Techknowlogia Journal 2000 Mac April

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!!! ! 1 !!! ! TechKnowLogia , March/April, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

Volume 2, Issue 2 March/April 2000

Thematic Focus: Access to Information and Knowledge

5555 Is the Divide DigitalWadi D. Haddad, Editor

There is now a genuine concern about the "digital divide." But narrowing the divide - publishing a newspaper

in every village, placing a radio and TV in every household, putting a computer in every classroom, and wiringevery building to the Internet - does not automatically solve the problem. The most serious divide is in theextent and quality of human knowledge and learning .

7777 Email to the Editor

Read what your colleagues have offered as feedback on the last three issues of TechKnowLogia .

9999 Why be Wired? The Importance of Access to Information and Communication TechnologiesKerry Stephen McNamara, Senior Knowledge Management Officer, World Bank Institute

Access to information and communication technologies – and the ability to adapt those technologies to localneeds – is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity. This article outlines the scope of the problem, how to tackle it,how to ensure improvements in the lives of the poor and what the international community can do.

1 21 21 21 2 Measuring up AccessPrepared by Lesley Anne Simmons, Communications Officer, Global Knowledge Partnership Secretariat,World Bank Institute

This article presents data on the degree to which the people of most countries of the world have access tothe tools and skills of the information age.

1 61 61 61 6 Rural Access: How Can Connectivity Contribute to Social and Agricultural Development?Don Richardson, Ph.D.,TeleCommons Development Group

Telecommunication services are important “lubricants” for rural and agricultural development, and while theyare not a development panacea, their contribution can be significant – where they are available.




2 12 12 12 1 TechKnowNewsTony Blair Focuses on Learning as Key to Digital Economy ♦ Asia's IT Revolution Exposes Serious SkillsShortage ♦ Multipurpose Community Telecenter in Africa ♦ Need Fuels Continued Growth of CorporateUniversities ♦ Internet Use in Asia to Explode by 2005 ♦ New Internet Training Materials Available fromITrain ♦ On-Line Debate on Global Poverty, Social Exclusion, Inequality ♦ World Bank Group and SoftBankto Invest in Internet Enterprises for The Developing World ♦

2 32 32 32 3 FM Radio Stations: Broadcasting with the SunDavid Walker, Educational Specialist, The Commonwealth of Learning

This article describes community-based low powered FM radio stations, some powered by solar energy, andhow they can be used successfully.

2 52 52 52 5 Information Technology for the Masses: Can It Be TV?Claudio de Moura Castro, Chief Education Adviser, Inter-American Development Bank

Technology follows the tracks of wealth. Television may be an exception. This article focuses on two casesfrom Brazil: Globo Rural and Pequenas Empresas e Grandes Negócios (Small Enterprises and Great Deals).

2 82 82 82 8 School Connectivity: Wishful Thinking or Wise Action?Sam Carlson, Robert Hawkins, World Links for Development Program

This article describes a pilot project in Uganda which links via the Internet secondary-level students andteachers around the world, in order to improve educational opportunities, develop youth employment skills forthe 21 st Century, and build global awareness and understanding.

3 23 23 23 2 A High-Tech Twist: ICT Access and the Gender DivideMary Fontaine, The LearnLink Project, Academy for Educational Development (AED)

This article discusses a subset of the digital divide - a snapshot of a phenomenon that is emerging as anissue of substance in its own right: the gender divide .

3 73 73 73 7 Grassroots Libraries: A Base for Lifelong LearningAya Aoki, Adult Outreach Education Thematic Group, The World Bank

Grassroots public library systems can serve as a powerful mean to promote literacy and a lifelong learningenvironment for both children and adults. Examples are provided.

4 04 04 04 0 The Full Story: Full-Text Publications on the WebGregg B. Jackson, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Coordinator, George Washington University

The Internet is now the largest library in the history of the world. This article steers you to Internet sourcesthat provide the full text of books, reports, journals, and newsletters.

4 24 24 24 2 The Information Revolution and the Digital Divide: A Review of LiteratureSonia Jurich




The author reviews the literature in search of answers to the questions: Who benefits from the ICTrevolution? Why is it so important to embrace the digital revolution? Is there no hope for those on the otherside of the divide?

4 54 54 54 5 e-Lectronic Access to Information: A Research ReviewSonia Jurich

Four summaries of research on the use of electronic documents for information seeking and retrieval.

4 84 84 84 8 Korea: Can Edutopia Become a Reality?Insung Jung, Ph.D., Korea National Open University

The author describes a national strategy of easy access to education by anyone at any time and place, andhow Korea National Open University is implementing it.

5 15 15 15 1 Open-Source Software: Untapped Opportunities?

Rafael Chargel

Open-source is the term used for designated software that is publicly available in source code form, ratherthan as final product. This article presents best known examples and outlines rationale, limitations andpotential for developing countries.

5 35 35 35 3 On the Move

Upcoming Events: Conference, Seminars, Exhibits, Training Courses, etc.

5 65 65 65 6 A Phone is a Phone is a Phone? …Well, Not Really!Sandra Semaan

What are the types of wireless technologies and what can mobile phones do?

5 85 85 85 8 WorthWhileWebs

This article offers a selection of websites that make access to information and knowledge easy.

6 06 06 06 0High Speed Internet Access: The Future for the World and the Implications for DevelopingCountriesLawrence Wolff, Inter-American Development Bank

The author summarizes the five options for Internet access, their costs and notes what appears to be mostfeasible for developing countries.




6 26 26 26 2 Wake Up and Smell the Coffee…Remotely? The Internet HomeSandra Semaan

A fully Internet enabled home: controlled via the Internet and accessible from anywhere.

6 46 46 46 4 UNLP: Universal Networking Language ProgrammeSandra Semaan

The article describes an electronic language for the Internet, which is being developed with the goal ofenabling people from around the world to communicate in their native languages.

6 66 66 66 6 The Global Knowledge PartnershipLesley Anne Simmons, Communications Officer, Global Knowledge Partnership Secretariat, World Bank Institute

GKP is an informal partnership committed to sharing information, experiences and resources, and topromoting broad access to, and effective use of, knowledge and information.

6 76 76 76 7 InfoChangeJody Olsen, InfoChange Foundation

InfoChange is a non-profit organization that helps move forward the goal that everyone should have accessto information through technology, and that, without this access, basic education will remain limited.

Editorial Calendar for Years 2000 and 20001

YEAR 2000

January/ February

March/ April

May/ June

July/ August

September /October

November/ December

HigherEducation

Access toInformation

& Knowledge

Basic Education for

All

SkillFormation

LearningNever Ends(Lifelong)

TeacherSupport

andTraining

YEAR 2001

January/ February

March/ April

May/ June

July/ August

September /October

November/ December

Management of

EducationSystems

Science andMath

Education

EnterpriseTraining

SocialStudies

EarlyChildhood

Developmentand Parental

Education

LanguageEducation



! 5 ! TechKnowLogia , March/April, 2000 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

Wadi D. Haddad, Editor

If Not Digital, Then What?

The thematic focus of this Issue is: Access to Informationand Knowledge . With the remarkable advancements in in-formation and telecommunication technologies (ICT), thereis now a genuine concern about the "digital divide", the gapbetween the ICT "haves" and the ICT "have-nots." There is agood justification for this concern and the figures show it atevery level. But narrowing the divide - publishing a newspa-per in every village, placing a radio and TV in every house-hold, putting a computer in every classroom, and wiringevery building to the Internet - does not automatically solvethe problem. The most serious divide is in the extent andquality of human knowledge and learning . It is not digital;it is educational.

It is necessary but not sufficient to provide avenues to infor-mation and knowledge. What is more important is to em-power people with appropriate educational, cognitive andbehavioral skills and tools to:! access the information avenues efficiently, effectively

and wisely;! acquire knowledge and internalize it;! apply knowledge to better understand the changing

world, to develop their capabilities, to live and work indignity, to participate in development, to improve thequality of their lives, and to make informed decisions;and

! upgrade their knowledge continuously and systemati-cally.

The Digital Divide … An Educational Emergency Advancements in ICT have revolutionized the world econ-omy. Information can now be collected, analyzed and com-municated with increasing speed through dramatic innova-tions in information technology, rapid international commu-nication and transportation capacity, and massive technologi-

cal connections across national boundaries. Any service thatcan be digitized and transmitted can be produced and soldanywhere. Together, with economic developments, theseadvancements are producing a new worldwide economy thatis global, high speed, knowledge driven, disciplinarian, andcompetitive. Countries have to meet the competitivenesschallenge in terms of agility, networking and learning, and toarrange production to achieve quality, productivity and flexi-bility. The good news is that, with the potential of human

development and advanced technologies, developing coun-tries can leapfrog. The bad news is that this process is notautomatic. On the contrary, unless conscious efforts aremade, countries are likely to be marginalized. There is aneducational emergency for:! A workforce that has the foundation to enhance the

quality and efficiency of product development, produc-tion and maintenance, and the flexibility to acquire thenew skills required for new jobs; and

! A cadre of highly-trained scientific, technological andprocessing personnel, including some with sophisticatedresearch skills, who can fully understand developmentsin the material, scientific, technological, managerial andsocial areas and who can take the lead in their assess-ment, adaptation, and local applications.

The globalization of the economy and its concomitant de-mands on the workforce requires a shift to an education thatenhances the ability of learners to access, assess, adopt andapply knowledge, to think independently, exercise appropri-ate judgment and collaborate with others to make sense of new situations. The objective of education is no longer sim-ply to convey a body of knowledge, but to teach how tolearn, problem-solve and synthesize the old with the new. It

is worth noting, also, that the emerging economy will nolonger be centrally created and controlled by governments.This environment, which will be dominated by private sectorand not government jobs, will place a premium on creativity,initiative and entrepreneurship.

Access Anytime Anywhere

The above demands require two changes in our educationalbehavior. Firstly, the need for continuous access to informa-tion and knowledge makes learning life-long, and the tradi-tionally neat distinction between learning and work unreal.Education thus becomes a continuum, with no marked be-ginning and end. Secondly, the process of learning cannot beconfined to the traditional classroom. The architecture of education services and the allocation of resources have to beplanned accordingly. No longer should countries view for-mal educational institutions as the sole educators, or the onlyinstitutions worthy of financial investment. Other channels,from interactive radio to educational television to offeringsof virtual schooling over the Internet, or Intranet, to commu-nity learning centers, to training schemes, will have to befigured into the equation.




Access Channels and Educational Achievement

The model of education that was developed for the industrialage cannot effectively achieve the educational empowermentin the information age. With the tools of ICT, we should beable to evolve the conventional model of:! A building,! A student! A teacher (as provider of knowledge), and! A set of textbooks and some audio-visual aids.

Into a new model of:! A knowledge infrastructure (print, audio, video, digital )! A learner! A teacher (as a tutor and facilitator), and! Multimedia materials

It is in this model, that the digital divide becomes an educa-tional divide, and bridging it becomes a human need, an edu-cational necessity, and a global urgency.

***An Update….

This is the fourth issue of TechKnowLogia, and we arepleased to report that the Journal is now read in 149 countriescovering all the regions of the world. Total readership basedon individual and institutional subscribers, including browserand PDF versions, is approximately 20,000. In addition todownloading the PDF version of the Journal, our readers arespending significant time on the web, actively utilizing thebrowser version of the Journal. Our tracking system hasshown that, for the month of January 2000, the web regis-

tered approximately 160,000 successful hits.We have introduced in this issue a new feature, " Email tothe Editor ." We have also made a number of improvementson the site, and we will continue to do so, to make it as userfriendly as possible.

In order for us to continue to offer the journal free to oursubscribers, we are inviting organizations, institutions andfirms to co-sponsor one or more issues of the Journal and/oradvertise their products and services in the Journal. (Formore information on how to sponsor or advertise, pleaseclick on the respective buttons on the home page.)

We hope that TechKnowLogia will continue to be a usefulresource for you about the potential of technologies forknowledge dissemination, effective learning and efficienteducation services. We also hope that you will continue tointroduce it to your colleagues and friends.

T T e e c c h h K K n n o o w w LL o o g g i i a a ™ ™ Published by

Knowledge Enterprise, Inc.

In collaboration with

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO )

Organization for Economic Co-operationand Development (OECD )

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF :Wadi D. Haddad , President, Knowledge Enterprise, Inc.

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD:Thomas Alexander , Director, Employment, Labour and Social

Affairs Directorate, OECDGajaraj Dhanarajan, President & CEO,

The Commonwealth of LearningDee Dickenson , CEO, New Horizons for LearningAlexandra Draxler, Director, Task force on Education for the

Twenty-first Century (UNESCO)Jacques Hallak , Director, Int'l Bureau of EducationPedro Paulo Poppovic, Secretary of Distance Education, Federal

Ministry of Education, BrazilNicholas Veliotes, President Emeritus,

Association of American Publishers

ADVISORY EDITORIAL COMMITTEE:Joanne Capper , Sr . Education Specialist, World Bank Claudio Castro , Chief Education Adviser, IDBDennis Foote , Director, LearnLinks, AEDGregg Jackson , Assoc. Prof., George Washington Univ.James Johnson , Deputy Director, GIIC Frank Method , Dir., Washington Office, UNESCOLaurence Wolff , Sr. Consultant, IDB

GUEST EDITORIAL ADVISER:Kerry Stephen McNamara, Senior Knowledge Management

Officer, World Bank Institute

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS:Jarl Bengtsson , Head, CERI, OEDC Sonia Jurich, Consultant Glenn Kleiman , VP, Education Development Center Dan Wagner , Director, International Literacy Institute

MANAGING EDITOR:Sandra Semaan

GENERAL QUESTIONS OR [email protected] ON [email protected] MATTERS:[email protected] AND [email protected]

ADDRESS AND FAXKnowledge Enterprise, Inc.P.O. Box 3027Oakton, VA 22124U.S.A.Fax: 703-242-2279

http://[email protected]/















Technologies: A Window for TransformingHigher Education Jan/Feb 2000

Thank you for your article. I would refer you to a book byLewis J Perleman titled "Schools Out" for his view of thefuture of all levels of education. Right or wrong, I think he ison to something. If the educational system doesn't do it

someone else will out of nothing but the desire to survive.

I recall listening to a salesman of "programmed texts" 40years ago. All the faculty was present. The conversationafterwards took the same paths you mentioned for theelectronic technology. We are going to lose our jobs, etc. Ithink I was the only one who experimented with theprogrammed texts in the school. The resistance is certainlythere.

I recall one of the best math classes I ever had was one inwhich there was no teacher except Mallory who authored atext in Algebra 1. I attended a small high school with about 8people enrolled in the class. The teacher/principal simplyassigned us all the problems in the book and returned to hisoffice to principal. My success in the class was attested towhen I transferred to another larger school in another town,enrolled in Algebra 2, trig, solid geometry and didn't evenbreak my stride. In fact I could keep up with the top of theclass. The text wasn't programmed, just well written. I couldgo on about small class size, motivation, small school andthe like but I learned from that experience that at least insome instances one doesn't need a teacher physically in theclassroom. In fact it could be a detriment. I had to think through the material. On the other hand I had a geometryclass with a teacher and it worked out quite well. Point beingthat one can learn with or without teacher if motivated andgiven the opportunity.

However, that is just one class out of a curriculum. Now Iread that we are evolving into a paradigm where studentsdesign their own curriculums. I simply ask, where do thesestudents gain all this wisdom to know how to chart a properpath toward a desired goal? Has culture produced nowisdom? Are events whizzing past us so furiously, vis-a-visToffler in Future Shock, cultural wisdom is garnered from

the crystal ball of the future? Does the past have nocredence? If so why study history?

Thank you again for the article,JIM SUMNER

United States

I read your abstract in the TechKnowLogia online Journal. Iwould agree with a lot of what you said. The problem for alot of rural people is one of costs. One being the low densityof people. This makes it difficult to bring broadband overwireline (copper or fiber) at an attractive price. Governmentsare asking for the business case first. When it can be donethen the local content is lost because of the need to centralizeand save staffing costs to offset high bandwidth. Where therural areas can show savings they are often marginalized bythe institutions or politely rebuffed by endless committees.Satellite can bring content to large amounts but it isimpractical to do realtime classes over satellite. One way todo this is by radio with a return audio feed or a lowerbandwidth two way audio on dedicated links. Another way isto move faculty into the field and have them teach andmentor from the field. This forces faculty to become users of the system from necessity and will spread the knowledge outto the regions. Then the faculty will bypass the endlesscommittees to work with the rural people and students to getbroadband to the rural areas. Some things gain importance asone moves away from the cities. The city can be used forcentralization of paper work. (people to correct, collate booksetc etc.)

As we plan to do a virtual high school with teachers in thefield teaching and mentoring to students in 5 communities

this spring we hope to keep learning from other people inTechKnowLogia. Maybe someday we can submit ourexperiences in Northwestern Ontario.

…. Keep up the good work.DAN PELLERIN

Network Operations, Northern Chiefs Tribal Council,Canada

©Corel




If Technology is the Solution, Where is theProblem? Nov/Dec 1999

Your editorial "If Technology is the Solution, Where is theProblem?" is so very vital. I wish every schoolsuperintendent and school board would read it. I noticed that

your comments were aimed at shifting from skills to thelearning process. I agree with you on that issue. I must ask though, do we need to completely eliminate skill acquisitionfrom the process? Is there not yet a place for vocational skillsto be acquired? We are short thousands of truck drivers,networking people, people who know how to code computerprograms, wire buildings, plumb them, & build them. Wheredo these skills fit into your paradigm?

Thank you for the time,JIM SUMNER

United States

The Editorial by Wadi D. Haddad was excellent. However,there is one additional factor and that is societal acceptanceof an idea. We know that American and world society ingeneral believe that computers and Internet can increaselearning. Therefore that battle is partially won. One of thegreatest weaknesses as Wadi points out is the development of the courseware to go into the system. The United Statesgovernment has abdicated this responsibility both at NSF andUSED for the past two decades. Great curricula are createdby inspired visionaries capable of bringing content andtechnology together.

FRANK B. WITHROWDirector of Development, ABLE COMPANY

United States

Searching the Web for Educational Researchand Evaluation Nov/Dec 1999

Excellent article "Searching the Web for EducationalResearch and Evaluation." In plain English, with a wealth of material for the new user of the web for research (like me)and a superb set of questions and warnings on how to useevaluate and use someone else's research. Many kudos.

JANET KERLEYMonitoring and Evaluations Specialist, USAID

United States

General Feedback

Just a quick note to congratulate you on the Journal -- it is areally important addition to the field, and has already givenme several useful references for my work.

Senior Education Adviser

UNICEF, United States

I am truly happy to see how profound an impact your work and this website has on those of us who believe intechnology for education and development.

Communications SpecialistAMIDEAST, Washington, D.C., United States

Thank you very much for the subscription. I have read someof the articles (including your editorial) and found themextremely interesting. This publication has a lot of potentialand I will mention it to colleagues and World Bank developing country clients that I come in contact with.

Principal Informatics AdvisorThe World Bank

My heartiest congratulations for your excellent web site andJournal. I have already entered my application for asubscription, and am recommending that all English-speaking members of our staff also subscribe. I am sure theJournal will be of great professional interest and benefit to allof us.

Ministry of Education, Brazil

As the smell of the turkey roasting this Christmas Dayafternoon wafts up into my work area, I just wanted to passon my thank you and kudos on how much I have enjoyedreviewing and reading the TechKnowLogia site! …I havefound it extremely interesting and useful. Well done!

Principal, School District, Canada

…I sincerely consider TechKnowLogia a superb productrepresenting a new frontier of thinking in the information andknowledge-technology-society nexus.

FellowHarvard University, United States

I found not only an enjoyment in the articles for this issue,but a serious contribution to the new thinking around tertiaryeducation for developing countries, as well. Most of our

future development has to do with making no mistake indesigning the educational systems for this century in ourcountries. I am from Colombia, but living in Mexico with anextended mission for other Latin American countries, inorder to assist governments in designing new learningsystems propulsed by information technologies.TechKnowLogia is becoming the intellectual driving force.

Director,Global Thinkers,Mexico

To submit feedback regarding articles appearing in anyof the TechKnowLogia issues, please send an email [email protected] , or go tothe Reader Feedback section on the TechKnowLogiawebsite at www.TechKnowLogia.org




W hy beW hy beW hy beW hy be Wired?Wired?Wired?Wired?The Importance of Access to Information and Communication TechnologiesThe Importance of Access to Information and C ommunication TechnologiesThe Importance of Access to Information and Communication TechnologiesThe Importance of Access to Information and C ommunication Technologies

Kerry Stephen McNamaraSenior Knowledge Management Officer

World Bank Institute 1

A Luxury or a Necessi tyA Luxury or a Ne cessi tyA Luxury or a Necessi tyA Luxury or a Ne cessi tyTo judge by the attention that the Internet has received in thepast year, one could be forgiven for believing that “gettingwired” is now the solution to all problems, the magic bullet,the source of all wealth and wisdom. And indeed, in recentmonths there has been much talk about the dangers of fallingbehind in the Internet age, of the emerging “digital divide”both within and between countries. Dire predictions aboundthat poor communities and nations will be left behind by theinformation revolution, and new projects emerge everyday tonarrow the “divide”.

Skeptics reply that poor communities and countries havemuch more serious problems. 1.2 billion people lack accessto safe and reliable water supplies. About 3 billion lack access to basic sanitation facilities. Hunger and disease arerampant. War and civil strife still deprive millions of peopleof their basic daily needs. Why should we choose Pentiumsover penicillin, wireless technology over water pumps?

The choice is not that stark; but the challenge is. In the 21 st

century, access to and effective use of information andknowledge will be the critical determinant of successful andsustainable development for individuals, communities, andnations. New information and communication technologiesopen vast new opportunities for poor communities andnations – access to the world’s store of information andknowledge; increased efficiency and profitability forgovernments and private companies; a stronger voice, locallyand globally, for non-governmental organizations; areduction in the isolation and poverty of rural communities.At the same time the advent of these technologies can widenthe gap – in life chances, in economic conditions, even inbasic health and well-being – between those who have access

and those who don’t. A ccess to in format ion andA ccess to in format ion andA ccess to in format ion andA ccess to in format ion andcommunication technologies – and the ability to adaptcommunication technologies – and the ability to adaptcommunication technologies – and the ability to adaptcommunication technologies – and the ability to adapt

tho se techno logies to local needs – is no longer a luxury; ittho se techno logies to local needs – is no longer a luxury; ittho se techno logies to local needs – is no longer a luxury; ittho se techno logies to local needs – is no longer a luxury; it

is a necessity .is a necessity .is a necessity .is a necessity .

The Scope of th e Proble mThe Scope of th e Proble mThe Scope of th e Proble mThe Scope of th e Proble mOf the 6 billion people on the planet, 3 billion live on lessthan $2 per day. The majority -- roughly 60 percent -- live in

rural areas, and not surprisingly, few of them have ever madea telephone call. According to the InternationalTelecommunications Union, over 80 percent of maintelephone lines are in urban areas. Some point out that newtechnologies, such as wireless and satellite communications,create opportunities for poor countries to “leapfrog”technologically, moving directly to more advanced digitaltechnologies that can reach a wider range of people. Y etY etY etY et

there is increasing evidence t hat t hethere is increasing evidence t hat t hethere is increasing evidence t hat t hethere is increasing evidence t hat t heg ap g ap g ap g ap bet ween rich andbet ween rich andbet ween rich andbet ween rich andpoor countries, and communities, in terms of access poor countries, and communities, in terms of access poor countries, and communities, in terms of access poor countries, and communities, in terms of access

information and communication technologies is wideniinformation and communication technologies is wideniinformation and communication technologies is wideniinformation and communication technologies is wideniWhile some poor countries are improving their citizens’access to these technologies (or even simply to dial tone),often with the latest technologies such as cellular, the pace of the improvement is much slower than the pace of technological (and communications) change in richercountries. So even though these countries might be movingahead on access, they are falling further behind. Over half of India’s 600,000 villages, for example, still lack even oneworking telephone.

The access gap is not just a problem in rural areas. Even inlarge cities, the poor have little access to information andcommunication technologies, and irregular access to simpletelephone service. Just as importantly, the poor have lessaccess to the training and skills that come with these newtechnologies and create new jobs and opportunities. Thuseven in cities, the spread of new technologies can widen thegap between rich and poor, between those who have accessto and know how to use effectively these new technologiesand those who don’t. T he challenge then, is not t o p rovideT he chal lenge then, is not t o p rovideT he challenge then, is not t o p rovideT he chal lenge then, is not t o p rovide

the poor access to phones and computers; i t is to helthe poor access to phones and computers; i t is to helthe poor access to phones and computers; i t is to helthe poor access to phones and computers; i t is to hel

them make these new technologies into tools of their owthem make these new technologies into tools of their owthem make these new technologies into tools of their owthem make these new technologies into tools of their ow

econo mic, social and p olitical empo werment.econo mic, social and p olitical empo werment.econo mic, social and p olitical empo werment.econo mic, social and p olitical empo werment.

T he simple argument that “ the poo r can’t affo rd theT he simple argument that “ the poo r can’t afford t heT he simple argument that “ the poo r can’t affo rd theT he simple argument that “ the poo r can’t afford t he

technologies and services” has often served as an excustechno logies and services” has oft en served as an excustechnologies and services” has often served as an excustechno logies and services” has oft en served as an excus

for complacency.for complacency.for complacency.for complacency. In fact, there is growing evidence thatpeople even in the poorest communities would be willing tospend modest sums for telephone and other communications






well-known Grameen Phone experiment with providing cellphones to poor women who in turn sell use of the phone totheir neighbors has demonstrated that innovation in ourbusiness models is as important as technological innovation.

Even aggregated at a village level, providing information andtelecommunication services to poor and isolatedcommunities faces continuing challenges. First, in manyvillages a public phone already exists; yet the nationalmonopoly operator has no particular incentive to service thephone regularly, so it rarely works. Even local innovators,such as phone shop operators, are at the mercy of thetelecommunications service provider. A further challenge isassuring that our experiments and pilot projects in providingrural access are sustainable and do not have the perverseeffect of crowding out local private entrepreneurship (assome have argued is the case with many of the recent“telecenter” projects supported by international agencies).

A ccess for W hom? A ccess for W ha t?A ccess for W hom? A ccess for W ha t?A ccess for W hom? A ccess for W ha t?A ccess for W hom? A ccess for W ha t?There is a further challenge as well. Even if we could bringaccess to information and telecommunications services toevery village on the planet, how can we assure that thesetools serve to empower, and improve, the lives of thepoorest? Particularly once we get beyond basic telephoneservice and think about access to the Internet, how can wehelp poor communities and countries develop and sharecontent in their languages, relevant to their challenges andinterests? This means encouraging the growth of indigenousinitiatives and networks that help the poor reach out to andlearn from each other, through the full range of technologiesfrom radio to the Internet, and that foster the growth of localcontent in a variety of languages.

This concern with local content, and with enabling poor andisolated communities to learn from each other, reminds usthat, when we speak ab out access, what we really mean iswhen we speak ab out access, what we really mean iswhen we speak ab out access, what we really mean iswhen we speak ab out access, what we really mean is

access to information, knowledge, and communicationsaccess to information, knowledge, and communicationsaccess to information, knowledge, and communicationsaccess to information, knowledge, and communications

opportuni t ies , not access to one specif ic service oropportuni t ies , not access to one specif ic service oropportuni t ies , not access to one specif ic service oropportuni t ies , not access to one specif ic service or

technology. T oo ls are just tools .technology. T ools are just tools .technology. T oo ls are just tools .technology. T ools are just tools .In our rush to wire everyvillage, we sometimes forget that already-widespreadtechnologies (such as community radio) could do a lot moreto empower people with information and knowledge if weonly encouraged their broader use. Some of the sameconstraints that face the higher-end technologies (policy andregulatory restrictions, government monopolies, institutionaland political cultures that inhibit the free flow of information) restrict even the effective use of simpler

technologies as tools to empower people with informationand knowledge. Bearing this in mind helps to focus ourattention on those areas where the international communitycan be most effective.

W h a t C a n t h e I nt e r n a t i on a lW h a t C a n t h e I nt e r n a t i on a lW h a t C a n t h e I nt e r n a t i on a lW h a t C a n t h e I nt e r n a t i on a lCommuni ty Do?Communi ty Do?Communi ty Do?Communi ty Do?Projects to provide access to the Internet and telephoneservices for rural and poor communities are very popular indevelopment agencies at the moment. Wiring villages andschools is hot. We learn a great deal from these experiments.Yet they risk distracting us from the tougher issues whereour attention should perhaps be focused. They also reinforcethe supply-driven, project-focused tendencies of ouragencies; it is easier to quantify the “success” of tentelecenter projects than the slower, more difficult and morecomplex success of helping to create the policy, regulatoryand investment environment in which thousands of telecenters could bloom. Finally, they cause us to blur the

two “gaps” spoken of earlier -- the market efficiency gap andthe access gap -- by encouraging us to provide solutionsbased on the second gap in environments where the first gapis really the issue.

If we have learned anything from the revolutionary changesin the global economy in the past few years, it is thattechnological innovation can expand the range of who hasaccess, how quickly, and to what information, faster than wecould have imagined a few years ago. Our goal is to assurethat this revolution encompasses and empowers all, even thepoorest in the most remote village. To do that, we have tocarefully balance two tasks. The first is to make room for,

and build a nurturing environment for, this innovation indeveloping countries, so that the market-driven informationrevolution can spread around the world. This requiresworking closely with the governments in these countries tomake the difficult choices and changes -- in policy andregulatory regimes, in public investment in infrastructure andeducation, in national information flows -- that will helpgrow the digital economy within their borders. The second isto find ways – through a combination of public investment,public-private partnerships, community based solutions, andtechnical innovation – to assure that no one is left behind bythese changes. It also requires that we who work ininternational development agencies ask ourselves toughquestions about whether our usual approaches and ourfavorite projects are having the maximum positive impact onthese changes.

1 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author and should not beattributed in any manner to the World Bank, its affiliated organization members of its Board of Executive Directors or thecountries they represent.




M e a s u r i n g u p A c c e s s

Prepared by Lesley Anne SimmonsCommunications Officer

Global Knowledge Partnership Secretariat, World Bank Institute

We believe that, given the chance to take advantage of the information revolution, people canimprove their economic well being and empower themselves and their communities to participate intheir own development. Most of the world’s poor, especially those in developing countries, aren’tbenefiting from the powerful and positive changes that speedy and easy access to knowledge andinformation is bringing to better-off countries. Access to knowledge is essential if the poor are toimprove their lives and the lives of their children. Helping knowledge-poor groups gain access toknowledge and the technologies to harness it, contributes to improving people’s lives, the naturalenvironment and resource base, people’s health, children’s education, the global business climate,and the global economy. It benefits everyone.

Many things indicate the degree to which people and their countries are participating in theinformation age. For citizens to be knowledgeable and informed they need to know what is going onin their community, their country, and in the world around them. For those who are literate and livein urban or semi-urban areas, newspapers provide such information. But for those who are notliterate, or who live in more remote areas, radio is a more accessible source of information andcommunication. Television is another measure of people’s access to information as well asentertainment. Television is mostly accessible to people living in urban areas but satellitetechnology is increasingly bringing it to more remote areas.

Sharing knowledge and communicating with others depends on access to telephones — and forthose in the remotest areas, only mobile telephones can keep them reliably in touch. And access tomodern technologies and the skill to use them — personal computers, and especially those thatallow easy, regular, and affordable access to the Internet — is of growing importance.

At the country level, we can measure countries’ engagement in building their knowledge base bycomparing how many scientists and engineers are trained for, and employed in, research anddevelopment, and by the numbers of patent documents issued for new inventions.

The indicators presented here illustrate the degree to which the people of selected countries haveaccess to the tools and skills of the information age. They include data on the number of:

! daily newspapers in circulation! radio receivers in use for broadcast to the general public! television sets in use! telephone lines that connect a customer’s equipment to the public switched telephone network ! users of mobile telephones (using cellular technology)! personal computers in use!

Internet hosts, or computers connected to the worldwide network.The data are extracted from the World Bank’s World Development Report, 1999/2000 (table 19).These in turn are selected from more than 500 indicators included in the World Bank’s annualWorld Development Indicators . More information about the data, including technical notes and datasources can be found in the World Development Indicators and the World Bank’s other statisticalpublications.

©Corel




Internetper 1,000 people hosts

Daily Television Telephone Mobile Personal Per 10,000newspaper Radios sets main lines telephones computers people

Economy 1996 1996 1997 1997 1997 1997 January 1999

Albania 34 235 161 23 1 .. 0.30Algeria 38 239 67 48 1 4.2 0.01Angola 12 54 91 5 1 0.7 0.00Argentina 123 677 289 191 56 39.2 18.28Armenia 23 5 218 150 2 .. 1.01Australia 297 1,385 638 505 264 362.2 420.57Austria 294 740 496 492 144 210.7 176.79Azerbaijan 28 20 211 87 5 .. 0.21Bangladesh 9 50 7 3 0 .. ..Belarus 174 290 314 227 1 .. 0.70Belgium 160 792 510 468 95 235.3 162.39Benin 2 108 91 6 1 0.9 0.02Bolivia 55 672 115 69 15 .. 0.78Botswana 27 155 27 56 0 13.4 4.18Brazil 40 435 316 107 28 26.3 12.88Bulgaria 253 531 366 323 8 29.7 9.05

Burkina Faso 1 32 6 3 0 0.7 0.16Burundi 3 68 10 3 0 .. 0.00Cambodia .. 127 124 2 3 0.9 0.06Cameroon 7 162 81 5 0 1.5 0.00Canada 159 1,078 708 609 139 270.6 364.25Central AfricanRepublic

2 84 5 3 0 .. 0.00

Chad 0 249 2 1 0 .. 0.00Chile 99 354 233 180 28 54.1 20.18China .. 195 270 56 10 6.0 0.14Hong Kong, China 800 695 412 565 343 230.8 122.71

Colombia 49 565 217 148 35 33.4 3.93Congo, Dem. Rep. 3 98 43 1 0 .. 0.00Congo, Rep. 8 124 8 8 0 .. 0.00Costa Rica 91 271 403 169 19 .. 9.20Côte d'Ivoire 16 157 61 9 2 3.3 0.16

Croatia 114 333 267 335 27 22.0 12.84 Czech Republic 256 806 447 318 51 82.5 71.79Denmark 311 1,146 568 633 273 360.2 526.77Dominican Republic 52 177 84 88 16 .. 5.79Ecuador 70 342 294 75 13 13.0 1.26Egypt, Arab Rep. 38 316 127 56 0 7.3 0.31El Salvador 48 461 250 56 7 .. 1.33Eritrea .. 101 11 6 0 .. 0.00Estonia 173 680 479 321 99 15.1 152.98Ethiopia 2 194 5 3 0 .. 0.01Finland 455 1,385 534 556 417 310.7 1,058.13France 218 943 606 575 99 174.4 82.91Georgia .. 553 473 114 6 .. 1.27Germany 311 946 570 550 99 255.5 160.23Ghana 14 238 109 6 1 1.6 0.10Greece 153 477 466 516 89 44.8 48.81

Guatemala 31 73 126 41 6 3.0 0.83Guinea .. 47 41 3 0 0.3 0.00Haiti 3 55 5 8 0 .. 0.00Honduras 55 409 90 37 2 .. 0.16Hungary 189 697 436 304 69 49.0 82.74India .. 105 69 19 1 2.1 0.13Indonesia 23 155 134 25 5 8.0 0.75Iran, Islamic Rep. 24 237 148 107 4 32.7 0.04






Economy 1996 1996 1997 1997 1997 1997 January 1999Ireland 153 703 455 411 146 241.3 148.70Israel 291 530 321 450 283 186.1 161.96

Italy 104 874 483 447 204 113.0 58.80Jamaica 64 482 323 140 22 4.6 1.24Japan 580 957 708 479 304 202.4 133.53Jordan 45 287 43 70 2 8.7 0.80Kazakhstan 30 384 234 108 1 .. 0.94Kenya 9 108 19 8 0 2.3 0.23Korea, Rep. 394 1,037 341 444 150 150.7 40.00Kuwait 376 688 491 227 116 82.9 32.80Kyrgyz Republic 13 115 44 76 0 .. 4.04Lao PDR 4 139 4 5 1 1.1 0.00Latvia 246 699 592 302 31 7.9 42.59Lebanon 141 892 354 179 135 31.8 5.56Lesotho 7 48 24 10 1 .. 0.09Lithuania 92 292 377 283 41 6.5 27.48Macedonia, FYR 19 184 252 204 6 .. 2.56Madagascar 4 192 45 3 0 1.3 0.04

Malawi 3 256 2 4 0 .. 0.00Malaysia 163 432 166 195 113 46.1 21.36Mali 1 49 10 2 0 0.6 0.00Mauritania 1 150 89 5 0 5.3 0.06Mexico 97 324 251 96 18 37.3 11.64Moldova 59 720 302 145 1 3.8 1.17Mongolia 27 139 63 37 1 5.4 0.08Morocco 26 241 160 50 3 2.5 0.20Mozambique 3 39 4 4 0 1.6 0.08Myanmar 10 89 7 5 0 .. 0.00Namibia 19 143 32 58 8 18.6 15.79Nepal 11 37 4 8 0 .. 0.07Netherlands 305 963 541 564 110 280.3 358.51New Zealand 223 1,027 501 486 149 263.9 360.44Nicaragua 32 283 190 29 2 .. 1.47Niger 0 69 26 2 0 0.2 0.02

Nigeria 24 197 61 4 0 5.1 0.03Norway 593 920 579 621 381 360.8 717.53Pakistan 21 92 65 19 1 4.5 0.23Panama 62 299 187 134 6 .. 2.66Papua New Guinea 15 91 24 11 1 .. 0.25Paraguay 50 182 101 43 17 .. 2.18Peru 43 271 143 68 18 12.3 1.91Philippines 82 159 109 29 18 13.6 1.21Poland 113 518 413 194 22 36.2 28.07Portugal 75 306 523 402 152 74.4 50.01Romania .. 317 226 167 9 8.9 7.42Russian Federation 105 344 390 183 3 32.0 10.04Rwanda 0 102 .. 3 0 .. 0.00Saudi Arabia 59 319 260 117 17 43.6 0.15Senegal 5 141 41 13 1 11.4 0.21Sierra Leone 5 251 20 4 0 .. 0.03

Singapore 324 739 354 543 273 399.5 210.02Slovak Republic 185 580 401 259 37 241.6 33.27Slovenia 206 416 353 364 47 188.9 89.83South Africa 30 316 125 107 37 41.6 34.67Spain 99 328 506 403 110 122.1 67.21






Economy 1996 1996 1997 1997 1997 1997 January 1999Sri Lanka 29 210 91 17 6 4.1 0.29Sweden 446 907 531 679 358 350.3 487.13Switzerland 330 969 536 661 147 394.9 315.52

Syrian Arab Republic 20 274 68 88 0 1.7 0.00Tajikistan 20 .. 281 38 0 .. 0.12Tanzania 4 278 21 3 1 1.6 0.04Thailand 65 204 234 80 33 19.8 3.35Togo 4 217 19 6 1 5.8 0.24Tunisia 31 218 182 70 1 8.6 0.07Turkey 111 178 286 250 26 20.7 4.30 Turkmenistan .. 96 175 78 0 .. 0.55Uganda 2 123 26 2 0 1.4 0.05Ukraine 54 872 493 186 1 5.6 3.13United Kingdom 332 1,445 641 540 151 242.4 240.99United States 212 2,115 847 644 206 406.7 1,131.52Uruguay 116 610 242 232 46 21.9 46.61Uzbekistan 3 452 273 63 0 .. 0.10Venezuela 206 471 172 116 46 36.6 3.37Vietnam 4 106 180 21 2 4.6 0.00

Yemen, Rep. 15 64 273 13 1 1.2 0.01Zambia 14 121 80 9 0 .. 0.31Zimbabwe 18 96 29 17 1 9.0 0.87World (weighted

Averages).. 380 280 144 40 58.4 75.22

Low income .. 147 162 32 5 4.4 0.17Excl. China & India 13 133 59 16 1 .. 0.23

Middle income 75 383 272 136 24 32.4 10.15Lower middle income 63 327 247 108 11 12.2 4.91Upper middle income 95 469 302 179 43 45.5 19.01

Low & middle .. 218 194 65 11 12.3 3.08East Asia & Pacific .. 206 237 60 15 11.3 1.66Europe & Central Asia 99 412 380 189 13 17.7 13.00Latin America & Carib. 71 414 263 110 26 31.6 9.64Middle East & N.Africa

33 265 140 71 6 9.8 0.25

South Asia .. 99 69 18 1 2.1 0.14Sub-Saharan Africa 12 172 44 16 4 7.2 2.39

High income 286 1,300 664 552 188 269.4 470.12




Don Richardson, Ph.D.Director, TeleCommons Development Group *

Access for What?

Despite many views to the contrary, from the vantage pointof a member of a rural community in a developing country,getting connected with phone lines, payphones, and evenInternet services is not a luxury or an "inappropriate" use of technology for development. For a rural person, gettingconnected is a means for sharing the wide range of communication options available to urbanites.Telecommunication services are important “lubricants” forrural and agricultural development, and while they are not adevelopment panacea, their contribution can be significant –where they are available.

For rural people, access to a reliable telecommunicationservice represents: 1

• a means for making better and more informed decisions,• a means for accessing the services (health, education,

information, etc.) that enable urban people to improvetheir lives,

• a means for staying in contact with friends and familieswho migrate to urban areas for work and education,

• a means for facilitating the transfer of funds andresources from overseas workers and urban familymembers to their relatives in rural villages – a significantmeans through which rural people can alleviateconditions of poverty,

• a means of communication that is dramatically lessexpensive, less arduous and less risky than alternative

means of communication involving the physicaltransportation of people or information, and which canfree up money and time that can be invested inproductive and income generating pursuits,

• and a means for linking rural businesses and agriculturalendeavors to the trade, transportation and commercesystems of urban areas and to the global marketplace.

Rural People are Not Stupid

The real challenge for enhancing rural connectivity lies withthe urban-centered governments, businesses and agenciesthat have for so long ignored or placated the desires of ruralpeople to get connected to the world. The challenge is nottechnical or financial, but political and ideological.Unfortunately, because so many rural people do not haveaccess and are not connected, we do not often hear theirvoices on this issue (or on countless others!).

Many urban people, and many of those who make decisionsabout allocation of development resources, take the privilegeof connectivity for granted. Until one has experienced thedaily difficulties and knowledge access deficits faced by the"great un-wired" of the world, then one has no businessdeciding what is, or should be, in their best interests. Thoseof us who advocate for improved rural telecommunicationinfrastructure and applications in rural and remote areas of developing countries are used to hearing urban decision-makers question the drive for rural connectivity. "Shouldn'tthe recipients of rural development project interventions begetting more appropriate technology?" "Isn't this just anothercase of pushing Western technology at people who will beoverwhelmed or culturally damaged by it?" Rural people arenot stupid. In developing countries they are quite adept atappropriating Western technologies for their own goals andobjectives. Rural people have every right to desire anddemand the tools that help improve quality of life, health,prosperity and cultural vibrancy. For people in rural villages,

"politically correct" stances on the inappropriateness of telecommunication technologies, such as village telephones,as tools for rural development can be frustratingly myopic.

Rural Access is Good Business

Another challenge is the widespread belief that there is nobusiness case for establishing rural telecommunicationsystems in developing countries. This is an out-dated market






Village Phone operator using a GrameenTelecom GSM cellular

phone in rural Bangladesh

Africa On-line, partners with existing telephonecommunication shop owners to provide computers andInternet accounts to enable anyone, with users paying on aper-message basis. There is very little evidence of significant use of the World Wide Web in rural areas of developing countries, however the Web can be an effective

tool in the hands of government line agencies and NGOs thatserve the rural poor.

McConnell (1998) reports that among 20 rural andagricultural development oriented non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs) surveyed in Uganda that had fullaccess to the Internet’s World Wide Web, 30% reported thatthey either seldom or never took advantage of the resource.Those that are able to use the Web report many specificbenefits:

Many of the organizations that reported using theWorld Wide Web stated that they found it helpful in

order to have access to information directly relatedto their own programmes. The Uganda RuralDevelopment and Training Programme (URDT), anorganization working in rural, western Uganda, hasused the Internet to acquire information onappropriate technologies which can be used to assistlocal villagers. In one example, the organizationused the Internet to acquire information on solarpanel energy, as well as solar panel product andpricing information, which was then presented to thevillagers. With the information concerning theirenergy options before them, the stakeholders wereable to assess their options and make the decisionthat best suited their means. The result was thepurchase of 130 solar powered units to provideenergy and electric light to fellow villagers for thefirst time ever.

McConnell, 1998 (p. 10)

Among the key obstacles making it difficult for ruraldevelopment NGOs to use the Internet, as revealed byMcConnell (1998), is the cost of engaging a telephone linefor long periods of time in order to search the Web forinformation. Average costs for engaging the phone line inUganda are approximately US$ 0.11 per minute. Accessingelectronic mail requires only minimal connection time, while“web surfing” requires substantial on-line time, particularlyin areas of developing countries where antiquatedtelecommunication systems can dramatically slow downloadspeeds. Even those NGOs that used the Web expressedreluctance to use the resource more often due to the time andcost involved, preferring electronic mail as their primaryInternet tool.

The Power of the Telephone

Despite the power of the telephone, there is little evidence of development agency or NGO programming which takesadvantage of its features. As rural telephone systems indeveloping countries emerge and are improved, many

opportunities for value-added, development-oriented servicesemerge. The information needs in rural areas of developingcountries are immense and present huge challenges togovernment services, NGOs, educational agencies and othersthat are attempting to assist rural people in gaining access tocritical knowledge. For example, around the world,agricultural extension systems are undergoing processes of decentralization. At the same time, funding cuts are reducingthe availability of extension workers and extension servicesin rural areas. Meanwhile, agricultural market economies aredeveloping rapidly and many rural agricultural stakeholderslack access to the knowledge and information required toeffectively participate in agricultural market economies. Yet,in the author’s experience, very few agricultural extensionfieldworkers in developing countries even have access totelephones in their rural offices, and there seems to be noknown attempt in developing countries to employ thetelephone as a tool to help agricultural producers to accessinformation.

The telephone is one “access” tool that is often ignored,perhaps because many of us in the developed world havecome to take it for granted. When a public telephone or acommunity-based communication center comes to a ruraltown or village, the good old telephone is seen as aremarkable advance in communication technology. In NorthAmerica, Europe and Australia during the early part of thiscentury, the telephone was, and still is , a critical tool forenabling agricultural stakeholders to communicate with oneanother and share knowledge. Farmers who have access totelephones make significant use of this simple device foraccessing extension information, communicating with peers,organizing events, obtaining market prices and marketinformation, buying and selling inputs and commodities, andaccessing information about credit and financialopportunities.




In many agricultural regions of the developed world,extension services have made very good use of the telephoneto provide voice-based agricultural helplines to supplementor replace face-to-face extension visits. With the advent of the Internet and advances in web-based computer databases,extension experts working with networked computers cannow provide very accurate, timely and specific informationto the voice information requests they receive over thephone. In North America, it is not uncommon foragricultural researchers to provide similar services directly tofarmers over the telephone.

The Telephone and the Internet

Similar services have not yet been made widely available indeveloping countries. Here is an area where the telephonecan be married with Internet tools very effectively(Richardson, 1999b). For example, a handful of trained

extension experts, backed by agricultural researchers andnetworks of input suppliers, marketing organizations andothers, could provide prompt and accurate voice answers toquestions they receive from farmers over the telephone.Initial agricultural knowledge and information needsassessments could determine key information needs andknowledge gaps that would generate frequently askedquestions. Well-researched answers to probable frequentlyasked questions could be present in an on-line web-baseddatabase available to the extension experts, regardless of their physical location. As such a service develops,frequently asked questions can be tracked and additionalresearched answers added to the database. Very specificquestions with answers not in the database would be referredto other extension experts or the agricultural researchcommunity for follow-up and reply to the informationrequestor. An on-line list of experts, their specific fields of expertise, availability for fielding questions, email addresses,fax numbers and telephone numbers would be instantlyavailable to information providers through the database.Such a service could also be applied to subject matters suchas health, forestry, fishing and natural resource management.

Universal Access

Donors or governments throwing money at the problem of

poor rural connectivity will not directly increase rural access.As clearly stated by Intelecon Research (1999),commercially viable “rural networks and services can beplanned to yield high per-line revenues and a good return oninvestment if the supply strategy and service retailingconcepts are optimized to the situation. But the pessimisticperception [that rural telecommunication services will neverbe commercially viable] is difficult to shake and, untilrecently, led to a general attitude that rural networks should

always be financed by grants or concessional packages.”Governments and donors need to give their attention toreforming and liberalizing telecommunication policies andenabling regulatory agencies to provide a fair and transparentplaying field. This will enable prospective ruraltelecommunication operators to negotiate fair deals tointerconnect with existing telephone systems, negotiate fairrevenue sharing agreements among operators and chargeservice fees that suit the calling patterns (often weightedtoward incoming calls) of rural areas.

The International Telecommunications Union has called forefforts to meet the long-term goal of providing "universalaccess" to telecommunications. “With over 40 millionpeople waiting for a telephone line world-wide and withsome least developed countries having telecommunicationpenetration levels up to 200 times below that of developedcountries, universal access stands as one of the key issuesconfronting governments around the world” (ITU, 1998).According to James Bond of the World Bank, “as concernscommunications for the rural and urban poor, there is a largeoverlap between the 75% of the world's population who haveno access to telephones in any form, and the 3 billion peoplewho live on less that $2 a day,” (Bond, J., 1998).

The technologies for achieving universal access exist and allevidence suggests that they are now inexpensive enough tocommercially viable rural telecommunication systems. Thebarrier for universal access is not technical, it is tied directlyto market structures and regulatory systems. The keychallenges we face are finding ways “to harness theenormous creativity and the financial clout of the private

Participant in a rural connectivity workshop in Zamboanga, Philippines making plans for Internet

networking among rural and agriculturaldevelopment organizations




sector, to roll out broad bandwidth global connectivity thatdoes not leave the poor out of the loop” (Ibid).

References

Alvardo, J. 1999. Funds for rural telecom development:

experience in Latin America. Intelecon Research,Vancouver, Canada.http://www.inteleconresearch.com/pages/forum2.html

Bond, J. 1998. “Opening Remarks," proceedings of theGlobal Connectivity for Africa Conference, Addis Ababa,Ethiopia. http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/globalc/index.htm

Intelecon Research. 1999. Rural telecom finance: where isthe bottleneck? Intelecon Research, Vancouver, Canada.http://www.inteleconresearch.com/pages/forum1.html

ITU. 1998. World Telecommunication Development

Report: Universal Access, 4th

Edition, Geneva.http://www.itu.int/ti/publications/WTDR_98/index.htm

McConnell, S. 1998. NGOs and Internet Use in Uganda:Who Benefits? Paper Presented at the Cultural AttitudesTowards Communications and Technology (CATaC '98)Conference, London, England, U.K. August 1-3, 1998.http://www.telecommons.com/uploadimages/catac2.doc

Richardson, D. 1997. The Internet and Rural & AgriculturalDevelopment: An Integrated Approach. Food andAgriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.http://www.telecommons.com/uploadimages/Integrated.htm

Richardson, D. 1998. Rural Telecommunications andStakeholder Participation: Bridging the Gap Between

Telecommunication Experts and Communication forDevelopment Practitioners. In Richardson D., & Paisley, L.1998. The First Mile of Connectivity: AdvancingTelecommunications for Rural Development Through aParticipatory Communication Approach (op cit.).http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/SUSTDEV/CDdirect/CDan0025.htm

Richardson, D. 1999a. The Virtual Research and ExtensionCommunication Network (VRECN). Food and AgricultureOrganization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.http://www.telecommons.com/uploadimages/VRECN.htm

Richardson, D. 1999b. Voice and Web Rural Helpline forAgriculture: Proposal Brief. TeleCommons DevelopmentGroup, Guelph, Canada.http://www.telecommons.com/uploadimages/AgLine.htm

Richardson, D. & Paisley, L. 1998. The First Mile of Connectivity: Advancing Telecommunications for RuralDevelopment Through a Participatory CommunicationApproach. Food and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations, Rome, Italy.http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/SUSTDEV/CDdirect/CDre0025.htm

TeleCommons Development Group. 1999. Upper EastRegion, Ghana, Rapid Market Appraisal. Unpublishedresearch report. SR Telecom, Ottawa, Canada.

TeleCommons Development Group. 2000. Multi-mediaCase Study of Grameen Telecom’s Village Phone Initiative.Canadian International Development Agency, Ottawa,

Canada (Forthcoming – http://www.telecommons.com ).

* Author note: The author is a principal consultant and Director of the TeleCommons Development Group, a consulting agencyspecializing in community development enhanced through telecommunications. He is also an Associate Graduate Facultymember of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Canada. Email: [email protected]: www.telecommons.com .

1The following points are based on research conducted by the author and the TeleCommons Development Group(www.telecommons.com ), including rural telecommunication impact assessments and commercial viability studies inBangladesh, Canada, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, India, Peru, the Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zambia, andZimbabwe during the last decade (Richardson and Paisley, 1998; Richardson 1997, 1998; 1999a; TeleCommons DevelopmentGroup, 1999; 2000).






implement their strategy and they need to get everybody onboard. Corporate universities help reinforce the company'sgoals and values." In a tight labor market, such facilities (realand virtual) also help retain good workers and attract others."I would expect we'll continue to see more such corporateuniversities among major employers," he continued. "Forcompanies with less than 1,000 employees, it's hard to justifythese types of corporate universities. But for majorcompanies trying to adjust to today's market, it's reallybecoming essential." (Chattanooga Times/Free Press 23 Jan.2000) http://pb1-2.newsreal.com

Internet Use in Asia to Explode by2005

A new survey finds that the amount of people using theInternet in Asia will increase by 422 percent in the next six

years and will number 228 million by 2005. Authors of thesurvey, London based Philips Group, estimate that there arecurrently 43.6 million Asians online and predict that by2006, that figure could be 370 million, representing a 62percent increase on current figures. While the majority of users will be concentrated in Japan for the next few years, by2005, Internet use in China will surpass that in any othercountry in the region. By 2005, 37.6 percent of AsianInternet users will be Chinese, representing 85 million users.Another survey by IDC finds that despite the fact that Asianusers would rather surf the Web in their native language, agrowing number are going to English language Web sites.http://www.newsbytes.com/

New Internet Training MaterialsAvailable from ITrain

ITrain is a collection of Internet training materials forinstructors and students. The materials offer an interactiveapproach, engaging students in the learning process andsupporting instructors in the customization and planning of the courses. The materials have been developed by the ITrainCollective, a multi-cultural group of Internet trainers withwork experiences from around the world. ITrain began as aproject of the International Development Research Centre(IDRC). Bellanet, an international initiative working with thedevelopment community to increase collaboration byproviding advice and assistance on more effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) activelysupports ITrain and oversaw the development of the twomost recent ITrain modules, "Effective Internet Searching"and "List Facilitation." In the future, Bellanet will continueto update and add to the collection in collaboration with itspartner organizations.http://unganisha.idrc.ca/itrain/index_e.html

On-Line Debate On GlobalPoverty, Social Exclusion,Inequality

In September 2000, the World Bank will publish its once-in-a-decade 'Poverty World Development Report' (WDR).During February and March 2000, there will be a globalonline discussion of the draft. Its conclusions will be fed tothe report's authors. The World Bank's research reports and

journals are highly influential on development thinking andprogrammes. They achieve wide distribution, major presscoverage and are frequently cited. The WDR is the Bank'sflagship publication, with over 150,000 copies printed andmany distributed free. This is the first time the World Bank is widely circulating a draft WDR. The draft WDR wasposted in January on the web at:http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/ .

To sign up for this e-consultation, send email [email protected]

World Bank Group And Softbank ToInvest In Internet Enterprises ForThe Developing World

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is joining withSOFTBANK CORP. of Japan to spawn startup Internetcompanies in some 100 developing countries. The initiativeis based on IFC’s long experience of private sectorinvestment in developing countries around the world, usingproject finance to build the businesses that are the foundationof sustainable growth in developing economies; andSOFTBANK’s market leadership in taking Internetbusinesses international and at replicating successful modelsin other countries.

SOFTBANK, a Japan-based global Internet company, andIFC, part of the World Bank Group, will invest US$200million to found SOFTBANK Emerging Markets (SBEM) toincubate Internet-related businesses in developing countries.IFC will also join SOFTBANK’s recent Latin America- andChina-focused Internet investment funds, bringing the totalcommitment to global Internet development to $500 million.

The fund will nurture new Internet enterprises both byinvesting seed money and by providing an array of technological, legal, and management support to quickly turnideas into solid businesses.

For press release, see:

http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/news/pressrelease.nsf/








Information Technology for the Masses:Can It Be TV?

Claudio de Moura CastroChief Education Adviser,

Inter-American Development Bank

The Landscape

Both programs are part of the regular offerings of the RedeGlobo, a Brazilian media enterprise that is rated as the

world’s fourth largest TV network. Both are completelycommercial programs, run for profit by an entirely privateconglomerate. In other words, while this article will try tosuggest that they are socially useful, they are entirely paid forby advertising, like any other program run in commercialTV.

Brazil is a highly diverse country, classified as middleincome but offering extreme inequality among its 160million inhabitants. Yet it has a single language and arelatively homogeneous culture, so the same programs can betransmitted and understood throughout the territory.

The poor and the rich Brazilians have something in common:close to 90% of the population has access to TV sets. Thismarket, covering over 100 million spectators, has generated amajor TV industry, making Brazil one of the top exporters of soap operas.

If there are TV sets, millions glued to them and asophisticated production capability, then it makes muchsense to use this combination to benefit education andtraining. Much sense indeed, since Brazil has been

chronically short of quality education and training – andextension services, in the case of agriculture, the focus of oneof the programs. The Globo formula is simple: high qualityimage, good technical content, appropriate style and

language, all of this targeted to farmers and smallentrepreneurs. Where vocational schools and extensionservices fail to reach, TV may fill the gap.

Globo Rural is the oldest program, having been on the air for20 years and Small Enterprises for 8 years. Notice that asomewhat equivalent program in the United States ( Money

Hunt ) is only three years old and broadcast on publictelevision, rather than private (even though programs onhobbies and house improvement are common and quitesuccessful).

The formula for both programs is quite similar. Theprograms cover a range of areas that might be of interest tofarmers and small entrepreneurs. The core messages focus onteaching practical lessons and offering ideas for newactivities, technologies, or markets.

Globo Rural

Farmers want to know about droughts, early rains, prices of commodities and other such germane subjects. The programdoes comply with short spots on those issues. But a core

The digital divide seems to be for real.Technology follows the tracks of wealth. It goeswhere money has arrived. Those who usetechnology are the haves and, being the haves,get even more from privileged access totechnology. Only rarely does technology go theother way, reaching the have-nots. Televisionmay offer some interesting counter examples,particularly since it is a technology that is inmany cases targeted to the masses.

This article focuses on two cases from Brazil:Globo Rural and Pequenas Empresas e Grandes

Negócios (Small Enterprises and Great Deals).




formula remains in place and dominates the program: how toimprove crops, fix problems, adapt technologies and reducelosses in farms.

The program invariably takes place on a farm that hasadopted the proposed solution. The message emerges from

interviews with farmers, agronomists and extension workers.Occasionally, a researcher in his laboratory may also beinterviewed. The “before” situation is compared with the“after,” when the innovation has been adopted and theadvantages discussed. The costs are sometimes presented andthe technical procedures receive a lot of attention. The goal isto teach practical lessons that can be adopted by themaximum number of farmers. Credibility comes from theinterviews with real farmers in their real farms.

The image is highly professional and full of shots of the locallandscapes. The talk is simple and to the point, there is notechnical gibberish. The music is, suitably, Brazilian country.

Below are a few examples of topics treated:

• Management of natural forests in the Amazon. Theprogram reports a pioneering effort to introducemanagement techniques suitable to small farmers. Theland is divided into ten plots, selectively cut: one peryear. Hard data on yield and revenues are also presented.

• Bananas are very fragile crops and traditionally morethan half of the harvest is lost due to improper handling.A farmer explains every step he took to reduce thedamages and losses. It also shows how an extensionworker helped the farmer in each step. There is also aninterview with a banana growing expert and the farmer'sfinal comments boasting his overall reduction in losses.

• A farmer explains a simple method to get rid of ticks inhis cattle.

• A relatively long clip displays a farmer who employs hisnine daughters to work on his property using verytraditional methods. The entire background descriptionof what is going on is in rhymes, sometimes presented aspoetry, sometimes as music. This one is not to teachmethods but rather to present a picturesque case of themany and various methods that can benefit Brazilianfarmers.

In parallel with the TV program, there is a magazine

following exactly the same line and with the same name (on-line version: www.globoruralon.com.br ). Given the nature of the printed media, there are more technical data, morestatistics and a greater variety of subjects. Significant spaceis devoted to answering technical questions sent in byreaders. This is the "Ann Landers" column of Globo Rural:advice for real-life problems. Each month, 140,000 copies of the magazine are sold.

Small Firms, Great Deals

Throughout the past century, Brazil has devoted most of itsenergy to the development of large enterprises. And indeed,it has been quite successful: the country boasted one of thefastest rates of growth. However, while large enterprises

remain critically important to the country’s economy, theirability to create employment to all the active populationprogressively became sorely inadequate.

Lately, it has become crystal clear to all that smallenterprises are the best bet for absorbing surplus labor. Butthey can do this only if they become more efficient,competitive and productive than they have been in the past.Hence, the health of small firms is a critical element for theprosperity of the country. The Small Enterprises programresponds to these efforts to improve efficiency and promotethe growth of these firms, raising their profile and lime-lighting their potential.

The formula is not much different from that of Globo Rural .In fact, one can easily see that a winning solution wastransposed to another sector. The half-hour programs presentinnovations, show spectators how to contact specializedgovernment agencies, promote web sites that help smallexporters and so on. But the main thrust of the program is toshow examples of successful small entrepreneurs or goodideas that can be adopted by other would-be entrepreneurs.Below are a few examples:

• A man who transforms the metal sheets of recycled cansinto sculptures of animals. The clip starts in hisbackyard, full of colorful or shiny toucans, roosters,alligators and many other animals. It then moves on toshow how he works the sheet metal and the tools he hascreated to shape them into feathers, animal skin and soon. The following part shows how he managed to get anexclusive contract to decorate a supermarket chain andthe economics of selling his art. It ends with aninterview with the supermarket buyer discussing theeconomics of selling in small enterprises.

• Another craftsman created a simple cooler for beer andsoda cans: press a lever and one can at the time isreleased without opening the box. After thisdemonstration, the clip mentions that the inventor islooking for partners or entrepreneurs who might want tomanufacture or commercialize his idea.

• A small manufacturer has produced a pizza oven onwheels that can be transported anywhere. It works frombottled propane for outdoor operation or from electricityfor indoor use. After presenting the price of each pizzachariot, several customers who purchased it areinterviewed and the costs of raw pizzas and the saleprices are presented, as are typical uses and monthlyrevenues generated.






Wishfu l Th ink i ng o r Wise Ac t ion?

Sam Carlson , Manager Robert Hawkins , Country Coordinator World Links for Development Program

The World Links for Development program (WorLD) is aninitiative of the World Bank Institute to expand the opportu-

nities of education technology to developing countries.WorLD’s primary objective is to link via the Internet secon-dary-level students and teachers around the world, in order toimprove educational opportunities, develop youth employ-ment skills for the 21 st Century, and build global awarenessand understanding. WorLD is currently working in 18countries around the world and is planning to expand to anadditional 5 countries by July 2000. Specifically, WorLDworks with Ministries of Education to connect secondaryschools to the Internet, train teachers in the pedagogical usesof information technology and project-based learning appli-cations, assist schools to establish links with other schoolsfrom around the world, and monitor and evaluate the impact

that this intervention has on teaching and learning.http://www.worldbank.org/worldlinks

The Story of Ugand a

In many countries in which WorLD is working, the first step-- establishing reliable and cost affordable Internet connec-tivity -- can be the most challenging. The WorLD programin Uganda provides an interesting case study of the chal-lenges and successes of working to establish connectivity onthe digital frontier.

In 1997, the World Links program selected 10 pilot schoolsbased on criteria set forth by the Ministry of Education, alocal steering committee and the World Links program. Theschool selection criteria stipulated that eligible schoolsneeded to have the basic infrastructure (electricity, access totelecommunications, and a secure classroom for a lab), avision of how to integrate the technology into their teachingand learning process, and a business plan for sustaining the

recurrent Internet and telephone costs. This last requirementlimited school selection to those schools within a local phone

call to an Internet Service Provider – which excluded mostschools outside of the Kampala area. While schools within alocal telephone call to an ISP would pay US$144 per monthfor 60 hours of access, schools outside of this local call rangewould pay an exorbitant amount of US$720 per month.

Based on these criteria, the steering committee selected the10 schools for the program and each of the schools got busywith computer lab preparation and phone line installation.Once the infrastructure requirements were fulfilled, theWorld Links program procured, refurbished, and shipped onehundred 486-computers that the World Bank donated to theprogram. Local private sector partners were then contracted

to install the equipment and make the final configuration forthe schools to access the Internet. “Dial to connect to Inter-net” should have been the final bridge to cross. The tele-communications infrastructure, however, failed at a largenumber of the schools -- dropped lines and misconnectionsleft 6 of the 10 schools without connectivity. While the fixedline infrastructure was relatively reliable for analog voiceconnections, the lines and the exchanges could not carrydata. With over half of the schools unable to establish reli-able connections to the Internet, another path needed to beforged.

Upon the heels of telecom liberalization in Uganda, two cel-lular telephone operators received licenses to offer services.The World Links program approached one of the providers –Celltel Uganda – to determine if the private sector companywould be interested in partnering with the program to helpthe schools establish Internet connections over the new ex-panding cellular infrastructure. The company agreed to pro-vide one hour of free airtime to the schools per day. Theschools could now at least establish a 9600 kbps link usingcell phone technology to send and receive email messages.




Web surfing, however, over this speed would only be possi-ble for the most patient of teachers.

While all 10 of the schools had successfully established somedegree of Internet connectivity, the infrastructure limited thespeed at which teachers and students connected to the Inter-

net, and the amount they paid for recurrent costs limited theironline time to one to two hours per day. In order to addressthese limitations, the program had to adjust to help the teach-ers maximize their offline use of the technology and still beable to fully participate in the collaborative nature of the pro-gram.

The WorLD program instituted three technology adjust-ments to allow teachers to save time and resources while stillincorporating the technology into their teaching and learning.The first technology adjustment involved implementing storeand forward email on their local area network. Each of theteachers would send mail off-line to the server in their schooland the server would call the Internet Service Provider (ISP)3 or 4 times a day to send and receive emails for the entireschool. Proxy web software was also implemented whichwould save copies locally of frequently visited web pages, sothat repeated online connections were not necessary. Finally,each school was provided with an internal web server thatcould house both locally developed and web-based contenton the local area network. These adjustments, along withtraining on how to manage a classroom in this environmentand maximize offline time, assisted teachers to fully partici-pate in collaborative projects with others from around theworld.

While these technology adjustments helped as an intermedi-

ary fix, the teachers wanted faster and more frequent accessto the Internet . Spread spectrum wireless technology pro-vided the only way to bypass the deficiencies of the existingfixed line infrastructure and the slow data rates of the cellphone link. The first WorLD school in Kampala – MakerereCollege School – has successfully implemented this technol-ogy. With a capital outlay of US$1,500, the connection hasworked flawlessly. The school pays the Internet ServiceProvider US$250 per month and pays the telephone companynothing for dial-up charges – the school now has a 24-hourhigh speed connection to the Internet at the same costs that ithad paid for slow, unreliable, limited Internet access over thedial-up connection.

The WorLD program is now preparing to expand this initia-tive to reach a larger number of schools as well as experi-ment with VSAT technology in rural areas . This wirelessconnectivity pilot aims to connect at least 11 schools to someform of wireless connectivity, train teachers and students inmaintenance of the equipment, and monitor and evaluate theresults of the pilot to determine the technical and financialsustainability of the various solutions. The pilot envisions

testing 2 variations of wireless connectivity solutions. Thesesolutions are as follows: 1) stand alone VSAT connectivity;and 2) a combination VSAT and spread spectrum terrestrialwireless connectivity. Also, there may be scope for addi-tional schools up country to participate in the pilot with justHF radio connectivity.

The pilot also plans to test a number of sustainability mod-els for schools to recoup the recurrent costs of this higherlevel of connectivity. With 11 schools participating in thepilot, the monthly recurrent costs for sharing a 64kbps spacesegment come to US$114 per school per month. The poorerrural areas that participate in the pilot will need to develop aninnovative plan to support these costs. The following are afew of the ideas that will be tested during this pilot.

••• • Training in exchange for equipment . WorLD schoolsmight pay off capital investment costs through provisionof training to teachers and community groups (a form of in-kind payment). In this model, the schools wouldagree to train a predefined number of teachers in theirarea for free, in exchange for the purchase and installa-tion of the wireless infrastructure.

••• • E-commerce links with local entrepreneurs . In thismodel, a rural school connection would be partially, if not fully, supported by local entrepreneurs in exchangefor access to the infrastructure and support in developingelectronic content to market and sell their goods.

••• • Telecenter training model . In this model, the schoolswould be obliged to open their facilities to the commu-nity after school hours to train individuals in computerliteracy and provide email accounts and access to Inter-net information.

••• • Linkage to local ISP to rent facilities as a local node .In this model, a contract would be arranged between theschool with a VSAT ground station and a national ISP.The ISP would pay for the capital costs and a portion of the recurrent costs in exchange for use of the school fa-cilities and free student internships.

Educational Benefits

As a result of the establishment of this connectivity in Ugan-dan schools, the following is a summary of the principalbenefits that teachers and students derive from participatingin the WorLD Program:

••• • WorLD opens classrooms to a world of educationalresources: The Internet provides a near infinite sourceof information, and many of the educational resourceson the Internet are free. For many schools in Ugandawhich have no access to libraries, museums or eventextbooks, this simple access to educational resources is




phenomenal. Teachers can access and use a variety of lesson plans, activities, databases, and resource materialsin every possible subject matter. They can use realvideo footage of chemistry or biology experiments intheir classrooms. They can access texts of literature theymay never find in their own country.

••• • Facilitates teaching and learning for teachers: Teach-ers in developing countries generally have very little op-portunity to exchange ideas, lessons, and activities witheach other in their own country, much less with teachersoutside their nation’s borders. Moreover, because li-braries are usually poorly stocked with outdated resourcematerials, if they exist at all, teachers must often rely ontheir own textbooks, or even memories, as their solesource of information.

The introduction of WorLD Program promotes teacherexchange, both domestically and abroad; helps over-come teacher isolation, permitting distant teachers tocollaborate, complement each other’s strengths, accesssubject matter expertise, resources and high-qualitylearning activities; provides access to other lesson plans,activities and teaching techniques (both within the samecountry and internationally); supports group learningactivities, allowing collaboration among schools forcollection and analysis of data, email, etc.; offers ad-ministrative support for attendance, accountability, man-agement of educational supplies (e.g. textbooks, etc.);and facilitates teachers’ need to address students withdifferent learning styles or special needs.

••• • Improves students’ learning and motivation : By en-gaging in collaborative Internet-based projects, WorLDstudents can learn more and learn faster, and enjoy theirclasses more. They can become independent learnersand self-starters, broadening their horizons in all sub-

jects, but particularly about the world beyond theircommunity. They certainly develop a more positive at-titude towards computers, and towards technology ingeneral, and acquire workplace competencies that in-clude working with resources, acquiring and evaluatinginformation, working with others in groups or teams,and understanding complex relationships and systems.Perhaps most important, they learn how to learn.

••• • Preserves local culture and contributes to the body of world knowledge: The use of the Internet is not just aone-way street, with developing countries receiving in-formation from elsewhere. Equally, if not more impor-tantly, is the opportunity to promote and preserve localculture by producing materials for worldwide consump-tion. In the past, non-Africans wrote much of what waswritten on Africa for worldwide consumption. TheInternet presents an unparalleled opportunity for Afri-

cans to produce and disseminate their own view of theworld to the world, their own history, music, art, religionand philosophy at virtually no cost. It can also be usedto encourage students to reach out into their own com-munities in order to record and preserve traditions forposterity.

••• • Improves internal efficiency of the education system:In addition to the improvements in student learningmentioned above, many school systems have noted amarked increase in school attendance, and a decrease indrop-out rates after a period of sustained use of comput-ers and the Internet in the classroom. This appears to belinked to increased student interest, possibilities for self-learning and perceived improvement in employmentprospects both from students and parents. Given thatlow student throughput is of the greatest challenges of many African school systems, this is an important factorto consider and measure.

••• • Encourages progressive pedagogy: The WorLDschools which have most effectively integrated informa-tion and communications technologies (ICTs) into theirclassrooms have noted a fundamental shift in pedagogyto the type of teaching that has proven most effectivetowards promoting learning among students. The edu-cational process changes from top-down, teacher-directed, passive, rote-based instruction to bottom-up,student-centered, project-based, interactive learning.

••• • Enhances opportunities to build community links:Many of the current collaborative education projects un-dertaken by WorLD Program schools rely on studentsreaching out into their community to obtain information,conduct surveys and interviews, and bring in local ex-perts to enhance the teaching and learning of varioussubjects. In addition, because schools may in fact bethe first point of entry for ICTs in many developingcountry communities, there are countless opportunitiesfor the school and its surrounding community to mutu-ally support one another. From students reporting to lo-cal farmers on crop prices or weather patterns, to train-ing others in the use of computers; from schools openingtheir doors after school hours to provide Internet accessto the community (and even generate revenue to recovercosts) to students and teachers providing their services to

local businesses for web site creation in return for“sponsorship” of their school.

Educational Impact

In 1998, the WorLD Program contracted with SRI Interna-tional’s Center for Technology in Learning to design and




implement a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluationcomponent. The objective of this component is to providethe World Bank and educational ministries of participatingcountries with information about results and implementationof the program as well as the challenges faced by students,teachers and administrators.

The evaluation was conducted at the end of the 1999 schoolyear in five of the currently 15 participating countries: Chile,Paraguay, Peru, Senegal and Uganda. (In 2000 this evalua-tion will be expanded to 12 WorLD countries). In total, 26WorLD schools with 20,000 students and 1,200 teachers andadministrators were asked to evaluate the impact of the pro-gram upon student learning and the impact of computerswithin the WorLD program.

The highest rated impact of the program was students' abilityto get better jobs upon graduation. Moreover, a large numberof students indicated that they had acquired the technologicaland communication skills they needed to succeed in the in-formation economy.

A large majority of teachers agreed that students improvedtheir information, communication, collaboration, technologi-cal skills, and attitudes as a result of their participation in theWorLD program. Teachers and administrators also con-curred that they too acquired new skills and attitudes in bothtechnology and pedagogy as a result of participating in theprogram.

The results of the SRI Center for Technology in Learning'sstudy prove that information technology holds the potentialfor making a significant contribution to world educational,

economic, and cross-cultural development. The WorLDprogram intends to thoroughly integrate the SRI Monitoringand Evaluation component into its services to help the pro-gram meet its biggest challenge: turning these early suc-cesses in the classroom into sustained educational progres-sion. SRI International aims to leverage these early accom-

plishments to stimulate new educational reform efforts andcapitalize on those already in place within each country.

Conclusion

World Links has successfully piloted school connectivity in20 schools in Uganda over the past two and half years. Theequipment and connectivity is functioning, schools are pay-ing the recurrent costs and maintaining their equipment,teachers are training others both in their schools and commu-nities, classrooms are engaging in collaborative projects with

other schools around the world, and teachers and students aremotivated and active learners. The number of beneficiariesof the program however is limited -- a digital divide threatensUganda. The challenge over the next two and a half yearswill be to build from this base of motivated and skilledteachers and students to reach the majority of schools that arestill unable to participate in this community of educators.World Links plans to work with the Ministry of Education toextend the reach of the program through expanded wirelesstechnologies, train a larger number of teachers through in-service and pre-service training by using the championteachers presently engaged in the program, and continue tofacilitate collaboration and information sharing across all

stakeholders in the education sector.

Distance Learning to be Offered Throughout Middle East via Egyptian Satellite

The Egyptian Ministry of Information recently signed a Letter of Intent with VirtualAcademics.com, Inc. (VADC), an InternetEducational Holding company that owns and operates "distance learning" universities. This agreement will provide VADCwith access to Egypt's communication satellite system to provide Distance Learning in Arabic and English throughout theMiddle East.

VADC offers training and degrees in six languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic tostudents from 43 countries around the world. The degrees vary in specialty and are accredited and licensed. VADC also oper-ates one of the largest international educational portals on the Web and through this site students and corporate clients can ac-cess over 1000 degree and training programs from a variety of institutions. This agreement will expand VADC into all 22Arabic speaking countries throughout the Middle East.

VADC plans to initially offer courses in English as a second language (ESL) and computer training courses, including Micro-soft Certified Systems Engineer certifications.

For the complete story, see: http://www.businesswire.com






experimenting with approaches to meeting women'sdevelopment needs, we still face daunting difficulties anddilemmas when it comes to striving for gender equity.

It is important to note that ICT usage is still a relatively newphenomenon that is changing rapidly. Information available

today is better viewed as a snapshot of the situation, thedetails of which may change by tomorrow.

Common cross-continental constraintsGenerally speaking, the constraints to women's access, usageand capacity vis-a-vis ICTs are similar in many respectsregardless of geography. On all continents, for example,poverty precludes access, and illiteracy, lack of educationand skills, and language limit capacity and, therefore, usage.Psychological barriers, perhaps due to the perception of technology as a male domain, include ambivalence and evenfear—technophobia—accompanied by a lack of informationabout the possibilities and potential of ICTs and a lack of confidence about mastering them, even among women whomight have access. Of course, it is the most marginalized of women who are least likely to have access-minorities, thepoor, non-speakers of mainstream languages, the elderly, andthe disabled.

Training in the use of ICTs—by knowledgeable trainers—isa serious shortcoming. For the most part, women have littleor no previous experience with technology, and many feelconfused when confronted with the sudden appearance of computers and the Internet. Merely getting access to thehardware or connecting groups to the Internet without an

adequate introduction to what it is and how it works - and inthe absence of policies or guidance about usage, etiquette orcommunication techniques - is proving insufficient topromote intelligent usage. To effectively introduce andintegrate ICTs at an organizational level, the group's "entirerange of communication capacities needs to bestrengthened." 5 At both the personal and organizationallevels, who assists with the capacity strengthening also canbe an issue, especially if all the technical "experts" aremales-and many are young. As one woman explained, "Wefind that mainly women over forty, who are just learning touse their computers, feel really uneasy when a young boy isthe one in charge of hands-on-training." 6

A similar concern, which also spans continents, is the abilityof organizations new to ICTs to handle too muchinformation. As one contributor to a recent online discussiongroup explains:

Many organizations leap, in the space of a few weeks, from a situation where updated information is hard tocome by to one where they have an excess of informationthat they don't have experience in handling, don't know

how to weed out what's useful to them. Also, manyorganizations have difficulties in processing, storing and disseminating their own information, which means their

presence in virtual communities is relatively ineffectual. 7

With the vast majority of Internet and World Wide Web

material posted in English, language is a constraint as well,so much so that some organizations are calling on the UnitedNations to promote, support and facilitate the development of affordable, easy to use and far more effective translationsoftware. See Universal Networking Language article,TechKnowLogia, March/April 2000.

Outside of urban areas, women in developing countries arefar less likely to come into contact with ICTs and tend not toperceive a need for them. In some places, this is due to alack of telephones, electricity and infrastructure. In others, itis because women often control indigenous, traditional andpopular forms of media which, many caution, should not beignored in the rush to embrace computer facilitatedcommunication. As one woman explains, "For generationsrural women have been active participants in socialcommunication networks using indigenous communicationmethods for information exchange and knowledge sharing.This rich cultural and creative environment should...bestrengthened. The preservation of traditional forms of communication and new information technology are notmutually exclusive." 8

Other concerns about ICTs, expressed by women in bothdeveloped and developing countries, relate to the ownershipof telecommunications. As a participant in a worldwideonline discussion forum explained:

Since the further deregulation of telecommunications inthe U.S., there have been several huge mergers ascompanies try to seize all the possible pipelines in whichdigital communications might be operated.... the'broadband' highway is only in the business districts of major urban centers. Huge swaths of the country [U.S.],especially the mid-west and the poorer working classcommunities outside of central business districts,already have limited access to the new "broadband networks." Our concern is that this "digital divide" willonly increase as these major "broadband" highways willbe operated as corporate businesses, with the ability to

restrict access, or set the conditions of access for everyone involved. This restriction will not only operateat the tollgates, i.e. getting on to the Internet. But because of the monopolization going on, it will occur at the level of browsers and search engines, too, restrictingcontent or information itself. For example, none of thesearch engines provide more than 20% of the availablesources on the Internet, which means they are already




making many choices about what is available to peopleusing their services. 9

In addition to these constraints to ICT use by women, theirreluctance to use ICTs even when they do have access is alsocited as a problem. While commentators from developing

countries attribute the reluctance to an ignorance of thepossibilities, some in high-income countries are less patient."Is it necessary to hold multimedia-style 'Tupperware' parties[to convince women] to purchase a computer instead of beauty products or useless clothes." 10

The same yet diff erentWhile the constraints to ICT use among women worldwideare similar, the difference in usage rates is significant. Bythe summer of 1998, for example, women in the UnitedStates accounted for more than 40 percent of the 42 millionInternet users in the country, up from 10 percent just a fewyears before. 11 This tremendous increase in usage amongU.S. women is interesting because a common theoryregarding nonuse is that those who do not produce orconstruct a product are less likely to use it. As oneresearcher suggested, "Women tend to experience technologydifferently...and if those experiences are not addressed during'construction,' then women are more likely to feel intimidatedby new information technologies and resist learning aboutthem and using them." 12 There is no question that U.S.women are "underrepresented in every aspect of computerculture, from programming to product design to everydayuse." 13 Indeed, computer science is clearly a masculinedomain, where "women comprise just 7.8% of science and

computer engineering faculties," for example, "and only2.7% are tenured." 14 Yet U.S. women who have access areusing ICTs enthusiastically, and there seems to be noevidence to suggest that they "would respond differently tocomputers if they were designed and programmed bywomen." 15

There are few statistics indicating the prevalence of ICT useamong women in developing countries, and we have no wayof knowing if the trend experienced in the United States willbe replicated elsewhere, assuming that ICTs become widelyaccessible. At present, it is probably safe to assume thatwomen in developing countries are less likely to have accessthan men, less likely to have opportunities to develop usagecapacity than men, and, perhaps, less likely to use ICTs evenwhen they do have access.

At the same time, there are indications about how women inthe middle- and low-income countries are using thesetechnologies where they are available. One trend that isemerging is based on organizational, collective usage.

Netw orking is empoweringRooted in the notion that "Sisterhood is powerful" - a sloganthat swept the globe - the women's movement of the latterhalf of the 20th century adopted networking as its primarymeans of organization and operation. Today, women'sorganizations on all continents are starting to take advantageof ICTs to continue that tradition - to collect, synthesize,disseminate and, to a lesser but growing degree, produceinformation. In this way, those without access to ICTs arestarting to benefit from the knowledge that flows to thosewith access. As a participant in a recent discussion forum onWomen and Media explained:

If a road is built to my remote village, I will benefit whether or not I use that road to travel. If mycommunity/network/organization gains access to the

Internet, and uses it innovatively, I may benefit even if I never use a computer...information being received through e-mail and redistributed through other circuits

illustrates this sort of strategy. 16

The other "circuits" used to redistribute information mayinclude traditional communication channels such as populartheater and community radio, demonstrating a creativeblending of old and new technologies. Through thisrepackaging of Internet-delivered information, it is possibleto reach much larger numbers of women, including those inremote areas where the prospects for ICT access are remote.

Around the world, NGOs with ICT access also are usingmailing lists and email for advocacy and activist purposes. 17

Through targeted marketing, for example, groups are

flooding officials, stakeholders and decision makers withmessages in support of positions favorable to women orpublic protests against perceived injustices-a breakthrough incommunication in light of the persistent difficulty in gettingmainstream radio, television and newspaper media to cover"women's issues." These efforts are beginning to link organizations around the world, leading to the creation of virtual communities focused on specific development issuesand the forming of alliances enabling greater participation ininternational fora and decision-making. 18

While women's access to information and communication isincreasing through these collaborative collection anddissemination schemes, there is less activity in theproduction of information. This field is fertile, however, forthe future. With some skill sharpening and, perhaps,translation service, those who currently are collectinginformation also can produce it, drawing on local networksfor valuable content. Another possibility is softwaredevelopment and the production of inexpensive multi-mediamaterial, which ICTs can facilitate.




At the organizational level, a new role for NGOs is managingthe telecenters and community learning centers (CLCs) thatdonors are supporting to increase ICT access in thedeveloping world. Three of these are operating in Ghanathrough the USAID-funded LearnLink project.

Ghanaian w omen onlineLearnLink's experience with community learning centers(CLCs) in Ghana reflects some of the trends summarizedabove. Located in three Ghanaian cities, the centers trackedICT usage, by gender, over a nine-month period. In general,the experience indicated that the higher or newer thetechnology, the less likely women were to use it. However,evidence also suggests that, over time, women warm to theonline environment and move steadily from word processing,for example, to the World Wide Web.

The managers of the NGOs that run the CLCs in Kumasi,Cape Coast and Accra are all women, an intentional decisiondesigned to encourage women to patronize the centers. Yetnearly three times as many men as women have registered.The usage pattern mentioned above also indicates a male biastoward higher technology and a female bias toward lower.For example, of those visiting one of the centers over a nine-month period, from November 1998 to August 1999, 1,904men browsed the Internet compared to only 253 women. Itis noteworthy that Internet usage by women grew steadilyduring this period, from only one woman in the first monthto 85 in the ninth. Email traffic also was tracked, with asimilar result. Women sent a mere 13 percent of the numberof messages sent by men. While the percentage of male andfemale participants registering for typing, word processing

and database courses were similar, it is not surprising that thepercentages registering for a course called InternetOrientation were skewed in favor of the males.

To further promote ICT usage among women, one of theNGOs organized a Women's Week, during which women inKumasi were invited to sample the center's wares. Targetedmarketing to organized groups and institutions, such asNGOs, state agencies and religious groups, included flyersattached to invitation letters promising a free email address,one free email, and a 10 percent discount to those registeringfor a program at the CLC. With 212 women arriving over afive-day period, the event was successful in the short term,though the number of women returning to the centersdropped off slowly during subsequent weeks. The center inCape Coast is planning a similar event now, taking intoaccount the lessons from the experience of its counterpart inKumasi.

According to LearnLink's Resident Advisor in Ghana, mostof the women who frequent the centers are students, notworking women. He cites as the three major constraints to

women's use of the centers a lack of time, a lack of supportfrom their male family members, and an element of "scientechno-phobia."

The CLCs will continue creative outreach to women andwomen's organizations, soon offering an Open Day for the

Central Region Association of Female Entrepreneurs.Assuming that the initial lack of interest in the Internet is inpart due to unfamiliarity with what it is and does, the daywill focus on sensitizing invitees to the use of the Internet.

A happy ending?It may be the same old story, and the difficulties still may bedaunting. But there is a determination to solve the twinproblems of ICT access and usage for women that is growinghorizontally - on a planetary scale - and even vertically, fromthe top down through donor attention and the bottom upthrough women's groups worldwide. As participants in oneof the multinational discussion groups put it:

If we can't deal with what is happening today, then the problems are being compounded for tomorrow. Thelack of gender perspective in

Information/Communications Technology means that women will find themselves shut out of informationsources, less qualified for employment, unable to access

more education, and unable to create and control thetechnology. We'll be virtual second class citizens [and]our struggle for equality will be set back and much,much more difficult .19

This is the "boy's party" of the century, girls, and we are notinvited." 20

A woman uses a computer provided by the LearnLink CLC project in Ghana.




ENDNOTES 1 Manuel Castells, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume I, "The Rise of Network Society," Blackwell Publishers,1996, p.92.

2 As such searches are accustomed to do, one revealed a site devoted to jokes about Why a computer is better than a woman

("because computers don't make you meet their parents, or ask you to call them in the morning, or because you can shut acomputer down when you're tired of it") - perhaps a telling commentary on the need for continued attention to the issue. (URLwithheld at author's discretion).

3 See, for example, http://sdnhq.undp.org/ww/women-media for a list of web sites.

4 LearnLink is a five-year Indefinite Quantities Contract (No. HNE-1-00-96-00018-00) of the U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment, funded by the Human Capacity Development Center in the USAID Global Bureau, the Africa Bureau, and otherUSAID Bureaus, offices and missions. It is operated by the Academy for Education Development (AED). For moreinformation on LearnLink's activities, see http://www.aed.org/learnlink/ .

5 This and many of the following quotes are from the Virtual Working Group on Women and Media-with a special focus onICTs as they impact women's lives-sponsored by WomenWatch and facilitated by Women Action 2000 during November andDecember, 1999. The Group's goal is to analyze, at a global level, which of the objectives from the Beijing Platform forAction, Section J, have been realized and which still need attention. Recommendations from the Working Group will becompiled for inclusion in a report to be submitted by UN WomenWatch at the 44th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2000. To access the Group's archives, go to: http://sdnhq.undp.org/ww/women-media .

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Dan Schiller, Digital Capitalism: Networking the Global Market System , The MIT Press, 1999, p. 139. (Note: Some of themost sophisticated tracking of Internet usage comes from the advertising world. In the case of women, Schiller quotes Procter& Gamble remarking that "the vast majority of [women Internet users] represent the target audience for most of our brands").

12 Ruth Anne Corley, Women, Technology and the Internet: How will the three get along? Working Papers in Communication Technologyand Culture, Carleton University, 1994.

13 Leslie Regan Shade, talk given at Community Networking: The International Free-Net Conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada,August 17-19, 1993.

14 Ibid.

15 Ruth Anne Corley, Women, Technology and the Internet: How will the three get along?

16

The Women and Media Working Group on the Beijing Platform for Action.17 For a sampling of ways in which women are using ICTs for these purposes, see "40 activist ways of using the internet" athttp://www.womenspace.ca/Campaign/Activism/activistways.html .

18 Sally Burch, "Latin American Women Take on the Internet," http://www.connected.org/women/sally.html .

19 The Women and Media Working Group on the Beijing Platform for Action.

20 Ibid.




Grassroots Libraries: A Base for Lifelong LearningAya Aoki *

Literacy is a fundamental skill that allows one to access a variety of information and knowledgeresources and to continue learning throughout one’s life as an independent learner. In order to promoteliteracy and a lifelong learning environment for both children and adults, public library systems canserve as a powerful mean for the goal. Several bridges need to be built and strengthened to takeadvantage of library services in education for children and adults. Such bridges include: 1) a closerlinkage among school, library, community, and publishing industry at local levels; 2) a conceptual bridgebetween education for children and education for adults; and 3) closer communication and collaborationamong stakeholders at national and international levels, including libraries and resource centers,research and practice organizations, governments and international organizations.

Linking School, Library, Community, andPublishing Industry

In order for the public library system to be better utilized ineducation for children and adults, especially for neoliteratesand people with limited literacy skills, libraries need to work closely with schools, communities, and publishing industries.

South Africa’s READ program, started in 1979, is supportinglearners in rural primary, secondary and tertiary levelsthroughout South Africa for skills development in reading,writing, and accessing information technology, to help thembecome independent, lifelong learners. In collaboration witheducators, librarians, teachers, and parents, READ developsand assists using inexpensive teaching and learning materialsin libraries and classrooms. READ program provides a widerange of services including curriculum and teaching methodsdevelopment, and teacher training, following the six-stepstrategy: 1) initial program presentation and consultationwith schools and libraries; 2) systematic resource provisionafter consultation and training; 3) training for principals,subject teachers, librarians, supervisors of teachers and

librarians, and community workers; 4) day-to-day schoolbased support; 5) motivational programs and events forstudents and teachers; and 6) assessment and evaluation forfurther development and assistance. According to READ’slearners’ achievement survey, students at schoolsparticipating in READ program are ahead of control schoolstudents in their reading and writing ability. The staff of READ has been involved in similar education efforts inLesotho, Nigeria, and Tanzania to share their experiences.

Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie promotesliteracy in French speaking countries in Africa throughassisting public reading rooms for rural populations to help

their social and cultural communication and communitydevelopment, and through Centres de Lecture et AnimationCulturelle (CLACs) or reading and cultural centers forstudents and teachers. At CLACs, students and teachers canconsult and borrow books, magazines, journals, andeducational toys and games, provided by the Agency, whilethe buildings, equipment and volunteer teachers (usuallyfrom primary schools) are supported locally. The CLACsproject started in 1986 and by the end of 2000, there will be




some 180 centers in 16 countries. The second generation of the CLACs is francophone centers for multipurpose culturaldevelopment including rural radio services. The centers arefocusing on areas of health, education, and agriculturaladvice, and also offer rural micro credits, radio programs,

and cinematic and information technology skills training.Proposed World Bank assisted projects in Bangladesh andIndonesia intend to support development of grassrootslibraries through working closely at the local level toeffectively involve the community, to utilize existingresources, and to reflect the needs of beneficiaries in theprojects. The proposed project in Indonesia will supportdevelopment of existing village based community libraries,youth libraries, and libraries at the Islamic mosques, Hindutemples, and Christian churches.

The support will focus on book purchases, readingpromotion, training programs and other activities. Thecountry has a fair amount of publications and publishingindustry, which is expected to grow as the literateenvironment is enhanced. The proposed project inBangladesh plans to support enhancing grassroots libraries toeventually transform them into continuing education centersthat introduce to learners various new and existingcontinuing education opportunities in the community. Priorto the design of continuing education centers offerings, theproject is supporting beneficiary and stakeholder needsassessment as well as assessment of existing local human andphysical resources that can be utilized for continuingeducation efforts in the locality.

Educating Parents with Their Chi ldren

The second bridge that needs tobe strengthened is to link education for children with

education for adults, which areoften administered separately.Several programs adopting theconcept of family education showthe effectiveness of such alinkage for both children andtheir parents.

The Family Literacy Program in the UK targets both childrenand parents with limited literacy skills. It was established in1993, aiming to enhance parents’ own literacy skills, toimprove parents’ ability to help their children with the earlystages of learning to read and write, and to boost youngchildren’s acquisition of reading and writing skills. Theprogram is comprised of three sessions: parents-onlysessions, children-only sessions, and parent-child jointsessions. In parents-only sessions, in addition to literacy andnumeracy courses, they organize visits to local libraries anddiscuss games and literacy related activities adopted easilywith low cost at home with their children. The children-onlysessions for children aged between 3 and 6 year olds,emphasize writing, talking and reading through games,dramatic play, including play library, and collaborativepoetry writing. In the joint sessions, parents work with theirown children and share stories and books, write poems andmake alphabet scrap-books together. The assessment of theprogram participants showed improvements in vocabulary,reading and writing skills for both children and parents, witha variety of other benefits for parents such as growth in theirconfidence, improvements in social skills, and involvementin children’s school activities. The experience of the FamilyLiteracy Program in the UK reveals the effectiveness of thestrategy to target children and parents together.

The Mother-Child Education Program (MOCEP), originallystarted in 1983 in Turkey, targets children and mothers,aiming to foster cognitive and psychosocial development inthe home environment and to promote school readiness forchildren. MOCEP reaches children and parents right beforethe children start formal schooling and lasts for 25 weeks.

The group meetings are held once a week in adult educationcenters in each district. The program consists of threecomponents: Mother Enrichment, Reproductive Health andFamily Planning, and Cognitive Training Program. The firsttwo components involve group discussions to encouragemothers' self-confidence and to increase their sensitivity tothe cognitive, social and emotional development of the childand to support them in preparing a preferable homeenvironment. The program to foster children’s cognitive

The proposed project in Indonesia will support development of existing village based community

libraries, youth libraries, and libraries at the Islamicmosques, Hindu temples, and Christian churches.

©Corel




development is done using worksheets for various dailyexercises to be used by the mothers together with theirchildren that take about 15-20 minutes to complete. Theexercises include pre-literacy (recognition of letters and lettersounds), pre-numeracy skills (recognition of numbers,

addition and subtraction), language development, andconcept formation (direction, size, place, etc.) among others.In addition, interactive shared book reading activities aregiven particular emphasis using picture story books. Theprogram evaluation indicates positive effects on children’spre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills and initial schoolsuccess and adaptation, mother-child interaction and theirattitudes toward school and mothers’ self-esteem.

Collaboration for Narrowing the Informationand Technology Gaps

The third bridge to be made is to strengthen communication

and collaboration among libraries and resource centers,practitioners and researchers, governments, NGOs andinternational organizations, in order to narrow the currentinformation and technology gaps between the haves and havenots.

The Adult LearningDocumentation and InformationNetwork (ALADIN) initiatedby the UNESCO Institute forEducation (UIE) in Hamburg in1998 aims to support a globalknowledge network among thestakeholders listed above, and

to support developing adult learning libraries and resourcecenters in lower income countries. The membership of ALADIN consists of ninety adult learning documentationcenters and information services from various regions,including the International Council for Adult Education andthe World Bank. The Network is working towards (1)internationalizing and localizing good practices through an

analytical description of good practice cases anddissemination, and through adopting applicable elements of good practices in each locality, (2) disseminating in multi-format (paper, radio, TV, E-mail, Website, CD ROM, etc.) toreach the population without advanced technology, and (3)

serving as information brokers between researchers/ practitioners and policy makers.

The Adult Outreach Education Thematic Group of the WorldBank is supporting efforts to promote global gains in literacyand to help developing grassroots libraries throughpartnerships. The International Literacy Day working group,consisting of representatives from the preeminentorganizations dedicated to literacy, including theInternational Reading Association and the US Library of Congress, was formed in 1999 to advance advocacy effortsfor literacy and to motivate media, public and private sectors,and the general public. The partnership with the New York Public Library is exploring the knowledge and skills transferto other countries in developing community libraries,especially in the area of staff training.

References

Bekman, Sevda (1998). A Fair Chance: An Evaluation of The Mother-Child Education Program. MotherChild Education Foundation. Istanbul: YapimMatbaasi.

Brooks, Greg; Tom Gorman; John Harman; DougalHutchison; and Anne Wilkin (1996). Family

Literacy Works: The NFER Evaluation of the BasicSkills Agency’s Demonstration Programmes. TheBasic Skills Agency. London: CommonwealthHouse.

READ (1999). Annual Report 1999 . Read Educational Trust.Braamfontein, South Africa: Creda Press.

* Adult Outreach Education Thematic Group, Human Development Network - Education, The World Bank





!!! ! 41 !!! ! TechKnowLogia , November/December, 1999 © Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. www.TechKnowLogia.org

For journal articles to which ERIC assigns a number startingwith EJ, contact either of the following two vendors by e-mail:

Carl Uncover Document Delivery [email protected]

ISI Document [email protected]

TechKnowLogiaThe journal that you are currently reading offers many linksto web sites with full-text documents of particular interest tothose interested in education and training within developingcountries. Particularly see the “WorthWhileWebs” of Vol-ume 1, Number 2 (November/December, 1999).

JOURNAL S, MA GAZINES, AN DNEWSLETTERS

Electronic Journal AccessThis appears to be the largest portal to periodicals that areavailable in full-text on the web. The periodicals are listed inalphabetical order by title, but can also be searched by theU.S. Library of Congress Subject Headings, such as “educa-tion” and subheadings under it. The focus of each periodicalis briefly described.http://www.coalliance.org/ejournal/

E-Zine-ListThis is another large portal to periodicals on the web. Theperiodicals are listed in alphabetical order by title, but canalso be searched by keywords such as education (121 titles),science (89 titles), and health (180 titles). Brief descriptions

of the content and editorial policy are provided for many of the journals and magazines. Several listed periodicals arepublished in languages other than English.http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

Northern LightNorthern Light is a search engine that also provides access tothe full text of selected publications. Most are related tobusiness and management, but some deal directly with edu-cation. After examining the abstract, you can view anddownload the full text for a fee that varies from $1.00 - $4.00(U.S.) and can be charged to an international credit card.http://www.northernlight.com

ABI/Inform (also known as ProQuest)This is a large database of periodicals in business and man-agement, with some coverage of education periodicals. Itallows powerful searches and includes the full text of abouthalf the articles that it indexes. This is a proprietary systemoperated by Bell and Howell, and is not accessible exceptthrough organizations that subscribe. Some universities andlarge libraries do subscribe.http://www.umi.com

EBSCOThis is a broad-ranging index and full-text collection of scholarly and professional periodicals. About half of the

journals are available in full-text. EBSCO has limited cover-age of journals dealing with education, but good coverage of those dealing with health and business topics. This is a pro-prietary system operated by EBSCO Information services,and is not accessible except through organizations that sub-scribe. Some universities and large libraries do subscribe.http://www.epnet.com

View From Internet ValleyThis site lists the 100 most influential periodicals on comput-ers. These periodicals offer a way for computer techniciansto stay up-to-date and a few of the periodicals deal with thepolicy implications of technology.http://eye.hooked.net/netvalley/archives/apr99/magrank1.html

BOOKS AN D REPORTS

On-Line Books PageThis site tries to link to most books that are available withoutcharge on the WWW. It currently links to more than 10,000books. Most are older books with expired copyrights that areof historical or literary importance, but recently publishedbooks will increasingly come available on the web.http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

netLibraryThis organization provides access to a growing collection of trade, reference, scholarly, and professional books publishedby some major commercial publishers and many universitypresses. Currently, it has only about a hundred books oneducation theory and practice, but this organization is ex-panding its collection rapidly. Currently a one-year individ-ual subscription costs $29.95 (U.S.).http://www.netlibrary.com/

Books on the InternetThis site links to many university and research organizationswith collections of books on the web.http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Etext.html

RESOURCES ON EL ECTRONICPUBLISHING

Journal of Electronic PublishingThis is a scholarly journal on electronic publishing.http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-01/

Scholarly Electronic Publishing BibliographyThis site would be of interest to those wishing to publishmaterials electronically.http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.html




Th e I n f o r mat io n R ev o l u t io n a n d t h e D ig it al D iv id eTh e I n f o r mat io n R ev o l u t io n a n d t h e D ig it al D iv id eTh e I n f o r mat io n R ev o l u t io n a n d t h e D ig it al D iv id eTh e I n f o r mat io n R ev o l u t io n a n d t h e D ig it al D iv id eA Rev iew o f L it er a t u r e A Rev iew o f L it er at u r e A Rev iew o f L it er a t u r e A Rev iew o f L it er at u r e

b y S o n ia J u r i c h

In the early 1990's, Tim Bernes-Lee developed the globalhypertext system - the World Wide Web - with an aim toprovide a common space where information could be sharedwithout barriers. The expansion of the Web may havesurprised even its creator. In less than ten years, the onlinepopulation has grown to 180 million individuals across allcontinents, while an estimated 250,000 sites are added to theWeb each month (www.net-surfin.com/page4.htm). Rapidexpansion is not unique to the Web. Computers, a strangeword some fifty years ago, are now common householditems and integral parts of educational systems in manycountries. At the end of 1998, more than 40 percent of thehouseholds in the United States owned computers and one-fourth had Internet access (NTIA, 1999). In October 1999,90 percent of all Canadian schools were online; four out of ten students had used e-mail during the previous school year;and 30 percent had designed their own web sites(www.nua.ie/surveys). Scholars, journalists and practitionersreacted to the rapid development of the new information andcommunication technologies (ICTs) with high expectationsand equally great concerns. All recognize the technology’s

potential to overcome geographical and cultural barriers andbring needed improvement to people’s lives all over theworld. At the same time, fears have mounted that thispotential is not being tapped. Instead of fostering a newequilibrium among countries, the ICT revolution may bewidening the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots,”and creating a divide that may prove extremely difficult toclose.

Wh o i s b en ef it in g f r o m t h e I CTWh o i s b en ef it in g f r o m t h e I CTWh o i s b en ef it in g f r o m t h e I CTWh o i s b en ef it in g f r o m t h e I CTRev o l u t io n ?Rev o l u t io n ?Rev o l u t io n ?Rev o l u t io n ?

The Industrial Revolution divided the world into two largeblocks. While the industrialized countries amassedsignificant wealth and power, those countries that wereunable to change their pre-industrial forms of productionexperienced mounting economic and social problems.Starting in the industrialized countries, the ICT revolutionseems to be perpetuating this divide. In 1998, 88 percent of all Internet users lived in industrialized countries, home to 15percent of the world’s population, while South Asia, with

one-fifth of the world’s population, had less than one percentof the users. The United Kingdom alone had 10.5 millionInternet users, compared to one million in the whole Africancontinent (Black, 1999). In 1994, when the Web started tospread through the world, the average telephone density inindustrialized countries was 52.3 per 100 habitants,compared to 5.2 in developing countries (Mike Holderness,in Loader, 1998). Even at accelerated rates of investment,the fastest growing economies of Asia, South America andEastern Europe may need two decades or more to reach thetelephone penetration rates of the industrialized countries.For the slower-growing economies, it may take a century ormore (Credé & Mansell, 1998). The information“superhighway” in the poorest countries, writes TrevorHaywood, “is more often than not a long and tortuous dirt-track miles from a made-up road which itself is miles fromthe nearest medical centre or school.” (in Loader, 1998, p.24)

This digital divide exists not only between nations, but alsowithin individual countries. A recent study on the

telecommunications and information technology gap in theUnited States shows that computer ownership and Internetaccess are strongly correlated with income and education.Households with annual incomes of $75,000 and higher areabout nine times more likely to have a computer at home andtwenty times more likely to have access to the Internet thanhouseholds at the lowest income levels. Although access toelectronic resources has been steadily increasing in all socialstrata in America, the differences are also increasing. Forinstance, between 1997 and 1998, the digital divide betweenindividuals at the highest and lowest education levelsincreased 25 percent and between those at the highest andlowest income levels increased 29 percent (NTIA, 1999).

Besides income and education, variables that influence thedivide include geographic location, race and ethnicity.Regardless of income, U.S. families living in rural areas areless likely to have Internet access when compared to familiesliving in urban areas. Similarly, Blacks and Latinohouseholds are approximately one-third as likely to havehome Internet access compared to Asian/Pacific Islanderhouseholds and two-fifths as likely as White households(NTIA, 1999). A telephone survey with 5,813 randomly




selected households found that Whites are more likely toown a home computer compared to Blacks, even whencontrolling for differences in education. Only at the topincome levels, the racial differences disappear. At the topincome levels, Blacks are more likely to use computers andgraduate from college than Whites (Novak & Hoffman,1998). Larry Irving, U.S. Assistant Secretary forCommunications and Information, calls the digital divide“one of America’s leading economic and civil rights issues”(NTIA, 1999).

If access to computers and the Internet is not equallydistributed in a country as wealthy as the United States, whatdoes that say about developing countries, many of which arestruggling to meet the survival needs of their populations?Africa, a continent with a population of approximately 740million, has 14 million phone lines, 80 percent of them inonly six countries (Black, 1999). Without telephone access,the Internet becomes a distant dream. Even when theinfrastructure exists, access may not be economically viable.In India, for instance, where the average annual income isapproximately US$140, it may cost US$ 1,600 to buy apersonal computer with Internet connection. In addition,phone bills costs may exceed US$ 200 per year (Noronha,1999). In 1995, Ghana, with 17 million inhabitants, had 140Internet subscribers, who paid an average annual subscriptioncharge of US$1,300, the equivalent to a journalist’s salary(Credé & Mansell, 1998). Access is also hampered bylanguage barriers. Four-fifths of the Web sites are inEnglish, a language understood by only one in ten people onthe planet, observes Jane Black in a special report for BBCNews Online. Large segments of the developing countries’populations are illiterate, even in their own language (or

languages). In Benin, for instance, more than 80 percent of the population speaks one of the 71 local dialects, 60 percentare illiterate, and only 19 percent can speak and read inFrench, the official language. (Black, 1999).

Wh y is i t s o impo r t a n t t o em-Wh y is i t s o i mpo r t an t t o em-Wh y is i t s o impo r t a n t t o em-Wh y is i t s o i mpo r t an t t o em-br ac e t h e d ig it al r ev o l u t io n ?br ac e t h e d ig it al r ev o l u t io n ?br ac e t h e d ig it al r ev o l u t io n ?br ac e t h e d ig it al r ev o l u t io n ?

In this new information society, raw material and cheap laborcan no longer sustain economies (indeed, they have notsustained economies for more than a century, as attested bythe industrial divide). ICTs were instrumental to the creationof a flexible economy where production can be located at anypoint of the globe. Knowledge, rather than labor, is the keyelement for sustainable development in this global economy.By enabling fast and low-cost collection, processing anddissemination of information, the new technologies havebecome essential to economic growth. ICTs also promoteinternational cooperation and provide powerful tools forresearch and development (Loader, 1998; Krogt, 1999). TheAfrica Real Time Environmental Monitoring InformationSystems (ARTEMIS) is a good example of the use of ICT to

fight one of the greatest problems in Africa, famine. Aninternational project supported by the Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO), ARTEMIS uses satellites and nearinfrared sensors to detect photosynthetic activity taking placewithin a particular area. With this information, researcherscan identify levels of vegetation in different areas andprovide early warnings of potential areas of famine. InGhana, satellite-gathered information on types of soil andhuman occupation is being combined with data on malariaprevalence and intensity to examine variations in malariatransmission. This information is instrumental to moreefficient health education and planning for diseaseeradication (Credé & Mansell, 1998). Education is anotherarea where the new technologies are proving essential,particularly in bridging a shortage of personnel andconnecting scattered populations (for in-depth discussions onthis topic, please refer to the previous issues of TechKnowLogia).

I s t h er e n o h o pe f o r t h o s e o nIs t h er e n o h o pe f o r t h o s e o nIs t h er e n o h o pe f o r t h o s e o nIs t h er e n o h o pe f o r t h o s e o nt h e o t h er s id e o f t h e d iv id e?t h e o t h er s id e o f t h e d iv id e?t h e o t h er s id e o f t h e d iv id e?t h e o t h er s id e o f t h e d iv id e?

In contrast to previous technologies, ICTs have the ability of developing at a very fast pace while bringing costs down, acharacteristic that may prove essential for developingcountries. For instance, the more the telecommunicationinfrastructure spreads and the number of users increases, thelower the investment costs and service fees, which enablesthe further expansion of services, increased numbers of users,and still lower costs. From 1995 to 1997, the UNCommission on Science and Technology for Developmentorganized a working group to study the impact of ICTs indeveloped and developing countries. Although recognizingthe seriousness of the divide, the group found signs that evenpoorer countries are benefiting from the digital revolution.Some of the group’s observations include the following:(Credé & Mansell, 1998):

! A wave of privatization in the telecommunicationsector across the globe has stimulated competitionat both national and international levels

! The significant expansion of the market for ICTservices and equipment in Southeast Asia is helpingthe local economies and pushing technology furtherahead.

! The opening of the Eastern European economies hascontributed to the fast expansion of thetelecommunication infrastructure and technologicalgrowth in these countries.

! Developing countries have been able to takeadvantage of the latest technologies without havingto go through “stages of development.”




! Public, private, national and international effortsthat provide intellectual and financial resources forICT-related projects are multiplying across theglobe.

! Creative solutions and ingenuous initiatives arehelping to overcome logistic obstacles; for instance,the Community Telecentres Project of the NationalFarmers Union in Zambia is building local ICTcenters to facilitate communication and provideinformation to small-scale agriculture producers.

! Governmental investment in capacity building, suchas those initiated by the Dominican Republic andColombia, ensure technology access to theacademic community, thus fostering local researchand development.

! Many developing countries, particularly those inSoutheast Asia, have been able to exploit theflexibility of the ICT production and becomeproducers themselves; for instance, South Korea isnow a leading producer of computer memory chips,while Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwanare important suppliers of electronic products,including personal computers.

Governments have an important role in guiding theircountries through the digital revolution. For instance, bothChina and India have invested heavily in new technologies,but under different political directives. While the process inIndia has been centrally controlled, China promoted a

flexible policy that provided regional governments andpartnerships with decision authority. As a result, China hasnow a digital telephone network of 55 million main lines,while India’s network comprises less than 12 million mainlines, of which 87 percent are digital. From 1996 to 1997,Internet usage grew by 298 percent in India and by 820percent in China. With a population about one-fifth larger,China had six times as many Internet hosts as India (Credé &Mansell, 1998).

Using Krogt’s terminology, physical access to the newtechnologies is not enough. It is equally important to ensureeconomic and cognitive access by improving infrastructure

and services, and investing in professional development andeducation. Partnerships between public and privateorganizations, research centers, universities and financialinstitutions are essential in accomplishing such an ambitiousagenda. The digital revolution can either bring the world toa new era of shared wealth, or it can further a divide that is

already much too wide. Technologies are only instruments,and as instruments, ICTs have incredible potential. It is up tous to make them work for a better world. According toKrogt (1999), “No actor alone has the combination of vision,power and resources needed to guide the revolution in such away that it advances the general good and let's not forget thatPEOPLE make it work.”

R ef er en c e sR ef er en c e sR ef er en c e sR ef er en c e s

Black, J. (1999). Information rich-information poor,bridging the digital divide. International Institute forCommunication and Development. Available at:http://www.iicd.org/search/show-entry.ap?entryid=39808&part=all

Bernes-Lee, T. (1999). Weaving the Web . San Francisco,CA: Harper Collins.

Credé, A. & Mansell, R. (Eds) (1998). Knowledge societies. . . in a nutshell: Information technology for sustainabledevelopment . Ottawa, Canada: International DevelopmentResearch Centre and the UN Commission on Science andTechnology for Development.

Krogt, S. van der (1999). The Role of ICT in HarnessingSustainable Development and Knowledge-based Societies .Keynote address at the Thirteenth Annual NationalConference on Science and Technology of the ScientificResearch Council, Kingston Jamaica. Available at:http://www.iicd.org/search/show-entry.ap?entryid=40448.part-all

Loader, B. D. (Ed.) (1998). Cyberspace Divide: Equality,agency and policy in the information society . London:

Routledge.

National Telecommunications and InformationAdministration [NTIA] (1999). Falling through the net:

Defining the digital divide. A report on thetelecommunications and information technology gap in

America . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.Available at: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/fttn.pdf

Noronha, F. (1999). Indian experiment shows how slum-kidsspeedily take to computers . International Institute forCommunication and Development. Available at:http://www.iicd.org/search/show-entry.ap?entryid=4050&part=all

Novak, T.P., & Hoffman, D.L. (1998). Bridging the Digital Divide: The impact of race on computer access and Internet use . Project 2000, Venderbilt University. Available at:http://ecommerce.vanderbilt.edu/papers/race/science.html




eeee ---- LLLLectronicectronicectronicectronic AAAAccess toccess toccess toccess to IIII nformation:nformation:nformation:nformation:A Research Review A Research Review A Research Review A Research Review

By Sonia Jurich

Exchange of information is a phenomenon as old ashumanity. From foot couriers to electronic mail, informationexchange has gained in speed, outreach, precision andreliability. The past fifty years have been particularlysignificant for the areas of information and communication.New technologies, such as satellites, computers, and theInternet, are challenging our concepts of space and time, andredefining the words “global” and “immediate.” Researchersare trying to understand the impact of these technologies inour lives and the ways people are reacting to them. Wepresent here four summaries of research that address the useof electronic documents for information seeking and

retrieval. Reijo Savolainen , from the University of Tampere,Finland, focuses on the use of the Internet to obtaininformation in job-related and other contexts. Bridget

Booske and François Sainfort , from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A., study the use of electronicdocuments (e-documents) to obtain information in decision-making contexts. Lee Komito , from the University CollegeDublin, Ireland, uses qualitative methodology to studyemployees’ preferences between e-documents and paper-based documents. The last summary moves the focus fromthe people who seek and use the information to the intrinsicqualities of electronic information-retrieval tools. MichaelGordon and Praveen Pathak , with the University of

Michigan-Ann Arbor, U.S.A., analyze the retrievaleffectiveness among different World Wide Web searchengines .

The role of the Internet in information seeking. Puttingthe networked services in context by Reijo Savolainen.

Information Processing and Management , 35: 765-782,1999.

FocusFocusFocusFocus : Research shows that the strengths of electronicsources as tools for information seeking are their easiness of updating, modifying and manipulating data and the speed of search. On the other hand, printed formats have theadvantage of being easier to transport and rooted in our dailyroutines. This research focuses on whether the Internet isreplacing other media as an information-seeking tool and thecriteria for such a replacement.

MethodsMethodsMethodsMethods : The researcher conducted 23 theme interviewswith Internet users in Finland, in spring 1997. Participantswere recruited through an online paper. Reflecting thedemographics of the online population, the participants weremostly university students and white-collar workers. The

two-hour interviews focused on the following themes: thereasons for becoming a network user, patterns of serviceutilization in the job and outside it, problems with network usage, the role of network services in the individual’s life,and the future role of the Internet in society. To support thequalitative data from the interviews, the researcher usedresults from a 1996 national survey of 1,080 Finnhouseholds.

Findings:Findings:Findings:Findings:

♦ At the time of the research, only 3 percent of the survey

respondents had utilized the Internet to seek practicalinformation.

♦ Males, low-income level participants and those withhigh education levels were more likely to use theInternet for information seeking than females, peoplewith high income levels, and those with low educationlevels.

♦ The Internet was most frequently used forcommunication (e-mail, discussion groups) thaninformation seeking.

♦ In the context of information seeking, participants usedthe Internet mostly to “stay up to date” and monitordaily events.

♦ Research participants cited the following criteria tochoose networked services over other media forinformation seeking: easiness of accessing a hugeamount of data at low cost, savings in time and money,the chance to consult with experts, and greaterindependence of when and how to seek the information.

♦ The factors that make traditional media more attractivethan networked sources were: lack of computer orcomputer skills; insufficient quality control (informationmay be outdated or unreliable); technological glitches(slow response time, frequent breakdowns); and thechaotic nature of the Internet.

♦ Printed newspapers are still preferred to their onlineversions, because: they are easier to read (participantsfound it inconvenient to read long texts on the screen),tend to have more news and more in-depth coverage of news and, most of all, reading the newspaper is a well-established part of the individuals’ daily routines.




Relation between quantitative and qualitative measuresof information use, by Bridget C. Booske & FrançoisSainfort. International Journal of Human-Computer

Interaction , 10 (1): 1-21, 1998.

FocusFocusFocusFocus : The analysis of information use in any mediumraises issues of quantity (how much information can a personhandle?) and quality (which criteria are used to define qualityinformation?). Answers to these questions are essential forimproving the effectiveness of the new information andcommunication technologies. The research funded by theU.S. Health Care Financing Administration, focuses on theuse of electronic documents to obtain information in adecision-making process.

MethodsMethodsMethodsMethods : A group of 201 individuals were offeredalternative hypothetical health care plan scenarios using aWindows 3.1-based computer system. The sample wasrandomly selected from a population of 70,000 stateemployees with experience in health plan choice. Thesoftware was programmed in Delphi as the front end to reachMicrosoft Access databases. Participants could search thedatabase by plan, by attribute (such as costs, services offeredetc.), or any combination of methods. The quantity of information was arranged in levels, from general to detailed,and participants could move easily from one level to anotherand back. Researchers collected information on number of screens visited, amount of time spent per screen, overallamount of time spent in the search, and number of redundantvisits to the same screen. In addition, participants wereasked their reactions to the process and their satisfaction, orfrustration, with the information received.

FindingsFindingsFindingsFindings :

♦ On average, participants accessed only 20 percent of theavailable information and spent no more than 45 secondson each screen (including redundant visits); 70 percentof all participants considered the amount of informationabout right.

♦ In general, participants who stated that there was notenough information available had either failed to takeadvantage of all the available information or wereinterested in information that was not in the plan; alsoparticipants who considered choosing a health care plana difficult task were more likely to state that moreinformation was necessary for a decision-makingprocess.

♦ Participants who thought that there was enough or toomuch information were more likely to have a higherpercentage of redundant visits to the same screen andhave spent less time per screen.

♦ Twelve percent found the information difficult tounderstand and less than 20 percent reported difficultyusing the information; older participants had moretrouble understanding and using the information thanyounger participants.

Paper “work" and electronic files: defending professionalpractice, by Lee Komito. Journal of InformationTechnology , 13: 235-246, 1998.

FocusFocusFocusFocus : Organizations are moving toward the use of electronically stored data over paper-based documents formany reasons, such as reducing costs, improving safety of data, standardizing data input and automating work. Thetransition from paper to electronic documents is technicallyeasy, and does not alter the categories and general format of the information. However, acceptance of e-documents is notsmooth, and the resulting systems are not as effective as itwould be expected. This research examines some of thefactors that influence people’s reaction to electronicdocuments.

MethodsMethodsMethodsMethods : The research is a case study of the use of a LotusNOTES database within a department of the Irish CivilService that examines citizens’ claims for services orbenefits. The methodology included three months of participant-observation of work practices and socialinteractions in the office, tape-recorded interviews with allstaff members (thirty in all), and analysis of logs of e-mailtraffic over a two-month period.


♦ Overall, staff expressed satisfaction with theintroduction of the new system. The staff dealing withqueries from the public reported that NOTES reducedtime in finding the status of cases, facilitated promptresponses to the public, and made the work lessrepetitive and more interesting. Staff responsible forexamining the claims stated that the workload hadincreased, since they had to do all the word processingand control, but expressed satisfaction with their greatercontrol of the work and improved quality.

♦ The information sharing and work collaboration featuresof NOTES were rarely used and the paper file remainedas the “document record” par excellence.

♦ Staff suggested that the paper files provided a “hiddenstory” of the case that was considered vital in thedecision-making process (the scribbled notes on themargins of the document, the number of papers includedin the file and their order of inclusion, etc). This meta-information was absent in the electronic documents;although NOTES allowed for the inclusion of notes andother types of information, these features were not used.




♦ The ethnographic research showed that staff organizedand manipulated the paper file as something belongingto them; the paper file also provided them with theability to control how much of the information theywanted to share and with whom to share; they lackedthis control power in the electronic documents.

Finding information on the World Wide Web: theretrieval effectiveness of search engines by MichaelGordon & Praveen Pathak. Information Processing &

Management , 35: 141-180. 1999.

FocusFocusFocusFocus : The average number of pages in search engineindexes and subject directory catalogs on the Web vary from2 million to 100 million, with most major engines containingbetween 25 and 50 million pages. Also, many searchengines employ a variety of advanced techniques that makesearching the Web different from more conventionalinformation retrieval activities. This research focuses on the

quality of Web search engines when used by expert searchersto address specific research-related information needs.

MethodsMethodsMethodsMethods : Highly experienced searchers conducted querieson eight popular search engines addressing researchquestions posed by 36 faculty members. The searchers wererequested to explore the Web engines as much as possible torespond to each faculty’s detailed research questions. Thefaculty members evaluated the quantity and quality of thedocuments found in relation to their initial request. The eightengines searched were: Alta Vista, Excite, HotBot, Lycos,Magellan, Open Text and Yahoo! (a subject directory, ratherthan a search engine).


♦ Absolute retrieval effectiveness of Web search enginesis low; in a group of ten documents returned,approximately half of the searches returned just onerelevant document and the majority returned five orfewer.

♦ Precision varies among engines and number of documents retrieved; overall, Alta Vista, Open Text andLycos were the top performers, and Yahoo! was thelowest.

♦ The overlapping of documents across search engines isalmost nil; 93 percent of the documents were retrievedby a single search engine regardless of the number of documents retrieved (only 7 percent were found in morethan one engine).

♦ Faculty receiving the best results had used highly

specific vocabulary (such as gage repeatability orsequential analysis of variance).

ConclusionsConclusionsConclusionsConclusionsThe papers summarized above show that electroniccommunication has yet to fulfill the promises of itssupporters, or the horrors of its detractors. It has neithertaken over the place of other media as an instrument of information and communication, nor eliminated the need fortraditional, face-to-face contact. “Although the internetoffers a new repertoire of information sources, the changesseem to be less dramatic, at least as far as informationseeking is concerned,” summarizes Savolainen (1999, p.779). This is in part due to technological shortcomings, asreflected in Gordon & Pathak’s study of Web-based searchengines. According to these authors, individual searchengines cover no more than three to 34 percent of the Web.Meta search engines enable users to issue a single query thatis then sent to different engines. However, relevantdocuments may be lost in the process of aggregating the

URLs returned into a unified list. To improve the results,searchers must use more than one engine, and explore eachengine exhaustively. As any researcher can attest, this hasbeen the process used in literature reviews for a long time.The main difference is that the Web allows us to do most of the process from home, while the old reviews requiredcontinuous visits to libraries and archives (what we still mustdo, after exhausting the Web). As researchers start using theWeb with more frequency, the quality of engines willprobably improve, or specific research-focused engines willappear, making the Web more research-friendly.

The human factor, though, is more problematic. In the three

studies on use of e-documents, the usefulness of e-systemswas related more to users’ characteristics, than to systems’features. Demographic characteristics, interests and, most of all, habit, were common variables influencing how peopleevaluated the e-systems in both Savolainen’s and Booske &Sainfort’s research. Komito’s study is an excellent exampleof the complexity of human behavior. Despite all theadvantages of the electronic system, the office staff did notchange their allegiance to paper document. Technically, thesystem was almost perfect, but it did not offer the onevariable that proved essential for the staff: control overinformation. “If managers want to provide the benefits of electronic systems, they must address the organizationalfactors which militate against these systems,” concludesKomito. Her conclusion is pertinent to most situations.Technology is as good as the people who use them, says theold cliché. To make the new technologies more efficient andmore helpful to users, we must understand and address thefactors that interfere with their use. Research is key to thisunderstanding.




KOREA: C a n Ed u t o p i a Becom e a R ea l i t y?By Insung Jung , Ph.D.

Korea National Open University

Ed u t o p i a i s “ a n ed u c a t i o n w e l f a r e st a t e —a soc i -ety o f open an d l i fe lon g edu ca t ion to a l low eacha n d e v e r y i n d i v i d u a l e q u a l a n d e a s y a c c e s s t oed u c a t i on a t a n y t i m e a n d p l a c e. ”

A Nat iona l St r a t egy

In the 1990s, Korea developed and implemented the conceptof an “Edutopia,” intended to create an open and lifelonglearning society. To overcome the problems with the currenteducation system, which is too rigid and uniform to meetindividual students’ learning needs, a new system for the 21 st

century was suggested to prepare people for the informationand globalization age.

The government’s plans and action strategies have been de-veloped according to suggestions made by the PresidentialCommission on Education Reform since 1995.

The Com-

mission, which operated from 1994 to 1998, defined the goalof the Korean Education System in the 21 st century as an“Edutopia,” meaning “an education welfare state—a societyof open and lifelong education to allow each and every indi-vidual equal and easy access to education at any time andplace.” In 1997, the Commission recommended the estab-lishment of a virtual university, a national credit bank systemand the use of advanced technologies in education as a possi-ble means of realizing this Edutopia.

This strategic plan enjoys unanimous societal consensus; fewhave even raised issues about its cost-effectiveness or effi-ciency. There is almost universal support for the elements of this plan, which include: establishment of an informationinfrastructure by 2005, development of a multimedia data-base, training in the use of advanced technologies, and theuse of information technologies to educate the next genera-tion. Most importantly, there exists a national aspiration forKorea to become a world leader in the future informationsociety. Newspapers echo this consensus with slogans, in-cluding one that urges: “We fell behind in the industrialrevolution, but let us lead in the information revolution.”

Since then, the introduction of information and communica-tion technology has been seen as a barometer of nationalcompetitiveness and quality of life. Thus, informatization—the process and outcome of introducing and implementinginformation and communication technology in the society—is being pursued as a national development strategy for se-curing leadership in the world economy in the informationage of the 21st century. Due to the national efforts for infor-matization, the PC penetration rate in 1998 rose to 20 percentof the population, with a total of 9 million PCs supplied.Moreover, the number of subscribers to PC online servicesand Internet hosts was approximately 6 million and 3 mil-lion, respectively. Korean newspapers recently reported thatmore than 4 million Koreans were using the Internet servicesin 1999 and among the Internet users, 73% were male and27% female.

I m p l em en t a t i on M ea su r es

The active implementation of the above plan came with theestablishment of the independent Bureau of Educational In-formation and Technology (BEIT) in 1996, and the KoreaResearch and Information Center (KRIC) and the KoreaMultimedia Education Center (KMEC) in 1997. Using gov-ernment funds, KRIC has established and/or linked manydigital libraries and provided information services for profes-sionals in higher education with its own server and network system to which all higher education institutions are nowlinked. Online journal articles, research papers, academicdatabases and other academic materials are provided to pro-fessors and researchers in Korea. Membership is required,but no individual or institutional payment is necessary for theuse of KRIC’s services at this time. They will charge mem-bership fee later—perhaps starting next year.






tion sessions using the videoconferencing system, savingtraveling costs for KNOU professors and honoraria for part-time lecturers who would otherwise provide face-to-facelectures in regional study centers. In addition, directors andother staff of regional study centers met using the videocon-ferencing system, thus saving traveling costs. Some profes-sors at the main campus in Seoul delivered special tutoringsessions to students in other provinces and provided consul-tation via videoconferencing. Since the videoconferencingsystem connects major provinces in Korea, the Ministry of Education uses the system to deliver important messages tothe Provincial Offices of Education, or to hold seminars forteachers all over the nation.

3. Establishing a CATV Channel to Provide LifelongEducation

A cable TV channel for distance education, called the OpenUniversity Network (OUN), was founded in September 1996to promote open and lifelong education at the higher educa-tion level. With modern digital broadcasting facilities andabout 80 staff members, OUN has been providing programsof regular degree courses to KNOU students and lifelongeducation courses to the general public to meet their needsfor higher education and retraining. About 40 percent of OUN’s broadcasting time is allocated to lifelong educationprograms for adults. This cable TV channel was exchangedwith a satellite TV channel in March 1999 in order to expanddistance education services to those who live in remote areaswhere cables have not been installed. Using this satellite TVchannel, KNOU is now able to provide its lifelong educa-tional programs to about 9 million people in the nation whoregistered for the satellite TV system, without much increase

in transmission costs.

4. Joining A Consortium and Offering Web-BasedCourses to Share Resources

In February 1998, KNOU joined the Virtual University TrialProject, initiated by the Ministry of Education. It also joineda consortium known as the Korea Virtual University Con-sortium (KVU), which consists of eight conventional univer-sities and KNOU. The nine member universities of the KVUcollaborate in designing Web-based virtual courses for theirstudents who wish to study using the Web. KNOU providesthe faculty members of the eight other universities with con-

sulting services in the areas of instructional design, and de-velopment and evaluation for Web-based courses; it runsstaff development training seminars, and lends its productionfacilities and videoconferencing system to the other memberuniversities.

The KVU provided 41 Web-based virtual courses in thespring of 1998 and 39 courses in the fall. Over 2,000 stu-dents from the member universities took these virtual coursesin 1998; one-third were KNOU students. To develop and

deliver high-quality Internet courses to the students, an inde-pendent virtual education team and a cyber administrationoffice were created. In 1999, the KVU will develop severallifelong, non-degree virtual education programs for adultswho are not students of the member universities.

5. Establishing an Integrated Web-Based Support Sys-tem to Improve Student Services

KNOU has used a computerized management system since1985 to support its administration and student services. In1997, KNOU launched a self-financed project to upgrade theexisting system and build an integrated Web-based supportsystem to provide effective administrative and instructionalservices to university staff and students. The system in-cluded databases of profiles and, records of students andstaff, credit files, curriculum logs and syllabi, and other ad-ministrative and educational records. Using the system,which also is linked to the database of online learning mate-rials and library services, students may review their grades,apply for a transcript or certificate, download course materi-als, reserve books or articles in the library, and meet onlinecounselors for academic or psychological help. Universitystaff may use the system to receive relevant information fortheir work and to communicate with each other.

Conclusion

One of the important lessons from the Korean experience isthe need for an integrated network system linking the educa-tional computer network to the national information super-highway. In most countries, the Ministry of Education isresponsible for building an educational computer network

system, and the Ministry of Information and Communicationis charged with establishing the national information super-highway. The failure of these two ministries to collaboratemay result in a disconnect between the educational network and the national information infrastructure, or a slower speedor high costs in the Internet connections.

On the other hand, an integrated network system would pro-vide learning environments in classrooms, homes and work-places where multimedia materials are used, and remotelearners and schools would not be excluded by technicallimitations. The government should develop a vision for anintegrated network system that addresses both the network

infrastructure needs of a society and the education use of anational information superhighway.






ers, access to the source code enables them to have a productthat they can adapt to their needs, independent from the pro-ducer's sustainability. Since open-source software are sub-mitted to massive independent peer review for code and de-sign, they are generally more reliable and of better qualitythan commercial products, where the pressure to put theproduct in the market generally curtails the review process.Raymond also observes that the lack of authority that perme-ates the open-source community favors a synergistic dia-logue that is not possible in commercial environments, whichtend to be characterized by relationships of power. Thisopen dialogue promotes a better scrutiny of design flaws anda greater variety of corrective solutions.

LimitationsOne of the most important limits for the expansion of open-source software is the platform requirement. The majority of this type of software is written for non-Window systems,mostly UNIX and Linux. Microsoft's control of the PC mar-ket imposes significant limitations on other operating sys-tems but, although small, the number of Linux users isgrowing rapidly. Some open-source developers are also en-tering the Microsoft realm and are using Windows NT as asecondary target. Another important limitation is the factthat open-source software requires a high level of technicalexpertise for its use and maintenance. If technical glitchesappear, the user has no vendor to ask for support, althoughmany open-source organizations offer some type of technicalassistance. In view of the general lack of quality of the tech-nical support offered by commercial organizations, thislimitation may not be so severe. A 1997 survey conductedby InfoWorld appointed the Linux user community the "BestTechnical Support" of the year. In addition, there are com-

panies specialized in providing technical support for open-source software users. The superior quality of open-sourcesoftware, the possibility of customization, and the availabil-ity of reliable support, make it an enticing option for smalland large businesses. According to David Niemi, "it is diffi-cult to quantify the overall impact or even usage of open-source software, but it is clear that both are widespread andgreatly underestimated by the general public."

Potentia l For Developing CountriesFor developing countries, the open-source movement has thepotential to curtail some obstacles toward full use of com-puter-related technologies. Two of these obstacles are the

cost of software and the value of royalty fees. The vast majority of commercial software comes from the United Statesand other developed countries with high-powered currencies.Such software arrives in developing countries at inflatedprices. In addition, the payment of royalties is a source of economic drainage and political contention. Open-sourcesoftware is obtained at no purchase cost and does not requireroyalty payments. They are more readily adaptable to thetechnological conditions and needs of the different countriesthan commercial software. They also do not have the re-strictions on reduplication common to commercial software.For instance, rather than buying one packaged software foreach of their computers, a group of small business owners inBurundi can hire a skilled programmer to configure an open-source material to their specific needs and reduplicate theproduct to be installed in all their computers. In the end,they have a better service for less cost and without infringingon national or international laws. The programmer will notbe isolated in this endeavor. He (or she) can rely on theopen-source community to ask questions and share discov-eries and concerns. More important, this process stimulatesthe expansion of local skilled workforces by creating more

jobs and increasing training opportunities. The situation isadvantageous for all those involved.

Many developing countries have skilled programmers, andthe United States has been importing them for a few years.For these countries, the costs of software and hardware,rather than the lack of skillful workforces, are the main barri-ers to the expansion of computer-related technologies. Theopen-source movement has the potential to break some of these barriers and contribute to a more democratic distribu-tion of the technological wealth.

An Internet Societal Task Force (ISTF) is organizing aworking group to study the use of open source software as away to facilitate Internet access for developing countries andeconomically disadvantaged people within developed coun-tries. The group plans to establish a clearinghouse of infor-mation about open source software, and work with local gov-ernments, international organizations, community activistsand private companies to promote the development and useof open source material (for more information see Ngenge,Wawa. Open Source Software as a Tool for Development,18/01/2000, at www.iicd.org/search/show-entry.ap?entryid=4127 )

1. For more information on this topic, see Software for Public Interest , http://www.delian.org and the Open Source Definition ,http://www.opensource.org/osd.html .2. An in-depth and clear review of open source software can be found in David Niemi (1998), Open-Source Software: What is it? Why useit? And what's gotten into Netscape ? at http://www.tux.org/~niemi/opensource/customer-case.html .3. Eric S. Raymond (1998), The Cathedral and the Bazaar, at http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar .4. Eric S. Raymond, Homesteading the Noosphere . This book has a thorough discussion of the rules that regulate the open-source movementand how these rules are maintained in place. The book is the second in a trilogy that starts with The Cathedral and the Bazaar and ends withThe Magic Cauldron . These and others of his writings can be found at http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings .




Upcoming Events: Conferences, Seminars, Exhibits, etc….

MARCH 27-29, 2000 Launching & Creating Learning Portals: The NextWave in Web-Based Distance LearningChicago, Illinois, USAhttp://www.iqpc.com/0320/0320learningportal.htm

This conference explores using web technology to delivertraining and information across an organization and establish,refine and implement effective learning environments usingportal technology. It will demonstrate how to develop alearning portal for: optimizing corporate knowledge andlearning; building and managing a granular knowledge base;collecting, filtering and disseminating corporate knowledgethrough a central site; creating an enticing learningenvironment; empowering subject matter experts to createlearning modules; and identifying the bottom line impact of implementing a corporate learning portal. It will featurewhat Cisco Systems, Inc., Charles Schwab, LotusDevelopment Corporation, and other industry leaders aredoing to leverage today's portal technology to deliver

training and manage organizational learning.

APRIL 12 - 14, 2000 Fifth Annual Teaching in the Community CollegesOnline ConferenceTheme: "A Virtual Odyssey: What's Ahead for NewTechnologies in Learning?"http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon2000

Registration provides full access to all online conferenceactivities, including keynote presentations, conferencepapers, email announcements, discussion forums, virtual

tours, pre- and post-conference activities, etc. This is a greatconference with a wealth of original research and opinionpieces for teaching practitioners.

MAY 3-6, 2000 Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Distance Education (CADE)Université Laval - Quebec City, Canadahttp://www.ulaval.ca/aced2000cade/index.html

The Conference will address some of the followingquestions: Keeping IT Learner Centered: Is It Possible?Explore the many facets of the following questions: How totake advantage of the potential of IT in distance education?The information highway - a training or information tool?Where does the learner stand in the new learning

environments? The Internet and the Web - tools forlearning... and for teaching? This conference will be of interest to educators and support staff in high schools,colleges, technical institutes and universities who want tolearn how to keep IT learner centered.

MAY 24 - 27, 2000WEM - The World Education MarketVancouver, British Columbia, Canadahttp://www.wemex.com

WEM was created to open up opportunities for businessexpansion and relationship-building on a global stage. Top-

level executives, decision-makers, international buyers andindustry leaders will buy and sell educational resources,systems and expertise, to build partnerships and to createsolutions to the educational challenges of the newmillennium. National Pavilions will be present from Canada(Industry Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs andInternational Trade), France (Agence EduFrance, CFME-ACTIM), and the United Kingdom (British EducationalSuppliers Association) and more are being developed forArgentina, Chile, China, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands,Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan and Thailand,among others. The WEM Conference Program will beaddressing major issues impacting the world of educationtoday, as well as providing practical workshops on adaptingcontent to reflect local needs and circumstances, andinformation on how to sell, buy and produce materials in theinternational marketplace.

JUNE 26-JULY 1, 2000 ED-MEDIA 2000: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and TelecommunicationsMontreal, Quebec, Canada




http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia

ED-MEDIA 2000--World Conference on EducationalMultimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications is aninternational conference organized by the Association for theAdvancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Thisannual conference serves as a multi-disciplinary forum forthe discussion and exchange of information on the research,development, and applications on all topics related tomultimedia/hypermedia and distance education. ED-MEDIA,the premiere international conference in the field, spans alldisciplines and levels of education and attracts more than1,200 attendees from over 50 countries.

AUGUST 2 - 4, 200016 th Annual Conference on Distance Learning &TeachingUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison, Wisconsin, USAhttp://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/

The conference features keynotes and more than 125workshops, roundtables, and information sessions thatexamine critical success factors in using technology,including: Best practices for effective applications; Practicalplanning guidelines; Successful teaching methods and coursedesigns; Techniques for faculty development and learnersupport; Innovative approaches, solutions, and researchfindings; The new distance learning marketplace; and Thefuture of online learning. The estimated cost to register forthe conference is $295 and includes program materials,proceedings, box lunches, breaks, and receptions. A bookletwith all sessions and registration information will beavailable in May 2000. Call 608-265-4159 to be added to theconference mailing list. An electronic version of the brochurewill be accessible at the web address listed above.

SEPTEMBER 23-25, 2000The 28th Research Conference on Communication,

Information and Internet PolicyAlexandria, Virginia, USAhttp://www.tprc.org/

The purpose of the conference is to acquaint policy makerswith the best of recent research and to familiarize researcherswith the knowledge needs of policy makers. The conferenceis hosted by Telecommunications Policy Research

Conference (TPRC), a nonprofit organization and an annual

forum for scholars engaged in publishable research onpolicy-relevant telecommunications and information issues,and for public- and private-sector decision makers engagedin telecommunications and information policy. TPRC is nowsoliciting proposals for papers for presentation at its 2000conference. Proposals should be based on current theoreticaland/or empirical research relevant to the making of communication and information policy, and may be from anydisciplinary perspective. TPRC welcomes national,international, or comparative studies. For subject areas andmore information, refer to the web address listed above.

OCT 18-21, 2000 New Approaches in Higher Education: The UniversityCollege ConferenceBermuda College, Bermudahttp://www.bercol.bm/w/events/ucmainpage.html

Explore the University College model for Bermuda in the21st century. A group of thinkers, practitioners,administrators and politicians from around the world havebeen invited to meet in Bermuda, to share information anddocument what is happening with this tertiary educationmodel around the world. Of particular interest is how theUniversity College Model relates to distance education andsmall island states.

OCT. 30-NOV. 4, 2000WebNet 2000: World Conference on the WWW and

InternetSan Antonio, Texas, USAhttp://www.aace.org/conf/webnet/

WebNet 2000 -- World Conference on the WWW andInternet is an international conference organized by theAssociation for the Advancement of Computing in Education(AACE) and co-sponsored by the WebNet Journal - InternetTechnologies, Applications & Issues. This annual conferenceserves as a multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of information on research, development, and applications of alltopics related to the Web. This encompasses the use,applications and societal and legal aspects of the Internet inits broadest sense. WebNet 2000 will be of interest to allwho plan to use the Internet to access information,communicate or conduct transactions or, who are developingapplications for the Internet, including the WWW, Intranets,

and Extranets.

To a dvert ise your conferences , sem inars , exhibits , an d t ra ining courses ,go to the "How to Advertise" section on the TechKnowLogia home pa ge, found a t:

www. techknowlog ia .o rg .




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FEATURINGINTERNATONAL SPEAKERS FROM OVER20 COUNTRIES

Dr. Paul A.ElsnerChancellor Emeritus

Maricopa Community Colleges, USA

Dr. JohnHinchcliffVice Chancellor

Auckland University of TechnologyNew Zealand

Dr. GeraldineKenney-WallaceManagine Director and Vice Chancellor

Virtual UniversityBritish Aerospace plc, UK

Dr. JethroNewtonHead, Academic Office

North East Wales Institute ofHigher Education, UK

Baroness PaulinePerryPresident

Lucy Cavendish CollegeCambridge University, UK

Dr. Jerry W.Wright Jr.Senior Trade Policy Advisor

US Agency for International Development, USA

HE Mohammad AliAl AbbarDirector, Economic Development

Dubai Department of Economy, UAE

WHOThe Higher Coll eges of Technology, Uni t ed Arab Emir at es •WHATConf eren ce on Technol ogi calEducation and National Development •WHEN8 to 10 April 2000 •WHEREAbu Dhabi Inter-Continental Hotel

For f urther detail s and registrat ion, please contact:"The TEND Organisers"

Higher Colleges of Technology, P.O. Box: 25026, Abu Dhabi, UAETel: 971 2 320331, Fax: 971 2 321787

Email: tend@ hct.ac.aeVisit our homepage http://crm.hct.ac.ae




A Ph o n e is a Ph o n e is a Ph o n e?…Wel l , N o t Real l y!

By Sand r a Semaan

According to the Cellular Telecommunications IndustryAssociation, in 1999 there were 200 million wireless sub-scribers worldwide and in 2005 it is projected that therewill be 1 billion wireless subscribers worldwide. That is to

say that there are now over 200 million people using mo-bile communications in one way or another. Mobile tele-phones have come a long way since the days of the "port-able" 20-pound suitcase.

Wh a t a r e t h e Ty pes o f Wir el es sWh a t a r e t h e Ty pes o f Wir el es sWh a t a r e t h e Ty pes o f Wir el es sWh a t a r e t h e Ty pes o f Wir el es sTecTecTecTechhhh n o l o g ies ?n o l o g ies ?n o l o g ies ?n o l o g ies ?

The earliest mobile phones used analog technology - sig-nals that transmitted at low frequencies where call qualitywas bad. Calls were not very secure and service was ex-pensive. Today, more and more mobile phones are usingdigital technology. Calls are clearer, more services andsecurity are supported, and while phones are usually moreexpensive than analog phones, digital services tend to becheaper. The digital network works on two frequencies:digital cellular functions on the lower 900-MHz frequency;and digital PCS functions on the higher 1900-MHz fre-quency.

Three of the digital standards used are: CDMA, GSM, andTDMA. (http://aol.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/T/TDMA.html) Adual-mode phone works on both the analog network andthe digital network. A tri-mode phone works on analog,digital cellular, and digital PCS. A dual-band phoneworks on both the high and low frequency bands.

The words "mobile" phone and "cellular" phone are usedinterchangeably because mobile computing uses cellulartechnology. Cellular usually refers to communicationssystems that divide a geographic region into sectionscalled cells. The purpose of this system is to make themost use out of a limited number of transmission frequen-cies. In cellular technology, each connection requires itsown dedicated frequency and the total number of availablefrequencies is about 1,000. In order to support more thanthat amount of simultaneous connections, cellular systems

allocate a set number of frequencies for each cell. So thentwo cells can use the same frequency for different conver-sations as long as they are not adjacent to each other.(http://aol.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/c/cellular.html)

While cellular technology is still used, there are newer andmore improved technologies than analog, such as GSMand CDMA. More recently, non-cellular technology isbeing developed using satellite communications.

GSMShort for Global S ystem for M obile Communications,GSM is one of the leading digital cellular systems. GSMuses narrow band TDMA. TDMA stands for Time Divi-sion Multiple Access which is a technology for deliveringdigital wireless service using time-division multiplexing(TDM). TDMA works by dividing a radio frequency intotime slots and then allocating slots to multiple calls. In this

way, a single frequency can support multiple, simultaneousdata channels. GSM was first introduced in 1991. As of theend of 1997, GSM service was available in more than 100countries and has become the de facto standard in Europeand Asia. (http://aol.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/G/GSM.html)

CDMACDMA is short for Code- Division M ultiple Access, adigital cellular technology that uses spread-spectrum tech-niques. Unlike GSM, that uses TDM, CDMA does notassign a specific frequency to each user. Instead, everychannel uses the full available spectrum. Individual con-versations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital se-quence. CDMA is a military technology first used duringWorld War II by the English allies to foil German attemptsat jamming transmissions. The allies decided to transmitover several frequencies, instead of one, making it difficultfor the Germans to pick up the complete signal.(http://aol.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/C/CDMA.html)

PCSPCS is P ersonal C ommunications Service, the U.S. Fed-eral Communications Commission (FCC) term used to




describe a set of digital cellular technologies being de-ployed in the U.S. PCS includes CDMA, GSM, and NorthAmerican TDMA. PCS systems are completely digital andthey operate at the 1900 MHz frequency range.(http://aol.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/P/PCS.html)

SATELLITEOutside of the realm of cellular technology is satellitecommunications. Using this technology in mobile tele-phones will bring low-cost, high-quality communicationsto more regions of the world where wire line telephone oreven cellular telephone coverage is weak. Satellite tech-nology will similarly be of significant use to anyone out-side cellular coverage areas and in rural areas.

Wh a t c a n M o b il e Ph o n es D o ?Wh a t c a n M o b il e Ph o n es D o ?Wh a t c a n M o b il e Ph o n es D o ?Wh a t c a n M o b il e Ph o n es D o ?

In the old days, mobile phones were a luxury - only thoseof us who could afford to have one. The technology wasn'tthat great and costs were exorbitant. Perhaps we made a

call here and there in case of emergency or a very urgentbusiness call, but whatever the case, we savored thosetimes when we could use our mobile phones.

Things have changed. Nowadays in most developed coun-tries, just about everybody is carrying one and sometimestwo, including the kids. The phones are getting smaller andthe services getting less expensive. Developing countriesare leapfrogging into the 21 st century and increasing theiraccess to information by using mobile telephones.

However, the traditional idea about what phones are forhas gone by the wayside, replaced by products and serv-ices we wouldn't have dreamt about a few short years ago.Wireless data is the latest phenomenon and is driving thenext generation of growth in wireless communications. Asdemand for 24-hour access to people and information in-creases, the lines between voice and data communicationsis blurring. The last generation of mobile phones providedvoice communications services; you could make a phonecall, leave a voice mail message, receive a call while on acall, receive a page on your phone and perhaps receive atext message.

On top of these voice communications services, today's data communications services include: wireless faxing,wireless connection, wireless email, wireless Internet,

short messaging services, location-based services and ahost of other things.

Mobile phones today are practically computers in yourpocket. The displays are larger, they utilize power savingtechniques to conserve battery life, include security fea-tures and have enhanced basic services. You can receivenumeric and text pages and email messages. You will soonbe able to send live, instant messages to your friends andcolleagues as well. You can see the number of who is

calling you and if they are in your address book, you cansee their name as well. The phones will recall most recentincoming and outgoing calls and tell you if you havemissed a call.

Mobile phones are personal digital assistants (PDAs). Theaddress book keeps track of names, addresses, phone num-bers, email and website addresses as well as other infor-mation about your personal and business contacts. Youcan make a call, send an email, open Internet sites, ormake appointments from your address book. You canmake a list of things to do and set a priority level for them.You can perform basic operations on your built-in calcu-lator.

With the built-in "minibrowsers", you can access the Inter-net and check the weather, trade online, read the news,shop, book a flight, and get directions. Some mobilephone companies in North America use "push" technologyto send information directly to your phone based on your

personal preferences.If you have a laptop computer and want to connect to theInternet or send an email but don't have access to a phoneline, there is no problem. Just plug in your mobile phoneand connect to the Internet via your wireless network whenand where you choose.

Large content providers like America Online, Inc. (AOL)and similar companies around the world will be makingtheir content available to mobile phone users. WhereasAOL's content is currently available either on the Internetor via its subscription service, soon you will be able toaccess this content from your mobile phone. In Japan,Mobilephone Communications International (MTI), toutedby Forbes magazine as the world's largest content providerfor the mobile Internet, offers over 200 services for mobiletelephones.

In addition to the services listed above, in Japan, via yourmobile phone you can: engage in digital dating via live,recorded, or written messages; participate in interactivetalk shows and live auctions; and place an ad for ananonymous rendezvous. Similar companies offer restau-rant menus and theater show times via mobile telephones.

***

As is clearly evident, mobile phones are not just mobilephones anymore. Wireless operators are differentiatingtheir services and increasing airtime revenues by expand-ing data-based value-added services for their subscribers.With the cost of receiving such services ranging betweenUS$60 per month to US$170 per month, it's only a matterof time before wireless data becomes an integral part of people's daily lives.




This Issue offers a selection of websitesdeveloped with the express

purpose of making access to

knowledge and informationas easy as possible. Thereis something for children

as well as adults. The sites range from translation toolsto portal networks, to clearinghouses of information, to

everything in between.

International Center for Distance Learninghttp://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/

International Center for Distance Learning (ICDL) is an international center for research, teaching, consultancy, informationand publishing activities. ICDL distance education databases contain information on over 31,000 distance learning programsand courses mostly in the Commonwealth countries, over 1,000 institutions teaching at a distance worldwide, and over 11,000abstracts of books, journal articles, research reports, conference papers, dissertations and other types of literature relating to allaspects of the theory and practice of distance education.

Orientation.comhttp://www.orientation.com

Orientation.com is the world's first global network of licensed local and regional multi-lingual Internet portal sites, offering themost relevant country and region-specific information available on the World Wide Web. Through its partnerships with theUnited Nations and other organizations focusing on sustainable economic development, Orientation.com has been instrumentalin developing Internet communities in countries outside of Western Europe and the United States. Orientation.com has alsoexpanded its reach through its unique licensing system, using Internet Service Providers in each country to provide locally pro-duced, locally relevant content, while offering access to a global network, the newest technology and a worldwide audience.

Soft Power Expeditions.comhttp://www.softpower.edex.co.uk/index.html

Soft Power Expeditions was developed to expand the global horizons of school children around the world by providing webbased educational adventures that transcend the barriers of culture, geography, economics and language. Children and teachersaround the world, using today's most advanced technology, and traveling teddy bears, enter the classrooms of developingcountry schools and gain a unique knowledge and understanding of each other and the world in order to advance education,foster peace and develop future trade and business relationships.






H igh S peed Int er net A ccessH igh S peed Int er net A ccessH igh S peed Int er net A ccessH igh S peed Int er net A ccessT he F ut ur e f or t he W or ld and the Implicat ions f or D eveloping counT he F ut ur e f or t he W or ld and the Implicat ions f or D eveloping counT he F ut ur e f or t he W or ld and the Implicat ions f or D eveloping counT he F ut ur e f or t he W or ld and the Implicat ions f or D eveloping coun1111

By Laurence Wolff

Until now nearly all home and small business connections tothe Internet have been made to permit transmission of data at56,000 bits per second (56 KBPS). This is the limit at whichcurrent technology permits transmission of data over normaltelephone lines (two twisted lines of copper). But comput-

ers are capable of exchanging data 200 or more times asrapidly as the current transmission rate. While Internet usershave gotten used to this slow speed of Internet, in reality theyare at the “horse and buggy” stage of inter-connection anddata transmission. Over the next five years, in the developedworld, there will be a rapid transition to high bandwidth, or“broadband” communications, which will permit far morerapid communications and new applications of the computer.With broadband, consumers will be able to combine voice,television, and Internet communications. They may link upwith “smart” search engines providing specialized services.Health and education services may be far more effectivelyprovided at the home, office and other centers. In most cases,

the Internet connection can always be on. New, as yet un-foreseen, uses of the Internet will surely arise as speed of transmission increases exponentially.

The economic and technical aspects of providing“broadband” are complicated. There are at least five options.This article summarizes the current options and costs andnotes what appears to be most feasible for developing coun-tries.

Int er net via C ableInt er net via C ableInt er net via C ableInt er net via C able.

Currently the leading providers of broadband in the USA are cable compa-nies. Over 90 percent of US homes havenearby access to cable. In order to provideaccess, cable companies have deployed

fiber optics in their transmission networks, leaving the “lastmile” to the existing network of coaxial cable. The cablecompany’s central facility can serve up to 1000 homes. Ca-ble modems can provide a wide variety of services, including

TV, Internet, and telephone, with Internet access always on.Where cable is already available, as in the US and someEuropean countries, the costs to the consumer are quite rea-sonable. One provider is advertising Internet access via ca-ble at a cost of $29.95 per month if the customer provides the

modem. For most developing countries, this option is notrealistic, since cable systems are not already installed.

Int er net via T elephoneInt er net via T elephoneInt er net via T elephoneInt er net via T elephone(D S L )(D S L )(D S L )(D S L )

Copper telephone lines have been installedin more than 600 million phone linesworldwide. A new technology, called“digital subscriber line” (DSL) exploits thelong dormant capacity of these lines to

handle wide band Internet. It provides a fifty-fold increase(1.5 MBPS downstream and 0.5 MBPS upstream) speed of data transmission. The technology requires a heavy invest-ment in the central telephone offices, since the signal deterio-rates beyond 5.5 kilometers of transmission over normaltelephone wires. One advantage over cable is that the signalis not shared with other users and telephone wires are physi-cally secure. Another advantage is that businesses generallyare not already connected to cable. DSL is also relativelyinexpensive in the US. While cable has a two-year headstart, DSL is rapidly catching up. Newspaper ads in the USoffer DSL access at $49.95 per month, which includes tele-phone usage.

DSL technology offers wide opportunities in middle incomecountries, especially in Latin America and Southeast Asia,since with deregulation of phone provision, many of thesecountries have an increasing number of telephone connec-tions. However, most telephone companies still charge forphone connections by the minute. DSL may remain beyondthe reach of homes, and therefore it may not pay for phonecompanies to make the investment in their central telephoneoffices.




Int er net via O pt ical F iberInt er net via O pt ical F iberInt er net via O pt ical F iberInt er net via O pt ical F iber

By far optical fiber provides the most rapidtransmission of Internet and other services.The capacity of optical fiber is so enormousthat it can handle all kinds of communica-tions simultaneously--telephone, television,

Internet, etc. Until recently the problem has been one of highcosts--currently about $1500 to install in individual homes.This cost may go down through using "fiber to curb" tech-nology, with the remaining 30 meters to one kilometer cov-ered by metallic connections. In the near future, this ap-proach will mainly be used in construction of new homes anddevelopments, and it does not yet appear financially feasiblein most developing countries.

Int er net via S at ellit esInt er net via S at ellit esInt er net via S at ellit esInt er net via S at ellit es

A new breed of satellites employingdigital technologies may improve thereliability, capacity, and speed of data communications, includingInternet connections. Ultra-small

relatively inexpensive antennas will capture the signals di-rectly. Two types of satellite systems are possible. The first,geo-stationary satellites would orbit 36,000 kilometers abovethe equator at the same speed as the earth's rotation. Theywould use sophisticated signal processing to account for thetransmission delays caused by the distance the radio signalsmust pass. In the second option, low earth orbit satellitescould circle the earth every two hours at altitudes of 1,500kilometers. While they reduce the distance delays, manymore would have to be constructed. The estimated costs of an antenna is currently $500-$1000 per installation. Speedswould be up to 12 times faster than DSL. While satellitecosts could range from $4 billion to $10 billion, there wouldbe no need for wires. Despite these advantages, satelliteshave up to now received scant attention. Nonetheless severalcountries have announced plans to launch satellites in 2002,and it is estimated that satellites could eventually cover 15-20% of the world market.

Satellites will be of especial value in rural and low populatedareas of the world, as well as those areas that currently haveinadequate hard-wired telephone service. Antennas could beset up in community centers and schools and therefore serveentire communities, before eventually expanding to individ-ual homes. They therefore offer a clear opportunity to help-ing ensure that poorer countries or regions are not left behindin the race for broadband Internet access.

Int er net via G r ound B ased W iInt er net via G r ound B ased W iInt er net via G r ound B ased W iInt er net via G r ound B ased W ieee----

less N eless N eless N eless N ettttworksworksworksworksThe fifth and potentially least expensive means of providing wide band Internet access is that of "lo-cal multi-point distribution services" (LMDS).This technology is similar to that of cell phones;however it operates on a much wider bandwidththan cell-phones, thus permitting data transmission

of up to 155 MBPS. A voice network can be utilized con-currently with data transmission. The technology is limitedby "rain fade," distortions of the signal caused by raindropsas well as wall hills and even leafy trees. One proposed so-lution to this problem would be to provide more than one

transmitter per site.

A major advantage of LMDS is that it can be deployedquickly and relatively inexpensively. There is no need for anexisting copper or fiber optic network. In addition, centralequipment can be moved as needed without high costs. Ittherefore could be a cost-effective medium of choice indensely populated areas, which have inadequate telephoneaccess.

In summar y, f or developing coun,cable as well as fiber optics are not finan-cially feasible at this time. DSL technol-ogy over telephone lines is feasible in urbanareas of middle income countries. Wireless

systems offer the greatest opportunities since they short cir-cuit the need for hard wiring. Satellite systems would beespecially feasible for reaching rural areas and for wide-spread installation in schools and in community centers.Ground based wireless networks are the most cost effectivemeans of providing access in urban areas. But as new tech-nologies evolve and cost structures change, actual deploy-ment of any and all of these alternatives could vary signifi-cantly. But there is no doubt that high speed Internet accesswill expand rapidly throughout the world, and that develop-ing countries must move promptly to keep from falling be-

hind.

1 This article summarizes five articles on high-speed data andInternet access, which appeared in the October 1999 issue of Scientific American . The complete articles may be accessedat www.scientificamerican.com .




Wake U p and Smell t he C of f ee, ….Remot ely?

The Int ernet HomeBy Sandr a Semaan

I NTRODUCTI ON

In Watford, England, a house was built that looks like anytypical house you would find in any upper middle classneighborhood in England. The home costs 500,000 UKpounds, has five bedrooms (two with their own bath), a mainbathroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, study and coat-room, and is one of 10 similar homes in the Brandon Gatecommunity. The only difference is that this home is fullyInternet enabled -- meaning that all appliances, PCs, home

entertainment devices, heating, ventilation, lighting, securitysystems, and gardening functions are controlled via theInternet and accessible from any website whether at home, inyour car, your office, or from a hotel room halfway acrossthe globe.

Built by Cisco, a world-wide leader in networking for theInternet, in partnership with Liang Homes of UK, the con-cept behind the Internet Home was to demonstrate how newtechnologies are truly changing the world in which we live.Cisco does not believe that "… the current technologicalrevolution will affect most parts of ourlives - we think it will affect all of them." 1

In addition, the Internet Home goes to-wards demonstrating that the Internet isnot just a web site.

The house was designed for a hypotheticalcouple with three children. Besides thehouse's standard features, the InternetHome contains about 5,000 UK pounds of network infrastructure and an additional20,000 UK pounds of new technology. Adetailed list of what is included in the in-frastructure can be found at:http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/3/uk/ihome/the_home/tech_info.html . Most interesting is that all the technology in-

stalled in what may seem the "house of the future" can bebought off the shelf today and will become the norm in thevery near future.

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS

In order for this house to become a true Internet Home, Cisco joined with technology partners to bring together all the nec-essary products and services. Below is a listing of these

companies and what products/services they brought to theInternet Home.

Axis Communications supplied Web cameras, including oneused to monitor the doorstep of the home and another in thehome's nursery to enable occupants to keep a watch on thatroom from elsewhere in the house. Axis also supplied aVideo Server for the home to support a remote-controlledSony web camera.

British Telecom (BT) provided digital TV - via dishes - anda satellite Internet service called Convergence Plus that is acombined digital TV feed and Internet system with news,weather, travel, business and Reuters channels, MTV2, Euro-sport, Live Events and Music Choice Europe. It has also in-stalled four high-speed connectivity lines along with twocomplimentary cordless phones. BT will also keep the homefurnished with the latest available connectivity technologythrough the life of the home.

Business with Government (BwG) , through the use of acomputer system is providing knowledge on a range of gov-

ernment services and information in oneplace and in a usable way.

Compaq provided all the personal com-puters.

DVD Plus provided a DVD player and acollection of classic movies.

First Software Virtual Town Hall (VTH)allows people to gain access to servicesthrough a variety of technology channelsas well as face-to-face and via post, fax or

e-mail. e-Democracy services are available to allow onlineopinion sampling and voting.

Fujitsu provided flat-screen TVs offering the latest in audio-visual technology.

Honeywell supplied a concept home automation systemnamed Hometronic which controls all of the heating in thehouse - plus some of the lighting, small appliances and gar-den sprinklers.

Iomart Madasafish.com, a free Internet service provider, isproviding access to games and music.






UNLPUNLPUNLPUNLPUniversal Networking Language ProgrammeBy Sandra Semaan

"Sharing information and providing a c om moneducationa l environm ent for all is an often-stated

ideal. Language is an essential factor for this." 1

Although English has become very common in business,entertainment, science and government related matters, acommunication gap persists for non-English speakers. Thereare billions of people who do not speak English and who donot have the opportunities or resources to learn it. Likewise,a gap exists between English speakers and the informationand culture that exist in other languages. Many attempts toovercome the language barrier have been made in the past.

One such attempt, The Universal Networking Language(UNL), is being developed with the goal of enabling peoplefrom around the world to communicate in their native lan-guages. UNL is an electronic language for the Internet. It isa common language, or type of translator if you will, that candeal with natural languages and exchange informationthrough computers. UNL is being developed by the Instituteof Advanced Studies of the UN University located in Tokyo,Japan, in cooperation with research groups from around theworld.

UNL is a software system that will reside on the Internet, andwill be compatible with standard network browsers. Thesoftware is yet in its early stages. The initial stage involvesthe development of modules for 15 languages: the six officiallanguages of the United Nations, Arabic, Chinese, English,French, Russian and Spanish. The other ten are German,

Hindi, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Latvian, Mongol, Por-tuguese and Thai. In April of this year, UNL will be open tothe public in 6 UN official languages and 6 popular lan-guages. By 2002, UNL services will be extended to all thelanguages of EU member states, and by 2006, to all the lan-guages of the 185 member states of the UN.

Once the system is fully developed, any person with accessto the Internet will be able to "enconvert" text from a range

of native languages into UNL, and any UNL text can be "de-converted" into native languages.

The UNL would bring potential benefits to citizens, scholars,business, media, government and non-governmental organi-zations across linguistic barriers and in a variety of situa-tions. In particular, it can be a very useful tool for interpret-ers and translators. As well, it will accelerate the informationexchange in many parts of the world that do not rely on Eng-lish as their primary language.

The UNL System

The UNL system consists of language servers, editors andviewers.

UNL Language Server

The language server consists of a deconverter and an encon-verter. A language server that resides on the Internet providesthe processes of "enconversion" and "deconversion". The"enconverter" and "deconverter" are responsible for con-verting a particular language into UNL, and vice versa. The"enconverter" "enconverts" a language into UNL, while the"deconverter" "deconverts" UNL into a native language. Asthe system is developed, language servers for every languagesupported by UNL will also be developed.

UNU/IAS developed a software for enconversion called"EnCo" and a deconversion software called "DeCo", both of which constitute an enconverter/deconverter together with aword dictionary, co-occurrence dictionary and conversionrules for a language. "EnCo" and "DeCo" are language inde-pendent, and applicable for any language.




UNL Editor and Viewer

UNL editor is used to make UNL documents and is linked toa language server. As a document is being input in a naturallanguage, UNL editor "enconverts" it into a UNL document.UNL expressions are produced automatically or interactively

with the author according to the following methods:1) Full automatic enconversion for natural language texts.2) Full automatic enconversion for controlled or tagged

language texts.3) Interactive enconversion for natural language texts.4) Word by word input method.

Conversion error rate decreases as you move from method 1)to 4), but the cost of making a UNL document also increasesas you move from method 1) to 4). Users can choose the en-conversion method according to the type of the UNL docu-ments they want to generate. UNL editor, using the UNLviewer allows the author to see the UNL document in theauthor's native tongue. This allows the user to check for er-rors. If error rate is high, the author has the option to choosea more precise method of conversion (but this also increasesthe cost).

How the UNL System works

Any person with access to the Internet will be able to "en-convert" text written in their own language into UNL expres-sions using UNL editor. Likewise, any UNL expressions canbe "deconverted" into a variety of native languages using theUNL viewer.

An Example -

The UNL System would consist of language servers, UNLeditors and UNL viewers, connected via the Internet

Your native language is Spanish. You are viewing a homepage originally developed in Arabic. Through UNL, theArabic homepage will be seen in Spanish. The Arabic Lan-guage Server and the Spanish Language Server provide theconversion service.

UNL Editor recognizes the contents of the Arabic home pageas Arabic and sends a request to the Arabic Language Serverto "enconvert" the text. Once the Arabic text is "encon-verted" to UNL, the Arabic Language Server sends the re-sults back to the UNL Editor. When you read this page inSpanish, the UNL Viewer recognizes the contents as UNLand sends a request to the Spanish Language Server to "de-convert" the text to Spanish. Once UNL is "deconverted" toSpanish, the Spanish Language Server sends the results back to the UNL Editor.

Once any text is converted to UNL it may then be convertedto many different languages. For example, home pages canbe designed in one's native language and then "enconverted"to UNL before being uploaded. Once a home page is ex-pressed in UNL, it can be read in a variety of languages.

An Extension to HTML

For ease of use and because UNL will reside on the Internet,developers are hoping that UNL conventions will be re-garded as an extension of HTML and are being developed assuch. HTML offers universal adaptability to any editing sys-tem in holding the advantages of hyper-text. Furthermore, inHTML, the description format for embedding instructions isopen to the public. As well, HTML conventions are still ex-panding and developing.

For these reasons, UNL expressions are utilizing and ex-panding upon the HTML convention. This all means thatUNL information can be embedded in an HTML document.UNL extensions of conventions will conform to the existingHTML so that they will be handled like other documents,without damaging the HTML hyper-text structure. In order toconform to the HTML conventions, descriptions in UNL willbe in plain text.

For more information on the Universal Networking Lan-guage, see: http://www.unl.ias.unu.edu/

1 Hiroshi Uchida, Meiying Zhu, Tarcisio G. Della Senta,UNL: A Gift for a Millenium , UNU/IAS, Tokyo, Japan,November 1999.

Internet

Arabic Server Spanish Server

UNL Editor UNL Viewer





InfoInfoInfoInfoChange Jody OlsenJody OlsenJody OlsenJody OlsenPresident, InfoChange Foundation

Based on the interest in helping support the development of self sustaining community communication centers in devel-oping countries for those least able to access information ontheir own, a group of people representing both corporate andnon-profit telecommunications interests organized Info-Change. Based in Washington, D.C. this two year old non-profit organization has an informal membership of over 100individuals and organizations, including government repre-

sentatives, helping move forward the goal that everyoneshould have access to information through technology, andthat, without this access, basic education will remain limitedand slip further behind what is available to most of the de-veloped world.

InfoChange is furthering the development of centers basedon the models of self-sustainability, namely that the centersare financially viable entities with built-in maintenancestructures and are part of a larger self-sustaining network of centers. They can be housed almost anywhere, includingschools, as long as they are self-sustaining.

By bringing together the resources and products of compa-nies with the technical work of non-profit groups, Info-Change members can help access hardware and software,center models, and educational content relevant to the appro-priate local situations as the centers are established.

An Example: The Ghana National Network PlanTelecommunications Infrastructure : United Communica-tions Systems, Inc. (UCS) and United Communications Sys-tems International (UCSI), in cooperation with Ghana corpo-rations, are building a telecommunications infrastructure forGhana and Western Africa. The Volta River Authority(VRA) and the UCS Team implement a major component.

The VRA has completed the installation of a Fiber OpticGround Wire along the coastline from Accra to Takoradi,

The National Network : InfoChange Foundation, with sup-port from the World Bank’s Info/Dev program and workingwith UCS, is currently engaged in the establishment of aGhana National Network (G-Net) of community communi-cation centers (CCCs), owned and operated by Ghanaians.One of the centers, the Ghana National Service Center(GNSC), will function as the core of the network and willhelp establish CCCs and coordinate their services and opera-

tions. Support will include assistance with capitalization,leasing equipment on a long term basis, training, and man-agement advice.

The local Centers will:

♦ Generate local data and information.♦ Provide support services for new and on-going busi-

nesses (business incubator resources: facsimile, copying,and administrative support).

♦ Offer individual and group computer-assisted trainingand educational courses.

♦ Have the capability of linking into the postal service in

addition to e-mail.♦ Link with government agencies for "kiosk" services.♦ Engage in desktop publishing.♦ Connect with national and international Internet serv-

ices.♦ Secure technical assistance - long distance.♦ Stimulate conference dialogue and exchange.♦ Connect computer users in the community.

Into the FutureOne goal of InfoChange over the next year is to help estab-lish a dynamic, member-focused association of local tele-centers that would operate predominately in underserved

markets, regions and countries. The association would pro-vide support, business research, and shared member access to

Documents

Techknowlogia Journal 2000 Mac April