RE: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
At 8:51 AM -0700 5/9/05, Dr. Steve Eskow wrote: In the case of the powerful drug called a telecenter, there are times and communities when that drug needs to be delayed or avoided until there is a readiness to benefit from it. Somewhat later Mr. John Hibbs asked: And, in the instant case - Iraq - perhaps could you tell us what matrix you would suggest as to when the telecenter would be useful? Or, when it would be harmful? -- I know of no such matrix, no formula or check list into which you plug the variables and press a button to come up with a decision. There are those who can make such diagnoses at a distance, and without full knowledge and sense of all the benefits and dangers inherent in a particular set of social, economic, ethnic, and political circumstances. I am not one of them. There are those who believe that the particular ecology of these cultural forces in a particular time and a particular place are irrelevant: that telecenters, like food and jobs, are universal goods that always contribute positively to the communitiesin which they are placed. I am not one of them. If I had to guess I would guess that telecenters in Iraq that confined their conversations to one or another of the warring ethnicities, that allowed for intragroup conversations, would do no harm and might do some good, while those that tried to generate dialog and reconciliation between those clashing groups, or between the American presence and those that are trying to destroy the Americans would do little good at this time, and potential harm. Steve Eskow [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.
RE: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
At 8:51 AM -0700 5/9/05, Dr. Steve Eskow wrote: In the case of the powerful drug called a telecenter, there are times and communities when that drug needs to be delayed or avoided until there is a readiness to benefit from it. And, in the instant case - Iraq - perhaps could you tell us what matrix you would suggest as to when the telecenter would be useful? Or, when it would be harmful? -- John W. Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs ___ 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: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
Dear Ashish Saboo, Thank you for the courteous disagreement: you show us the kind of communication that tries to avoid the anger that underlies violence. I think that after a bit more discussion we would find ourselves agreeing. You cite Andrew Grove's image of steel, which intrinsically is neither good nor bad, but can become a revolver or a syringe depending on how society uses it. The telecenter, then, like steel, has a potential for harm as well as good. I find images of medicine more useful to my thinking. There is no medicine, no wonder drug, that is useful for any ailment, any patient. We practitioners need to adopt for our work the model of diagnosis before prescription. If a community is the patient, we doctor-practitioners have to study the symptoms of that community to determine if a particular drug will be beneficial now.. In the case of the powerful drug called a telecenter, there are times and communities when that drug needs to be delayed or avoided until there is a readiness to benefit from it. Steve Eskow [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Ashish Saboo [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 5:14 AM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Cc: John Hibbs; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; telecentres@wsis-cs.org Subject: Re: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq [Dr. Steve Eskow] ___ 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.
