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 > [email protected] > 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 [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.
