WORLD BANK GROUP

Accessible Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Development Project

Project Discussion Points

Co-Sponsors:

This effort is sponsored by a joint partnership between IDEAL Group, Inc. and the World Bank Group.

Mission:

To enhance the accessibility, and effectiveness, of World Bank's information and communications technology (ICT) development efforts.

Project Partners:

Steve Jacobs

President

IDEAL Group, Inc.

Photo of Mohamed V. Muhsin

Mohamed Muhsin

Vice President & CIO

World Bank Group

The discussion points presented in this paper are being introduced in support of achieving the following objective:

"To structure World Bank Group (WBG), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) information and communications technology (ICT) loans in manners that strongly encourage and reward the development and implementation of ICT to meet the wants, needs and preferences of as many individual consumers as reasonable, technically possible and economically feasible."

Discussion Point 1: Accommodating People with Disabilities [top]

The same techniques used to make ICT accessible to people 65+ years of age can make that same ICT more accessible to people with disabilities.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 1 [top]

The estimated number of people with disabilities in the United States and worldwide varies greatly from source to source. The National Council on Disability estimates that there are approximately 500 million people with disabilities worldwide¹⁶.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 report there are 49.7 million people with disabilities living in the United States [Table 4].

Discussion Point 2: Accommodating People Living in High Density Populations [top]

The same accessible design techniques used to make Human Computer Interfaces easier to use by people with learning disabilities can be used to reduce the time it take to complete transactions on public access terminals, thereby reducing wait times in countries with high density populations.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 2 [top]

The top eleven largest developing countries have population densities from two to 15 times more than that of the United States. There are more than 3 billion people living in these countries [Table 5].

Discussion Point 3: Accommodating People of Low Literacy [top]

The same speech recognition technologies used to accommodate people with mobility disabilities can accommodate the needs of people of low literacy.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 3 [top]

The average 2000 primary school enrollments across 17 of the top 20 largest developing countries with data listed was 92.5% [Table 6]. However, this number decreases significantly to 69.5% [Table 7] when one looks at across the 12 of the top 20 largest developing countries with data listed in World Bank’s Development Indicator Database.

Discussion Point 4: Accommodating People who Never Learned to Read [top]

The same text-to-speech technologies used to accommodate people who are blind and people with low-vision can accommodate people who never learned to read.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 4 [top]

In the top 20 largest developing countries there are 740 million people who never learned to read [Table 8].

Discussion Point 5: Accommodating the Enhancement of Distance Learning [top]

The same captions used to enable people who are deaf to enjoy video programming, and people who are hard-of-hearing can be used to quickly search for and retrieve video content, by frame, for distant learning.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 5 [top]

PBS News Hour:
http://ideal-group.org/demonstrations/v_PBS_News_Hour.htm

Scientific American Frontiers:
http://ideal-group.org/demonstrations/v_Scientific_American.htm

Washington Week:
http://ideal-group.org/demonstrations/v_Washington_Week_Video_Search.htm

Discussion Point 6: Enhancing the Translation of Content into Other Languages and Accommodating the Needs Users of English as a Second Language (ESL) [top]

The same “Plain Language” writing techniques used to accommodate children who are deaf, people with cognitive reading disabilities and users of English as a Second Language (ESL) can reduce the cost to translate content into multiple languages by as much as 30%.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 6 [top]

David Crystal of the University of Wales, the author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, says about one-and-a-half-billion of the world's six-billion people speak English as a second language compared to the 400-million native speakers².
In just 5 of the top 20 largest developing countries there are 142 languages spoken by 500,000+ people [Table 9].
Fifteen of the top 20 largest emerging markets have cell phone to standard telephone ratios greater than the United States. Eight of these countries have more than twice the number of cell phones per standard telephones as that of the United States [Table 10].

Plain Language Resources:

U.S. Government Plain Language Website
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/

Plain Language Writing: From a Good Idea Emerges Good Public Policy
http://www.writersblock.ca/spring2003/busword.htm

Writing Styleguide and Dictionary of Plain English
http://www.techcommunicators.com/pdfs/style-diction.pdf

Discussion Point 7: Accommodating the need to Translate HTML Content in Wireless Device Formats [top]

The same techniques used to make, e-commerce sites, and e-learning content accessible to people with disabilities can enable the automatic transcoding of these applications into formats that are accessible by wireless devices operating from within low-bandwidth environments.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 7 [top]

Nineteen of the top 20 largest emerging markets have less bandwidth availability per 100 people than the United States. In fact, a majority of the 3.6 billion consumers living in these countries have access to less than 1% of the bandwidth available in the United States [Table 11].
Try transcoding your standard Website into a wireless format using the following transcoder: http://ideal-group.org/wireless/

Discussion Point 8: Accommodating the Needs People 65+ years of age [top]

The same techniques used to make ICT accessible to people with disabilities can make that same ICT more accessible to people 65+ years of age.

Supporting Data for Discussion Point 8 [top]

There are 237 million people, 65+ years of age living in the top 20 emerging markets [Table 12].

Income and population data
for the World Bank countries cited in the discussion points 1-8, above, can be found in [Table 1], [Table 2] and [Table 3] below:

Table 1 [top] Income Classification Detail
Abbreviation	[LI]	[LMI]	[UMI]	[HI]
Income Classification	Low-income	Lower-middle-income	Upper-middle-income	High Income
2003 GNI per capita	$765 or less	$766 - $3,035	$3,036 - $9,385	$9,386 or more
Number of Countries	61	56	37	54

Table 2 [top] Income Classification by Country
Rank by Market Size³	Country	Income Classification^{4, 5, 6, and 7}
1	China	LMI
2	India	LI
3	Russian Federation	LMI
4	Brazil	LMI
5	Mexico	UMI
6	Korea, Dem Rep.	LI
7	Indonesia	LMI
8	South Africa	LMI
9	Turkey	LMI
10	Poland	UMI
11	Philippines	LMI
12	Argentina	UMI
13	Egypt, Arab Rep.	LMI
14	Thailand	LMI
15	Venezuela, RB	UMI
16	Colombia	LMI
17	Malaysia	UMI
18	Chile	UMI
19	Peru	LMI
20	Czech Republic	UMI

Table 3 [top] Population
Country	Population (July 2004 est.)⁸
China	1,298,847,624
India	1,065,070,607
Indonesia	238,452,952
Brazil	184,101,109
Russian Federation	143,782,338
Mexico	104,959,594
Philippines	86,241,697
Egypt, Arab Rep.	76,117,421
Turkey	68,893,918
Thailand	64,865,523
Korea, Dem Rep.	48,598,175
South Africa	42,718,530
Colombia	42,310,775
Argentina	39,144,753
Poland	38,626,349
Peru	27,544,305
Venezuela, RB	25,017,387
Malaysia	23,522,482
Chile	15,823,957
Czech Republic	10,246,178
Totals:	3,644,885,674

Table 4 [top] Characteristics of the Civilian Non-institutionalized Population by Age, Disability Status, and Type of Disability: 2000
Characteristic	Totals
	Number	Percent
Population 5 and older	257,167,527	100.00%
With any disability	49,746,248	19.34%
Population 5 to 15	45,133,667	100.00%
With any disability	2,614,919	5.79%
Sensory	442,894	0.98%
Physical	455,461	1.01%
Mental	2,078,502	4.61%
Self-care	419,018	0.93%
Population 16 to 64	178,687,234	100.00%
With any disability	33,153,211	18.55%
Sensory	4,123,902	2.31%
Physical	11,150,365	6.24%
Mental	6,764,439	3.79%
Self-care	3,149,875	1.76%
Difficulty going outside the home	11,414,508	6.39%
Employment disability	21,287,570	11.91%
Population 65 and older	33,346,626	100.00%
With any disability	13,978,118	41.92%
Sensory	4,738,479	14.21%
Physical	9,545,680	28.63%
Mental	3,592,912	10.77%
Self-care	3,183,840	9.55%
Difficulty going outside the home	6,795,517	20.38%

Table 5 [top] High-Density Populations
Country	Population (July 2004 est.)	People per Sq. Km.^{8 and 9}
Korea, Dem Rep.	48,598,175	495
India	1,065,070,607	358
Philippines	86,241,697	289
China	1,298,847,624	139
Czech Republic	10,246,178	133
Indonesia	238,452,952	131
Thailand	64,865,523	127
Poland	38,626,349	127
Turkey	68,893,918	89
Egypt, Arab Rep.	76,117,421	76
Malaysia	23,522,482	72
Sub-Total:	3,019,482,926
Mexico	104,959,594	55
Colombia	42,310,775	41
South Africa	42,718,530	35
Venezuela, RB	25,017,387	28
Brazil	184,101,109	22
Peru	27,544,305	22
Chile	15,823,957	21
Argentina	39,144,753	14
Russian Federation	143,782,338	8

Table 6 [top] School Enrollment Primary (% net)
Countries	2000
Russian Federation	..
Turkey	..
Korea, Dem. Rep.	..
Argentina	100
Peru	100
Mexico	99
Poland	98
Malaysia	97
Brazil	95
China	93
Philippines	93
Indonesia	92
Czech Republic	90
Egypt, Arab Rep.	90
South Africa	90
Chile	89
Colombia	89
Venezuela, RB	88
Thailand	87
India	83
Average across the 17 countries with data:	92.5
Source: World Development Indicators database

Table 7 [top] School Enrollment Secondary (% net)
Country	2000
India	..
Indonesia	..
Peru	..
Turkey	..
China	..
Korea, Dem. Rep.	..
Russian Federation	..
Thailand	..
Poland	91.0
Czech Republic	88.0
Argentina	79.0
Egypt, Arab Rep.	78.0
Chile	75.0
Brazil	69.0
Malaysia	69.0
South Africa	62.0
Mexico	58.0
Colombia	57.0
Venezuela, RB	55.0
Philippines	53.0
Average across 12 countries with data:	69.5
Source: World Development Indicators database

Table 8 [top] Approximate Number of People who Never Learned to Read
Country	Approximate Number of People who Never Learned to Read¹⁰
India	431,353,596
China	181,838,667
Egypt, Arab Rep.	32,197,669
Indonesia	27,422,089
Brazil	25,037,751
Turkey	9,300,679
Mexico	8,186,848
South Africa	5,809,720
Philippines	3,535,910
Colombia	3,173,308
Malaysia	2,610,996
Thailand	2,594,621
Peru	2,506,532
Venezuela, RB	1,651,148
Argentina	1,135,198
Korea, Dem Rep.	923,365
Chile	601,310
Russian Federation	575,129
Poland	77,253
Czech Republic	10,246
Total:	740,542,035

Table 9 [top] Number of Languages Spoken by 500,000+ Consumers¹⁵
Country	Languages Spoken by 500K+ People
Mexico	2
Poland	2
China	34
Hong Kong	34
India	70
Total Top 5:	142

Table 10 [top] Main Telephone Lines vs. Cellular Subscribers
Country	Population (July 2004 est.)	Main Telephone Lines (2003)¹¹	Cellular Subscribers (2003)¹²	Percentage of Cellular vs. Wireline Telephones
Philippines	86,241,697	3.31	15.20	459.21%
South Africa	42,718,530	4.85	16.87	347.84%
Czech Republic	10,246,178	3.63	9.71	267.49%
Thailand	64,865,523	6.60	16.12	244.24%
Malaysia	23,522,482	4.57	11.12	243.33%
Venezuela, RB	25,017,387	2.84	6.46	227.46%
Chile	15,823,957	3.47	6.45	185.88%
Mexico	104,959,594	14.91	25.93	173.91%
Peru	27,544,305	1.84	2.91	158.15%
Indonesia	238,452,952	7.75	11.70	150.97%
Turkey	68,893,918	18.92	27.89	147.41%
Korea, Dem Rep.	48,598,175	22.88	33.59	146.81%
Poland	38,626,349	12.30	17.40	141.46%
Brazil	184,101,109	38.81	46.37	119.48%
China	1,298,847,624	263.00	269.00	102.28%
Sub-Total	2,278,459,780
Argentina	39,144,753	8.01	6.50	81.15%
Colombia	42,310,775	8.77	6.19	70.58%
Egypt, Arab Rep.	76,117,421	8.74	5.80	66.36%
India	1,065,070,607	48.92	26.15	53.45%
Russian Federation	143,782,338	35.50	17.61	49.61%
United States		181.60	158.72	87.40%

Table 11 [top] Overview of International Bandwidth
Country	International Bandwidth per 100 Inhabitants (Mbps)¹³	Population (2004 est.)⁸	Population of Countries with Less Bandwidth	Percentage of U.S. Bandwidth
Czech Republic	2,189.0	10,246,178
United States	1,323.60	293,027,571
Korea, Dem Rep.	361.5	48,598,175	48,598,175	27.3%
Poland	163.6	38,626,349	38,626,349	12.4%
Argentina	149.6	39,144,753	39,144,753	11.3%
Chile	131.6	15,823,957	15,823,957	9.9%
Thailand	87.2	64,865,523	64,865,523	6.6%
Russian Federation	61.2	143,782,338	143,782,338	4.6%
Mexico	56.9	104,959,594	104,959,594	4.3%
Malaysia	53.8	23,522,482	23,522,482	4.1%
Brazil	53.7	184,101,109	184,101,109	4.1%
Peru	45.6	27,544,305	27,544,305	3.4%
Venezuela, RB	27.3	25,017,387	25,017,387	2.1%
Colombia	12.7	42,310,775	42,310,775	1.0%
South Africa	12.4	42,718,530	42,718,530	0.9%
Philippines	11.2	86,241,697	86,241,697	0.8%
Egypt, Arab Rep.	10.9	76,117,421	76,117,421	0.8%
Turkey	10.6	68,893,918	68,893,918	0.8%
China	7.3	1,298,847,624	1,298,847,624	0.6%
Indonesia	2.7	238,452,952	238,452,952	0.2%
India	1.6	1,065,070,607	1,065,070,607	0.1%
			3,634,639,496

Table 12 [top] 65+ Years of Age Population
Country	65+ Years of Age Population¹⁴
China	97,413,572
India	51,123,389
Russian Federation	19,698,180
Indonesia	12,161,101
Brazil	10,677,864
Mexico	5,772,778
Poland	4,982,799
Thailand	4,735,183
Turkey	4,546,999
Argentina	4,110,199
Korea, Dem Rep.	3,985,050
Philippines	3,363,426
Egypt, Arab Rep.	3,273,049
South Africa	2,221,364
Colombia	2,115,539
Czech Republic	1,444,711
Peru	1,404,760
Venezuela, RB	1,250,869
Chile	1,234,269
Malaysia	1,058,512
Total:	236,573,613

References [Top]

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http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,contentMDK:20040558~
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[2] Voice of America. (2004). Future of English. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/04-03-18future-of-english.ra

[3] GlobalEDGE. (2003). Michigan State University, Center for International Business Education and Research. Market Potential Indicators for Emerging Markets. Ranked by Market Size. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://globaledge.msu.edu/ibrd/marketpot.asp

[4] World Bank. (2004). Low Income (LI) Economies. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm#Low_income

[5] World Bank. (2004). Lower-Middle-Income (LMI) Economies. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm#Lower_middle_income

[6] World Bank. (2004). Upper-Middle-Income (UMI) Economies. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm#Upper_middle_income

[7] World Bank. (2004). High-Income (HI) Economies. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm#Upper_middle_income

[8] Population Structure. (2004). Demographic Data. Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook 2004. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2119.html

[9] Land Area. (2004). Demographic Data. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2003. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2147.html

[10] Literacy Demographic Data. (2004). Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2004. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
ttp://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2103.html

[11] Main Telephone Lines. (2004). International Telecommunications Union. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/main03.pdf

[12] Cellular Subscribers. (2004). International Telecommunications Union. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/cellular03.pdf

[13] International Telecommunications Union. (2004). Digital Access Index (DAI). Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
High: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/high.html#top;
Upper: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/upper.html;
Medium: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/medium.html;
Low: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/low.html

[14] Age Structure. (2004). Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2003. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2010.html

[15] Ethnologue. (2003). Languages of the World Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.ethnologue.com

[16] National Council on Disability. (1998). International Update. Retrieved in November, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/bulletins/1998/b1298.htm