Dear Colleagues,
On 10/25/05, Irfan Khan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> ...In a book review ("Force or farce?", Dawn Books & Authors, 16 Oct
> 2005) Dr Mahnaz Fatima has raised some fundamental questions re the
> very idea of ICTs and development. Her review of Sumit Roys'
> "Globalisation, ICT and Developing Nations: Challenges in the
> Information Age" (Sage Publications; ISBN 0761933468) is rather
> dismissive of ICTs. Please note that she has not discussed FOSS or
> non-FOSS ICTs.
I am not an economist or even an academic at this point (I served a
little time, as it were, as an academic - I taught business to
prospective MBA's), so please take these comments in that light.
I have, however, been involved in ICT and development in the field and
lab for about 6 years, now, so maybe I can add value to this discussion.
I should point out, also, that Jhai Foundation, which I head, has the
Jhai PC and communication system in a field test, now, has had this
system running in the lab or field pretty much continuously (there have
been times in transit) since May 2003, and a better version of the Jhai
PC is being built by the Indian government (C-DAC), now. I am also
involved in Mission 2007 in India in a serious way. All this informs the
below.
A few comments:
1. No one I know knows for sure whether ICT adds value to rural
economies over the long haul because no one has tested that hypothesis
over the long haul. I believe it will. I think that pure water is a
higher priority generally, but who knows? People in each location need
to set their own priorities. We don't actually have to figure this out.
2. What is known is that almost all computers on the market burn about
40-60 watts or more of power/hour. The only ones that don't are by and
large 'clients', that is, not full-function computers. The only working
exceptions to this are the Jhai PC and its derivatives and spin offs to
my knowledge. Media Lab keeps announcing that they have such a computer,
but no one has seen it as far as I know. That machine and all machines
are, after all, just machines and the machines, as we all must know, are
not the most appropriate focus. The focus, I suggest, is ending
starvation. Rural areas where agriculture takes place are central to the
solution. ICT is one means. That's my view.
This fact about the power requirements of machines is significant
because almost all of the locations for the next 2 billion people have
inconsistent and/or less than full time energy (about one billion
people) or no or very close to no electricity (the other billion) . This
means alternative energy must be used and this must be practical and
affordable. That needs to be in the equation.
3. Here is the rest of the matrix, as I see it (and can remember it!),
that also must be in the mix:
- EXPRESSED need,
- hours of service possible
- alternative power supplies available and their price,
- topography,
- geography,
- connectivity to one another and to internet,
- relevant content available (e.g., localized agricultural distant
education (c.f., great work at MS Swaminathan Research Foundation) ,
- localized, socio-economic data as it relates to sustainable business
models,
- local and national politics (only really understood by local
implementers - never understood thoroughly enough by international
implementers (we must be students))
- the communication environment - including the regulatory environment
- trust of implementers by potential end-users
- the computers need to be cheap, stable, rugged, low power, and
localized in terms of software applications.
This is minimum.
All these have some play with one another.
This means the situation is complex. It does not mean it is impossible.
In fact Mission 2007 in India with Datamation Foundation Trust, MS
Swaminathan Research Foundation and Jhai Foundation right now are
assessing how to make successful, flexible content and methods templates
as a ground for large implementations. Others are, too. Once those
templates are made, tested, critiqued, and revised, then methods for
training (probably training trainers of trainers included) will be
developed for deployments at variable sizes.
4. What makes this simpler than it sounds is that the first step is
always a single step in a single village - and this development doesn't
start from scratch. We can build from lessons learned from our mistakes:
- no junk computers out there,
- no satellite connections that are not affordable,
- education that meets real needs- not the egos of the implementers,
- needs lead/management is most important/technology follows,
- local, grounded, experienced implementers know best,
- business is well known to farmers,
- we internationals add value, do not create it, etc.
.. are all important lessons in my view.
5. We at Jhai are developing means in India to start, for people, even
end-users, to communicate clearly and directly with one another about
lessons learned - despite language barriers. (More on this later.) This
will take a while. In the meantime, we can remember the 'C' in ICT AND
VALUE IT MOST HIGHLY. Local, vocal, in-person communication is likely
most important. Thus, the training becomes a high priority - not simply
in:
- how to use a computer, VoIP, radio and the internet, but also
- how to build a business owned by whomever that owns the equipment,
can replace it when it dies, and pays running costs and themselves,
and
- how to improve income, health and education through information and
communication enhanced by computers for, with and by living human
beings - making decisions on use very close to the ground.
6. We are also developing means for people to 'map' local data so that
we do not have to reinvent important information in a single locality
over and over again. We can also find the places that have similar
matrices and make the job of implementers slightly easier. (More on this
later, too.) Again, there is serious work on #4 and #5 going forward,
mostly in India, and with Jhai's help, but also elsewhere.
7. The machines, I firmly believe, must run Linux. This is because Linux
machines are much more reliable - and who wants to fix a computer in a
remote area? This does not mean they cannot run MS or any operating
system - they can as a 'client' via the internet. But this 'client', if
it is going to do the job of making money and giving people real tools
to make money - must be full function in my view and run for quite a few
hours every day.
8. As for free software, I'm all for it, especially at the beginning. It
is hard enough for a village to cough up $4-5K+ (in India) for the
computers ($200+ each - and one computer/village is very tough to make
money on, so you buy a few), the training and all the other pieces of
hardware that must be in place for a realistic implementation. Any place
where money can be saved - given the ultimate economics of this thing -
is good as long as it doesn't sacrifice quality.
9. I think it is very likely with all these things taken into
consideration it is possible to use ICT as a tool towards eliminating
starvation or even breaking through other barriers. One key factor: it
is easier to find out the price at the market town for your goods with
new information and communication capability, thus, you have more
bargaining power. Does this increase the over all economy for a country?
Absolutely yes. Almost anything you do that increases income and
spending in a locality - keeping that money in that locality for a bit
longer and, thus, increasing the power of the multiplier effect -
increases the over-all spending power of a nation in its rural areas.
There are other ways to move money away from population centers and
towards rural villages and keep it there so it circulates. But this one
is the most striking. You know the Senegal experience with WAP-enhanced
mobile phones over two years? InfoDev at World Bank has the data. What I
remember is that income for commodities sold (vegetables, fish)
increased TWO to EIGHT times when they knew the price and had a chance
of beating that first middleman ... and in most cases the middleman
stayed in business by moving up the value chain.
10. But that is not the true measure of great economic development.
Gandhi: "... the test of orderliness in a country is not the number of
millionaires it owns, but the absence of starvation among its masses."
Economic development on a large scale happens in moments of stability
and where there is no warfare sucking huge amounts of money out of the
economy. But even that is not the measure. The measure, as Professor MS
Swaminathan has said for many years, is the speed of the movement
towards the end of starvation. As we move towards the end of starvation
we - all of us - all of us interconnected in every possible dimension, a
known fact in physics - begin to live life in all its fullness. There is
no good or reasonable way to exclude poorer people from this and sustain
life on this planet with the least risk.
11. But to overcome it poorer people have to be involved in their own
movement forward. And that's my last point. The way out of poverty must
include poorer people as drivers, nonviolent drivers, I think, but
drivers nonetheless. You cannot legislate the end of poverty. You cannot
'give' it. You cannot colonize minds and bodies as a means or a way to
get rid of starvation.
12. All this will take A LOT of people. It took 200 people cooperating -
mostly voluntarily - to develop the Jhai PC so far. It has taken at
least 1000 more to develop the vision - such as it is - that I have
tried to articulate here. The input from ICT towards the UN Millenium
goals will take millions of people over time.
But we can do this thing.
In one way we have to start over, I think, but only in this one way.
This wave is already in formation, so we really don't have to shout
about it to make it so, so it is only a small thing to worry about. My
belief: I believe you cannot use standard operating procedure
'development' - it has not worked and it will not work - for one simple
reason: it does not embody 'cooperation' between capital and labor. Both
are essential. I'm not being utopian here. The issue is not total
economic equality - that, as Gandhi said, is not likely to happen. The
point is cooperating to end starvation. This must be built up out of
lived experience and there are literally millions of examples of this
around the world, where rich and poor people live together and cooperate
for economic betterment without serious exploitation. We just multiply
those examples, as Gandhi said in 1928. When 'development' becomes
'participatory', when reconciliation is a goal and a means, then we have
a shot.
So if I were to prioritize the tasks at hand - and I emphasize I find
these tasks do-able with enough cooperation - I would give the highest
value to good listening and good cooperation at the most grounded level.
This takes a bit of time. It in all likelihood involves building on
local political networks and institutions - not reinventing them, as,
once more Professor MS Swaminathan and Project 2007 have pointed out. It
can't be avoided. It is the place to start. This ironically does not
disavow the role of local NGO's. NGO's are essential. It just means
cooperation as possible. It means being practical.
As this happens and as this is focused on in the world's vision and in
our organizations, the rest becomes a perhaps complicated, but certainly
do-able, exercise.
See you in Tunis WSIS. Of course, I am not speaking at Tunis at this
point. This is great for me ... because I get to listen and hang out.
I'm an old community organizer. Hanging out is my way of life. I love
it. I could use a fellowship, but I'll get there one way or another.
I hope to see you there.
I will be involved in the showcase on the 15th of November with Mission 2007
and the Indian government, assuming some funding and barring family
emergency. I am very happy that Jhai was invited to take part in this and
feel honored.
Remember: the task is do-able. The parts are moving still and that is
ok. The bare outline is now visible. The end is not 'opening a market'.
The goal is ending starvation. With this in mind the proper cooperation
is available.
I'm not a 'customer' exactly, I'm exactly a person in a family in a
community. Aren't you?
yours, in Peace,
Lee
Lee Thorn
chair, Jhai Foundation
CEO, Jhai Consulting
1 415 344 0360
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.jhai.org <http://www.jhai.org>
in Lao PDR, India, and USA at present
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