Congratulations Pam, Its great to know that we won't have to use snail mail to send materials anymore.
I guess this could mean another trip - to train on the use of internet resources, et al - if you think it would be a great idea. The Ago Are centre is a striking example of how technology can change the face of communities, and networks of volunteers working from different time zones to get development "on the ground". Best regards, -- 'Gbenga Sesan Program Manager | Lagos Digital Village | www.lagosdigitalvillage.org.ng Team Leader | Paradigm Initiative Nigeria | www.pin.itgo.com "Why? Why not?" | www.gbengasesan.org.ng | www.gbengasesan.com Quoting Pamela McLean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Ref reaching out into the community and information flows. The current > situation at the little InfoCentre in Ago-Are may be of interest. (Any > researchers wanting to follow up on this would be welcome). > > I have not introduced myself previously on this list and have only been > able to dip into this discussion from time to time. This email ties into > various discussions about the variety of telecentres, especially small > ones, and their connections with their communities (most recently > contributions from David Leeming and Elizabeth Carll) > > Yesterday the InfoCentre was connected to the Internet for the first > time. Until now its information flow has been limited by lack of > connectivity - now information will be able to flow more freely. > > We do not have the human resources to monitor and evaluate what will be > happening as Ago-Are comes to terms with connectivity. This could be an > excellent research opportunity. Please circulate this information to > anyone who might be interested. I will be keeping some kind of records > and already have a considerable archive to share if anyone is interested > in using it.. > > This is a brief history . The InfoCentre opened in June 2003. It is a > bottom up initiative - largely self funded. It is in rural Nigeria, set > up by OCDN (Oke-Ogun Community Development Network) - originally a > committee set up by three chiefs to support the vision of a local man, > the late Peter Adetunji Oyawale. Through "historic reasons of > friendship" it is supported from the UK by Lorraine Duff and me (under > the name "CAWD volunteers"). We use our home computers to access the > Internet on behalf of our friends in rural Nigeria. > > In August 2003 a needs analysis was done in Ago-Are at the request of > COL (Commonwealth of Learning). As a result, COL introduced OCDN to IITA > (the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture) and a > collaboration ensued - hence the VSAT installation yesterday.. > > This history means that the community around the little Ago-Are > InfoCentre already has friends in the connected community. OCDN and CAWD > volunteers have linked across the digital divide from way back in 2001, > working together to get the InfoCentre open and to achieve connectivity. > The InfoCentre links with a women's group which meets once a week and > with a farmers' group which also meets once a week. There are links with > teachers, health workers, the youth groups, the traditional ruler and > his chiefs, the local government, and the local religious leaders. > > There is a skills base. There is a local manager and an experienced > local trainer. There is a core groups of people who have attended ICT > training courses who work at the InfoCentre as volunteers in order to > practice their skills. > > There are good links. There are close personal links across the digital > divide. There are relays of communication links - from the local > community, linked to the InfoCentre, linked to the CAWD volunteers, > linked to the connected community, Now the local community can begin to > communicate with the connected community directly - and we will discover > what information does in fact begin to flow. > > Pamela McLean > > CAWD volunteer and CawdNet convenor > CawdNet � Networking in rural Nigeria and the virtual communities of the > Internet. > For an introduction to CawdNet http://www.cawdnet-intro.blogspot.com > To subscribe to the newsletter > http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/oocd2000plus > To contribute www.bmycharity.com/cawd1 <http://www.bmycharity.com/cawd1> > For how it all started www.cawd.info <http://www.cawd.info/> > > > _______________________________________________ > telecentres mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the > word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. _______________________________________________ telecentres mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
