Hi Steve I think we are in agreement, though yours is, perhaps, more direct- my problem with preference for wordsmithing
My consistent argument has been around the concern that within the development community there has been a proclivity to default to "technology", soft or hard. I really appreciate the ideas of Paulo Freire and folks in The Hunger Project. We did not get ourselves, as humans, into the mess that we have across our planet over night and we can not expect to work our way out of this with alacrity. What we contribute may not be understood or appreciated until long after we have disappeared. And, therein lies one of the problems in today's world where we expect the dark to be dispersed with the flick of a switch. Funding agencies need to see "results" and few can stay the course or are willing to do so. Similarly, few humans have the commitment, especially when they are faced with time/financial constraints and a cornacupia of options which they can "try on", like a designer watch. The other issue has to do with not knowing-not knowing if the "button pushed" opens the door to treasure six levels further on in the game of life or drops the treasure into a non-accessible tar pit. And that is why we have modern day keepers of the flames at Delphi, Oracles with the laptops and models rather than cast entrails, Tarot decks and horoscopes. And that is why liberal thinking persons embraced the fascist ideal of a benevolent dictator, Plato's philosopher kings. It is also why we default to technology. As I have pointed out before, the EU dumping milk on the market can destroy the livelihood of a woman who walks miles to try to sell her milk in a local market, CBI legislation and political pressure can allow dumped US agriculture to disrupt an "inefficient" farm network with concomitant consequences- something no technology can reverse. A rogue trader in the financial markets can send shudders through the entire world, as did the greed in the recent real estate markets in the US. I have seen families emotionally torn because they want their children to learn but if they are in school they can't work and work means food on the table for the entire family. OLPC? Some folks, putting their kids to work, are committing the ultimate sacrifice of eating their seed potatoes. As a hard scientist, let me say that I love tech. It is a razor sharp two-edged sword and, like the magic wand of the Sorcerer's Apprendices, has potential for great harm in the hands of the hands of persons lacking in wisdom. The metonymic "digital divide" represents that mythical armamentarium equivalent to Batman's tool belt or some pharmaceutical formulary, more a mix of paliatives and placibos to avoid having to deal with the core problems facing humans ever since Adam bit into the apple of knowledge. thoughts? tom tom abeles > Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:49:35 -0700 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: digitaldivide@digitaldivide.net > Subject: Re: [DDN] Google Insights - social networking > > Tom and all, > > Your message suggests--to me at least--the need for discussions such as this > to go back to first principles from time to time. > > Are you right about the "unspoken belief" driving this discussion: that > "closing a digital divide is the sine qua non leveling the economic (and > hence all others) playing field"? > > First: computers and cell phones--then food, clothing, shelter? First: > economics: and economics will provide education and social and political > reform? > > Those of us who do spend time in the poor world are used to seeing a crop of > computers in a school closet, or hidden behind a curtain: no one knows how > to repair them, keep them running--or what to do with them when they are > running. > > Is it the hardware and software divide that is our central concern here, our > goal to get as many computer per capita over there as we have here? Or is > our goal the information and knowledge divide, with the computer the > intermediary that gets the information about irrigation and bed netting and > the alternatives to kerosene lighting to the people who need it? > > If it's the latter, we might aim to get one computer to a poor rural > village, train one literate person in its use, and have him or her get the > information about irrigation and kerosene and bed netting to the people who > need it, perhaps using community radio as the disseminator. > > Is that one way of easing the "digital divide"? > > Steve Eskow > > On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 7:15 AM, tom abeles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > I am not certain that I am in agreement with Maria Laura's definition which > > appears to be tautological in nature. > > I am also not certain that engaging in an intellectual reparte makes sense > > in a list where the unspoken belief is that > > closing a digital divide is the sine qua non for leveling the economic (and > > hence all others) playing field. > > > > Deal and Development are Humpty Dumpty terms ( a word means what I want it > > to mean). Perhaps Deal has a pejorative > > connotation while Development has perceived positive sensibility? > > Debatable! Maybe a little time, a deep breath and some > > philosophy/humanities to temper those standing at the ready with their > > Blackberry might make sense? Right now the US education system > > is so enamored with educating for the science/tech/engineering/math that > > programs for the humanities and social sciences are being mothballed. > > > > Tour the "developing world" and look at the "Development" skeletons, like > > Shelly's Ozymandias- the result of "Deals". > > > > tom > > > > tom abeles > > > > > > Sarah Blackmun-Eskow wrote: > > > > > What's the difference between a development phenomenon and an > > > > > economic "deal" or phenomenon? > > --------------- > > > ...An economic phenomenon can be almost anything related to markets, and > > > therefore transactions. The word "deal" refers to this transaction view. > > > Development, on the other hand, involves a value judgment. A development > > > phenomenon means that something good or desirable has taken place, and > > > different groups may make different value judgments as to the > > desirability > > > or goodness of a phenomenon or situation.... > > > > > Maria Laura > > ------------------------------------------ > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > See what people are saying about Windows Live. Check out featured posts. > > http://www.windowslive.com/connect?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_connect2_082008 > > _______________________________________________ > > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] the word UNSUBSCRIBE in > > the body of the message. > > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE > in the body of the message. _________________________________________________________________ Get ideas on sharing photos from people like you. 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