I disagree still about mainly because 15 meg of MP3 is usually less than 64k of text. IT Conversations is a nice site, but it's also a way of enforcing the unavailability of content to the community.
If IT Conversations, as an example, is such a brilliant site - why is
the bar so high for entry?
Tell that to my colleague in Guyana that I refer in my original mail. He doesn't see a high barrier to entry. He has his US$25 MP3 payer and a CF disk I sent out to him. He is now listening to keynote speeches otherwise unavailable in the deepest parts of the Guyanese Rainforrest. He seems pretty damn happy!
Sure I could print it out and send it, but that would cost far more in the long run since paper has a very short lifespan in damp environments.
I could send the text files and he could read them off a PDA, but that is tiring on the eye and far less enjoyable. Not to mention a PDAs cost far more than a cheap and chearful MP3 player.
Furthermore, print and PDA cannot easily be shared with other members of the community (remember they have no computers), an MP3 can be passed easily from houshold to household, hell you could have four loaned out at once for the same cost of the cheapest PDA.
In addition there is *no* training required in using an MP3 (well beyond click this button to start and this one to stop). Conversely, using a PDA or a computer requires considerable training for people in the most technologically underdeveloped communities. I'm not sure this can be called a high barrier to entry.
Better yet, you can plug an MP3 into a truck stereo as a rudimentary PA system.
The only barrier to entry I see is the bandwidth required for getting the maerials in the first place. What we must remember, though, is that bandwidth does not have to be an Internet connection. A CF disk in the post is pretty high bandwidth and very cheap. A CD is even cheaper if there is a CD player available.
Of course, the materials I have sent him are not the kind of thing he would share with his community, they don't have the BSc in computer science that he has. However, I am sure podcasts could be made that are relevant to the wider community, perhaps something like the HIV/Aids awareness episodes of the BBC World Service West Way series would be a good example for Nigeria.
Perhaps we all need to remind ourselves not to write off a technolgoy simply because we do not yet see how it can be applied. Lets show it to those who may be able to make use of it and see if they come up with any ideas ( I blogged about this a good few weeks ago in relation to the Simputer http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/rgardler )
Ross
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