We now stand at a particularly fertile and exciting moment in the continuing struggle to find ways to understand the world in which we live. As access to information and services through digital television and the Internet increasingly determines inclusion in economic, cultural and social life so the question of the universality of access has become one of the key public policy and intellectual challenges of the day.
Researchers specialise in niche markets, often at each other's expense.
The result is that knowledge is more easily diffused than accumulated while policy remains confused. The net effect is that there is now a discernable gap between the realities and limitations of ICTs and the public perception of their social impact. This gap has profound consequences for the future of ICTs, policymaking and society as a whole. As a first step towards that end, an approximate representation and understanding of access and particularly of the concept of universality of access must be developed. Analyse the parameters of these variables and the constants of the phenomenon.