[GKD-DOTCOM] Using Intermediaries to Facilitate Communication

2003-11-19 Thread Don Osborn
Regarding the messages of Herman Wasserman and Cliff Missen, this is interesting but there is a danger I think in any strategy that seeks to rely on intermediaries. Cliff uses the word "griot" but in fact it may be more like "marabout" or priest (although these latter analogies are not perfect eith

Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] Bringing Connectivity to Under-Served Communities

2003-11-19 Thread Robert Miller
On November 14th, Thaths (Sudhakar Chandra) wrote: > This brings to mind something that the satellite radio outfit WorldSpace > is doing. The idea is brilliant, in my opinion. You basically buy this > satellite radio (approx. $70-100 depending on model). You also buy a > computer card to interface

Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] How Much Bandwidth is Necessary?

2003-11-19 Thread Njideka Ugwuegbu
I am a Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford and the focus of my work is to develop a rural messaging service that will give villagers a voice to the world. What I am proposing is a youth-led process to help villagers that don't use computers or the Internet, but want to "communicate" with their loved

Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] What Can and Should be Brought to Scale?

2003-11-19 Thread Mullinax, John (J.)
Joe McCannon has some very good points here. That said, I'd like to inject a new idea into this debate: Scaling up can be a problem, but scaling down is the bigger and more relevant problem. Big ICT systems can and are created all the time, though less often in development work. These large scale

Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] Improving Access Via Mobile Telephony

2003-11-19 Thread satish jha
Its increasingly clear to us: That there are no standard answers to it - people have begun using what they have access to - GSM, TDMA, WiFi, cable (even where there is no telephone and it is primarily used for TV), VSAT or what have you. That each piece of technology gets created to (a) either ad

Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] What's on the Horizon?

2003-11-19 Thread Peter Burgess
Dear Colleagues, I am not sure that what I have to say can be described as "valuable input and insights!", but here goes anyway! > 1. What new "high impact" technologies are on the 3-year horizon? Who > (exactly) needs to do what (concretely) to make those technologies > widely available? Afford

Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] What's on the Horizon?

2003-11-19 Thread S Woodside
Time for peering into the crystal ball, I guess. First, three years is about the outer limit IMO for any kind of computer technology predictions. I tend to look at trends that are coming in the next year or two and that's quite challenging enough... > This week we ask GKD members to consider the d