Learning about HIV/AIDS in Uganda: Digital Resources and Language Learner Identities

While the HIV/AIDS epidemic has wrought havoc in the lives of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, access to information about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of the disease remains a challenge for many, and particularly for young people. This article reports on an action research study undertaken in a rural Ugandan village in 2006. Twelve English language learners, all of whom were young women, participated in this study. The focus was a digital literacy course that sought to help the participants gain access to information about HIV/AIDS through global health Web sites available in English, Uganda’s official language. Our conceptual framework is drawn from theories of investment and imagined identities in the field of language education, and our central questions are twofold: (1) What were the learners’ investments in the language practices of the digital literacy course? and (2) What was the relationship between the learners’ investments in the course and their identities? Our findings suggest that the learners’ multiple investments in the digital literacy course derived not only from the significance of HIV/AIDS to their lives, but also from the opportunity to appropriate a range of imagined identities that offered enhanced possibilities for the future.

Mots clés : accès à l'information, culture numérique, santé, langage In the literature on applied linguistics and HIV/AIDS, Higgins and Norton (2010) note that while HIV/AIDS has been an object of study for sociolinguists and discourse analysts for approximately two decades, most of this research has examined contexts that are relevant to gay men in resource-rich nations. The bulk of this research has focused on stigma, risk, and sexual identification in face-to-face interactions (cf. Jones & Candlin, 2003). Applied linguistics research on HIV/AIDS in resource-poor contexts is a much more recent development. In a review of sociolinguistic research in public health domains in sub-Saharan Africa, Djite (2008) concluded that there is a 'relative dearth of sociolinguistic studies in the area of health' (p. 94) despite the millions of people who are infected across the continent.
Our research team at the University of British Columbia, which has worked in Uganda for the past eight years, has sought to address this gap in the sociolinguistic research by including research on HIV/AIDS and youth in our research agenda. Our research includes multimodal instruction on HIV/AIDS (Kendrick, Jones, Mutonyi, & Norton, 2006;Mutonyi & Kendrick, 2010), peer education in HIV/AIDS youth clubs , sexual health literacy for young Ugandan women (Jones & Norton, 2007), and language policy with respect to HIV/AIDS (Jones & Norton, 2010;Norton & Mutonyi, 2010). With reference to the research presented in this article, we are centrally concerned with the ways in which young Ugandan women can overcome the barriers to health care services in the country, particularly with reference to HIV/AIDS information. It is well documented that reproductive and sexual health care services in Uganda are inadequate and often unfriendly to youth (Neema, Musisi, & Kibombo, 2004), and our project sought to investigate whether global health Web sites might provide a virtual health care service for young people. However, many of these global Web sites are in English, which is a second (though official) language for Ugandan people. In this context, language can potentially be a significant barrier to accessing health information, and the need to integrate English language instruction and digital literacy was an important aspect of our study.
The study was conducted in 2006 in a rural Ugandan village, where we developed a digital literacy course with the primary aim of helping the participants, 12 young women, gain access to information about HIV/AIDS through global health Web sites. The particular research questions that we are addressing in this article are twofold: (1) What were the learners' investments in the language practices of the digital literacy course? and (2) What was the relationship between the learners' investments in the course and their identities? The conceptual framework for the study is examined in greater depth below (see 'Conceptual Framework and Literature Review').
Higgins and Norton (2010) emphasize that research on HIV/AIDS in any geographic setting must take into account the role of context in the production of knowledge. This is particularly important in resource-poor contexts, where educational efforts are often compromised by the limited availability of resources, gender relations, and cultural belief systems that differ from Western biomedical perspectives. In this spirit, we turn next to the research context in which our study was conducted.

The research context
Young women in Uganda, as in many parts of Africa, face numerous socio-economic, cultural, and educational challenges that negatively impact their ability to access the information they require to make informed choices about HIV/AIDS and healthy sexual relationships (Jones & Norton, 2007;. Although young women often have limited choice about the nature of their sexual relationships, their lack of access to information about possible preventative measures for infection by HIV/AIDS and limited avenues for treatment makes them even more vulnerable to inequitable cultural practices (Jones, 2010). Responding to findings from studies (Jones, 2008) that indicate that young women require greater sexual health education and based on the emerging and promising potential of technology to connect learners to global databases (Warschauer, 2003), we sought to link content and mode in our action research. Given that English is the official language in multilingual Uganda and that all of our participants spoke a mother tongue other than English, we were aware that promoting access to the digital world would also require additional support in English language instruction. The village where we conducted the study, pseudonymously called Kyato, is in southwestern Uganda and borders a trading centre that is approximately seven miles from the nearest town centre, Ganda. Poverty is endemic in Kyato, there is no running water, and the limited electricity available comes from solar power. Most of the participants' families survive by subsistence-level farming, with small incomes generally earned by men in the roles of labourers, tailors, or taxi drivers. Women can sometimes earn a very small income through the sale of crafts, such as mats and baskets made by women, or the sale of extra food grown in the family gardens. The official per capita income is less than $1 US per day. Malnutrition, disease, and poor living conditions are widespread. Every participant in this study has been affected in some way by HIV/AIDS: they have lost friends, siblings, relatives, and even parents to the disease. HIV/ AIDS was never far from their thoughts, and it constituted a perpetual source of anxiety and fear.

The study
In 2006, Norton was fortunate to receive a grant from the Canadian organization BC TEAL to support AIDS education and English instruction in Uganda. BC TEAL is the association of the British Columbia Teachers of English as an Additional Language and is committed to the integration of health information among English language learners, their family members, and wider communities. In the implementation of the grant, Norton invited Jones and Ahimbisibwe to collaborate on the project since they were also actively working in Kyato: Jones had just completed her PhD research in Kyato (Jones, 2008) and Ahimbisibwe was a community librarian. The grant provided an ideal opportunity to promote access to HIV/ AIDS information for community members as well as expanded opportunities for English language learning. To make the project manageable within our time and funding constraints, we focused in particular on the young women who had taken part in Jones's doctoral research.
While the primary purpose of the BC TEAL grant is to develop materials to 'promote AIDS and health education through contentbased ESOL instruction' (BC TEAL, 2010), we also drew on funds from a federal grant (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) to investigate whether digital access to HIV/AIDS information for English language learners in Kyato might be a particularly powerful means to access HIV/AIDS information and to better understand language learner identity in relation to digital innovations. Although there has been increasing research in new literacies, and digital literacies in particular (see Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008), many scholars note that much of the research in this area has focused on research in wealthier regions of the world, and there is a great need for research in poorly resourced communities to impact global debates on digital literacy (see Andema, Kendrick, & Norton, 2010;Snyder & Prinsloo, 2007;Street, 2001;Warschauer, 2003).
The action research study was conducted from May to November, 2006, and the 12 young female participants ranged in age from 16 to 19, with a mean age of 17.8. The study included the development of materials for an English digital literacy course, the development and analysis of two participant questionnaires (Q1 and Q2), and analysis of detailed journal entries made by both Ahimbisibwe as course instructor and the participants as learners. Q1 asked the participants about their expectations of the course, their interest in computer literacy, their knowledge or familiarity with the Internet, and the extent of their interest in health information in general and in HIV/ AIDS in particular. This questionnaire was administered at the beginning of the course, which took place during school holidays, from August to September, 2006. Q2, administered at the end of the course, included questions about what participants had learned from the course, the benefits that technology and the Internet might have for the future, the health information that the participants had acquired, and information about HIV/AIDS they might still wish to obtain.
The digital literacy course, developed by Jones, comprised an intensive six-session, 46-hour curriculum that took into account the fact that the participants had had very little experience with computers or the Internet. In order for the participants to access health Web sites at the closest Internet café in Ganda, they needed a comprehensive introduction to computers and digital technology as well as hands-on practice. Course instruction, which was given in English, took place both in the Kyato community library, where a computer and solar power were available, as well as the Internet café in Ganda, which was about a 45-minute walk from Kyato.

Conceptual framework and literature review
As our research questions focused on language learner identity in relation to learner investment, it is important to explore these concepts in greater depth. The construct of investment, as Norton and Toohey (2011) note, was developed by Norton to complement the construct of motivation in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) (see Norton, 2000Norton, , 2010). The construct draws on economic metaphors that are associated in particular with the work of Pierre Bourdieu (1982Bourdieu ( /1991. Drawing on her previous research, Norton argues that learners invest in the target language at particular times and in particular settings because they believe they will acquire a wider range of symbolic and material resources, which will, in turn, increase the value of their cultural capital and social power. As the value of learners' cultural capital increases, learners reassess their sense of self and their desires for the future. Thus, Norton argues, there is an integral relationship between language learner investment and language learner identity. The construct of investment recognizes that learners often have complex desires as they engage in the language practices of classrooms and communities. Previous work on motivation frequently conceived of individuals as having unitary, fixed, internalized, and ahistorical 'personalities.' Investment, on the other hand, sees language learners as having complex identities, which change across time and space and are reproduced in social interaction. Thus, while motivation can be seen as a primarily psychological construct (Dö rnyei, 2001), investment is defined as a sociological construct and seeks to make meaningful connections between a learner's desire and commitment to learn a language and his or her changing identity. The construct of investment assumes a wider range of questions associated with a learner's commitment to learning the target language. In addition to asking 'To what extent is the learner motivated to learn the target language?' the teacher or researcher can also ask, 'What is the learner's investment in the language practices of this classroom?' This was one of the central questions of our study.
Related to the construct of investment is that of imagined communities and imagined identities (Anderson, 1991;Kanno & Norton, 2003;Norton, 2001;Pavlenko & Norton, 2007). Benedict Anderson (1991), who first coined the term imagined communities, argues that what we think of as nations are imagined communities 'because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion' (p. 6). Thus, in imagining ourselves connected with our fellow human beings across space and time, we can feel a sense of community with people we have not yet met but perhaps might hope to meet one day. Developing this notion with reference to language education, Kanno and Norton (2003) and Pavlenko and Norton (2007) have argued that in many language classrooms learners may have the opportunity to invest not only in the classroom community but in communities of the imaginationdesired communities that offer possibilities for an enhanced range of identity options in the future. Imagined identities can vary significantly, from the imagined identity of the public professional -the doctor, lawyer, or teacher -to the imagined identity of the local homemaker or farm worker. Norton (2010) argues that 'an imagined community assumes an imagined identity, and investment in the target language must be understood within this context' (p. 356).
Theories of investment, imagined communities, and imagined identities have been very productive in the field of language education (Norton & Toohey, 2011), and there has been growing interest in the ways in which digital technologies might increase learner investment in the language practices of classrooms and possibly enhance the range of identities available to language learners. Lam (2000Lam ( , 2006, for example, examined the computer-mediated transnational identities that immigrant youth in the United States were fashioning for themselves as multilingual, multi-competent actors. She found that these identities allowed them greater access to language learning than the identities available to them in school, where they were stigmatized as immigrants and incompetent language users. In Canada, Dagenais, Moore, Lamarre, Sabatier, and Armand (2008), who are interested in the affordances of digital technology for the language learning and teaching of elementary school children, investigated the linguistic landscapes around two elementary schools in Vancouver and Montreal. The project drew on innovative digital resources, such as digital photography, to show graphically how the children imagined the language(s) of their neighbourhoods and how they constructed their identities in relation to them. Dagenais et al. argued that this documentation of the actual and imagined neighbourhoods, as seen by children, provided rich pedagogical information on the children's understanding of their community.
In the more poorly resourced country of Uganda, Kendrick and Jones (2008) conducted research to analyze drawings and photographs produced by primary and secondary school girls learning English. Like Dagenais et al. (2008), Kendrick and Jones used multimodal methodologies to investigate the girls' perceptions of their participation in local literacy practices and to promote dialogue on literacy, women, and development. The girls' visual images were found to provide insight into their imagined communities, communities in which command of English and access to education were available. They concluded: Providing opportunities for girls to explore and consider their worlds through alternative modes of communication and representation has immense potential as a pedagogical approach to cultivate dialogue about the nature of gender inequities, and serve as a catalyst for the positing of imagined communities where those inequities might not exist. (Kendrick & Jones, 2008, p. 397) In conducting our study, we wished to better understand the participants' investments in the digital literacy course. We also aimed to investigate whether digital technology improved access to HIV/AIDS information and whether the Internet increased the range of imagined identities available to language learners.

Findings and analysis
We will examine our findings with reference to the two research questions addressed, respectively, in this article: (1) What were the learners' investments in the language practices of the digital literacy course? and (2) What was the relationship between learner investments in the course and learner identities?

Investments in the digital literacy course
There is much evidence to suggest that the participants in this study were deeply invested in the language practices of the digital literacy course. In Q2, all 12 participants noted how much they had learned in the course and how interested they were in various aspects of the course, from learning about the computer to searching for information on the Internet. Filista's 1 comment below is representative of the comments of the other 11 participants: This course has helped me to know what a computer and Internet is so this course has been so important to me whereby I have also learn about the question of AIDS and its answers. (Q2) Ahimbisibwe also frequently noted in his journal how excited the participants were. 'I could tell by their faces that the girls were interested,' he noted on August 20, 2006. 'They were all enthusiastic to start,' he continued on August 23, and on September 3 he remarked that it was 'unbelievable' what progress the participants had made.
The participants' investments in the language practices of the digital literacy course derived in part from the opportunity to access the English language in multiple new ways. For example, in response to the question, 'How do you think you could benefit from learning to use the computer?' Henrietta responded that she would 'understand more about English language,' commenting further, 'I got communication. I have learnt the English language because the English in Internet has been very create and it has arranged properly' (Q2).
Three particular areas of interest noted by Ahimbisibwe in his journal also provide important explanations as to why the participants were highly invested in the language practices of the course: the participants had been given access to information about HIV/AIDS, they had learned how computers and the Internet work, and they had been given the opportunity to share their learning with their peers in presentation format. Prior to the course, Ahimbisibwe notes, these were all 'very new things' and the participants had little hope of accessing them in the near future (Ahimbisibwe, Journal, September 3, 2006). We will discuss each of these three areas in greater depth.

Investments in digital information about HIV/AIDS
As indicated above, information about HIV/AIDS is difficult to access in remote Ugandan communities, and HIV/AIDS is a topic that both parents and teachers tend to avoid (Neema et al., 2004). Further, Norton and Mutonyi (2007) note that HIV/AIDS clubs are one of the few sites in which young people can access information on the disease and 'talk what others think you can't talk.' In the digital literacy course, with reference to access to health information and HIV/AIDS more specifically, there was consensus that access to the Internet had provided crucial and comprehensive information about HIV/AIDS. All 12 respondents made specific reference to the knowledge they had gained about HIV/AIDS. By way of example, Yudaya noted, I have got health information from the Internet which concern to the HIV/ AIDS. Now I know how to prevent AIDS/HIV and other information about it. AIDS stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome and what of HIV is human immune deficiency virus. (Q2) Gelly remarked that she had been surprised to find that the 'highest percentage of people who die AIDS are youth/teenage this is very dangerous because me also I am a teenager' (Q2). Shakila, from a slightly different perspective, discussed not only how to protect herself, but also how to advise others: In a similar spirit, Sofia noted not only that 'I can be prevented using condom' but that 'I can counsel somebody with AIDS by telling him that being HIV positive it doesn't mean the end of your life' (Q2).
Several participants were particularly concerned about the way in which AIDS had affected their own country, and five participants (Shakila, Caroline, Henrietta, Joanne, and Gloria) noted that they had learned much about the relationship between AIDS and the development of Uganda. As Sofia noted, 'I would like to get more information of how the dangerous disease can develop the country instead of undevelop it' (Q2). Fortunately, much new and important local information was also found on the Internet, such as the role of TASO, Uganda's leading AIDS Support Organization, 2 which, as Joanne noted, has 'tried to look after the affected people through rendering services' (Q2). It is significant that the participants were able to locate this supportive and local health services organization through access to the Internet.
Other health information, including information on malaria and early pregnancies and information particularly relevant to Uganda, was also researched on the Internet. For example, Sofia noted, From the Internet I have got some other information like the information about malaria and so I want also to know more about it like how it spread, its symptoms and how it can be prevented because malaria is a very big problem in our area so more information is needed from that. (Q2) With regard to early pregnancies, Doreen added, On the Internet I searched many health information including AIDS/HIV/ STD and other diseases like malaria. Apart from these I searched about girls who become pregnant when they are still at school. I found it and they are very many who become pregnant and some are ending up affected with AIDS so what should we do? (Q2) As if in response, Tracy noted, It was very important and interest for me to know how to prevent pregnancy when I am still studying like using contraceptives and abstinence from sex. I became happy because some of us don't know how to prevent pregnancies and we do lack some information. (Q2)

Investments in digital resources
It is very difficult to gain access to computers and other technology in rural Uganda, primarily because of the expense involved and the great inequities between urban and rural areas . Further, as Jones and Norton (2007) have shown, young women in particular struggle to fund even the most basic necessities of life, and paying for computers and Internet access would be a luxury far beyond the budgets of most young rural women. Our findings suggest that the participants were highly invested in learning about computers and the Internet, which were the central themes of the digital literacy course. Henrietta's comment below captures many of the responses to the question, 'What did you learn from this course?': I learnt how to use a computer/introduction to the computer. I learnt to access information on the Internet. I learnt how people can communicate through Internet. I learnt how people get information from the Internet.

I learnt the methods of preventing HIV/AIDS and all about AIDS. (Q2)
The participants commented that 'computers make the work easier,' 'save time,' are essential for 'accessing information,' and promote 'communication with other people' (Q2). A number also thought that knowing about computers and the Internet is important for future employment. Gelly, for example, commented, I have learn how to use a computer, how to write the information on the computer and how to search the information on it. It can help me to get job opportunities in my future because now days every job needs to be with an experience to computer such as being an office manager, secretary accountancy and others. (Q2) Participants agreed that there was still much they would like to learn about computers, such as how to develop their own Web sites, upload photographs, and use Skype, or, in Tracy's words, 'learn to talk to somebody while his or her image appears on a screen' (Q2).
It was interesting to note Ahimbisibwe's observation that after the participants had found the information they wanted on HIV/AIDS, they turned their attention to 'other interesting things on the Internet' as they did not know when they would have a similar opportunity again (Ahimbisibwe, Journal, August 30, 2006).

Investments in learner-centred pedagogy
As Ahimbisibwe noted in his journal on September 3, the studentcentred pedagogy of the course -which included pair and group work, class presentations, and regular student-teacher interactionwas also novel for these young women, who were accustomed to large, teacher-fronted classrooms. As he noted, all of these practices were 'very new' to the young women in the study. In Jones's doctoral research, participants had shared with her their experiences of many unsatisfactory classrooms, as evidenced in the following excerpt (Kendrick et al., 2006, p. 110 The data from our study suggest that the participants were indeed 'thinking [their] own English,' and it is this ownership of meaningmaking that was central to their investment in the digital literacy Learning about HIV/AIDS in Uganda course. Shakila, for example, commented very favourably on the organization of the course 'because it has been good and beg you to help and organize other courses like that one because we learned many things' (Q2).
The participants were also invested in discussions on global issues beyond the formal curriculum. At the time that this research was conducted the Iraq War was in its third year, and the participants were very interested to learn more about the war and international figures such as Saddam Hussein and George Bush. Doreen commented, On the Internet also I got information about many people for example Saddam Hussein whereby I searched his image and I see him with some of his information. I didn't searched Saddam only but also I searched our president Museveni and I managed to see him on the Internet so this was so great for me. (Q2) Similarly, Tracy explained how the Internet provided her with information she had not been able to obtain from other resources, and this gave her greater access to key participants in the war: 'I searched for Bush George's picture on the Internet via Google search, I saw how Bush looks like. More also, I looked for Saddam's picture. It was very interesting because I was just hearing of their names without seeing them' (Q2).

Investment, imagined identities, and language learners
We now turn to consider findings from our second research question: What was the relationship between learner investments in the course and learner identities? There is much evidence to suggest that the development of digital literacy provided an enhanced range of identity options for the future of these young women, identities that could be considered imagined identities. Tracy, for example, specified her interest in becoming part of a global academic community as she desired 'to talk with people from different countries like to acquire some information from outside universities' (Q2). Particularly profound is Henrietta's comment that 'they have joined the group of knowledgeable people around the world' (Q2). In related comments, several participants expressed a desire to engage in activities that would enable them to develop, change, or deepen their understanding of themselves as young women in the larger global context. Jenenie expressed an interest in expanding her knowledge and worldview by stating that she wanted to become 'mentally modernized' (Q1). Henrietta explicitly stated her belief that knowledge gained through the Internet would enhance self-knowledge as she would 'learn more about myself through sharing view with Canadian people' (Q1). These comments speak to the need for educational opportunities that cultivate young women's capabilities and encourage them to engage more fully in the world (Jones, 2011).
Although none of the participants had had any sustained contact with the Internet before this study, it was clear that they quickly embraced the digital as a means through which they could appropriate new identities and consider a wider set of options for the future. Sofia, for example, noted that her 'main interest' in learning more about the Internet was that it enabled her to 'know everything which can help my life now and in the future' (Q1). She further remarked, 'My interest in learning Internet is in managing to searching for myself in case I want something to acquire from outside.' Likewise, Joanne commented, 'I would also like to get discussion with other students in other country. And also I would like to get skills how I can also start my own project in future' (Q1).
Future employment that might arise from expertise gained in the digital literacy course was a central concern for these young women, most of whom struggled economically. Penina wanted to be an entrepreneur, Tracy wanted to be a doctor, Gloria a dressmaker, Sofia a business person, and Jenenie the principal of a secondary school. To attain such imagined identities would be rare for many young Ugandan women in rural areas, but the participants hoped that digital technology would help them achieve their ambitions. Caroline, for example, expressed her belief that, given time and experience with digital technology, she would become more confident and better able to interact effectively and meaningfully with people around the world: 'If I get to know how to deal with it, it becomes easy for me to deal with outside people' (Q1). Using the Internet to access information about people and places with whom they had personal connections was of particular interest to the participants as it seemed to bridge the gap between the virtual and the real world, linking their identities -as, for example, students, community members, and research participants -with the larger world on the Internet. Of great significance, however, is that the participants did not wish to simply become consumers of information; they also wanted to become producers of information. Penina, for example, imagined herself contributing knowledge and ideas to others through publication: 'According to me I want to learn it to become one of the most people who can use it and to become publicable' (Q1). Sofia expressed a similar idea: 'I would like to share with the researcher in writing academic book or research' (Q1). Such global knowledge production is strongly advocated by scholars who wish to ensure that African ideas, knowledge, and experience are well represented in the international literature (Andema, Kendrick, & Norton, 2010;Mitchell et al., 2010). However, while some of the participants expressed their desire to take an active part in global knowledge production, others were primarily interested in expanding their friendship networks outside Uganda. For example, Jenenie noted, 'My main interest in learning more about the Internet is that I want to make friends outside my country like in Canada' (Q1). Similarly, Yudaya believed, 'In learning about the Internet, I think it could benefit me because I can communicate by someone when he/she is in different countries' (Q1). Likewise, Gelly stated, 'I heard that computers are usually used on the Internet so I would like to know how to use it, and how to send messages from outside countries' (Q1).
In the process of engaging in language practices with respect to imagined communities and imagined identities, gender issues were also central concerns for the participants. Doreen expressed her interest in learning more about the lives of other young women in the world to expand her understanding of what it means to be female beyond the only context she knew (that of rural Uganda): '[I would like to] learn more about the behaviours of other girls outside Uganda because me as I am I behave the way I behave like a Ugandan girl so what about others?' (Q2) Shakila, similarly, sought to learn about the experiences of females in different parts of the world by accessing information on the Internet, and in particular what she called 'information concerning with problems of girls' (Q1). With a related focus, Tracy wanted to know about 'female bodies, how do they look like,' suggesting that she was interested in expanding her understanding of herself as a young woman as well as her general understanding of the physical body 'because I am soon becoming a doctor' (Q2).

Discussion
The present study provides many insights into the ways in which the young women accessed information about HIV/AIDS through digital technology and how digital technology impacted their investments in the language practices of their classroom, providing an enhanced range of identities for their futures. Prinsloo's (2005) work on digital resources as placed resources has been particularly helpful in considering the significance of our findings for digital literacy research in poorly resourced communities.
Drawing on Blommaert's (2002) conception of placed resources as resources whose social value and functionality change when they are moved to other places, Prinsloo argues that placed resources 'function as artefacts and as signs that are embedded in local relations which are themselves shaped by larger social dynamics of power, status, access to resources and social mobility ' (2005, p. 15). The central point that Prinsloo makes is that digital resources do not have intrinsic value; rather, their functionality and meaningful use is determined by what is socially available 'both by immediate interactive dynamics and by wider social and material practices ' (2005, p. 15). From this perspective, several themes arising from the data become particularly salient. These concern how access to hitherto unavailable resources impacted imagined identities, how gendered identities became more salient, and how the researcher and the research project affected the scope of information desired by the learners. We explore these themes in greater detail below.
First, the Internet café was a previously unimagined space for the participants, who, before the course, had neither the funds nor the training necessary to access the Internet. During their last visit to the Internet café, the participants entered the room triumphantly, stating 'This is now our space.' It took relatively little time for the participants to appreciate what a significant source of information the Internet is, in both local and global contexts; extensive sources of information were now socially available to them (see also Mitchell, 2006;Mitchell & Sokoya, 2007). Indeed, as soon as they had explored information about HIV/AIDS, they quickly turned their attention to other information since they knew that future opportunities for Internet research would be rare. The participants searched for information on the community library in Kyato, for news of President Museveni, for background to the war in Iraq. Access to the Internet, Henrietta concluded, enabled the participants to join 'the group of knowledgeable people around the world,' and Jenenie believed she had finally become 'mentally modernized. ' Second, the gendered identities of the participants emerged in multiple and significant ways, and information that might have been inaccessible was now within the reach of the socially imaginable. Many of the participants wished to better understand their own position as young Ugandan women by better understanding the position of other young women internationally. Their curiosity concerned not only 'the behaviours of other girls outside Uganda,' as Doreen said, but also the 'female bodies, how do they look like.' The liberation of women was a topic of keen interest, and some participants sought information on the ways in which women could be more active in promoting development. However, the challenges of being a young woman in Uganda were also implicit in many of the comments, particularly with respect to rape and defilement and how to overcome it. All of the participants were interested in finding ways to become economically more secure and to have greater choice over both personal and professional aspects of their lives. In this spirit, Joanne noted that she would like to initiate her 'own project' in the future (Q1).
Third, with regard to the impact of our study on the scope of information desired by participants, it was significant that many of the participants made frequent reference to their desire to learn more about Canada, the University of British Columbia, and the researchers. These linguistic signs and practices had become socially available to the research participants, and they wished to make meaningful connections with signs and practices that had entered their worlds in unexpected and intriguing ways. What does Canada mean? Where and what is the University of British Columbia? Who exactly are Bonny Norton and Shelley Jones? As Shakila noted, 'I searched information about Shelley her background, what she did in Uganda and Canada particularly' (Q2). Likewise, Jenenie commented, 'I want to make friends outside my country like in Canada' (Q1). Such knowledge was not static, but generative of further action and collaborative engagement.

Conclusion
In responding to diversity in language and literacy education, McKinney and Norton (2008) have argued that teachers need to consider not only what is educationally possible, but also what is educationally desirable. In many poorly resourced communities in Africa and other parts of the world what is possible may appear bleak and discouraging. However, our study suggests that the hopes and desires of young people in the most rural parts of Africa are no less ambitious than those of young people in Singapore, Seattle, or Sydney. The young women who participated in our study wanted access to current and reliable information on health, job opportunities, diverse international communities, and the English language. Further, they not only wanted to be receivers of global information; they wanted also to produce information, make their own Web sites, Skype with friends, and engage actively in the global production of knowledge.
While governments, policy makers, and funding agencies try to catch up with the desires of African youth and their need, in particular, for easier access to potentially life-saving health information, there are interim measures that might serve the needs of poorly resourced communities. Digital portable libraries such as eGranary 3 are a prime example. Developed by the University of Iowa, eGranary is an 'Internet in a Box' that comprises a hard drive with specialized browsing software which can be attached to a PC or a local area network. It contains millions of educational documents, including Wikipedia and World Health Organization data, which can be searched like the Internet but without the need for connectivity. As we have noted in recent research (Norton, Early, & Tembe, 2010), not only does eGranary provide a wealth of information for users, but it can be used to develop digital skills like browsing and searching. In the absence of a local Internet café, there may be other, more appropriate resources that can promote digital literacy in Kyato.
Findings from our study suggest that digital literacy is highly productive for accessing information about HIV/AIDS in African communities and that global health Web sites can indeed serve as a virtual health care service, albeit in a second language. Significantly, access to the Internet also provided the participants with information about supportive health services such as TASO, which is available locally and welcomes clients who are young and old, female and male, rural and urban. Our study also demonstrates that learners are interested in a wide range of topics, including gender and development, both of which are relevant to the range and quality of health services available to Ugandans. With reference to pedagogy, the study suggests that instruction in digital literacy can perhaps be rendered most effective when learners are invested in the language practices of their classrooms and communities and when they can draw on digital technology to develop an enhanced range of identity options for the future. Participants in our study were able to imagine and appropriate identities as autonomous learners, informed global citizens, and HIV/AIDS counsellors. As such, it is possible that they forged strong, meaningful connections between themselves and a desirable range of imagined communities. This idea needs to be explored further in future research, and researchers should examine more closely the relationship between the ability to imagine and appropriate identities and learning success. Understanding this dynamic relationship in greater depth could have important implications for the best ways to structure language practice opportunities for the purpose of gaining access to health care information and services. This might also help to ensure that imagined identities are not only educationally desirable but educationally possible.
Correspondence should be addressed to Bonny Norton, Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4. E-mail: bonny.norton@ubc.ca