Hello Paul, What you have described is what I have been saying. Perhaps not as directly and as powerful as you just did. Someone wrote about innovation. And that set me thinking this afternoon. Innovation -- big or small, any shapes and sizes, any flavours -- will only materialize at the right time, right place, right people, right maturity, right knowledge etc. We cannot force or innovate UNLESS all the ingredients are present. We were born different and shape by different environments. Looking at myself, even though I think I am technically quite sound, I only dare to claim as a decent ICT user. I am quite hopeless in many things. I was not willing to own a PC until just a few months before I was laid-off. Reason is very simple, I was afraid (still am) of supporting myself with a PC. THEREFORE, the people that WE so decided to give them computer lessons, give them free computers ... are they ready to receive the knowledge that WE THINK they should have?? I have an elderly friend actually is afraid of the mouse because he has problem to control the movement and yet this same person bought the first kind of PC that came to the market in 1982 (??). He is a mechanical engineer, mathematician and accountant. If we give him an ICT skills test he would qualify without any problem. YET ... We can encourage people to want knowledge, but we cannot force them. We spent so much time argueing about technologies. I am sure many would agree with me, technology is not the problem. People is. And I mean both the supply and demand kinds of 'people'. Just simple marketing logic. If you want to sell your ideas/products, you need to know your consumers. Do we? Do we take time to understand why they 'run' away? Do we take time to understand their FEARS? their frustrations? their 'real wants'? One of the major problem is, we tend to simplify things and provide a ONE-size-fit-all solution. We think what works in Latin America will work in Asia. ... Just some of my thoughts. Cindy [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Paul Mondesire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:"Yet when investment arrives and when agencies offer FREE training on FREE computers these same people disappear into the mist because they have no excuse left, or realize that their bluff has been called and the reality is that they never really WANTED to use the facility, but it was something to bang a drum over!" The truth of this statement is really profound. I was involved in a program a few years ago and there were brand new i-Macs with free Internet access available for families with a 6-hour course (over 2 weekends with lunch) as the only prerequisite. Only 20% of the machines went out in the first 6 months. This was sad and frustrating for many of us but we came to understand that the computer meant nothing to them as they could not perceive the value of the technology in their lives. Their children's MAYBE, not not their own. The fact is there has to be a practical use for a given technology otherwise it is a handy but bulky door stop for too many folks. There are those who identify so closely with the culture of victimhood that they will not take steps to help themselves no matter how the support is offered or who seeks to share it. The up side of this is there is ALWAYS someone willing to step up to the plate to accept that offer of assistance. A hand up, NOT a hand out!. Paul Mondesire [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org 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. ============= [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org 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.
