In response to Taran Rampersad's diatribe at 17:07 23/04/2005
I find your response patronising and rude and for someone who presumes to quote "Criticize by creating" after their signature baffling.
Quite honestly I don't understand why it was distributed on the list, as it just seems to be about the fact that you think anyone who doesn't agree with you is stupid.
I would have thought that much of what I was saying is similar to the points you have made to Todd Seal about whether less well resourced users should have to make adjustments to their browsers because of bad web design / blogging software.
Would you advertise an event as being accessible and then blame a wheelchair user for not bringing their own ramp?
Would you tell someone there is a bus service so long as they can run and jump on it as the driver cant be bothered to stop?
Would you ask a car driver to pull into the side of the road and change the type of wheels on their car because some local planner thought it would be good to have a stretch or road that was 'rough terrain'?
Even though cars can go very fast, the common agreement is that for safety reasons and social responsibility they are not driven fast in shared public places.
Perhaps those who want to talk about, and show off their 'bling' vehicles should congregate at some racetrack type list. Perhaps Andy can set one up for boy racers. (joke)
What is it that I wrote that made you go off the deep end and write so offensively and unconstructively?
Quite honestly it only reinforces my concern about this list, whether or not it has 7,000 users.
Have you ever wondered that maybe so few people actually contribute as your type response makes it appear not legitimate for a USER to say - 'actually that isn't my experience'.
Those of us struggling with day to day life in run down, under resourced communities - which as others have commented can be found in inner city and rural areas of 'first world countries' as in 'third world countries' - want the tool to work unobtrusively so that they / we can get access to information.
Its about getting access to the information and exchange that being on the the other side of the digital divide excludes us from.
Perhaps the list could introduce a quota so that at least a third if not a half of the postings to this list come from users of the technology on 'the other side of the digital divide' ie on the other side of the view point and experience of the predominantly white, male, western, capitalist world.
So I repeat " ... it is not that they're techno-phobic, or uneducated, but the culture (and manners?) of the techno messengers that makes them walk away “ (from the technology)
JW
At 17:07 23/04/2005, Taran Rampersad wrote:
I guess for some it's easy to cut off their noses to spite their faces. But then we have all these noseless people running around who can't smell flowers. And part of what we want them to do is smell flowers.
Cut off your nose to spite your face, and become the lowest common denominator - and STAY THERE because you don't want things to improve. In a few years, you'll be part of the Digital Divide.
One problem of the Digital Divide is the expectation that all this technology can be used without exercising the intelligence that we all have.
We want people to move up. We don't want people to become more stupid
because of technology, we want them to become more smart.
Taran Rampersad Presently in: Panama City, Panama [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo
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