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Developing world
net2con: Surfing the Rolling Cloud of Connectivity: ICT and the Developing World
Mike Lawrence of Computer-Using Educators here, live blogging the session led by David Barnard of SANGONeT, Partha Pratim Sarker of Bytes for All, and Kate Raynes-Goldie of TakingITGlobal (immoderator). These are merely my notes - I will return to provide insight and reflection.
Web 2.0 and Africa
Your name:
David Barnard
Your email address:
dbarnard@sangonet.org.za
Your question:
Connectivity and ICTs in developing countries are contextualised by the “digital divideâ€. More than ten years ago, at a G-7 conference on the information society in February 1995 in Brussels, then deputy president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, pointed out that there were more telephone lines in Manhattan than in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. "Half of humanity has never made a telephone call," he said.
Although mobile communication and other applications are changing the telecommunications environment in Africa, given the topic of this session, the “digital divide†can be summarised as follows:
Before one can surf, three things are essential…The ability to swim (or does one fly in cyberspace?), a surfboard, and of course, the sea of clouds. All three are generally missing in most of Africa…The vast population can't swim, have no, or cannot afford the surfboard, and are caged in landlocked enclaves very far from cyberspace.
This situation presents serious challenges to the relevance of Web 2.0 applications in developing countries. The questions to participants and others interested in spreading the reach and impact of Web 2.0 - how can these issues be addressed and/or are web 2.0 applications relevant to developing countries?
Web 2.0 and Africa
Connectivity and ICTs in developing countries are contextualised by the “digital divide”. More than ten years ago, at a G-7 conference on the information society in February 1995 in Brussels, then deputy president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, pointed out that there were more telephone lines in Manhattan than in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. "Half of humanity has never made a telephone call," he said.
Although mobile communication and other applications are changing the telecommunications environment in Africa, given the topic of this session, the “digital divide” can be summarised as follows:
web2.0 and the developing world
Your name:
kate raynes-goldie
Your email address:
kate@takingitglobal.org
Your question:
a seemingly simple yet complex question to get the debate started: how can web 2.0 be used in the developing world? what are the benefits and challenges? are there web2.0 literacy issues to be addressed, especially since web2.0 conventions are developed almost exclusively by people on the west coast of the united states? if so, how can these issues be addressed?
web2.0 and the developing world
Your name:
kate raynes-goldie
Your email address:
kate@takingitglobal.org
Your question:
a seemingly simple yet complex question to get the debate started: how can web 2.0 be used in the developing world?
what are the benefits and challenges? are there web2.0 literacy issues to be addressed, especially since web2.0 conventions are developed almost exclusively by people on the west coast of the united states? if so, how can these issues be addressed?
La Solidaridad´s comeback
Creating personal websites is always a disheartening affair. You think you´ve got a special idea on your head and that people would find it interesting, but nothing can lure them to join you in your quest to at least, through bits and maps, virtually change the world.
The idea of the universal binary code has been sold a lot of times, and unfortunately, you are merely just a page in the digital world.
And when I first pitched the idea to some friends to create a website with a social responsibility angle, it fell on deaf ears. Disappointed at the outcome, I totally abandoned writing.
What about Internet access?
In many areas high bandwidth Internet access is unavailable or cost-prohibitive. How do you plan to deal with this issue?
