At 8:51 AM -0700 5/9/05, Dr. Steve Eskow wrote:
>In the case of the powerful drug called a "telecenter," there are times and
>communities when that drug needs to be delayed or avoided until there is a
>readiness to benefit from it.
Somewhat later Mr. John Hibbs asked:
>And, in the instant case - Iraq - perhaps could you tell us what
>matrix you would suggest as to when the telecenter would be useful?
>Or, when it would be harmful?
--
I know of no such "matrix," no formula or check list into which you plug the
variables and press a button to come up with a decision.
There are those who can make such diagnoses at a distance, and without full
knowledge and sense of all the benefits and dangers inherent in a particular
set of social, economic, ethnic, and political circumstances. I am not one
of them.
There are those who believe that the particular ecology of these cultural
forces in a particular time and a particular place are irrelevant: that
telecenters, like food and jobs, are universal goods that always contribute
positively to the communitiesin which they are placed. I am not one of them.
If I had to guess I would guess that telecenters in Iraq that confined their
conversations to one or another of the warring ethnicities, that allowed for
intragroup conversations, would do no harm and might do some good, while
those that tried to generate dialog and reconciliation between those
clashing groups, or between the American presence and those that are trying
to destroy the Americans would do little good at this time, and potential
harm.
Steve Eskow
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org
http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE
in the body of the message.
