[DDN] two information technologies, two millennia apart
Just a little thing I knocked up that some members of the list may find interesting. I came across an article on the BBC website about the 'digital divide' and take-up of broadband services in the England and Wales: Broadband Reveals Digital Divide http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/technology/4483065.stm It came with a small statistical map showing the distribution of households with broadband across the two countries that reminded me of a similar pattern for road building by the Romans 2000 year earlier. Like broadband, Roman roads represented speedy access to information, culture and civic resources. I've overlaid this map with one of showing Roman roads in Britain, the results of which are here: Two Information Technologies, Two Millennia Apart http://www.sony-youth.com/inforome/ Use the slider to move between the two maps. The site is pretty large, at 100kB, for those on dial-up (I can see the irony in this). Sorry. This is because I used images instead of text to keep consistency between text styles used in the images I was working with and with my own text solely so it would look pretty - not a nice solution for those with vision difficulties. Apologies again. Oliver Moran Digital Media Centre Dublin Institute of Technology -- This message has been scanned for content and viruses by the DIT Information Services MailScanner Service, and is believed to be clean. http://www.dit.ie ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] Research on Community Technology needs - request for links to articles
I would be grateful also if anyone would be able to share information along these lines. Oliver Moran --- Digital Media Centre Dublin Institute of Technology on 2/28/05 10:53 AM, Toby Beresford at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone have any useful links to research on the technology needs of small local community organisations (~$25k turnover)? The sort of thing I am looking for (and these are all made up statistics!) are: i.e. 35% of US local non-profits have their own web site/ 75% use email i.e. 80% of youth clubs in Toronto are now online although only 11% send out a newsletter to supporters, and 1% manage their organisation online. i.e. The top technology priorities for local residents associations in the UK are Email account, Internet cafe, web site, ICT training, online fundraising tools. All links / articles gratefully accepted - you'll even get a thank you mention in our monthly newsletter! If there's a lot that come in I'll be happy to add them as a list on the Community Technology part of the digitaldividenetwork site too so others can benefit from them Thanks Toby -- This message has been scanned for content and viruses by the DIT Information Services MailScanner Service, and is believed to be clean. http://www.dit.ie ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] FW: [NIFL-HEALTH:4627] Adult Literacy education Wiki
Taran Rampersad wrote: the era preceding Wikis lacked said influence ... all 2 million years of them, Taran? I'm picking on this point not just to be a smart arse but to highlight what I believe Alfref meant by, Every new idea is seen by some as a solution. Oli - Original Message - From: Alfred Bork [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Digital Divide Network discussion group' [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 11:54 PM Subject: RE: [DDN] FW: [NIFL-HEALTH:4627] Adult Literacy education Wiki I could not care less about the status quo or influence. My goal is to improve learning in the world, including literacy, by an order of magnitude. It can be done, but not if intelligent people jump on ANY new bandwagon that appears. We need to focus our energies and insist on empirical information, not vague mostly emotional personal experiences and arguments. Only one in ten people in the world has internet access, and it is often marginal at best, No software on the current Internet will solve the massive problem of adult literacy I will be happy to send the outline of my new book, and other information, to interested people. Please write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . It proposes to solve the 'education for all' problem with adaptive learning. Alfred Bork University of California, Irvine -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Taran Rampersad Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 10:15 AM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: Re: [DDN] FW: [NIFL-HEALTH:4627] Adult Literacy education Wiki Alfred Bork wrote: I see no evidence that this will help adult literacy in any large amount. At best it is an unfounded hope. I could have fun with this and say that some hope is based on faith, but that's not really what this is about. Wikis have had a tangible influence throughout the world; the era preceding Wikis lacked said influence. Every new idea is seen by some as a solution. And every new idea is seen by everyone as a challenge to the status quo. Whether people are against change or for change is really the issue. Take podcasting, as an example. It challenges the status quo. There are problems with it for the developing world; one is a matter of usability through access to bandwidth. That's a tangible problem. But is it worthwhile to address? Certainly. There are problems that need to be addressed, and even as I have played the part of devil's advocate about podcasting and mobcasting, it doesn't mean that it isn't a worthwhile thing to explore. In fact, it has to be explored to gain the evidence to substantiate either position - optimist or pessimist. And there are ways around the issue of bandwidth that have nothing to do with bandwidth. By identifying problems, they can be solved. So far, I have yet to see anything but spurious rejection about Wikis. Truth be told, I did not originally like Wikis. But the core of the Wiki is something that I do believe in - participation - so I played with it anyway. And I liked it - while there are things that I do not believe a Wiki should be used for, I will stand up for what they are good for. And they certainly are good for education - perhaps the role is limited in traditional institutions that are unwilling to adapt, but in time the gatekeepers will retire or die. Wikis have a place in the future, I have no doubt. As an autodidact, my interest in the present education system is fleeting - my interest in the future education system will affect the young people who I have grown to love, and who do not exist yet. My nieces, my nephews, and perhaps someday my children. When I discuss education, though I have taught at a few different levels, I do not discuss it by staring at my feet. I look to the horizon, and the news here is that the Wiki is no longer at the horizon. It's at our feet. Deal with it. Oddly enough, it was Ross Gardler's response to this that got me tracking the conversation back. I know Ross from the time he spent in Trinidad and Tobago, where he tried to institute such things at the University of the West Indies - and met with success. Where he and I did not see Wikis the same way a few years ago - slight differences between strong personalities - I hope that my criticisms were constructive, because if they contained phrases like 'unfounded hope' I would certainly be ashamed of myself. You live and you learn. At any rate, you live... When we talk about adult literacy, I wonder how many professors strive to better themselves at the same rate that they hope that their students learn. Maybe that's my personal problem with a lot of professors, perhaps that's a stereotype that I have with traditional education... Perhaps I suffered under professors who did not believe in trying new things. Ahh, but the ones who did... they failed here and there, but in sharing their failures with we
Re: [DDN] Re: Mahatma Gandhi in an Italian Communications Company ad
Oh, my goodness! If this is why anyone believes that Gandhi's struggle was met with resistance and brutality by colonialism, you're sadly missing the point of human politics and the nature of society, communication and history. Hats off the the guys at Telecom Italia for pulling our heart strings but while communication may be key to ending global inequity, communication requires that people listen, understand and are willing to accommodate, not that it occurs on one media or another. This is far more complex that any circumstance of technology. Why should crowds fill Red Square, Times Square, tune-in in Roman plazas, meeting rooms at Whitehall, villages in rural Asia and southern Africa just because of ICT? Did they not have newspapers, radio and newsreels at the time of Gandhi but was he still not considered a kin to a terrorist - no matter how much, in hindsight, that we would all plea that he was a man of non-violence? How many of you have visited the Al Jazeera website lately? Imagining the 'digital' divide solely as a matter of access to technology is to poorly estimate the importance of socio-political and economic relations and to incredibly misrepresent the significance of ICT. Media verbiage of this kind are what mask real causes of societal inequity and stints discussion of how to use ICT meaningfully for social change. Oliver Moran Digital Media Centre Dublin Institute of Technology Ireland Oliver (at) sony-youth.com I think that this is a pretty cool way of looking at why the Digital Divide should be bridged. Flash required, but... it's worth it. And I hate flash. But this is really cool, imaginative... and thought provoking. Rohit Gupta wrote: Gandhi rocks gain... http://www.epica-awards.com/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/11071.htm Folks: Taran is on the money here. For all the reasons he states. Take a peek. Don Samuelson -- This message has been scanned for content and viruses by the DIT Information Services MailScanner Service, and is believed to be clean. http://www.dit.ie ___ 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.
