Hi Tom, Thanks for the very interesting and insightful post. I agree with most of what you wrote and will spare everyone the bandwidth of reposting that which I agree with. However, a few questions:
On Tue, 2 Sep 2008, tom abeles wrote: > 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. [...] > It is also why we default to technology. It seems to me that technology by itself does not solve these problems. In fact, perhaps it creates them by creating the expectation of instant solutions that often cannot be satisfied. Does anyone believe that it is possible to "fix" the digital divide, or that a particular combination of tools and technologies can do so? How is it different to the "Mercedes divide" or the "clean water divide"? > 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. It is a sacrifice, but if the family dies from hunger today then the seed potatoes will go uneaten and unplanted. Life is full of compromises. What does this have to do with technology and quick fixes? > 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. Sorry, I don't see how labelling part of the situation as "the problem" (the digital divide) equates to labelling part of a situation as a solution (Batman's tool belt) except in that both labels are useful learning tools (training wheels) for understanding the situation but fail to capture the entire reality. If that was not your point, please could you explain further? Cheers, Chris. -- Aptivate | http://www.aptivate.org | Phone: +44 1223 760887 The Humanitarian Centre, Fenner's, Gresham Road, Cambridge CB1 2ES Aptivate is a not-for-profit company registered in England and Wales with company number 04980791. _______________________________________________ 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.
