Web literacy among the underprivileged in Kolkata

Kolkata: Supported by Kolkata Bloggers, along with collaborators Mozilla India, The Hope Foundation, Mio Amore and SourceKart, the “Hello Web” campaign by Mozilla Clubs is an initiative to promote Web Literacy amongst all sections of society. The campaign, held over the 18th, 20th, 21st and 22nd of June, sought to enhance the knowledge of technology-driven commodities, especially the effective usage of basic internet services to better the understanding of the power of digital tools.
The Kolkata chapter of Hello Web campaign was led by Arkodyuti Saha, a student at SRM University, Chennai and mentor at CodeIn 2015-16.He was supported by other members of the Mozilla Clubs, and other volunteers from Kolkata Bloggers. The team together visited six orphanages, showing the kids there how to use the internet to make their lives easier, how to access information and entertainment, how to navigate using maps, and basic HTML to create and configure simple web pages.
Hello Web Kolkata was conducted at Ashar Alo Girls’ Home (Kalikapur), Kasba Girls’ Home (Kasba), Girls 2B Foundation (Tollygunge), Ashirvad Boys’ Home (Tollygunge), Punorjibon Reahbilitation Home for Boys (Tollygunge) and Bekind Boys’ Home (Kasba) on 18th June, the Hope Computer Training Centre (Panditiya Place) on the 20th and 21st of June, and the Nabadisha Home (Rashbehari Avenue) on the 22nd of June.
At all of these venues, volunteers from Mozilla Clubs and Kolkata Bloggers interacted with the children present and showed them how helpful the internet could prove to be for their daily lives. It was pleasantly surprising to some of the children quite well-versed with the technology, and an overwhelming majority having used the internet for work or pleasure at some point. Most of the children at these homes were in their late teens, although some were younger.
The Hello Web initiative aims to not just show the benefits of the internet but to also arm these youngsters with the technological awareness and knowledge that they would require for employability purposes. The initiative is also not a one-off event - Hello Web volunteers have provided the caretakers of these orphanages with the resources necessary for them to continue teaching web technology to these children. This ensures a continuous development of the people present in these homes, thus grooming them to be successful, technologically aware professionals of tomorrow.
Shreyas N. Kutty, the Regional Coordinator for Mozilla Clubs and the lead of Mozilla Learning Network’s (MLN) India Task Force said of the Hello Web campaign, “The idea is to provide a basic understanding of what the web is, how it works, how to stay safe on the web, etc. It is an opportunity to educate people about the importance of Web Literacy in a fun and participatory way. The larger goal is to set up Mozilla Clubs in these setups where learners can come together once in a while and learn about the web.”
It was wonderful to note that all of these enthusiastic teenagers were very interested to interact and learn from the members of Mozilla Clubs and Kolkata Bloggers. They were keen to try new things and interested to continue learning from the resources that were provided. Many of them raised questions and clarifications, and quite a few opened up about their lives and the role of technology in them.
The Hello Web initiative also picked up steam over social media, with people putting forward their ideas using the hashtag #HelloWeb. People from all corners came forward with good wishes and expressed their desire to help in whatever way they could. The CEO of Mozilla as well as various other national members of the company took to Twitter to talk about the initiative and its aims.
Eight young bloggers from the Kolkata Bloggers network, from different schools and colleges in the city who volunteered for the initiative came up with blog posts on the events and on the importance of Web Literacy in general. They have set an example that other youngsters are now keen to follow, leading to a developmental ecosystem. The Mozilla Learning Network and Kolkata Bloggers hopes to see Hello Web become a year-round phenomenon, as the technological upliftment of all members of society assumes paramount importance.
Only when every youngster has access to the web and has the knowledge of its utilities, can we be proud of a truly Digital India, as has been envisioned.