Message-ID: <199603181418.JAA19727@montreal.aei.ca> Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 09:18:23 -0500 From: "Dr. F. Houle" <mailto:fhoule@MONTREAL.AEI.CA> Subject: Re: Enough about Laptops To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
>What I don't understand is why not "think" about appropriate technologies
>while looking for the "best LapTop"? I am not saying: "Well, wait for an
>appropriate LapTop to be produced".
>
>My message is that for generations, Africa has been importing things in
>all aspects of life without "thinking" about their appropriateness. It is
>high time (if not too late) to forecast next generations' problems that are
>building up right now, and give them a better chance for change than our's
>by laying down foundations for long-term solutions.
>
>Otherwise, the side effects of these imported biased technologies will
>compound to the extent that it might become a better option to go back to
>the jungle, rediscover fire and reinvent the wheel. If we continue
>ignoring such possibilities while solving our daily problems, this could
>become the only choice for our next generations to produce appropriate
>technologies, if they had a chance left to produce any thing at all.
>
>Abu
(Abubakr Alkhalifa <mailto:aalkhali@cis.usouthal.edu>)For days, I could not get the negative reaction to Abu's comment out of my mind and had decided to reply this morning. I was very happy to see that he had also decided to reply.
For thirty years at least, theoretical debates have been going on about 'appropriate' technologies for developing countries. Little has changed in practice.
Consultants and volunteers from 'developed' countries who work in Africa have a taste of how inappropriate some technologies are as far as hardware goes, but rarely feel the full impact of inappropriateness because the interface and software have been developed with people from the North in mind; even the technology transfer process does not take into consideration the specificity of the consumer.
I don't see why Africans should put up and shut up and just appreciate what is sent to them; if they are to be consumers, they must be treated like consumers, and development and sale of products must obey the same marketing rules as in the North to make sure that the product corresponds to the people's needs.
I feel that this can be done only if we replace 'technology transfer' by 'technology sharing', meaning that there has to be much more input from the consumers-scientists-technicians etc. of developing countries. I have devoted my Ph.D. thesis to this problem, and am still amazed and shocked by the lack of importance given to this problem.
Let's label this topic something else besides laptop, and by no means arrive at some sort of strategy to improve the situation.
Francine.