I am not sure where to start in this conversation seems it started with Taran's post about geographical distribution of the use of social networking sites...
Anyhow... the original topic seems to have morphed to hardware... then again.. is Second Life the same as a social network like Myspace? I may never know as I live a life of low bandwidth connections therefore I have not had the luxury of experiencing the online world that seems to speed past me... I have been a cautious fence sitter on the cell phone convergence trend. Sure they are getting amazing features, but from an educational perspective I still prefer a full sized keyboard, mouse and a decent sized screen... Yet I admit I am somewhat of a convert as I see that more and more can be done on tiny devices, but by and large I still feel that elearning has a long way to go on the larger sized platforms. There seems to be a plethora of $100 PC's popping up... either laptop or desktop variety, it seems we still have a very long way to go in the shared device category. To me -- there is nothing more pleasing than seeing 4 or 5 students surrounding a computer working together to come up with answers as they browse wikipedia or the many other free information databases. Mobile devices represent an individual user interface... surely as the screens get bigger and add on keyboards become common they may morph into a mini desktop at that stage several people can share the device at once. But for now I see one thumb typing as a burden to sharing. Many comments on various boards have been made about broadband penetration - a wonderful advancement with increased mobile phone device penetration is the demand for IP. My main connection to the net is a GPRS/EDGE connected Nokia phone sending bluetooth signal to my laptop. Sometime in the distant future Thailand says they will upgrade the networks to 3G and promise a far faster connection at a competitive price. Cambodia has had it for the past 5 months and my tests there show it is not bad... My concern here is that it is reducing the digital divide slower than hoped. An increase in mobile phone penetration seems to lead to reduced landline installation. Which means less in rural and remote regions. Less landlines means less high speed net access. Satellite access via low cost systems like www.ipstar.com ar some $55/month for a 128k connection ease the pain somewhat but still do not make up for the growing divide. OK... so what is next... mobile phones are becoming pervasive, net services expanding over mobile networks - but to me the most important element is still way behind... that being a robust eleanring network supported by locally cached material. Language, content and affordability remain the dividers... regardless of the latest "gadgets" if we cannot provide open content, appropriate content (vocational-technical skills development), local language support (plenty of materials are available but not in local languages - BOP are less fluent in world languages) - these so-called gadgets will remain barriers to making lasting impact in socio-economic mobility. We are supposed to be interested in the digital divide - yes? cheers Tim _________________________________ John "Tim" Denny, Ph.D. Advisor- International Development, Education and ICT Executive Director, PC4peace http://www.pc4peace.org Advisory Board, Masters of Development Studies -RUPP International Journal of Multicultural Education, Electronic Green Journal http://www.avuedigitalservices.com/VR/drjtdenny Join Cambodia Joomla! Users group - http://groups.google.com/jugcam "The diligent farmer plants trees of which he himself will never see the fruit." Cicero (106-43 BCE) On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 5:02 AM, tom abeles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The capabilities of the cell phone are developing but access is controlled > by the parties who need to have positive cash flow. There is now an app > for the i-Phone that lets one access and participate in Second Life. In the > US the service providers all have usb systems that connect to their cell > services so that one has an alternative to the availability of broad band. > One can buy English lessons in China which down load to a cell and there are > cell phones that for all intents and purposes come close to the WII game > system. Want to play dice? load the game, shake the phone, hear the rattle > see what you rolled. > > The capabilities are such that one goes with what gives the best access at > an affordable cost. The smart money appears to be on cells for many uses > that are now forced onto the broadband networks. > > cells are NOT just the next gadget. > > thoughts? > > tom > > tom abeles > > > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To: digitaldivide@digitaldivide.net > > Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 13:11:16 -0700 > > Subject: Re: [DDN] Google Insights - social networking > > > > What do you-all mean by "the latest ICT gadget"? Do you think it is > trivial > > and will decline? From what I've seen all over West Africa, it is > nontrivial > > and here to stay. We are working on how to use it for getting information > to > > villagers, who despite their remoteness seem to have access (Ghana, e.g., > > has 300+ cell towers). > > > > Sarah Blackmun-Eskow, M.A. > > Deputy Director > > Office of External Affairs > > Ghana Telecom University College > > PMB 100, Tesano-Accra, Ghana > > U.S. Address: 290 North Fairview Avenue > > Goleta CA 93117 > > 805-692-6998 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > www.gtuc.edu.gh > > > > > > > > > > The narratives of the world are numberless. . . . there nowhere is nor > has > > been a people without narrative.--Roland Barthes > > > > Sarah Blackmun-Eskow > > President, The Pangaea Network > > 290 North Fairview Avenue > > Goleta CA 93117 > > 805-692-6998 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > www.pangaeanetwork.org > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Daniel O. > > Escasa > > Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2008 7:30 AM > > To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group > > Subject: Re: [DDN] Google Insights - social networking > > > > Sabi ni Jacky noong Wed, 3 Sep 2008 23:31:29 -0400: > > > I agree with the idea that mobile phone is the latest ICT gadget; > > > however, there is a lot that remains to be done in terms of broadband > > > penetration. > > > > You don't need much bandwidth for SMS, and there's a lot you can do with > > SMS. For example, the Community Heath Information System (CHITS -- > > http://www.apdip.net/resources/case/rnd48/view) > > > > <excerpt> > > In this study free and open source tools from the Linux community > combined > > with participatory people-centric strategies were employed to enable > > implementation of an injury surveillance system by health workers. The > > project has three main components: a Short Messaging Service (SMS) for > > reporting injuries, training of health workers on injury surveillance and > a > > web-based system for the graphic presentation of injury data used by > > decision makers. The pilot project was implemented in a poor urban > village > > of the Philippines. SMS was selected because of its widespread > penetration > > in the Philippines and its wireless capabilities. > > </excerpt> > > > > Another SMS-enabled service is B2Bpricenow (www.b2bpricenow.com), a > portal > > that provides up-to-the-minute price updates on market information for > > agriculture, consumer manufactures, and industrial produce. It brings > > together farmers and transport providers so that the former can get > > information such as pricing and transport availability from the latter. > > > > In a previous post (or it might've been in another mailing list), I > thought > > that mobile telephone carriers could tie up with The Knowledge Channel > (TKC) > > or some similar educational TV station to provide quick quizzes to the > > student viewers. TKC would flash a question on screen and invite viewers > to > > SMS in their answers, and TKC would reply to a viewer's cell phone with > > either "correct" or "wrong". In the latter case, it would send the > correct > > answer. The carriers would lend their infrastructure, ideally at reduced > SMS > > rates. > > > > So who needs 3G? <G> > > -- > > Daniel O. Escasa > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > contributor, Free Software Magazine (http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com > ) > > personal blog at http://descasa.i.ph > > > > -- > > http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and > > love email again > > > > _______________________________________________ > > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > > To unsubscribe, send a message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > > To unsubscribe, send a message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the > body of the message. > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get more out of the Web. Learn 10 hidden secrets of Windows Live. > > http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008<http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns%21550F681DAD532637%215295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008> > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] the word UNSUBSCRIBE in > the body of the message. > -- _ _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
