Taran Rampersad comments on this: >The approach Jon Hall describes below makes much sense: there are many >governments around the world that might well consider it.>> > This way: > > <<Assuming that they can afford it.>>
It is important to do what Taran has done here: to make "affordability" a central issue in deciding on how best to attack the digital divide. Those of us who favor the public computing approach assume--and there is much evidence to back the assumption--that only a tiny fraction of those on the wrong side of the divide can afford a $480 computer, or a $240 dollar computer, and most would have to sacrifice to pay $100. Mass purchasing by government--and many governments can arrange for the necessary financing--will drive the price of the computers down. And a well-designed community telecenter campaign of the kind described by Arun will make it possible for villages and urban locales to buy computers from the government supply at the government's cost, or less if the government chooses to subsidize, so that the eventual cost to each user can be one-twentieth or less of $100. 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.
