Dear Cindy, You posted: Technology is a tool. Giving someone a tool don't mean their knowledge, needs and wants would improve if there is no support system to catch them. Take the case of One-Laptop-per-child. Would have been more successful if more thought were given how to deploy and manage both technological and social network first, rather than the lap-top.
Reply: Yes it is true Technology is a tool and blindly improper use of technology at time do more harm than good. However technology as a tool should be properly used and applied and combined with the human factor would be ideal. What differentiate us from animals are our abilities to make use of tools....and as such technology plays very important part of our present day survival. I fully agree many a time, technology is not properly applied and a lot of waste is the result. As to the OLPC project lately even Nigeria had pulled out of the project after earlier enthusiasms because they did not figure out another major cost... electricity. Another factor I believe is the wrong priorities and wrong directions from which knowledge can be obtained. These guys' primary source of updates and information had been through the Internet for every OLPC because the machines were made for such without CD drive and had limited storage space. The problem really came when the children were accessing porn sites! ... and the cost to run all machines with Internet access was very high. As I had explained, this is not a solution since most contents they hoped to get was online modules like flash etc and these require very high bandwidth and they had to install expensive satellite disks. These and the need to power those networks ,wireless, and the satellite disk cost too much in the end. I had in my web advocated these kind of online learning systems will never work and it is happening now. But really who really cares if they can make a good sale? http://blog.wizzy.com/post/OLPC-and-Classmate-in-Nigeria In fact these guys shouldn't be having Internet connections and it would be much cheaper to operate the machines WITHOUT the Internet. That would save so much cost. Alan www.paperlesshomework.com --- On Tue, 8/12/08, Cindy Lemcke-Hoong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Cindy Lemcke-Hoong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health-knowledge To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2008, 10:19 PM No matter how we put it/them, we are still talking about information management, or information divide etc. Technology is a tool. Giving someone a tool don't mean their knowledge, needs and wants would improve if there is no support system to catch them. Take the case of One-Laptop-per-child. Would have been more successful if more thought were given how to deploy and manage both technological and social network first, rather than the lap-top. I was taken aback and alarmed when the question of what has human-social-networking to do with digital divide was raised. To me it is rather scary. One would assume the medical profession would be without work if there is no human being (or animals) to deal with, and therefore there would not be any problem with digital divide or divide of any kind in their sphere of influence. It is rather sad to think that many of us put so much importance on technology. Perhaps that is the root of the problem of digital divide. We take little time, little importance, little understanding, little care etc. etc. to first understand the behaviour of human beings. Technology is the most simple part to deal with. Cindy --- On Mon, 11/8/08, tom abeles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: tom abeles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health-knowledge To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, 11 August, 2008, 4:16 PM Dave Roop's response is interesting and one that seems very important One of the critical pieces that is coming to light with the growing use of the internet is the term, social networking both in brick and click space industry with its intranets has found much that might be helpful here- primarily how information moves. Information "wants to be free to move" but it isn't free to move no matter how connected people are. There are networks and overlapping and interconnected networks with gatekeepers and filters. Much of this has to do with the social aspects. Not everyone chooses to be linked to everyone and linked doesn't mean free flow- not necessarily malicious in intent. The development community has an unstated assumption, especially in the idea of closing the digital divide that such issue do not exist, are minor or will eventually disappear with time and connectivity. I am not sure the difference between developed and developing countries or the subject matter of the network neutralizes the issues thoughts? tom tom abeles > Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:16:59 -0700 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health > > Dear All, > Let me share some my first hand experience in the area of “digital divide” / telemedicine/ Health management” etc. Let us take two different scenarios to make it global. > > Scenario I - Underdeveloped countries > > > Genesis of all problems is “economic divide” and not the “technology or digital divide”. I have seen how poverty dictates “do’s & don’ts’”. > Second important factor is “knowledge divide” as in some cases (of course rare) I have seen even with affluent suffers due to lack of knowledge. > If we tailor use of any technology for eradication of poverty and knowledge divide in any community, health index will automatically improve as by-product. People with no mean for square meal have their health issues as the last priority. > > Scenario II – Developed countries > > Knowledge divide exists even in the countries like United States and attempts to narrow such divides help the society at large. But unfortunately in many cases there are complications as – “information can not be converted into knowledge” without proper background to understand that information. First word is creating a new category of people who belong to this category and needless to say that – this will have negative impact on the overall social management fabric. > > The learning derived are- > 1. Manage digital divide for improving economic standing first followed by knowledge management. Jumping to health management, by passing these two crucial factors would not help in any society (first / or third world). > > > > > > R K Dave, SMIEEE > Strategist & Expert (ICT & Disaster Management) > www.AdvisorICT.com > > > --- On Sun, 8/10/08, David Keyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > From: David Keyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health > To: [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Sunday, August 10, 2008, 5:17 PM > > This is an interesting discussion, though it may be an easier one to have as a > set of narrower questions on a web discussion. > > I agree that the use of data, both qualitative and quantitative, would be > ultimately vital to determining impact and perhaps not enough as been done. Just > as important is defining the scope of questions. I see a number of arenas for > this. "Human health" is also broad. I leave that to health experts, > but perhaps this encompasses individual physical and mental health, and then > public health. > > I also see some distinction between getting health info, getting info about > where to get health assistance, participatory health support activities, and use > of digital media to support creating health marketing materials, and use of > telecenters and digital media as a health prevention (and fitness and public > safety) activity. > > Here are some of the areas of research I'd see on this topic from my > experience in community technology. > 1) Does learning about health information online improve health? > 2) Does participating in a health or disease-related support group improve > physical and/or mental health? > 3) Does retrieving health info likely lead to its use and to a subsequent > impact? How is this different or complementary to information provided by > another source (friend, care provider, brochure)? > 4) How many community technology/ telecentres are connecting residents with > health and fitness information? (e.g. I know of a group of seniors that use the > computer lab to retrieve walking maps for their exercise.) > 5) If someone's knowledge of using a computer and the Internet increases, > does it increase their sense of self-sufficiency and control, and thereby extend > their life and quality of life? (There's an interesting potential > correlation to some research done in England finding that if seniors have a > greater sense of their choices and control, it results in extending their > lives.) > 6) Does a social network, with an e-component (email, text, web), enhance a > consumer's access to health care provider and health information (that is > accurate)? > 7) Does the production of content (e.g. writing about nutrition, your health, > mapping neighborhood air quality) lead to increased health awareness and health? > 8) What is the public safety impact of youth media programs? > > This is all consumer sided vs provider sided (health professionals getting > access to exchanging data and best practices) and doesn't include potential > impact from health monitoring (remote testing/transmission on diabetes, blood > pressure, etc). > > And of course all this takes money for research. I'd definitely like to see > more and how it gets indexed in the health and Internet/dig divide/ social > health journals. > > - David > > ******************************************* > David Keyes > Director of Community Technology Programs > City of Seattle Department of Information Technology > PO Box 94709 > Seattle, WA 98124-4709 USA > > (206) 386-9759 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Fax (206) 684-0911 > http://seattle.gov/tech/ > Street address: 700 Fifth Ave. Suite 2700 > >>> "Judith Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 08/10/08 > 7:04 AM >>> > Greetings, > > The question of health care and the digital divide issues that are being > raised about "knowing" and "data" are central to > discussions that are > happening in medical education and diagnosis communities. A recent book > > <http://www.amazon.com/Interprofessional-Family-Discourses-Knowledge-Processes/dp/1572734027/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218309980&sr=1-3> > Interprofessional and Family Discourses: Voices, Knowledge and > Practice > (Language and Social Processes) > <http://www.amazon.com/Interprofessional-Family-Discourses-Knowledge-Processes/dp/1572734027/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218309980&sr=1-3>by > Marleen Iannucci McClelland and Roberta G. Sands, Hampton Press. > > raises questions about how different disciplines within healthcare diagnose > patients and how voices are missing. This volume raises questions about > dialogues in a face2face and digital world that are central to understanding > areas of the digital divide that are often not visible. They also raise > questions about how parents are engaged in the dialogues and thus how > patients are able to access or enter information. This volume also proposes > a biosocial model that might be of interest to those involved in discussion > about health care and the digital divide. > > This volume also address questions about what counts as knowing, research > and health care and how these are constructed through different lenses used > by different actors. > > I see the questions that were raised, therefore, as interdependent with the > broader concern of this community. > > Judith > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > [email protected] > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > [email protected] > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > [email protected] > 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 Windows Live and get whatever you need, wherever you are. 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