Right, Peter! You've extended my argument yet another step past the ICT solution (where I had chosen to end my examples at the border of ICT and non-ICT solutions), and I entirely agree.
You can still go into markets in much of the developing world and find someone whose business it is to write letters for others. (I like to harken back to old American Western movies where the farmer strides into the Western Union Telegraph station, hooks his thumbs under his overall straps, throws back his shoulders, and drawls, "I want to send me a message to Warshington...") Today, villager's messages are being delivered on paper to a Internet Cafe and then transcribed into email for delivery worldwide by someone who holds an email account. There may someday be a SERVICE that enhances this informal relationship to the point where a single "griot" can manage email accounts for hundreds of clients through a simple handheld device. It'll take a little tweaking of the current email and client software, but it's very possible. Cheers! -- Cliff Peter Burgess <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I like a lot of what I am seeing on this discussion dialog .... and the > commentary by Cliff Missen. > > But this got my attention: "If someone needs to get a letter to another, > they need a word processor and a printer." > > > Whatever happened to the idea of pen and paper, and typewriter (manual)? > When it comes to communications in poor rural areas .... the most cost > effective might well be very old fashioned. ..snip... ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For the GKD database, with past messages: http://www.GKDknowledge.org
