Dear Colleagues: I have followed this string with much interest and have learned some things. I must admit that the only economists I really understood were Smith, Marx and Jane Jacobs. But that is for another day.
In regard to local community efforts and fundraising, I would suggest that we from richer countries try things like these I describe. I know this is not easy. We have worked on this seven years, now, and we still don't have it 'right'. But this kind of sharing and transfer of information, techniques, code, and plans tends to even the playing field. Once end-users start sharing best practices, they may really have something. We are working on a platform just for that is designed to include translation services. I hope this helps the GKD discussion and the work: 1. Jhai PC hardware give away Our purpose is to make a contribution in the development of low-power computing. We will be happy when better computers are developed. We will serve our clients by recommending the best computers that we can use and will help others prove their systems, given the end-users expressed needs and purposes. Our specialization is not hardware and software - it is financially sustainable development using new, what we call 'reconciliation', techniques. I have described these techniques on this list. We will share some of those tools after further testing. Suffice it to say, now, that the Navajo implementation of the Jhai PC and communication system is being installed, maintained, and reported on by Navajo people and all training is by Navajo people. This is the effect of our method in a way and the proof of our method. Some of these folks will be involved in training trainers in other places. The documents you will see are works-in-progress, but they are sufficient for most purposes. If you see problems or holes in the documents, please let me know. We are developing new ways to work with you and we are sharing the first new way, now. We have posted our Jhai PC user documentation, Jhai PC assembly documentation, Bugzilla tracker, Executive Summary, and the Jhai PC BOM on the web at: techlab.jhai.org login: eduardo password: jhai31.eduardo If you want more information on the Jhai PC and communication system, including an Economist article see: http://www.jhai.org/jhai_remoteIT.htm If you improve the design, please let me know. We hope you do. We are first of all indebted to the people of Phon Kham village who believed in themselves and asked us to help them in very specific ways using ICT. We are also indebted to chief engineer, Lee Felsenstein, for his outstanding work on the original design. His first drawings were done on a napkin as we two Lee's discussed the needs of Phon Kham village in 2002 with Janine Firpo and Vorasone Dengkayaphichith. This design was modified slightly to meet the specific needs of the Navajo implementation. The original Open Design has spawned two evolutions: one by us and one by our former volunteers, now with Inveneo. We suggest several areas of research: low power displays, efficient, green battery, alternative power of all sorts, lower-power demanding chips and cards, Jhai PC or Jhai PC-like stacks on one card or chip, and efficient power regulation. We believe that in production a computer like ours using Jhai PC-like computing power on one card in quantity would reduce our prototype cost by a factor of eight (8), or reduce the cost to about the $100-200+/- range 2. Jhai system up on Navajo reservation Our work with Navajo implementers of Jhai PC and communication system is moving along rapidly. Tests are complete onsite and implementation is moving forward. I will get back to you in a few days with more details. Thanks to Window Rock School District computer experts, Chris Larsen and his great crew, and Jhai board member and programmer, Stan Osborne and a host of others, the network is up, it is working in Ft. Defiance today, June 30, 2005 and all functions work - email, browser, wordprocessing, spreadsheet, monitoring software, and communication (including VoIP) software. I have received phone calls from the machine today and they are communicating with one another. We have also signed memorandi of understanding with Datamation Foundation Trust (India) <www.datamationfoundation.org.in> and Gems of the Earth (Brazil) <http://www.gemasdaterra.org.br/> for cooperation on rural financially sustainable ICT projects. 3. Jhai Farmers Co-op Coffee recommended for Fair Trade certification The Fair Trade certifier just left the Jhai Coffee Co-op's members' fields. He is recommending certification! He also tells us we are ready for Organic certification and should get that, too. Thanksgiving Coffee is our roaster and I invite you to buy at: <http://www.securesitehosts.com/thanksgivingcoffee/jhai/order1.lasso?affili at> 4. Jhai Source Code soon freely available I'll be in touch very soon. We will put our Open Source code on the web for further development and use. 5. The Navajo Implementation - next I'll be in touch in a matter of days, as next steps are implemented. I'll send pictures and press kits. The Muslim mystic Rumi says: Anyone who genuinely and constantly with both hands looks for something, will find it. Though you are lame and bent over, keep moving towards the Friend. With speech, with silence, with sniffing about, stay on the track. Whenever some kindness come to you, turn that way, toward the source of kindness. ... Everyone on this List has been kind to Jhai in one way or another. We are now returning that kindness. We have worked on this Jhai PC and communication system, now, for almost three years and we are a bit lame and bent over. We are now out of money. But we have stayed on the track. And we trust that each of us will see the fruit of our labor and connection. We are grateful to all the people who have worked on this project and I will try to list everyone I've met in my next email ... and that will only be a drop in the bucket. We want to work with all of you and to cooperate with all of you as we build a platform for networking among rural folks for sharing best practices that works for them even if they do not know English. I am also announcing a campaign to raise $30,000 for Jhai Foundation this month. My late father was a master accountant. He would not be happy with Jhai's financial position at this moment. He would understand, I think. We are in our passion and doing what we can to help people help themselves. If you wish to donate, try this: <http://www.jhai.org/donations.htm> or buy coffee here <http://www.securesitehosts.com/thanksgivingcoffee/jhai/order1.lasso?affili at> Yours, in Peace, Lee Thorn, chair Jhai Foundation 50 Townsend St., Ste. 309, San Francisco, CA 94107 USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.jhai.org in US 1 415 344 0360 Jhai Foundation has been supported on this project by Cisco Foundation, Cisco Systems, Intel Corporation, Project IDEAS, a joint initiative of the Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI), a Swiss Charitable foundation, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, IDRC (Canada), SIDA (Sweden), World Council of Churches, Marra Foundation, Haughton Family Fund, McKnight Foundation, IPDeliver, QuickNet, CompuMentor, and Tri-M. Most of our funding, however, comes from individual donors and volunteers like you. Thank you ... and keep it up. We need your support everyday. ------------ ***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/>
