Re: [GKD] RFI: Who is Linking DE with BOP Strategies?
Jim, I think you are absolutely on target...these ideas have nagged at many of us for years... and there have been significant if discrete efforts, but nothing yet on the scale you suggest... perhaps the most persistent proselyte is Alfred Bork, who is developing (has developed?) a new book on this subject, and surely will respond to this discussion .. your point of institutional constraint is also critical... while nothing quite matches the kudzu of academic tenure (although increasing use of adjuncts does seem to be one practical measure!), the grip is very strong of the teachers unions at BOP levels worldwide... and bringing them on board, rather than bypassing them, seems to be the crux of implementing these kinds of reforms John Lawrence On 8/5/05, Jim Stodder [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, I've been an occasional lurker on this List for years. I have a question to which I'd love a response. Can anyone give me good references linking 'Base of the Pyramid' (BOP) strategies with Distance Education (DE)? Forgive me if this seems too obvious for words, but here's my thought: I just finished reading Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by Prahalad, and Captialism at the Crossroads by Hart. It occurs to me that DE to the BOP would be one of the 'leapfrog' technologies of which they speak, both because of (1) hard institutional constraints in the 1st world and (2) huge cost savings of appropriate technology at the BOP. If non-obvious, points (1-2) are developed below. ..snip... ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
[GKD] Increasing the Value of Donor Aid
Dear GKD Members, I've recently done some digging around Tom's point below concerning a lot of venting, some of it inconsistent at best, on 'boomerang' bilateral money invested in development (i.e., returning funds to the source). OXFAM has suggested that only about 20% of aid actually gets to the neediest. Too often domestic interests take precedence: almost 30 percent of G7 aid money is tied to an obligation to buy goods and services from the donor country. The practice is not only self-serving, but highly inefficient; yet it is employed widely by Italy and the USA. Despite donors' agreements to untie aid to the poorest countries, only six of the 22 major donor countries have almost or completely done so. (See OXFAM International, Paying the Price: Why Rich Countries Must Invest Now in a War on Poverty, Oxford, England 2005) http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/mdgs_price.htm Thalif Deen, in a July 7, 2004 IPS article entitled Tied Aid Strangling Nations, Says UN , says: Donor money that comes with strings attached cuts the value of aid to recipient countries 25-40 percent, because it obliges them to purchase uncompetitively priced imports from the richer nations, says a new U.N. study on African economies. In particular, The United States makes sure that 80 cents in every aid dollar is returned to the home country, according to a representative of 50 Years is Enough. http://www.aegis.com/news/ips/2004/IP040715.html The 'new' UN study referred to is ECOSOC. E/2004/17. Economic report on Africa 2004: unlocking Africa's potential in the global economy, 12 May 2004, which can be read at: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N04/347/65/PDF/N0434765.pdf?OpenElem ent There is also the practice of 'round-tripping', which gets referred to quite generally in another 2005 ActionAid/OXFAM report as comparable, but which is a term more usually applied to a quite specific form of procuring debt in local currency, then transferring it into foreign currency on the 'secondary' market... see: http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ecesa/eces99-2.htm I'm still trying to sort out fact from fantasy hereanyone with more info on this, I would be glad to hear from... Kind regards, John E.S. Lawrence UNDP consultant On 3/29/05, Tom Abeles [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ...But then, development is a growth industry, in and of itself. Yet, as you so cogently point out, much of the problem in development rests with the arcane and archaic government within countries. And it is interesting to note, that in the case of the United States, a significant portion of money invested in development, flows back to the United States- I believe, at one time, USAID said the number was close to 80% ..snip... ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] Nigeria: Silicon Valley Transplant
In addition to David Sawe's noting that shortcuts can occur in technological development, and that there is not only one linear path of progress that all must doggedly follow, his posting contains another interesting point that should perhaps be emphasised. The 'death of distance' means that those talented, and sometimes more fortunate folks from poorer world regions who are educated and live abroad indeed can now contribute to the development of their 'very own countries'. There are several ways in which this can be done, especially with new ICTs, but one is the UNDP Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) Program (see for example the call to the Somalia Diaspora to engage in rebuilding that country) at http://www.so.undp.org/Home.htm John Lawrence UNDP consultant, and Adjunct Professor, SIPA Columbia University. On 12/30/04, David Sawe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well it seems that this particular chicken-and-egg problem is rather multi-dimensional. Hence there is need to include, in addition to crawl, walk, run, fly, some provision for leap-frog and indeed even cheetah-polevault where that may be possible. In this case, Nigeria's Government has decided to move boldly. It is an inescapable fact that people in developing countries are going to be receiving training in basic -AND- advanced sciences, either in their home countries or abroad. This is not necessarily from the government's funding, but also from scholarships, private resources, and all kinds of other sources. However, such people will not be able to contribute meaningfully to their own country's development if compelled to live and work abroad where they'll be helping solve the problems of developed countries instead of those of their very own countries. Additionally, one of the key advantages of ICT -- that of the death of distance -- offers opportunities for development activities, training and education, access to capital, etc. that far out-reach anything that would have been imaginable just twenty years ago. In the context of developing countries, this is significant because all too often our populations are spread out thinly across a large geographical area, but are entitled to consistent services wherever they are. They constitute the engine of growth that is being revved up by establishing centres of excellence which will focus on listening to and addressing their needs, by harnessing those technologies that can best deliver the most affordable and sustainable solutions to their problems. ..snip... ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] Is Profitability Essential for Sustainability?
Something I may have missed from this conversation is upfront rigorous RD traditionally required before launching innovations out into the business mainstream... (legal) drugs are a good metaphor...maybe profit is down the road, but to get to the stage where that is possible, big (business) risks have to be taken on a sometimes slender set of hypotheses i.e. that this product a) will pass regulatory requirements for human experimentation, b) pass optimally through a protracted, expensive expensive clinical trials process, and ultimately c) survive legal challenges in the open marketplace investments in this process are argued for by drug companies as rationale for high prices, and relentless profit seeking In the social service arena, do we go out too readily with marketing 'products' (services) based on little except flawed 'best case' precedents... ? John Lawrence former Principal Adviser, UNDP On Monday, November 22, 2004, Jeff Cochrane [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ..snip... Nonetheless, I do think that in some circumstances a solution based on profitability can be the optimal one. In those circumstances, the challenge seems to be finding an innovative business model that targets the poor as consumers. The emphasis is on **innovative**. ..snip... How do we set about the task of first unearthing, and then exploring, those innovative business models that can make profitability work for the poor, not necessarily in every case, but at least in more cases than we're seeing now? My personal sense is that standard approaches to program development cannot cope. This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] What Are the 'Right' Resources to Foster Professional Development?
An interesting homeostatic trend is emerging in this discussion in response to Femi's challenge: Tom argues importantly for incentives either not to leave, or to return to origins in the interests of community sustainability; Sam understandably wants skilled personel to remain in service for local society...yet while I write this, the first pioneer private astronaut has been propelled skywards sixty two miles taking ICT with him, breaking new barriers...and what about the 17th century mayflower foundations for new-ness and exploratory community in the US (and the subsequent need for transatlantic communication between the US and Europe) from which burgeoned the Internet etcAfrica has the unique advantage of being able to leapfrog on these technologies... but for the same reasons that people have been restless throughout human history, we cannot expect the entrepreneurial and exploratory members of those communities not to seek opportunity wherever they can find it...and as Femi suggests, culture will not inhibit this quasi-instinctual drive, but in fact will promote it. Kind regards, John Lawrence On June 18, 2004, Tom Abeles [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sam Lanfranco's comment, below, is worth serious reflection, particularly his last sentence (copied up, here): The challenge is to keep the skilled personnel in service for local society. ..snip... Every company has faced this issue. Expending resources to train skilled personnel is not a guarantee that they will remain or even that the company will need them in the future. ..snip... It seems to me that the problem has been turned upside down. We need a livable and desirable community to induce individuals to either not leave, or in some cases, return or locate in that community. If that exists, then the needed skills will come and/or skilled individuals will remain. In the US we have a group of highly qualified individuals who move to remote locations because they find them attractive, and the infrastructure support (e.g. broad band access) and good mobility support them in these spaces. On June 16, 2004, Sam Lanfranco [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, June 15, 2004, Femi Oyesanya [EMAIL PROTECTED] posed the following question to my analysis about the need for organizational change (Knowledge Mangement Learning Organization Behaviour): Why then did developing Countries in Africa embrace the typewriter, mobile phone, and fax machine? I submit, that the notion of organizational cultural changes as a significant prerequisite for ICT skill development is flawed. Femi is correct in this observation. The suggestion was not that organizational cultural changes are a prerequisite for ICT-enhanced skill development. The suggestion was that they are a co-requisite if the local society expects to both effectively utilize those skills, and to keep those skilled personnel in local residence, for service to the local society. There is no question that skilled personnel are turning to ICT-enhanced opportunities on an as can basis. For evidence of this, one only has to look at how wireless telephony (cell phones) have raced ahead, and been widely deployed, in contrast to all other forms of ICT-supported applications. The challenge is to keep the skilled personnel in service for local society. 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
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] How Much Bandwidth is Necessary?
Since much of the Internet technology (laptops, telecentres etc) seems to be landline based, yet it is cellular telephony that is flourishing in many of the less developed countries, is there a 'disconnect' here that may be inhibiting the spread of the Internet to rural areas?...I just came back from Yemen where cellphones predominate, and coverage has been obtained over most of the country... so voice connections are now relatively normal even to remote rural districts...but Internet of course (notwithstanding the Arabic language issue) is largely confined just to cities... John Lawrence Don Richardson wrote: ..snip... The telephone is the most basic unit of telecommunications service. The policies and programs implemented in support of rural telephony services are a critical part of the supporting environment for other rural ICT initiatives. In most cases rural connectivity can best piggyback on or leverage infrastructure that is primarily intended to support rural telephony. Among rural populations, voice communications will usually be the most immediately useful and easily accessible service (application). ..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
Re: [GKD] Public Sociologies: A Timely Alert
I completely agree with your observation that ICTs remain underdeveloped as the foundation for an entirely new approach .. but am not sure yet another meeting is needed! Somehow we have to deal with the remaining luddites in the policy arena, and mainstream ICTs into development thinking above all this will take perseverance and good case evidence (as you suggest). best, John Margaret Grieco wrote: At a recent presentation at Cornell University, the president of the American Sociological Association talked to the room on the topic of 'public sociologies'. His address happened without a single reference to the internet or to ICTs aligned with participatory policy or planning. The importance of ICTs as a new ground of the policy social sciences has been and continues to be under-recorded and under-theorised. There is clearly a need for a better showcasing of 'grassroots' sociology: the evaluation and assessment of their own condition by communities using the tools of the new technology clearly represents a new 'public sociology' but is one which has not yet caught the attention and imagination of the professionals or the academy. The disconnect between social scientists and the potentials of the new information communication technology is worthy of a meeting in itself. ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
[GKD] Digital Information Is Vanishing
The following appeared in UNWIRE: http://www.unwire.org/unwire/current.asp#26985 Is this e-info dying a natural death thru inattention, thus relieving clogged info-highways, or is this a serious issue of non-archiving of essential knowledge? TECHNOLOGY: Digital Information Is Vanishing, Warns UNESCO Knowledge stored digitally, including important scientific and government information, is vanishing, and more could be lost if action is not taken to conserve it, UNESCO said yesterday. Some of the material in jeopardy exists only in digital form, meaning it could become impossible to consult unless the original or compatible hardware and software are also maintained. The U.N. agency cited the case of a neurobiologist seeking information from the Viking space probes, which were sent to Mars in the 1970s, who discovered the software used to read the 25-year-old computer tapes no longer existed and that the programmers who knew it had died. UNESCO also warned information contained on private and public Web sites could be lost, as the sites are often changed without saving the previous data. It said the White House Web site was wiped clean after President Bill Clinton left office and that its nonarchived Internet links are now gone. The United Nations began consultations on methods to safeguard such information after member states called for rapid action on the issue last month (U.N. release, June 11). ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] Value of World Bank Website
This seems a good candidate for a thoughtful case study, especially appropriate during the International Year of the Mountains. I am amazed that mountains symbolize essential communications sites for cell towers and other hardware, yet the people dwelling in those same mountains seldom seem able to reap the benefits (economic, technological) in their own indigenous communities, even in industrialized countries. The advantages of modern ICTs seem to skip over them. Perhaps Martha Davies could comment on this Andean example, since she has done so much to help bring ICTs to local communities in Peru. Scott Robinson wrote: Peter Burgess' recent post is on the mark. His comments re accountability and the lack of same in the Development Business are germane to any evaluation of the World Bank Group, its websites and investment strategies. A recent discovery of mine merits mention here: an IT for development and community telecenter conference in northern Peru two months ago programmed a visit to a highland village inaugurating a low power community radio station (using truck batteries for power). En route to and fro our group shoehorned into two microbuses passed the largest gold mine in Latin America, Minera Yanacocha. With its satellite-fed Internet connection to its offices on the pÂ…ramo, above 3500 meters, it seemed logical to request the company offer fixed wireless connectivity to the many villages within and on the perimeter of its extensive subsurface mineral concessions impacting several communities. Upon return home, I discovered there is a dispute being adjudicated by the internal IFC Ombudsman office re this mine, and that IFC has a 10% equity share in the operation (with Newmont Mining, Denver, Colorado). We can only ask why can't the good World Bank / Int'l Finance Corp. planners and program officers see fit to add a minor line item in the project budget that would offer the virtues of connectivity to those who have none and whose livelihood is placed at risk by toxic, mercury spills in their delicate Andean highland econiche? ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] Digital Divide vs. Social Divide.
To Yacine: It is hard to disagree with your pithily expressed frustration, or sharp definition of the social schisms underlying the 'digital divide' (DD) however I would suggest there is some political utility in keeping these two words as a sort of quick shorthand.. if it can focus the attention of policymakers ... DD resonates at several levels, after all, one of the first references was in the US (then) Vice President Gore's introduction of a US Internet policy, and what could be called the 'Carthage' principle... where he said that if the information highway bypassed his birthplace, Carthage, Te (pop 2251), he was not interested in promoting it... and the big question was how to build on-ramps accessible from small rural areas admittedly this ignores critical development issues like literacy, language of access, utility of information, and modalities in zero-electricity regions. but I would not disregard the value of the DD label as a good shorthand for mobilizing political will and thus (hopefully) resources ... while surely we must not ignore underlying social factors which are truly important, the speed is so precipitous at which community Internet access technologies are moving, we can scarcely afford to wait...here follows a quick personal (admittedly 'northern') anecdote to illustrate.for years like many, I have used all kinds of devices/strategies to get at my email while travelling... and found it sometimes easier in Africa or India than in rural US or UK...but when an Internet cafe popped up in London Heathrow, with branches in some motorway rest areas out in the countryside..I joined happily, and received a little card (named E-Internet Exchange with a logo suspiciously close to UNESCO's!)..that was stamped each time, promising bonuses to frequent users... now, it seemed, my access problem was solved for pennies a visit EXCEPT I had not allowed for the vagaries of the 'free' market system (nor the awesomely steep technology curve)... two weeks ago I smugly steered my car into the Oxford (M40) motorway service center to have a coffee and pickup my email.. but lo and behold.. the shiny computer consoles were nowhere to be seen, no eager service person ushering me to my keyboard, just tables, trays and people eating I found the 'manager' who apologised and said there was just not enough business to justify continuing the cyber-investment.so I began to twitter through early stages of e-withdrawal ...on the way back through London, I found part of the reason for the demise of roadside E-Internet Exchange..near Victoria Station is a cavernous cybercasino-type facility (which did not honour my little card)... where there were at least four times as many consoles, and no expensive 7/24 service-person, just cash machines like a swiss busstop, where you put in your coins or banknote, and out comes a unique password... good for 60 minutes... you then wait your turn for one of the scores of folks to get up ... you leap in, sit down, enter your password at the prompt, and the Internet is yours interestingly, this is only a block from the new DFID HQ one wonders if that is pure chance? this is the first time I have encountered this kind of automated Internet cafe... but maybe others have seen it elsewhere? certainly it must be confined (like big hospitals, well-financed public schools) to wealthy, probably urban areas? again endorsing the metaphor of the 'digital divide'. Yacine Khelladi wrote: Just as we seek to close the Digital Divide between the North and South, We are sick and tired of the digital divide problem. The REAL problem is how are we going to use the Strategic opportunities offered by the ICTs to close the SOCIAL divide. And avoid digital divide initiatives that deepen the social divide. This is not a semantic problem, but a vision that encompasses all of our objectives, methods and actions, to use ICTs for sustainable human development. ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] Integrating Western and Traditional Information Systems
This gets at the heart of development efforts to match western infotechnologies and local social and cultural processes. Particularly interesting is the effort to understand the differences in perceptual organization, and therefore knowledge 'management' at the most fundamental levels. Can I ask, have you considered the implications for possible education system applications, and e-learning approaches? Stuart Hawthorne wrote: The literature covering the implemention of Western designed information systems in developing countries frequently attests to the difficulty of matching the world view of the local community with the way knowledge is represented in the system. This difficulty arises because the local perspective is, or is historically derived from, a community-centered approach to information sharing. It is holistic and essentially deductive. This contrasts with the inductive, segmented nature of Western information systems. While there is much descriptive comment on the problems this mismatch causes, little attention has been given to identifying the operational differences at the analytical level. Our view is that if we can identify the actual processes that occur in the community-based information processing system, we may be able to develop information systems better suited to the user in the traditional community. This will provide the means for the traditional user to access indexed information under his own familiar perspective and facilitate access by the traditional user to Western datastores. Given our backgrounds, our interest lies largely with the traditional Melanesian community but have a strong suspicion that there are general principles that apply to all community-based (historically oral) information systems employing distributed storage. For example, given system requirements, it seems determination of relevance has to occur at a different, probably later, time in the retrieval process than it does in Western systems. The anecdotal evidence points in this direction at least. We would very much like to make contact with anyone working in this area or to learn of any related research we may consult. ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] Project Trains Women in Computer Skills (India)
Mridula, thank you for this update on the INFODEV-supported SITA and MitraMandal, around which you raise crucial questions of job placement for project trainees. As I'm sure you know, the relationship between training and presumed 'jobs' that hypothetically await successful trainees has always been one of the most vexed and difficult problems facing program designers/evaluators, and is by no means limited to India, or even to these kinds of approaches or communities. I think the issue is broadly at the base of all 'human resources development' strategies ( the subject of the forthcoming ECOSOC 2002 High Level Segment), and symbolic of major shortcomings in HRD policy and practice. Assumptions under which public training programs are usually themselves 'marketed' include statements about increased job-skills, without specifying how those job-skills are identified, or defined, or even if they are empirical (i.e. derived directly from the contextual 'job-market' which trainees will face). Yet outcome measures usually include measures of 'placement', again usually short-term without regard to how long or how successfully the job-entrant does over time. Western literature (including western 'expert' studies of worldwide HRD vocational education and training programs) is replete with evidence that those who successfully complete training programs either have difficulty finding jobs, or find them in very different areas from those in which they were trained. So I suggest this is not just a problem for SITA trainees, but raises much broader questions. Many countries today are full of high school, even university graduates who are unable to find jobs commensurate with their expectations or perceived skills levels. The work that SITA has done is groundbreaking and has surely brought hope and gratification to its 400+ women who have completed the training. Just bringing the IT world closer to life of poorer Indian communities may be seen as a benefit in itself, though scant reward for those who want the training to lead to tangible improvements personally in their own livelihoods. The SITA webpage states that each trainee was given a Certificate and assistance in getting employment. I am curious to ask what kind of assistance that was, and to what extent it was based on actual (empirically supported) knowledge of employment opportunities in communities where the trainees lived, their own aspirations/expectations regarding 'job' pursuit, and the expectations of those who would employ the succesful trainees. Is there any possibility that the training for these women could lead to (parttime?) employment in some way as outreach workers (analagous to community health assistants) serving as official links between government (state and local) and local communities as frontline liaison persons? Or could they become themselves basic trainers in their own communities regarding introduction of IT into these communities? Im not sure of precedents for this, but perhaps others on this network can identify some? ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.globalknowledge.org
Re: [GKD] Acknowledging the Digital Divide
I was going through Grand Central station in New York City just before Christmas, and while buying bagels in the new GC market, I struck up a brief post 9/11 commiseration with the person serving me ( a woman). She assured me confidently that 9/11 was a function of the huge global social divide (although she didnt use that word... she phrased it more in terms of communication lack)... and said that all would be solved eventually by the Internet...all the world needed was free, open and equitable access for all to all information and knowledge and problems would be resolved... we didnt get into any snaggy little details like absent electric power or local language issues... (that would have destroyed the moment) but I was genuinely struck by the power of her 'faith' . It is naive however (in my opinion) to believe that universal access to information somehow will resolve the world's philosophical, religious, and ethical divides. Just give the same 'information' to the standard experimental psychology sample of university students (the basis of most of today's western psychological theory) and see the statistical deviance in resulting behavior even around the normspeople read the same tea-leaves differentlyfind the same book/movie variously enjoyable or tedious, and rice pudding hideous or delectable So in this interesting thread I resonate to the idea of direct voicing (the original purpose of the GKD List) and access to services. I also like Alan Levy's admonition to keep social development un-imposed, using various kinds of e-platforms as facilitators. But the reality is that free markets have inevitably favored the well-heeled, and therefore those with substantial assets to begin with. So not surprisingly, this asymmetry is already clearly evident in the spread and utilization of e-technologies. As learning has generally throughout human history been the province of the learned (building exclusion upon exclusion) the real challenge for digital-divide opponents is to welcome diversity (usually at odds with conservatism!), and pay the (high) costs to traditional institutions that will inevitably result. ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.globalknowledge.org
Re: [GKD] RFI: Cost of Bridging Digital Divide?
To Nihil Desai... you raise interesting issues in your laconic treatment of the numbers. which connect to Remigio Achia's zinging criticism of expensive western consultants, in the following way not only do they (we) come in with expense accounts and a marked reluctance to venture forth from the eastern US seabord or national capitals in order to articulate influential policy advice, but (they) we come in with a heavy western 'numbers' bias, based on extensive graduate exposure to western professors of statistics, theories of central tendency, and a form of analytical mechanics which may perhaps turn out to be as limiting to understanding human behaviour as Newtonian theories did to physics. the issue of information as a public good has been thoughtfully adressed (eg OXFAM http://danny.oz.au/free-software/advocacy/oicampaign.html) and technologies also, though tangentially, in the new UNDP Human Development Report (e.g. p95, 96)... ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.globalknowledge.org
Re: [GKD] South Africa's Kwa-Dukuza Digital Village
Thanks for pointing to the intriguing summary of the Digital Village effort. One quick question: the following quote: records of members are kept for those using the digital village. Members book in for half hour slots at a time and depending on how full the Centre is a member may re-book for additional time is encouraging, but I could not find any information in the article on how actually the users spend their time.. has any tracing been done of individual access to materials... how long on a specific site for example? ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.globalknowledge.org
Re: [GKD] Welcome Back to the GKD Discussion!
I'm really glad to see the return of this forum... as an inaugural addict, I've been in withdrawal. Rather than suppose (or impose) a theme, my contribution is a quick question: the world's mountain regions contain some of the most remote, and poorest communities, often with profound natural (not to mention spiritual) resources, and Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 singles them out for special focus in terms of conservation, sustainability and poverty reduction. yet these regions remain on or outside the edges of the communications revolution.so, is anyone aware of specific public and/or private sector initiatives to bridge these gaps ... after all laptops/cellphones have functioned effectively for (relatively) wealthy climbers and sportsters on Mt Everest so links are potentially achievable. does this technology penetrate positively into mountain communities anywhere? and is it welcome? productive in improving the quality of life? ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.globalknowledge.org
Re: [GKD] Why aren't more people online?
Very useful analysis I would add illiteracy and language restrictions to this causal pattern, but doesn't this raise an important policy question concerning the digital divide? Since time can only exacerbate the gap between those who are already profiting (in various ways) from Internet technology, and those who are not even able to access it, what should be the policy approach? Just let time pass? Or work aggressively to extend and put in place the necessary infrastructures where the demand is evidenced? Steve Cisler wrote: Why aren't more people online? The answer is obvious to many GKD readers. Here's an interesting international study about the situation The San Jose Mercury News' writer David Plotnikoff alerted me to it: http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/opinion/daveplot/dp062101.htm ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.globalknowledge.org
[GKD] Call for papers: A Digital Divide? Facts, Explanations, Policies
For information. Subject: [DEOS-L] call for papers: Digital Divide From: Teri Harrison [EMAIL PROTECTED] CALL FOR PAPERS EJC/REC: Electronic Journal of Communication/ La Revue Electronique de Communication A Digital Divide? Facts, Explanations, Policies Interested scholars are invited to submit manuscripts for a special issue of Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication (EJC/REC) that will focus on research and theory concerning the so-called digital divide. Presently, heated discussions are taking place in America and Europe, in particular, about whether there is such a digital divide or not. And when it is deemed to exist, the next question is whether it will close or widen in years to come. Most of this discussion is politically charged. Solid scientific research and analysis are scarce. In the meantime, official statistics are beginning to appear, like those of the US Census Bureau, summarized in the NTIA's reports Falling through the Net I, II, III, the Eurobarometer and United Nations Development Reports. However, research and analysis based on these resources and other primarily descriptive statistics does not take into consideration the multifaceted nature of access, the social, cultural, and psychological causes for lack of access, the need for theory to explain these problems and policy measures to address them, and the contributions that a communicative or psychological perspective can provide. We invite manuscripts that address the digital divide and any of the problems associated with understanding its nature, its origins, and its potential solutions. In particular, we welcome: * Empirical studies related to the existence of a digital divide (clearly defined) among one or more of the categories of income, education, occupation, age, sex, race and ethnicity. Multivariate analyses are preferred. * Summary statistics and other concise descriptions of distributions of computers, networks, skills and uses around the world, including Northern America, European Union, Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia and the Third World. * Explanations of (in)equalities based on longitudinal data and/or multivariate models, new conceptual distinctions, and/or theories of (in)equality in the information and network society. * Studies highlighting problems of attitudes towards digital technology, digital skills, usage styles and actual usage in different social contexts, with special attention to the social categories mentioned above. * Studies supporting or refuting popular claims about digital technology and its opportunities to solve inequalities. For example, has digital technology enabled higher rates of political participation in general or has it benefited the existing political elite and already politically active with yet another instrument to increase their advantage? * Descriptions and analyses of concrete policy measures pursued by governments, corporations, union-, consumer- and user groups and civic institutions. Manuscripts should be prepared following guidelines of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Authors should be careful to remove all personal references from the manuscript to allow for blind review. Manuscripts must be submitted electronically. After acceptance both a hard copy and an electronic copy will be required. Deadline for the receipt of manuscripts is July 31, 2001. Notification of (non)acceptance within 5 weeks (receipts in June and July 2 weeks longer). Authors should submit manuscripts to the Guest Editor: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Prof. Dr. Jan A.G.M. van Dijk University of Twente Department of Communication Chair: Sociology of the Information Society Post Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede THE NETHERLANDS Contributions will be reviewed by the editorial board of this special issue: Jan A.G.M. van Dijk, University of Twente NL, Kenneth Hacker, State University of New Mexico, Joe Straubhaar, University of Texas, Austin and a fourth communication researcher from a third world country, to be confirmed. The Electronic Journal of Communication/La revue electronique de communication, one of the first five electronic refereed scholarly journals ever created, has been in continuous publication since 1990. For more information, see http://www.cios.org/www/ejcrec2.htm. Please forward this announcement to interested individuals. ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at:
[GKD] Re: Overestimating the Digital Divide
This is a good point. We found many occasions in our early UNDP experimentation with e-LISTS where southern access was through northern servers. This included ex-pat nationals who were studying/posted temporarily to northern countries, as well as those using northern dialup services from southern sites. But is this the only, or even the major dimension on which we should judge the socalled divide? Other factors where enormous variability exists between countries/continents include costs of telephone or other access, connect reliability, service backup, not to mention cultural inhibitors, censorship, and other government delimiters (e.g. routine and invasive surveillance) one of the biggest dividing issues is the dominance of the English language... I went through JFK airport in New York earlier this month and saw a billboard in the American Airlines Terminal proposing that Chinese would be the most used INTERNET language within a decade, and (said the announcement) `that's when it gets interesting'. Richard Heeks wrote: The global digital divide between North and South - the industrialised and the developing nations - is undoubtedly great. But it is also overestimated. Why? Because we tend to use invalid models of connectivity in the South: models that rely on Northern notions of one email account serving one individual; and pre-global notions of Internet hosts and accounts merely serving their host country. ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.globalknowledge.org
