Message-ID: <Pine.3.88.9603312054.A14157-0100000@go> Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 01:14:15 -0600 From: Abubakr Alkhalifa <mailto:aalkhali@CIS.USOUTHAL.EDU> Subject: Re: Traditional I.T. Before the Internet ?! To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
On Sun, 31 Mar 1996, Dr Eberhard W Lisse wrote:> At 10:14 PM 31/3/96, Abubakr Alkhalifa wrote:
>
> What you need for full IP is a 486 with a unix (I like linux, but BSD is quite
> good too), a 14400/28800 modem and a leased line. What you need for
> dialup is basically the same but for the leased line. Instead you need a
> telephone line that can in fact dial somewhere.
Sure. Of course, you need a telephone line before getting connected. However, in some countries, you may have to wait for 10-15 years to get a telephone line, the ratio there could be less than 1 phone line / 1000 people, and it could cost up to double the poverty line below which 90% of the population may fall. So, you may end up widening the poverty gap if you empower the upper income bracket with on-line access to the Internet.
> Once the demand grows you'll reach a point where the leased line becomes
> affordable and there you are. Of course you'll need a router but that if you
> get that far it will be no problem to get one.
Agree. The growth of this demand depends on the growth of telecom and its demand. That's why I am suggesting that we concentrate more on telecom.
> >But remember, technology is always biased towards the conditions under
> >which it was developed. Therefore, the best scenario is when efforts to
> >customize imported tools to our conditions meet similar efforts to
> >incorporate new technologies into our old techniques.
>
> Politically Correct approaches won't work. If we ever want to get anything
> off the ground in Africa we havd to import state of the art technology
> and "kick butt"!
>
Yes. Import the state of the art technology, but meanwhile, think about the heat, humidity, etc.. conditions that prevail in Africa. If we can influence the industry to "customize" a model for us, then this is the best, if we can't, we can at least initiate such an idea. Down the road, as our demand grows, we will definitely have a customized one.
Moreover, this "customization" is clearly realized in other areas such as software. A set of stand-alone generic information systems can be developed with the goal of providing the poor with critical information they lack in their life. After consulting with potential users, these generic systems will then be customized to accommodate geographic and cultural variations such as user interface in local languages and country/region specific data.
BTW, this is what I am working on right now, and it is my career objective.
Abu _________________________________________________________________________
Abubakr Alkhalifa "I.T. vs. Poverty" 612 Montclaire Way Graduate Student Mobile, AL 36609 School of Computer & Information Sciences USA University of South Alabama Tel/Fax: (334)660-0242 mailto:aalkhali@cis.usouthal.edu _________________________________________________________________________