Tom Abeles wrote:
...In one african village there is only enough fuel to run the
generator for a few hours/day. the choice of how to use those precious
KW/hrs is in the hands of the person controlling the keys to the
generator. The decision has been made to use those electrons to run a
TV set, for entertainment purposes....
Ref TV, generators and computers - As the OCDN InfoCentre in Ago-Are
has similar equipment its situation may be of interest.
The InfoCentre opened in 2002 with three computers. In 2004 a VSAT was
installed (under the control of IITA) through a collaboration with IITA,
COL and OCDN (International Institute for Tropical Agriculture,
Commonwealth of Learning, and Oke-Ogun Community Development Network).
This was followed by a TV set (again IITA/COL)and with a plan to also
have a video player, but I don't know if the video player has
materialised yet.
This year a satellite connection for the TV was installed. I don't know
if the connection was arranged by IITA/COL or by the community. What I
know came through email discussions when the young men were trying to
find a way to get the satellite connection, and subsequently when there
were problems about the centre being shut when important matches were
being televised. My fragmented information comes from "Please ma, we
need your help...." emails and such like - rather than formal reports.
It is harder to get details about things that are running okay. I will
have to wait for my next visit for the full story, but this I know....
Sometimes people are allowed to watch the TV for no charge. I would
imagine this can only happen when "there is NEPA" (grid electricity) or
when the computers in the InfoCentre are earning enough money to justify
running the generator.
When there are top football matches, people pay to watch. These matches
are often shown in the late evening or on Sundays, when the InfoCentre
is normally closed, which means that the generator would not be running.
I would guess that any really popular sports events will bring in enough
money to pay for the generator to run. (Previously there was a man with
a travelling business who sometimes came to the Town Hall to set up his
TV etc so people could pay to watch a football match - but he did not
come often and I was told that the quality of the reception was poor.)
From what I know of the generator use for the present InfoCentre
equipment, I would guess that it can power more that just the TV and a
few light bulbs - in which case it should be able to run the InfoCentre
computers as well as the TV and a few light bulbs.
The InfoCentre (with its computers and the IITA-COL VSAT computers) is
in a partitioned off section of the main hall where the TV is situated.
The IITA-COL VSAT will presumably not be available if the building is
opened outside of official hours. However the original InfoCentre
computers are under the control of the InfoCentre manager so perhaps he
will be able to arrange access to those - unless there are problems
because of sharing space with the VSAT computers.
If there is extra power and if there is no problem about allowing access
out of hours then I will be interested to find out if the extra hours
when the generator is running for TV will lead to people being able to
get some extra time on the computers.
Pam
Pamela McLean
CawdNet convenor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.cawd.net then click on CawdNet
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