Steve, I know you are right about the importance of technical support on a local level. Floaters presented yesterday at the SITE conference on priorities for research we have identified, and one clear priority is to examine the relative benefits of CTC's and home-based technology integration. We explained that an important advantage of the CTC is that you can use those older computers more easily in a CTC - since tech support, which as you point out WILL be important, is ideally available on the premises.
We are working ourselves with grassroots CTC's where the computers are built from parts and there is no way that they will all match. What we've been doing is to have "each one teach one" and then people go off in their own directions of learning, becoming expert in the areas they choose, and giving back to the group. Luckily enough enjoy the technical aspects. I would LOVE to see a free online tech support class. I have started one for the Mac (e.g. "the problem with older Macs is often just that the battery is low or has gone out") but most donations are older PC's. Sandy -- Sandra Sutton Andrews, PhD Instruction and Research Director Floaters.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] My other hat: Digital Media and Instructional Technologies Arizona State University On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:52:28 -0800, Steve Eskow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > A suggestion to Andy Carvin in the form of a question: > > Is there now available online a good course on computer service and repair > that woould make it possible for those in the poorer countries to keep their > computers running? > > Whether a computer in a poor community costs $100 or $1000, the odds are > that it will soon need attention that requires knowledge and skill not > readily available in the community. > > For example: I visited schools in Belize recently that had been given good > computers by one of the organizations that collects and rehabilitates > computers and ships them them to those needing them--and most of them were > covered with clothes waiting for repair that might never happen. > > If our Digital Divide Network might focus on this matter of computer service > and repair, we might attack this matter of the divide from the angle of > maintenance, and this would be a great contribution to narrowing the divide. > > Steve Eskow > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.edc.org/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://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
