[Air-l] air-l Digest, Vol 23, Issue 6: OLPC discussion

[Andre Brock]

This has been an incredibly frustrating conversation.  conversations
about inequality and stratification do little to address the fact that
there are millions of Africans who already use ICTs and would welcome
the chance to have their own laptop for themselves or for their
children.

don't assume that because its Africa that the need or capacity to use
ICTs is somehow diminished because their utilities lack the stability
and reliability of Western networks.  After all, the United States has
some of the most reliable ICT infrastructure in the world and still
has higher rates of illiteracy and ICT-non participation than many
smaller, poorer countries.  ICT adoption, in a world increasingly
inundated with the awareness of information as a tool, rests not
simply upon the possession of the material artifact but much more so
on the possibility of using information to improve one's life chances.

The comment about using a laptop as a shovel?  completely out of line
and insulting.   Would you have made that comment about rural Chinese
or Appalachian hill people?

Andre

-- 
Andre Brock
PhD Candidate - Library and Information Studies
Project Athena Fellow
POSSE Mentor - UIUC Posse 2 (217.333.4693)
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign