Message-ID: <9605101250.ZM20353@visidel.cau.edu> Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 12:50:23 -0400 From: Darren Bolden <mailto:daaim@VISIDEL.CAU.EDU> Subject: Re: Computers to Africa To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
On May 8, 9:42am, Paul Swider wrote: > Subject: Re: Computers to Africa
> . . .
>
> I myself am communicating now on a machine that is held
> together by baling wire and hope, transferring data on a string between two
> Dixie cups. And I am damned happy to be doing so.
>
> Paul Swider
> US Peace Corps, Bulgaria
> mailto:paul@dobrich.uspc.bg
> Chamber of Commerce and Industry
> PO Box 182
> Dobrich 9300
> Bulgaria
>-- End of excerpt from Paul Swider
On May 10, 12:25am, Wilbur Streett wrote:
> . . .
>
> Last year I used "second hand" technology in the form of an old PC. I
> loaded Unix on one of the hard disks, and Windows and Netscape on the other.
> I used that old technology to write a proposal for a MIB Compiler to
> Netmanage, Inc. The proposal was accepted, and using a somewhat blurry
> monitor, and the old by anyone's standard AMD 386SX/20 computer with 4 MB of
> ram, also using Lex and YACC and an old C compiler, (technology over 20
> years old), I wrote the MIB Compiler (which is state of the art) and was
> paid quite a bit of money for it. With the money that I earned, I bought a
> new Pentium and a new monitor.. I replaced the motherboard in the old
> computer with a 486/33 motherboard, (for $125) and gave it to my brother in
> law. He bought the new RAM, ($200) which he is now using to learn about
> the Internet and creating music with the computer so that he will make a
> wise decision when he goes to spend his money to buy a new system..
>
> . . .
>
> Wilbur
> ---------------------------------------
> Putting a human face on technology. ;-)
> ---------------------------------------
>-- End of excerpt from Wilbur Streett
To the DEVEL-L list:
The two excerpts above really impressed me in a sense that it destroys the myth that you have to have "cutting edge" equipment to be quite functional. I remember hearing on NPR radio once a person make a remark about his laptop. He said (I'm paraphrasing), "My laptop may be outdated, but I can run Ford Motor Company with it." These displays of resourcefulness should be applauded. Furthermore, this is what makes Africans able to excel at such situations.
History has proven the resourcefulness of the African diaspora in many sectors including agriculture, medicine and commerce. Why can't the same resourcefulness be applied to not only adapting currrent technology to suit local needs, but to invent new sources of technology that have yet to be discovered. We may have heard about the pharmaceutical companies going into the rainforests of Africa and South America to talk to "primitive" people about how they are able to cure certain illnesses by just picking a leaf off of a tree and extracting the juice. How about the "primitive" Dogon people of Mali who can see distant bodies of stars without a "modern" telescope? Western astonomers denied this until they saw the stars themselves (with telescopes).
The point is that we should not fall prey to believing that technology in itself will cause things to happen. This point has been made on this list before. To do this would be to waste valuable resources on "state-of-the-art" technology only to have it sit on the desk as a giant paper weight or a dust collector.
"A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty." (author unknown)
Pray for success.
Darren Bolden Clark Atlanta University Box 222 Atlanta, GA 30314