Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9807011651.A2901-0100000@lan.vita.org> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998 16:37:02 -0400 From: Dania Granados <mailto:granados@LAN.VITA.ORG> Subject: July Issue of DevelopNet News To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
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July 1998 Volume 8, No. 7
IN THIS ISSUE
FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATIONS
The Revolution of Inclusion
LITERATURE REVIEWS
The Roaring 2000s
ORGANIZATIONS
World Learning
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Teleconferencing Users Conference
Rural Telecommunications
Global Meeting of Generations
* * *
DevelopNet News is published monthly by Volunteers in Technical
Assistance (VITA) in Arlington, Virginia, USA. For additional
information,please see the end of this newsletter.
* * *
D e v e l o p m e n t C o m m u n i c a t i o n s
THE REVOLUTION OF INCLUSION
By Henry R. Norman, President of VITA
More than three quarters of the population of the world lives in
the developing countries and most of them reside in rural areas
where they are caught in a technological time warp. Outside the
mainstream of development, the vast majority has never used a
telephone and few have ever heard of the Internet. They are not
simply marginalized, they are virtually invisible. If they are to
become participants in the development of their societies there
must be what Francis Cairncross has called a "Revolution of
Inclusion."
Our confidence about the Information Highway and the awesome
technologies we expect will help create it seems to have
encouraged the assumption that this revolution will be automatic,
rapid and universal. Never fear, we are told, technology will
soon bring an end to the isolation of huge numbers of people with
no further intervention. The ubiquitous cellular telephones one
sees in the capital cities of developing countries would appear
to verify this assumption. Authors Daniel Burstein and David
Kline are less sanguine. In their book Road Warriors, Dreams and
Nightmares Along the Information Highway they comment:
Amid all the Info Highway enthusiasm, it is often optimistically
asserted that digital technology will somehow bring wondrous
benefits to the less developed world...the likely reality is
probably the opposite. Without global policy intervention, the
rich countries of the world, along with the high growth emerging
markets, will use digital technology to get richer. The poorest
countries of the world, meanwhile, will fall further
behind-although it may now be easier for their minuscule elites
and middle classes to make cellular phone calls or check their
portfolios in London and New York.
Availability is not inevitability. It is often said, "build it
and they will come" but most rural populations in developing
countries don't have the price of admission and even if they get
in, most will not understand how the game is played. The desire
to communicate is instinctive and compulsive, but the use of
communications to obtain information that has more than immediate
relevance requires an understanding of its utility and the skills
to access it. In short, an information culture. Information is
essential to development, but information in the context of the
Internet is an abstraction to all but a small educated elite who
are able to use it and can afford the equipment required. They
are unlikely to be the engine of rural development. Technology is
important, but its cost, the skill to use it, and an
understanding of how its potential benefits can be realized are
also important considerations. Will the new technologies be
available to all for the creation of wealth or will they be
limited to the convenience of those who are already wealthy?
It is incongruous that the international development agencies
that coined phrases such as "poorest of the poor" and "bottom up
development" would be so unquestioning in their anticipation of
using the most expensive and complex communication systems to
access an information source that is difficult to use and
contains little that is directly relevant to the lives of the
poorest of the poor. Given the formidable obstacles of
technology, regulatory systems, politics, culture, markets and
corruption that have still to be overcome in the developing
countries, one can only marvel at the almost theological
confidence they demonstrate that everything will fall into place
just as scheduled.
VITA's RURAL STRATEGY
VITA has no doubt that the technical genius required to conceive
and design the satellite systems being built and the
extraordinary management skills necessary to build them and make
them operational will ultimately solve all these problems.
Indeed, VITA is counting on the use of these systems in the more
distant future. However, VITA does not use terms
such as "leapfrogging technologies" because, having disseminated
technical information to requesters in the developing countries
for four decades, it has learned that technology by itself is
rarely the complete answer to problems of development.
VITA proposes to organize mostly existing and proven resources
together with its own tested low earth-orbiting satellite
capability and that of others, into three decentralized
coalitions to serve the needs of rural populations in developing
countries for information and communications through a store and
forward email communications system. The coalitions are:
* Communications services provider coalition
* Humanitarian/development communications user coalition
* Information providers coalition
Several organizations around the world own single LEO satellites
or, like VITA, satellite capacity, that are used to advance their
specific missions. The capacity of these satellites usually
exceeds the needs of the organizations that own them. VITA has
proposed a coalition of satellite service providers to offer
email services at no cost to organizations engaged in
humanitarian and development activities in the developing
countries. Formal agreements are being structured with SatelLife,
a Cambridge, Massachusetts health services NGO and POSAT, a
Lisbon, Portugal group. In addition, WorldSpace, a for profit
digital broadcasting company that will use geostationary
satellites, has agreed to join with VITA to create a separate
wideband capacity using their satellites to send a large flow of
data which can be downloaded into VITA's ground station and using
the VITA system to make theirs interactive. Others are also
likely to join. Satellite capacity that isn't used is simply lost
and these organizations prefer that it be used for a productive
purpose.
The humanitarian/development communications user coalition is
made up of NGOs and others working to assist rural people in the
developing countries. In return for the no cost use of the
satellite communications to enhance their ability to carry out
their missions, they will agree to work with indigenous NGOs to
train their personnel to access and manage information. This will
include assistance in obtaining equipment from manufacturers and
donors in order to create information/communications capabilities
and convenient facilities where people may send messages or
request information.
The information providers coalition will be an expansion of
VITA's traditional volunteer-based inquiry service. However,
instead of individual volunteers being selected by VITA from its
roster to answer the inquiry, the NGO may choose a volunteer with
the appropriate skills from an electronic data bank and send the
inquiry directly to him or her electronically. A dialogue between
requester and volunteer may be conducted which will be of great
benefit to the parties and others that might participate.
Volunteers will be associated with universities, industry, the
professions, etc.
CONCLUSION
If the billions of people in rural areas of developing countries
are to be brought into the mainstream of development, it is
essential that they develop an information culture in which the
value of information for the improvement of their lives is
understood and desired. This requires a low cost
information/communication system which is designed to create
skills to access, organize and disseminate information relevant
to their needs including locally generated data.
VITA is organizing a system which brings together existing
resources into three decentralized coalitions in which all the
players have incentives to participate while maintaining their
independence. Almost all the cost of hardware is already sunk and
the modest cost of implementing the coalitions is for training,
organizing and licensing. It will be the only system of its kind
dedicated exclusively to humanitarian and development needs of
rural people in the developing countries.
Information: Henry Norman, VITA <mailto:hnorman@vita.org>
* * *
L i t e r a t u r e R e v i e w s
Dent, Harry S., The Roaring 2000s, Simon & Schuster, NY, NY,
1998.
These days we are being bombarded with concerns about the new
millennium right around the corner - is it the end or s new
beginning? Will someone solve the Y2K problem, or will computers
revert to the pre-computer days? Is the highly touted information
highway the road to success or failure? Will the economies of
developed countries continue to boom?
Dent thinks that coming out of the greatest economic boom in
history (the current decade) we will finally get into the real
information revolution. And, then folks will really make big
bucks! The author offers investment strategies on how to take
advantage of the changes that information will bring in the next
few years.
The "Roaring 2000s" will build on eight technology trends
(chapter four). They are: Vastly expanded computer power; Mass
adoption of portable and home PCs; Computers become simple,
inexpensive appliances; Microprocessor embedded home appliances
are linked by the Internet; Consumers rapidly move online;
Expansion of communications bandwidth; Object-oriented
programming for customized software; and, Increased computer
literacy due to an aging population. These trends will change how
we work and live.
Of course, all the predicted changes may take place in the United
States and a few other countries. - and their economies will keep
moving forward. What about the developing countries? While Dent
sees some forward movement, he thinks that they will be moving
slowly at best. He recommends that people keep their eyes open
for progress in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
In Europe the countries that seem to have the most near term
potential are Turkey, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland,
Russia, and Romania. In Africa, the country with the most promise
is South Africa. And, in the Middle East, the author urges
potential investors to use great caution.
* * *
O r g a n i z a t i o n s
WORLD LEARNING
World Learning, Inc. is one of the oldest private, non-profit,
international education service organizations in the world, and
the oldest institution of its kind in the United States. Its
mission is to enable participants to develop the knowledge,
skills and attitudes needed to contribute effectively to
international understanding and global development. Through its
Projects in International Development and Training Division it
has become a prominent PVO dedicated to furthering world peace
through economic and social development initiatives.
World Learning operates more than 260 programs in more than 100
countries, providing services to more than 250,000 participants.
For additional information contact: www.worldlearning.org.
* * *
V I T A P r o j e c t s
See main article above
* * *
A n n o u n c e m e n t s
TELECONFERENCING USERS CONFERENCE
TeleCon XVIII will be held October 26-28, 1998 at Anaheim, CA. At
this conference commercial attaches in US embassies around the
world will encourage delegations to attend as only one of a
handful of trade shows. The conference is sponsored by the US
Department of Commerce. The conference will focus on the use of
the Internet protocol networks in teleconferencing, distance
learning partnerships (focus on K-12 initiatives and federal
government/military distance learning applications, telemedicine
(Telemed IV) and on user case studies. Attendance is projected
at more than 25,000.
For information contact: www.abctelecon.com.
RURAL TELECOMMUNICATION
"Partnerships and Participation in Telecommunications for Rural
Development: Exploring What Works and Why" is the title of this
conference scheduled for October 26-27, 1998 at the University of
Guelph in Ontari0, Canada. The actual conference will be
preceded by a 3-week online pre-conference, presenting
opportunities to discuss uses of communication technology in
rural areas. While this conference will look at
telecommunication technology in the Canadian context, it will
look at how lessons learned can be applied by people in other
countries.
Information: Susan Rimkus, conference coordination,
mailto:srimkus@uoquelph.ca.
GLOBAL MEETING OF GENERATIONS
This meeting is scheduled for January 13-15, 1999 at Washington.
DC. The conference is being organized around twelve program
themes: Family and Community; Work, Employment and Income;
Demographics, Health and Life-long Planning; Governance and
Participation; Environment; Knowledge and Technology; Values and
Ethics; International Development Cooperation and Finance; Human
Security and Peace; Poverty, Social Justice and Human Rights;
Private Sector and Development; and Development Education and
Communication.
Leading personalities from each generation are being invited to
participate, and prominent media figures will moderate the
sessions.
To learn more about the conference, check www.idc.org/gmg.
* * *
HOW TO JOIN VITA'S ELECTRONIC FORUM
VITA's free, public, online discussion forum, DEVEL-L, provides
for the exchange of ideas and information on a wide range of
issues and topics related to technology transfer in international
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Please do not send these messages to VITA or to DEVEL-L.
* * *
DevelopNet News is an electronic newsletter published monthly by
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), a private, nonprofit,
international development organization located in Arlington,
Virginia. The newsletter needs your stories: you are invited to
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Acting Editor: Joe Sedlak <mailto:jsedlak@vita.org>
VITA specializes in information dissemination and communications
technology. It offers services related to sustainable agricul-
ture, food processing, renewable energy applications, water
sanitation and supply,small enterprise development, and informa-
tion management. It has projects in 6 African countries.
VITA's publications, on a variety of practical subjects, are
designed to assist persons and organizations in developing coun-
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