Re: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
Dear Andy and Steve and others on the list: Telecentres are what we make of them and the activities we build around them. The women in the villages around Pondicherry in southern India, like most other women in rural southern India, would rarely come in front of men from outside their own families. That was ten years ago, before the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation set up the now famous knowledge centres with some help from IDRC, Canada. Today, they operate computers and communication devices, answer queries from men, women and anyone who comes into these centres, teach computing skills to others, form self-help groups, take loans from banks, run their own enterprises, and even contest elections. There is a sense of self esteem among them. Will send you, off the list, some reports and pictures. Regards. Arun - Original Message - From: Andy Carvin [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 9:45 PM Subject: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq Dr. Steve Eskow wrote: And it is not clear--to me, at least--that if we had a thousand telecenters in Iraq that the other divides would shrink. Hi Steve, If there were 1,000 telecentres in Iraq that did nothing but provide people email access and an outlet for online gaming, I'd have to agree with you. But when done well, telecenters are epicenters of hope and human potential -- places within the community where people can rally together for educational, economic, cultural and civic development. And when all members of a nation are given equal opportunity to improve the quality of life of their families, some of these other divides, I hope, would lessen over time. Much of the work of NY Times columnist Thomas L Friedman has dealt with this issue; for example, he's written about Lebanese telecentres serving as ICT job training centres, and how these institutions are helping improve the country's overall socio-economic prospects and strengthen local democratic institutions. So let's say we could snap our fingers and have 1,000 telecentres across Iraq. Imagine if each one of them addressed their community's most pressing needs. Some of these telecentres would large the local unemployed with the tools they need to gain new skills or start small businesses. Others would focus developing e-mechanisms for the public to interact with civil servants and government officials, making sure that the new government addressed their needs effectively, no matter if they spoke Arabic, Kurdi or Turkmen as their native language. Yet others would assist local mosques in providing health care and human services to people whose lives and livelihoods were destroyed during the war. If telecentres are merely nonprofit cybercafes lacking any development context, then I'd agree with you. But if we put that aside and see telecentres as serving specific development goals based on each community's particular needs and opportunities, I would have to be more optimistic about the role they could play in helping Iraq get back on its feet and prosper in the coming years. I know there are at least one or two Iraqis on the list. I hope they're reading this thread; perhaps they would want to comment. -- --- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com --- ___ 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. ___ 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.
RE: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
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.
RE: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
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. 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? -- John W. Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs ___ 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.
RE: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
Dear Ashish Saboo, Thank you for the courteous disagreement: you show us the kind of communication that tries to avoid the anger that underlies violence. I think that after a bit more discussion we would find ourselves agreeing. You cite Andrew Grove's image of steel, which intrinsically is neither good nor bad, but can become a revolver or a syringe depending on how society uses it. The telecenter, then, like steel, has a potential for harm as well as good. I find images of medicine more useful to my thinking. There is no medicine, no wonder drug, that is useful for any ailment, any patient. We practitioners need to adopt for our work the model of diagnosis before prescription. If a community is the patient, we doctor-practitioners have to study the symptoms of that community to determine if a particular drug will be beneficial now.. 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. Steve Eskow [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Ashish Saboo [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 5:14 AM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Cc: John Hibbs; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; telecentres@wsis-cs.org Subject: Re: RE: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq [Dr. Steve Eskow] ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
Mark Warschauer wrote: Maybe we should start a 'Blogs for bombs' amnesty program, where people trade bombs for a voice on the internet. While that may sound stupid and perhaps facetious, it's a blind stab at part of the problem - when people feel they must resort to violence, it is usually because they do not believe that they are being heard. I would suggest, instead, that when people resort to violence, it is usually because they believe it is a means to achieve their ends. Political violence in Iraq today is mostly being organized and propagated by two groups: (1) ex-Baathists, who previously ran the entire country for their own economic and social privilege, and wish to return to such a state of affairs; and (2) extreme Islamists, who wish to impose a Taliban-style regime. I doubt if either of these groups will find blogs as a reasonable alternative to bombs. There's another side to this coin as well, and that's the whole point. Even a troubled child lashes out for attention, and we don't paint them as making political statements or enforcing a 'way of life'. When a society does it, it is easy to say that they are bad and should be killed. Some famous people in history have used this as a case for war. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable. - John F. Kennedy, on Latin America. Now if we consider that quote in a balanced way, either side isn't responsible as much as *both* sides are responsible. But maybe you're right. Maybe there are just a bunch of bad people in the world. That seems a lot simpler to deal with. Whether it's right, well... that's an issue that would require both sides communicating without bullets. Ain't happening. And that, too, is the point. -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: Panama City, Panama [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran Criticize by creating. Michelangelo ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
Hello Taran, You write: I'm fairly certain that there must be some Iraqi telecenters now, though. Do we know anything about them? We in iEARN are installing labs this month in high schools in both Erbil and Baghdad with satellite connections. Part of the stipulation of the installation/grant is that these labs be available to the neighboring community. Details are yet to be worked out. Ed -- Ed Gragert iEARN-USA. explore our new website: http://us.iearn.org - Connecting Youth Making a Difference The Global Teacher Professional Development Network http://www.iearn.org/professional/ ___ 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.
Re: [DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
In the run up to the invasion of Iraq, when it was certain to some of us - including a well connected civilian inside the Pentagon - that war and the aftermath would come, a number of us drafted a memorandum outlining why 40 foot vans, filled with the necessaries, could do about as Andy describes below. Our guy inside the Pentagon did what he could; but, like others who warned about looting, the need to protect of the museums, and how important the first 100 days would be after major conflict ended, we never got a hearing. By the way, also as Andy knows, inside those telecenters would be broadcast equipment for low power radio. The reach of a telecenter is quite large, that is if equipped with the right culture. At 12:15 PM -0400 5/6/05, Andy Carvin wrote: Dr. Steve Eskow wrote: And it is not clear--to me, at least--that if we had a thousand telecenters in Iraq that the other divides would shrink. Hi Steve, If there were 1,000 telecentres in Iraq that did nothing but provide people email access and an outlet for online gaming, I'd have to agree with you. But when done well, telecenters are epicenters of hope and human potential -- places within the community where people can rally together for educational, economic, cultural and civic development. And when all members of a nation are given equal opportunity to improve the quality of life of their families, some of these other divides, I hope, would lessen over time. Much of the work of NY Times columnist Thomas L Friedman has dealt with this issue; for example, he's written about Lebanese telecentres serving as ICT job training centres, and how these institutions are helping improve the country's overall socio-economic prospects and strengthen local democratic institutions. So let's say we could snap our fingers and have 1,000 telecentres across Iraq. Imagine if each one of them addressed their community's most pressing needs. Some of these telecentres would large the local unemployed with the tools they need to gain new skills or start small businesses. Others would focus developing e-mechanisms for the public to interact with civil servants and government officials, making sure that the new government addressed their needs effectively, no matter if they spoke Arabic, Kurdi or Turkmen as their native language. Yet others would assist local mosques in providing health care and human services to people whose lives and livelihoods were destroyed during the war. If telecentres are merely nonprofit cybercafes lacking any development context, then I'd agree with you. But if we put that aside and see telecentres as serving specific development goals based on each community's particular needs and opportunities, I would have to be more optimistic about the role they could play in helping Iraq get back on its feet and prosper in the coming years. I know there are at least one or two Iraqis on the list. I hope they're reading this thread; perhaps they would want to comment. ___ 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.
[DDN] Digital Divide, Telecentres and Iraq
Dr. Steve Eskow wrote: And it is not clear--to me, at least--that if we had a thousand telecenters in Iraq that the other divides would shrink. Hi Steve, If there were 1,000 telecentres in Iraq that did nothing but provide people email access and an outlet for online gaming, I'd have to agree with you. But when done well, telecenters are epicenters of hope and human potential -- places within the community where people can rally together for educational, economic, cultural and civic development. And when all members of a nation are given equal opportunity to improve the quality of life of their families, some of these other divides, I hope, would lessen over time. Much of the work of NY Times columnist Thomas L Friedman has dealt with this issue; for example, he's written about Lebanese telecentres serving as ICT job training centres, and how these institutions are helping improve the country's overall socio-economic prospects and strengthen local democratic institutions. So let's say we could snap our fingers and have 1,000 telecentres across Iraq. Imagine if each one of them addressed their community's most pressing needs. Some of these telecentres would large the local unemployed with the tools they need to gain new skills or start small businesses. Others would focus developing e-mechanisms for the public to interact with civil servants and government officials, making sure that the new government addressed their needs effectively, no matter if they spoke Arabic, Kurdi or Turkmen as their native language. Yet others would assist local mosques in providing health care and human services to people whose lives and livelihoods were destroyed during the war. If telecentres are merely nonprofit cybercafes lacking any development context, then I'd agree with you. But if we put that aside and see telecentres as serving specific development goals based on each community's particular needs and opportunities, I would have to be more optimistic about the role they could play in helping Iraq get back on its feet and prosper in the coming years. I know there are at least one or two Iraqis on the list. I hope they're reading this thread; perhaps they would want to comment. -- --- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com --- ___ 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.
