[DDN] ICTD Trends Research
Dear Friends on the DDN list,We are currently part of a project to examine of past and current trendsin ICTD research and practice. As a first step, we are conducting a surveyof students/scholars and practitioners of ICTD (Information andCommunications Technology for/and Development). In view of some of therecent discussions on this list, we're certain that many of the peoplehere will have very useful insights to offer. Please take the survey atthe following link:http://shirin.cs.berkeley.edu:8000/limesurvey/index.php?sid=92227newtest=YPlease note that a number of the questions here are sometimes a bitdifficult to answer in categorical terms, due to the qualitative nature ofthe research, but conducting the survey helps us get an idea of what theICTD community sees as the key issues in this area. Please help us (andhopefully the community as a whole) by filling out as much of the surveyas you can, and let us know if you are available for a detailed personalinterview. It should take about 15 minutes to complete. We'd be delightedto share the results with you once the project is in an advanced stage.Sincere Regards,Joyojeet Pal, Rabin Patra, Sergiu NedevschiTIER, University of California at Berkeley _ Searching for the best deals on travel? Visit MSN Travel. http://in.msn.com/coxandkings ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] Google Insights - social networking
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
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
I regret that I do not understand what is being argued here.. Are we for or against corporate success or marketing or what have you?.. From the point of view of Development and technology for it, I would rather look at what gets achieved in terms of helping those who need help to get included in the progress that we achieve as a global society and create possibilities to make it more inclusive. If marketing does that, isn't that something we want? Marketing is but an instrument to extend the frontiers of progress. And we can also see it as an instrument of mopping profits. Much depends on how we see it. Any laptop will reside on top of an existing infrastructure and OLPC XO does not need anything more than what you and I need to access the world of technology enabled communication. In fact, what it needs is less than required for the world we seem to know a bit better as it has been designed to address and overcome those questions of infrastructure and other deficiencies. How does corporate success enter this discussion? If the ideas of technology for education and bridging the digital divide do converge, how do we want to achieve them? OLPC is a creative institution and having created the product would ideally like the world to take the next step of embracing and deploying it. However, how many of us can site a product, regardless of how needed and responsive to people's dream it may have been, really went beyond the its confines without a comprehensive marketing strategy? It will be educative and illustrative in this context. It has been successful in Uruguay and you may like to call it developed as well as Peru where the infrastructure is spread out thinly. It has succeeded at the pilot level in the villages of India where electricity may be available for a couple hours a day and it works where solar power is usable. As regards employment, would you recruit a high school kid who began learning on screen, using both the Windows and Linux from the first grade or someone who began touching the keyboards after passing out of school? Thanks much Satish Jha On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 5:43 PM, Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That it is more robust certainly is nice. However, the fact that infrastructure development is robbed by a well marketed feature filled (narrated below) *product* does not mean that it will solve anything. Odd that the iPhone was brought up - it has had such good marketing that people are buying it even in areas where the features don't work. If that's not corporate success, I don't know what is. But we're not talking about corporate success or are we? It seems to me that the mission of education and the closing of the digital divide have different goals when compared to corporate interests. The proof will be in the pudding. I'd like to hear success in any way, but I am fairly certain that the successes will mainly be seen in areas that... already have the necessary infrastructure in place. And in the long term, I have sincere doubts as to whether the OLPC will create employment for people once they do become computer literate in the context of the OLPC - or outside of the context. Good technology, but I seriously question the use of it. Satish Jha wrote: -- Satish Jha President CEO OLPC India One Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 T: 301 841 7422 F:301560 4909 www.laptop.org __ http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=tab_pro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satish_Jha ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
I am not very amused when I read about OLPC as a tool for 3rd world. It sounds a patronizing attempt by the so called 1st world to experiment with 3rd world children. For your Phd, I am sure you will find it wont work since the intentions seem more experimental than anything else. So i agree with views Magda. Leonard Magda Pischetola [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thank you all the members of the list for your kind answers! I will try here to discuss some of the topics that have been raised:  Tim: the OLPC is said to be a quality tool for children of the developing world but what you pointed out is very true: people living in rural developing areas are going to appreciate any kind of technology that could be presented to them, as they do not have any alternative. So, the point is: why not offering them the technology that we all use everyday (a standard laptop) instead of a tool created to be a âlaptop for the third worldâ.  I am not sure that I agree with Satish when says that the OLPC is more advanced than a normal laptop, as it is thought as a game for children who arenât failiar with technology. It was proved by a recent research held from IBM that PCs and laptops introduced in primary schools as âgamesâ where making children ask why they do not have ânormalâ PCs and laptops, as the ones that they saw in other contexts. That is to say: are we sure that it is right to create a âgameâ of the first laptop that those children are going to use, just because they have never seen a laptop before? Whatâs the difference between the OLPC and the laptop that Taran suggested or the Asus EEE, which have now the same price than the OLPC one but are âseriousâ laptops?  Thank you all for suggestions, Magda --- Ven 5/9/08, Satish Jha ha scritto: Da: Satish Jha Oggetto: Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC A: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Data: Venerdì 5 settembre 2008, 21:39 Magda, There is a bit of difference between making a PC and a learning PC for children. What we know as OLPC, without a dozen feature it has that do not come bundled with any other laptop, can be manufactured below $100. But add ruggedness, no moving parts, mesh networking, dual boot system, a screen that works well under the sun, a keyboard that is spill proof, a built in camera, a swiveling screen and an e-book feature and we are talking a serious package. retaining costs at $200 after adding all that narrated above and more is a feat in itself.. So OLPC is no ordinary laptop and the next version will be to laptops what i-phone is to cell phones and for less.. That said, we should encourage every initiative to reduce costs as the lower price points will undoubtedly increase the reach of computing, opening every newer frontier with drop in prices.. Thanks Magda Pischetola wrote: Dear collegues, I've been reading with great interests your posts in the latest months and now I'd like you to ask your opinion about a topic that is going to be an important part of my research. I am doing my PhD in Italy with a project on the Digital divide from the point of view of Education. I am studying how can education reduce the DD with media literacy and how teachers can help children to achieve a good level of the so-called digital skills, to access ICT and Internet and to produce development. Now, this year I will follow a field research in a primary school where teachers are going to introduce the OLPC laptop as a tool in their method of theaching. Then, in the new year I'd like to compare the results to another area of the world (I'm thinking of Buenos Ayres, Argentina). I'm asking to you all what you think - out of any preconcept that I might share - about the initiative of OLPC in the world (if it is a goof initiave or not and why) and which aspect would you stress in a field research like this one (e.g. skills of the teacher, self-learning of the child, creativity and flexibility of the project, etc.). I will appreciate very much your help. Thank you! Magda Pischetola -- Satish Jha President CEO OLPC India One Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 T: 301 841 7422 F:301560 4909 www.laptop.org __ http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=tab_pro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satish_Jha ___ 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. __ Do You Yahoo!? Poco spazio e tanto spam? Yahoo! Mail ti protegge dallo spam e ti da tanto spazio gratuito per i tuoi file e i messaggi http://mail.yahoo.it ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Norbert Bollow wrote: Yes, sure, but at the same time, it makes sense with respect to any given project to limit attention to what can conceivably be affected (positively or negatively) by that project. Being a pragmatist, I agree with you to an extent. However in this context, limiting the attention to what can be conceivably be affected would include the users rights as well. If we toss those out, we're really not trying to solve the problem on hand - just the symptoms. Let's consider for a moment the quotation from the High Tech No Rights? roundatable http://www.archive.org/details/hightechnorights_geneva which Claude Almansi gave in her recent posting: Despite the positive inputs from more progressive brands beginning early 2007, long-term problems still persisted in their Chinese supplier factories. They include substandard wages, excessive work hours, poor occupational health and safety, no rights to employment contracts and resignation, and no communication of corporate codes of conduct to workers. I would suggest that this sounds very much like a modern form of slavery. Actually, I think it more akin to indentured labor, but the point remains the same. In my opinion, silently accepting this kind of situation is very clearly totally unacceptable when one is at the same time making use of technical equipment from these sources. And yet the source is itself a developing country with a digital divide of it's own. That very same country employs people to 'work' in virtual worlds by 'farming' products that are otherwise difficult to get. The point is that the technical knowledge necessary to create those things is actually something that is not a bad thing. While I do have issues about China's occupation of Tibet, I do not believe that they have guns to the heads of Tibetan Buddhist Monks to produce cheap laptops. Indeed, entrepreneurship in China has increased - something noteworthy in a communist country. Things are changing, and those things may not be fast enough - but they are changing. In contrast, unemployed consumers of products in the United States may well envy having income that the employees of a Chinese manufacturer have. By the same logic, too, people probably shouldn't eat bananas or drink coffee. Or use any form of petroleum. I would say that this is a matter of principle which is totally independent of whether there are others on the planet who are even worse off... I cannot agree. We are all connected, even if we do not recognize it. A person in China makes parts of technology we all use. A person in India/Russia writes a part of software that we may use. A media outlet in the United States can make or break a product (or even get the public behind a war with no evidence). A diamond bought from South Africa may have blood on it. Pitch used on roads throughout the world is connected to Trinidad and Tobago. Aid from any number of people goes to countries based on which country has the most press pushing for aid. In simplifying, are we solving the equation or are we making an equation we are comfortable solving? In other words, I would suggest to interpret human rights as an obligation to insist that one's (direct and indirect) trade partners should verifiably adhere to resonable standards of conduct in how they treat people. Then it must be done universally - not selectively. Take a look around your house and really think about where stuff comes from. -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.your2ndplace.com http://www.opendepth.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/ Criticize by Creating - Michelangelo The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine. - Nikola Tesla ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Like others, I think a very interesting topic. On more practical concerns, given that you will be writing up your thesis in 4 years time, around 2012, will the OLPC still be a leading issue or will the technology have moved on to a totally different area? Alongside the legitimate human rights issues, there is also a politics, too, with early adopting countries (Nigeria, China, Libya, Thailand) hardly having a sterling democratic record. Human rights concerns are numerous, not only the production issues, but also balancing children's rights to education, media, and expression, with States obligations for development and community/people's participation in decisions made about them and their family Mike Hayes Dr Mike Hayes Director, PhD in Human Rights and Peace Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development Faculty of Graduate Studies, Mahidol University Salaya, Nakorn Pathom Thailand 73170 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: www.humanrights-mu.org ___ 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.
[DDN] We Media Awards Nominations Deadline Sept. 15
Thanks for sharing this with the digitaldivide list. - Andrew --- We Media Game Changers Awards honor people, projects and ideas that use media to change the world. Nomination Deadline: Sept. 15, 2008 Details and Criteria: www.wemedia.com/awards Submit Online Nominations at: www.wemedia.com/awards/nominate The We Media Game Changers Awards recognize people, projects, ideas and organizations leading change and inspiring a better world through media Winners will be celebrated and featured speakers at the We Media Miami global forum, Feb. 24-26, 2009, where their stories will become the content of the conference. Nominations are open through September 15. Anyone can submit multiple nominations. Please submit nominations online at: www.wemedia.com/awards/nominate. Nominate anyone you know who deserves honor and attention for their innovative uses of media to change the world. Nominate yourself, your company, your products or think about the projects, tools, people and ideas that inspire you. What's your flat- out favorite innovation for the We Media world? Which design, project, product or idea makes you say, Yes, that's it. That's the future. We're looking for entries from all fields. Big companies and institutions, little startups, social entrepreneurs, independent thinkers, brands, causes, tools, ideas, commercial, nonprofit - all are welcome. We'll honor creative story-telling, innovative business models, pattern-changing tools or technologies, social impact and more. Submit as many nominations as you'd like. An international panel of judges will select the winners, and the public will vote on the We Media Community Award. The awards are organized and administered by iFOCOS, the media think tank and futures lab that organizes the We Media conferences and global membership community. Learn more about the criteria at: w.wemedia.com/awards. About We Media The We Media conferences, membership community and awards are organized by iFOCOS (http://www.ifocos.org), a non-profit media think tank and futures lab founded in 2006 by media visionaries Andrew Nachison and Dale Peskin. They help anyone create, operate and sustain ventures in a media-centric culture powered by everyone. We Media programs function as a marketplace of ideas and actions for business and social innovators and they connect individuals and organizations from across industries who believe the power of media, communication and human ingenuity should be applied to innovate in business and to make the world better through media. More about We Media at: www.wemedia.com . ___ 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.
[DDN] Google Broadband in developing countries
Hi all, According to FT and other sources, Google has announced their support for a new initiative called O3B to bring internet access to 3bn people in Africa and other emerging markets by launching at least 16 satellites to bring its services to the unconnected in 2010. They will... order 16 low-earth orbit satellites... as the first stage in a $750m project to connect mobile masts in a swath of countries within 45 degrees of the equator to fast broadband networks... the project could bring the cost of bandwidth in such markets down by 95 per cent. Please read more and comment on our new (personal) blog at http://tinderblog.wordpress.com/ Thanks, Chris. -- Aptivate | http://www.aptivate.org | Phone: +44 1223 760887 The Humanitarian Centre, Fenner's, Gresham Road, Cambridge CB1 2ES Aptivate is a not-for-profit company registered in England and Wales with company number 04980791. ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Dear Magda, This is my opinion. Frankly I do not believe in this one PC per child concept. Giving one PC per Child is a project that would never work. The cost of implementation nationally for any country would be too high. It is one thing to give one PC for each child even if it is for US100, it is another to really effectively use those PCs and maintaining them. Facts have been proven that running such concept , not even one PC per child just a classrooms of 50 or so computers would cost a lot of money especially the cost of maintaining supporting equipments etc. Lately the Nigerian government dropped this kind of project after the large cost of maintaining the machines for just one class. Can one imagine how much it would cost for the entire school if one pc per child is to be a reality. These machines run mostly on Linux and have no CD drives would mean most of the source of contents would be through Internet or through local wireless links etc. If is a well known fact that even though Internet do contain lots of contents, the ones that are relevant to a particular child or class would most probably be not available. More time is spend searching then worth the time. This applies to all other students everywhere. Seldom any child really depend on the Internet for contents that are suitable to their use in classes. The good thing about ULPC is the low cost... that's it. These machines should be used as replacements for otherwise expensive PCs and the low power consumption. Other than that, I do not see much benefits in ULPCs that ordinary PCs or Laptops cannot do better. If one is to use OLPCs for one pc per child for an entire country, the logistics and cost required to implement would be We believe in being practical we believe in Practical Tech rather than High Tech. See an article about us in a latest magazine about our Practical tech... www.paperlesshomework.com/surf and this article as well... http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/270167 So in the end, we believe it is the abilities of delivering useful contents to the rural areas and cost equitable access to contents by all in the country that would solve the problem of digital divides. OLPC to get the all poor students to have access to ICT? No it would never work. Regards Alan www.paperlesshomework.com An elearning solution for rural areas where online/CDs cannot reach. Get the latest happenings through paperlesshomework tool bar www.paperlesshomework.communitytoolbars.com --- On Thu, 9/4/08, Magda Pischetola [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Magda Pischetola [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group digitaldivide@digitaldivide.net Date: Thursday, September 4, 2008, 11:12 PM Dear collegues, I've been reading with great interests your posts in the latest months and now I'd like you to ask your opinion about a topic that is going to be an important part of my research. I am doing my PhD in Italy with a project on the Digital divide from the point of view of Education. I am studying how can education reduce the DD with media literacy and how teachers can help children to achieve a good level of the so-called digital skills, to access ICT and Internet and to produce development. Now, this year I will follow a field research in a primary school where teachers are going to introduce the OLPC laptop as a tool in their method of theaching. Then, in the new year I'd like to compare the results to another area of the world (I'm thinking of Buenos Ayres, Argentina). I'm asking to you all what you think - out of any preconcept that I might share - about the initiative of OLPC in the world (if it is a goof initiave or not and why) and which aspect would you stress in a field research like this one (e.g. skills of the teacher, self-learning of the child, creativity and flexibility of the project, etc.). I will appreciate very much your help. Thank you! Magda Pischetola __ Do You Yahoo!? Poco spazio e tanto spam? Yahoo! Mail ti protegge dallo spam e ti da tanto spazio gratuito per i tuoi file e i messaggi http://mail.yahoo.it ___ 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.
[DDN] Knight Foundation Invites Entries of Digital Media Experiments for Worldwide Contest
Deadline: November 1, 2008 The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation ( http://knightfoundation.org/ ) has launched the third year of the Knight News Challenge, a worldwide contest for innovative ideas using digital experiments to transform community news and information exchange. The program will provide a total of approximately $5 million in 2009 for the development and distribution of neighborhood and community-focused projects, services, and programs. The contest invites entries designed to improve local online news, deepen community engagement, bring Web 2.0 tools to local neighborhoods, develop publishing platforms and standards to support local conversations, and/or innovate how we visualize, experience, or interact with information. http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15015013/newschallenge Copyright (c) 2000-2008, the Foundation Center. All rights reserved. Permission to use, copy, and/or distribute this document in whole or in part for non-commercial purposes without fee is hereby granted provided that this notice and appropriate credit to the Foundation Center is included in all copies. RFP Bulletin (September 12, 2008) Siobhan Champ-Blackwell Community Outreach Liaison National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region Creighton University Health Sciences Library 2500 California Plaza Omaha, NE 68178 402.280.4156/800.338.7657 option#1,#2, then #1 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://nnlm.gov/mcr http://nnlm.gov/mcr http://nnlm.gov/mcr/bhic/ http://nnlm.gov/mcr/bhic/ http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/siobhanchamp-blackwell http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/siobhanchamp-blackwell ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Marketing and corporate success can't be judged in isolation from the values that power them. Legitimate questions are: What ends is marketing being used for? How do it affect the well-being of the society? Is marketing responsible, truthful, positive? Same for corporate success: How does it help or hinder the goals of a people? Who is enriched, and who, if anyone, is made poorer? This sort of analysis is especially important in emerging economies where many people live in poverty. 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 Satish Jha Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2008 11:38 PM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC I regret that I do not understand what is being argued here.. Are we for or against corporate success or marketing or what have you?.. From the point of view of Development and technology for it, I would rather look at what gets achieved in terms of helping those who need help to get included in the progress that we achieve as a global society and create possibilities to make it more inclusive. If marketing does that, isn't that something we want? Marketing is but an instrument to extend the frontiers of progress. And we can also see it as an instrument of mopping profits. Much depends on how we see it. Any laptop will reside on top of an existing infrastructure and OLPC XO does not need anything more than what you and I need to access the world of technology enabled communication. In fact, what it needs is less than required for the world we seem to know a bit better as it has been designed to address and overcome those questions of infrastructure and other deficiencies. How does corporate success enter this discussion? If the ideas of technology for education and bridging the digital divide do converge, how do we want to achieve them? OLPC is a creative institution and having created the product would ideally like the world to take the next step of embracing and deploying it. However, how many of us can site a product, regardless of how needed and responsive to people's dream it may have been, really went beyond the its confines without a comprehensive marketing strategy? It will be educative and illustrative in this context. It has been successful in Uruguay and you may like to call it developed as well as Peru where the infrastructure is spread out thinly. It has succeeded at the pilot level in the villages of India where electricity may be available for a couple hours a day and it works where solar power is usable. As regards employment, would you recruit a high school kid who began learning on screen, using both the Windows and Linux from the first grade or someone who began touching the keyboards after passing out of school? Thanks much Satish Jha On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 5:43 PM, Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That it is more robust certainly is nice. However, the fact that infrastructure development is robbed by a well marketed feature filled (narrated below) *product* does not mean that it will solve anything. Odd that the iPhone was brought up - it has had such good marketing that people are buying it even in areas where the features don't work. If that's not corporate success, I don't know what is. But we're not talking about corporate success or are we? It seems to me that the mission of education and the closing of the digital divide have different goals when compared to corporate interests. The proof will be in the pudding. I'd like to hear success in any way, but I am fairly certain that the successes will mainly be seen in areas that... already have the necessary infrastructure in place. And in the long term, I have sincere doubts as to whether the OLPC will create employment for people once they do become computer literate in the context of the OLPC - or outside of the context. Good technology, but I seriously question the use of it. Satish Jha wrote: -- Satish Jha President CEO OLPC India One Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 T: 301 841 7422 F:301560 4909 www.laptop.org __ http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=tab_pro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satish_Jha ___ 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
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Sarah Blackmun-Eskow wrote: Marketing and corporate success can't be judged in isolation from the values that power them. To at least a few, the values that power the word marketing and the phrase corporate success are implicit due to heuristics. Your point is valid, but changing the values does not excuse the use of the terms without proper qualification. Legitimate questions are: What ends is marketing being used for? How do it affect the well-being of the society? Is marketing responsible, truthful, positive? Same for corporate success: How does it help or hinder the goals of a people? Who is enriched, and who, if anyone, is made poorer? Take a look around. :-) This sort of analysis is especially important in emerging economies where many people live in poverty. I'd offer that it's not of specific importance in emerging economies but is of general importance in all economies - and especially in the global economy. The narratives of the world are numberless. . . . there nowhere is nor has been a people without narrative.--Roland Barthes I'd offer that this quote doesn't take in the context the digital divide, but is a supreme motivator in assuring the bridging of it. :-) -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.your2ndplace.com http://www.opendepth.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/ Criticize by Creating - Michelangelo The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine. - Nikola Tesla ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Thank you all for this interesting discussion. As someone embarking on a project similar to OLPC I'm interested in what advice you have on effective and ethical marketing and corporate relationships. School Key is One KeyFob per Child. Basically, we question that the best way for children to have ubiquitous access to computers is to have them carry laptops with them. Even if they did cost $100 in a city like Boston kids are not safe carrying home computers. Instead we propose to give each student a 1GB USB Key (currently $5 at Target, probably closer to $1 or $2 in bulk) and arrange for them to be able to boot every computer at school, the library, the ICT center and at home with it. When you buy one computer per student it will always be a compromise. Instead, afterschool programs can have big color screens for art, High use compuer labs can use low power computers, Science departments can have a cart of sturdy laptop with cameras and sensors, and low-cost referbished computers, that doen't even need a hard drives, could be supplied for home. Content can be automatically downloaded when connected to the internet at school letting students do homework offline if they don't have internet at home, then automatically save thier work back to the server when they reconnect at School. Currently this is a Grad school project, developed with open source software by me and Amy Bisiewicz, a Boston Public Schools IT professional, who attended Harvard Grad School of Education last year thanks to a scholarship program for Boston Public School employees. As an Internship for credit at HGSE, I am doing very intial pilot work this fall at two Boston schools. Right now we have no grants, no marketing, no corporate partners. Its seems clear to me that we need to change that, so I'm interested in what you think OLPC and others have done right and wrong in these arenas. Thanks! Caroline On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 3:41 PM, Sarah Blackmun-Eskow [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Marketing and corporate success can't be judged in isolation from the values that power them. Legitimate questions are: What ends is marketing being used for? How do it affect the well-being of the society? Is marketing responsible, truthful, positive? Same for corporate success: How does it help or hinder the goals of a people? Who is enriched, and who, if anyone, is made poorer? This sort of analysis is especially important in emerging economies where many people live in poverty. 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 Satish Jha Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2008 11:38 PM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC I regret that I do not understand what is being argued here.. Are we for or against corporate success or marketing or what have you?.. From the point of view of Development and technology for it, I would rather look at what gets achieved in terms of helping those who need help to get included in the progress that we achieve as a global society and create possibilities to make it more inclusive. If marketing does that, isn't that something we want? Marketing is but an instrument to extend the frontiers of progress. And we can also see it as an instrument of mopping profits. Much depends on how we see it. Any laptop will reside on top of an existing infrastructure and OLPC XO does not need anything more than what you and I need to access the world of technology enabled communication. In fact, what it needs is less than required for the world we seem to know a bit better as it has been designed to address and overcome those questions of infrastructure and other deficiencies. How does corporate success enter this discussion? If the ideas of technology for education and bridging the digital divide do converge, how do we want to achieve them? OLPC is a creative institution and having created the product would ideally like the world to take the next step of embracing and deploying it. However, how many of us can site a product, regardless of how needed and responsive to people's dream it may have been, really went beyond the its confines without a comprehensive marketing strategy? It will be educative and illustrative in this context. It has been successful in Uruguay and you may like to call it developed as well as Peru where the infrastructure is spread out thinly. It has succeeded at the pilot level in the villages of India where electricity may be available for a couple hours a day and it works where solar power is usable. As regards employment, would you recruit a high school kid who began learning on screen,
