Hi Taran, On Tue, 2 Sep 2008, Taran Rampersad wrote:
> I'm really feeling sorry for the dead horse I've been beating, but it > seems it needs to run a few more laps. Thanks, that made me laugh a lot :-) > That would be mobile phone - the future of computing is being discussed > on another email list I participate on with the changed context that the > mobile phone brings. > > In essence, the PC doesn't really know it's dead yet - partly because it > isn't dead *yet* and also because no one really seems to understand how > the market is changing. I don't agree that the mobile phone has killed the PC. They are used for very different things. Can you see a businessman tracking his stock or calculating optimal market strategies using databases and spreadsheets on a mobile, or a student reading or writing textbooks and essays on one? We may see convergence, we may see divergence, we will certainly see adaptation to niches, but I don't believe that the mobile phone is the answer to the world's problems any more than the PC is. > The mobile phone has forever changed the landscape - even gaining > special mention in the UNESCO report brought out this year. If anything, > the mobile phone is accidentally closing the digital divide. After all, > it's ubiquitous even in nations that are pretty good at avoiding change > (i.e., the developing world). It's becoming ubiquitous in nations that are bad at paying for technology, that much I agree with. > Bed netting is a fact of life that many people grow up with - the true > problem is *affording* it. Irrigation is a common sense use of science > which varies upon application, so it doesn't translate well to the web > until you can upload topography and soil type data and assure that the > results are near perfect. I think that the internet is a digital analogy to irrigation. It makes other pieces of technology (fields vs computers) more effective and useful. > No, maybe simply participating in discussion is the first step. Thus, > the mobile phone. It is an important step, but not the first (that is the willingness to participate in discussion) or the second (that is the ability to afford to participate in discussion), and no more than an accessory to the steps that follow (that is turning discussion into action and change). > The truth is that the developing world doesn't need PCs as much as it > needs better mobile phones and telecommunications regulation. True, but it does need them. > Importing PCs into developing nations that have no legal or other > infrastructure for disposal only pollutes developing nations that need > the very fertile soil that is being polluted. No, they have a useful function when used correctly. The important thing is to import working equipment and place it in situations where it can and will be used for real benefit, and sustainably. > The same applies to mobile phones as well, unfortunately. But not quite in the same way, because I don't think phones are dumped on developing countries in the way that PCs are, so there is one less hidden agenda in exporting them. > What we need to do, IMHO, is stop playing with the tiger's tail if we > have no plans for dealing with the teeth. Is this a warning about e-waste, PCs vs mobiles, empowerment of developing countries or general feline policy? 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 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.
