[Telecentres] >>: Economist: skeptical take on telecenters & ICT4D

[Ashish Saboo]

  Mikhail Thanks for sharing the news article . 
   Our folks may well counter the article by writing to editor, but more important for the group is what do we learn from such skepticism. I am sure all activists working at the grassroot level in the telecentre arena must be facing similar questions. It would be better if members can reflect & contribute their views . I am sure this will help all of us even more. 

Its easy to make the Man and the Mule move around but difficult to make information dissiminate to whom it is relevant. Perhaps Telecentre can help people like Thillan by notify work opportunities around and increase his productive employable day. imagine just 3 days work opportunity can increase his income by 30%. 
   In developing countries justifying investments in telecentres over health and literacy is difficult unless we proponents can help clarify the very complementary nature. 
  & one final point the articles raises issue on need to understand adaptibility of technology to the people instead of the other way around. Like Community radio may make more sense in rural India then a typical Cyber cafe type centre but unfortunately community radios are not permitted in India http://www.communityradionetwork.org/toplinks/archives/noronha
  While even say in Urban India say Mumbai( Bombay ), where over 60% of the population stay in hutments. Regularly a population equal to Finlands population are displaced in Mumbai. But ICT initiatives like Telecentres hardly attract attention or funds. 
   Under the ageis of WSIS we can highlight the anomalies and unshackle the restrictions in free flow of information. This perhaps brings us closer in defining the role of telecentres in different habitats and identify as a vehicle of disseminating information. 

Sincerely 

Ashish Saboo 
President 
Association of Public Internet Access Provider (ApiAp) 
The voice of independent Cyber cafe operators 
URL: http://www.apiap.cybernook.net 
Blog: http://apiap.blogspot.com 



On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 Mikhail Doroshevich wrote :
>
>Behind the digital divide
>Mar 10th 2005
>The Economist
>
>
>Development: Much is made of the “digital divide” between rich and poor.
>
>What do people on the ground think about it?
>
>IN THE village of Embalam in southern India, about 15 miles outside the
>town of Pondicherry, Arumugam and his wife, Thillan, sit on the red
>earth
>in front of their thatch hut. She is 50 years old; he is not sure, but
>thinks he is around 75. Arumugam is unemployed. He used to work as a
>drum-beater at funerals, but then he was injured, and now he has 


Ashish Saboo
President
Association of Public Internet Access Provider (ApiAp)
The voice of independent Cyber cafe operators
URL: http://www.apiap.cybernook.net
Blog: http://apiap.blogspot.com





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