U.S. + computers + helping developing nations + big opportunity = No Microsoft. Now how could that equation possibly be? Try Negroponte who is in the news again with his One Laptop Per Child Non-Profit that is going to help decrease the Digital Divide between first and third world nations. He is the guy who co-founded the MIT Media Lab in 1985 with his well-practiced commentary on how the laboratory, spending $25 million a year (reaching $40 million by 2003), is engineering the merger of newspapers, television, entertainment, learning, and computers. (Wired 3.08 1995). Mr. Negroponte is the man touting a $100 computer for the masses. If his work over the last 10 years at MIT is to be reality and the world of consumerism is to continue to permeate every nook and cranny of even the poorest reaches of the earth then he better damn well be ready to get $100 computers in the hands of all those potential consumers, uh I mean children, in third world nations who wake up every morning with their first priority finding enough food to eat to survive just one more day.
Negroponte, not to be confused with his early 1980's Nicaraguan Contra orchestrating, despot corrupt government backing, illegal arms for contras directing and international drug traffic ignoring brother John (though he crashes at his place from time to time), Nicholas, also the son of Dimitri, the Greek Shipping Magnate, has had a respectable academic career in technology. He has successfully leveraged his elite upbringing and spent nearly 4 decades at MIT where he founded and ran MIT Media Lab, a large technology department in one of America's elite education institutions until 2000. His inside contacts have put him in the position of being able to capitalize on some very interesting start up companies including including Zagats, Wired Ambient Devices, and Skype (the latter having just been purchased for a cool $2.6 Billion in a deal worth potentially $4 Billion over time). He also has managed to form some very interesting alliances in his new quest to get the merging of newspapers, television, entertainment, learning & computers. His One Laptop Per Child partners include Google, Advanced Micro Devices, News Corp., Red Hat and Brightstar? Anyway, does this lineup look like anything familiar? Perhaps you could call it 21st Century Global Domination the Negroponte way. Or perhaps you could say, having developing world governments purchase $100 computers for their children who currently receive about $24 per year in health care or $45 per year in education is a good thing. Well for some reason the World Bank or UN don't think this a top priority. The Bank puts Education, Health and Water on top.
Having illiterate people who's only "economy" is producing, finding or slaving for enough food to stay alive each day get their hands on a $100 PC seems a bit more of an intellectual feel good story than any kind of useful benefit. I mean I don't want to get in the way of some coffee induced self contained intellectual mental orgasm of what the future looks like in their techno centric view of the world but a more practical view would be presented by Sadruddin Aga Khan in his article in AL-AHRAM, Cairo, "The fact remains, however, that 80 countries now have per capita incomes lower than they were a decade ago, and the number of people living in poverty (those who earn less than $1 a day) is stuck stubbornly at 1.2 billion, while those earning less than $2 per day number almost 3 billion." Did I say 3 billion? Isn't that like ½ the planet?
Meanwhile, back in the U.S. some elites with some tech savvy media heads have decided they better get 21st century television in front of 21st century consumers ASAP. Did I say that correctly? Back in 1996-1998, I taught disadvantaged children aged 2.5 to 5 years old using a lug around desktop computer with an x486 processor and 4x CD ROM and some $19.95 (often purchased with $10 rebates) education games. Yes, while most children could pick up a mouse and click, to help children grasp the subject matter or even have some idea of what the objective was, I had to incorporate a lot of traditional flashcards and TLC and I was able to get those children to read and write before Kindergarten. The developed world is throwing away enough computers every day that could be collected, shipped to the developing world to be stripped down, and reloaded with free software and educational games that could provide the basis for educating children using computer technology just like I did. They would not need to be connected to any network, only have a reliable source of power. They may not make great marketing recipients but if the developing countries could find enough teachers who knew how to teach with a computer, one computer could easily serve 50 children in the primary school years.
Which brings us to another point, while Negroponte may have corporate sponsors initially help to subsidize the purchase, who is going to help provide the training of the persons to provide the training to the children, the deployment and maintenance of the devices and the development of their infrastructure? Certainly not our U.S. Government. Although U.S. aid to Africa from FY 2000 (the last full budget year of the Clinton Administration) to FY 2004 increased 56%, more than half of the Aid to Africa consists of Emergency food aid rather than overseas development assistance, which contributes to sustainable development. The remainder of the increase is compromised primarily of funding for the President's HIV/AIDS initiative as well as emergency and post conflict assistance to Liberia and Sudan (The Brookings Institution, U.S. Foreign Assistance to Africa).
The best solution would be to implement in all of the developed world something similar to what the European Union (EU) is doing right this moment, forcing the "take back" and recycling of EVERY electronic gadget that requires power to function. Now if the manufactures of computers (and other personal electronic devices like cell phones, pda's etc.) were required to take the old one back as the EU is suggesting, there would immediately be a full stock of products to pick from. If there was a collection fee not unlike a recyclable bottle plan, the fee you pay for tire disposal, the crazy fees you pay on your cell phone for "universal service" funds, or the ever increasing "tax" to pay for security and landing services at airports applied to the purchase of that new PC, think of the possibilities. You would get a packing slip to send back your old machine. That would be shipped to a depot where companies would be contracted to choose what to recycle (i.e.; strip of hazardous or valuable metals etc and recycle or scrap the rest) or what could be sent to refurbishing depots established in developing countries. These depots in developing countries would serve as training centers to educate and train people to disassemble the computers, test, configure and load free operating systems and do whatever else is necessary to prep them for resale at subsidized rates to their people, education institutions, governments businesses etc. They could also set up recycling operations for the scrap steel and plastic from the housings and other parts and to strip the value metals such as copper, lead, gold and other metals for use or export back to the developed world. All of this would work under the auspices of "recycling" unwanted electronic products from the developed world instead of filling our landfills as we do in the ignorant and insane disposable mentality we have in the US. Who knows? This may even create computer programmers capable of programming open source code that could further tailor the computers to the local market. The program may even start a cottage industry of entrepreneurs that would give local corporations and government agencies a source of expertise and more independence managing their technology resources. Perhaps some local ownership of this kind of technology could result in other businesses able to afford to purchase their own technology and employ it to be more productive and expand their operations. What really matters is giving countries that are 3-4 generations behind the technology cycle something to start with even if it is the discarded technology of the developed world.
Starting with a $100 wireless 'PC' for the masses with nothing else in place to make use of the thing seems something of a pipe dream that if implemented would simply sap the governments and thus the people of their country of scarce resources that could go towards helping their population learn, stay healthy and survive. But what a great story. What better media attention and money raising antic than to give all those educated techno centric intellectuals something to make them sleep better at night.
Shonika Proctor, so simple, yet so complex. Indeed this is The Art of the Unfocused. This thirteen year wireless veteran and resource management pioneer is revolutionizing the knowledge and service based industries. Come see how and play in her creative domain http://www.groupinteractive.net |
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