I have been studying.  I think Ida?s point about how programs like
this can be used to help illiterate women, or populations, in the U.S. is an
important one, and we can only hope that such programs are being developed or
used here.  I would love to know if anyone has any knowledge of that happening.
Going back to the article, I find areas of the research of this study
interesting ? how they are experimenting with images and other media used in
the program and providing the target group with accessibility to the program. 
I would be interested in finding out if introducing this technology into the
lives of these women is truly more beneficial to them than the described
?word of mouth? way that they traditionally find out about work, and if
these interactions with technology actually lead to further development of
useful technological skills.  I would further love to know if this
technological tool could be used as a bridge to crucial literacy skills such as
basic reading and writing.


Elizabeth Meehan
English Education
Reading and Language Arts
200 Huntington Hall
Syracuse University
(845) 729-3971