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

2003-11-05 Thread Robert Miller
Hello All,

With regard to Ahmed's note and the great work he is doing by bringing
Internet literacy to the students in his university in Nigeria, what if
you could connect one Campus Content server to that Internet connection
and locally store many times the content in the US Library of Congress?
What if this provided simultaneous access for several hundred users on
campus?

And what if simple low-tech Pentium II that supported Netscape or
Internet Explorer were all that was required to access this Internet
content, as well as, a myriad of rich content including e-Books,
e-Learning courses, video and multimedia resources? etc. were also
available to any student on campus, wirelessly could be refurbished
Pentium II-class PC's that support either Netscape or Internet Explorer?

And, what if all the content on this server were remotely refreshed
nightly via satellite broadcast with any updates so that those content
resources were always current as of 2:00 AM that day and were available
to students, faculty, and administration at high-speed using a simple,
reliable wireless campus network?

Yes, this is possible and it is being done today! And, it operated on a
financially self-sustaining basis by the University or a local community
business person who is charged with providing this reliable service.

And, when the contagious enthusiasm of turned-on Internet- savvy
students demonstrate the power of technology-assisted teaching and
learning to the faculty and those in the university's administration, it
empowers a paradigm shift in thinking for this University. In addition,
this reliable, remotely-managed Campus- wide approach can also include
partnerships with international universities (from Canada and US) that
currently offer world- class virtual degree and diploma programs to
students on their local campus.

This is an exciting time as affordable, sustainable, repeatable
capabilities such as those described above can bring together
world-class computing, global connectivity, content, training, teacher
professional development, and virtual support in under- served and
developing regions. And, as a result, the digital divide is narrowing
with increasing opportunities for literate and articulate people from
anywhere in the world to compete for a new breed of virtual jobs in
the emerging global information society workforce.

Regards
Bob

Robert Miller
EVP Global Inc.
Direct:   (416) 423-9100
Mobile:  (416) 464-7525
Fax:  (416) 696-9734
Email:   [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]


History teaches us that people and nations behave wisely, once they have
exhausted all other alternatives   Abba Eban



Ahmed Isah wrote:

 ...The issue is not to do with selling a useless product that has no
 demand. Rather, it has to do with whether the target market is really
 aware of the benefits of the product to them. This then boils down to
 illiteracy of the benefits of the Internet to the user. Take my case as
 an example. We provide a 24 PC Internet connectivity in an academic
 environment in Nigeria with about 10,000 students and 400 academic
 staff. Yet, the connectivity was not maximally utilised. However, when
 we embarked on Internet awareness training to the students, we now have
 to plan for more PCs as the students continue to troop in.





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

2003-11-05 Thread Matt Blair
Mr. James,

Regarding your last question about linking villages via wireless, you
may want to check in with the Jhai Foundation.  They have been creating
WiFi networks to link villages with each other and the internet in Laos.
 The project website is:

http://www.jhaifoundation.org/jhai_remoteIT.html

Regards,

Matt



Wire Lunghabo James wrote:

 However I would also like to add that many times when we talk of
 connectivity, we mean having probably a connection to either the
 internet directly or to the telcos etc. Has some one ever thought of
 creating a network of villages linked together probably through wireless
 technologies, enabling these rural folk to communicate with each other
 and exchange information without having to ride a bicycle for 20 kms.
 Eventually, this creates a mesh of villages interconnected and one high
 speed connection probably links to the ISP or Telco. I believe this kind
 of aggregation would prove cheaper and more meaningful for our
 societies. Why in the first case should you try and force a villager to
 communicate with some one in Europe when he still has problems
 communicating with his in-laws 10 kms away ?







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

2003-11-05 Thread Jim Forster
Sorry for the late post...hope it's not too late for this subject.

I'm Jim Forster, an engineer with cisco Systems.  I thought I'd describe
a small effort in Nepal that I'm helping.

-- Jim

 
 1. What activities are endeavoring to bring connectivity to under-served
 communities?

Dave Hughes, a long-time advocate of unlicensed wireless for rural
connectivity, as been in Nepal helping Tsering Sherpa set up 802.11 for
the main Sherpa village of Namche.  Namche apparently gets a fair amount
of tourist and Mt. Everest climber money, but their telephony service
was cut off when the Maoists blew up the government-owned telephone
relay tower. Last year Tsering set up a small PBX and supplied voice
service to some lodges, and Internet service to some Internet café's in
Namche.  Last week Tsering and Dave Hughes setup 3 802.11 radios to
provide 802.11 service to all of Namche, and via relay to the SPCC
National Park HQ.  They had planned to provide relay service to a nearby
school but will need another radio for that service.  When that happens
the students will receive English lessons from a Sherpa in Colorado,
using VoIP over Internet the whole way -- no PSTN whatsoever.  See
http://www.linkingeverest.com/gallery/learning for the original idea,
and http://www.linkingeverest.com/gallery/hughes-everest?page=4 for
pictures of the project underway.


 2. What are the goals of these efforts? To what extent are the goals
 attained?

Enable English language lessons and increased educational opportunities
through Internet and VoIP.  Preserve Sherpa culture by enabling those
that must leave to find work to remain in contact with their families
and village.  Enable the whole village to economically share one VSAT
connection. Demonstrate to to the world, through the visiblity that
Sherpas have due to Everest, that Internet connectivity is feasible
anywhere and economical in many places.


 3. Who is being served by these connectivity efforts? Are the benefits
 widely distributed? Do some groups win and some lose in these
 connectivity efforts?
 
 4. How do connectivity efforts seek to ensure that all groups benefit?

802.11 coverage of the entire village lowers the barriers.







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Re:[GKD-DOTCOM] Connectivity Is Not The Right Word

2003-11-05 Thread Peter Burgess
Dear Colleagues,

Broadband is a real enemy of development.

One of my staff summed up the situation in the underdeveloped SOUTH way
back in the 1970s when he said that Every year that goes by they get
another 10 years behind.

And broadband is the sort of technology initiative that helps make this
a sad reality.

There is nothing wrong with broadband as a step forward from other
connectivity, but making broadband the standard before any other form of
connectivity is universal (not to mention a lot of other basic needs) is
a humanitarian disaster.

Once again we have an obscene allocation of scarce development
resources. We need to systemicly optimise value adding in development
and end value destruction through development and foreign direct
investment.

I agree with Simon Woodside that connectivity is not the right focus.
Export driven development has failed largely because when everyone is
exporting to drive development, the supply booms and nothing happens
with demand .. d .. the prices go down  terms of
trade tank. Development is about the quality of life in a community
getting improved, and that is about value adding in the community.
Having the ability to communicate LOCALLY is enormously valuable, and
should be done better than yesterday, but it need not be done using
broadband!

Simon has described the importance of the nodes. Absolutely yes. And the
key nodes in quality of life are those that relate to the living that
goes on in the community.

My vote is for narrowband EVERYWHERE connecting little local nodes.
Improve the local infrastructure, and don't focus just on the
international part of it. And my vote is for using technology to reduce
the cost and price of basic communication rather than to maximise
revenue for the technology producers by selling more and more complexity
that adds a lot to the visual experience but not very much at all to the
underlying messages being communicated.

Sincerely

Peter Burgess

Peter Burgess
ATCnet in New York
Tel: 212 772 6918 Fax: 707 371 7805
[EMAIL PROTECTED] for secure messages



Simon Woodside wrote:

 I was paying attention when the internet was first developing in the
 west, here in Canada in particular. I think that the history of the
 internet is largely ignored by those who are developing connectivity for
 the developing world. But ignored, at the risk of going off in the
 completely wrong direction.
 
 The internet is all about nodes. A node is a knot between strands, a
 place where many lines come together. In a computer network, it's a
 point of interconnection, where two data lines cross. What happens in
 the node, is that the data intermingles and doubles. Data that enters a
 node can exit in any direction, or in all directions at once.

..snip...

 So ... connectivity is not the right goal. The goal should be, what are
 you doing to build the LOCAL internet. Not just to connect people but to
 interconnect them by creating internet nodes?





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