Dear Colleagues, On 12/9/05, Kris Dev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> What I discussed with Lee Thorn, during his Chennai visit, is that we > need to have a technology where local people can make / assemble > computers at say USD 100-200, using freely available products and > technology which can be offered at nominal cost, as nothing comes free. > > It should enable working for 12-24 hours a day, using RAM and CD/DVD ROM > and not hard disk, with or without power supply, work with or without > telephone lines, have packages for local use in the local language. It > should be a sealed unit with no moving parts and guaranteed for life, > unless mishandled. A new Indian machine based loosely on the Jhai PC is being developed by the Center for Development of Advanced Computing/government of India as I write. It is being designed to meet all the requirements that Kris lists. It will likely have flash memory locally and large hard drives available via the net. I return to India and Laos for meetings, including 1/meetings with CDAC in India and 2/meetings with the Lao government and coffee farmers who seem to want information and communication devices to help them make more money and for telemedicine, in January. As for comments regarding comparisons between new technology such as CDAC's above and current laptops, it is indeed best to wait until field tests on new technology are completed. However, a 'regular' laptop when used by villagers may have problems in remote areas for the following reasons: 1/cost; 2/the battery - how to recharge it and how much it costs; 3/lack of ruggedness; 4/localized, useable software; 5/reliability when using Windows without local language and cultural support for technical and other back office problems. Please remember: the issue is not 'the digital divide'. The problems are hunger and poverty primarily and in many areas also pandemics. Whatever is developed must help solve these problems or forget about them. Life is literally too short for half-measures. My perspective on this may be seen in this old Jewish story: 'A long time ago in a far-away place a rich man gave all his money to the poor and joined a band of desert hermits. 'One day this man and another were sent to town to sell two donkeys. These donkeys were very old and could no longer carry a heavy load (LT note: reminds me of used computers or of even giving away my 4 year old laptop). As he stood in the marketplace people came by to ask if the donkeys were worth buying. "If they were worth buying," he said, "do you think we would be selling them?" "And why are their tails and backs so bedraggled?" the shoppers asked. "Because they are so old. We must thrash their backs and pull their tails to make them work." 'Not surprisingly no one would buy the donkeys, so the man returned with them to the desert. When there his fellow hermits asked what happened. When he told them, all of them wanted to know why he had frightened all the potential buyers away. "Do you imagine," he said, "that I left my beautiful home and gave away everything, my land, my home, every one of my animals and all worldly goods, in order to make a liar of myself for two old donkeys?"' I will not make a liar of myself and at the same time I do my best to maintain relationships in the most honorable ways I know how. To my knowledge no one and no group has 'the answer' yet for rural connectivity and ICT as a tool that rural people may choose (and I use that word purposefully) to help them solve their biggest problems. This is true for Jhai, Negroponte, and our spin-off, Inveneo, certainly, but also, I think, everyone. I think people in India are close, especially Mission 2007 <www.mission2007.org>. The people I work with in India are quite generous and I am sure they will share their lessons learned with the world. But no one has 'the answer' or even knows all parts of the puzzle ... yet. What Jhai can do is organize people and methods to help do three things: 1/help rural people decide what they want and help them figure out how to make money from ICT tools to get what they want; 2/provide Mission 2007 cooperators with documentation, analysis, assessments, and proven tools and methods from best practices early implementations; and 3/provide Internet tools that help large groups of people communicate despite language barriers and help each other. We can also advise on hardware and software alternatives, but this a secondary task. We are available to help worldwide on a professional consulting basis. Our first priority, now, however, is helping as we can in India. yours, in Peace, Lee Thorn chair, Jhai Foundation/JhaiTech 350 Townsend St., ste.309 San Francisco, CA 94107 USA 1 415 344 0360 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.jhai.org ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
