[Telecentres] RE: [Telecentre's] Basic Telecentre Items

[Don Cameron]

I'm taking the liberty of posting twice in one day because I think Taran has
identified a vital role for Telecentre's operating in impoverished or
otherwise disadvantaged communities, as well as highlighting a pressing need
that certainly justifies having a Telecentre in a great many communities -
that of providing support for the prevention, mitigation, management and
control of local civil emergencies. 

Rather than focusing on the equipment required by Telecentre's for these
scenarios, may I instead suggest a summary of the type of needs Telecentre's
may be called to address (there are many others we can add)... The equipment
required in support of each function depends on which needs are forecast as
potential requirements (we can add basic equipment requirements if desired
by the group, however as noted by Gopi, it will be a long list!)  

(The suggestions below are an extract from my paper titled: "Technology
Planning for Civil Emergencies". The paper discusses the role of NPO's and
Telecentre's and offers suggestions for basic infrastructure requirements.
The paper is provided online by TechSoup at:
www.techsoup.org/howto/articlepage.cfm?ArticleId=526&topicid=11 )

- Support of incident management, planning, logistics or resources 
- Incident victim registrations 
- Public health support (counselling or other roles) 
- Transportation of victims or other impacted people 
- The provision of emergency food, clothing, or housing 
- Technical support (helping with computers, facsimiles or other equipment) 
- Community communications liaison (getting the message out) 
- Language translation services 
- Any other act or service required to help establish normalcy

PS - TechSoup is a great example of a "Virtual Telecentre" operating for the
benefit of connected 'netizens and NPO's. TechSoup is run by a team of staff
and volunteers providing free support, low cost software, advice, referrals,
articles, and a range of online references and services very similar in
scope and delivery to many physical Telecentre's - The main difference is
the 'door' to TechSoup is virtual rather than physical because it targets a
different demographic.

Rgds, Don