Bonnie Bracey Sutton writes: > I am not hedging on just that machine. There are other devices > and machines in the works. My friend Dave Hughes knows how to set > up wonderful sets of infrastructure. And there is satellite. At > this point we don't know the reality of the use of that machine, > but we do know that it will create competition
Hi Bonnie, Thanks for adding teachers and technology to the subject line - IMO this better aligns some of these concepts with the context of discussion. I'm in full agreement with your insights into teachers and would love to learn more of your work. I'm also in awe of your enthusiasm and congratulate the marvellous way you promote some of these ideas. Yes there are alternatives to Negroponte's laptop and mesh WiFi; not all of them viable; but many worthy of analysis - sadly practicalities also play a part (but not wishing to dampen your enthusiasm!!) In considering the communities targeted by Negroponte (being communities with no electricity or other technical infrastructure), I guess to be fair we should also consider strengths and weaknesses of the competing technologies of which you write. For example; Satellite has a requirement for expensive cards and ground-station equipment. Satellite uploads are slow, tend to unreliable in adverse weather and are subject to several inherent technical limitations of latency and the IP protocol. Dial-up connectivity, noting your ref of "often working where there is dial-up" (and welcome to my world :-), requires very extensive and expensive land-line telephony infrastructure simply not present in many developing communities. The example of WiFi in Mongolia is interesting but in truth only providing a tiny drop in the ocean of coverage for this country - it's just an isolated initiative (yet an initiative offering much potential!) Please understand I am not deliberately attempting to "rain on this technology parade" - There are certainly alternatives to Negroponte's proposal, but we should be honest in evaluating the pros and cons of each to ensure promotions match reality, are real and sustainable. I just worry when we paint too grand a picture of some of these technologies to developing communities in full knowledge the technologies don't quite live up to promise and in all likelihood will not be available to them for decades to come. PS - A few months ago my wife and I were unceremoniously dumped in front of New York Central Station by an airport shuttle driver himself lost, or more likely, uncaring that our actual destination was about 10 miles distant. (Standing in the freezing rain with our luggage for two hours trying to catch a NYC cab is an experience we will not soon forget. In the end we just walked the 30 blocks to our hotel). My point in reminiscing is to observe how almost everyone we met and attempted to ask for help with directions seemingly had an iPod ear-piece in one ear, a Bluetooth Mobile earpiece in the other. We had no idea who they were all talking to, but very few had the ability to converse with us (being the people standing right in front of them). This was really quite an alien experience, although probably nothing out of the ordinary for all these wired New Yorkers. But it did lead us to wonder... Is this the technical world we are all promoting? The necessity of development we insist all communities should follow? - Community may well be strong in Manhattan (even though it was invisible to us beyond the dancers of Central Park), but the appearance was that of an ailing community increasingly consumed by technology. There is obvious danger in over reliance on technology, and many lessons to be taken from NYC to other communities perhaps considering implementations of this type. Are we also exercising caution when its prudent to do so? Don _______________________________________________ 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.
