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<br>
Rik,<br>
<br>
One need is to continue to "drill down" into stories such as yours<br>
to look at why given the conditions you have described<br>
that certain ICTs are prioritized over (or with?) other things.<br>
<br>
I think many of the answers are not so obvious to people<br>
who don't live in such circumstances. <br>
<br>
How, for example, might the mobile phone help <br>
people in your village respond to the conditions you<br>
describe where others don't. <br>
<br>
Some of the answers will be obvious with respect to <br>
the costs and requirements of other<br>
types of ICT infrastructure and services, but surely<br>
going beyond those issues to look at how they are used<br>
will reveal important things for us.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
WJM<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Rik Panganiban wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mide279d3c5248a3d31853713955a8848c8@earthlink.net"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; ">
<title>Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] The Economist on the 'real digital
divide'</title>
<p>Thanks, Sasha, for initiating this discussion. </p>
<br>
<p>In my view, our response should show that there are a number of
public policy issues that are not automatically "solved" by imposing a
pure market solution, and that civil society groups are not myopically
focused on "cutting edge" web-based technologies. We need to show that
we are working across the board on justice and democracy issues related
to traditional radio, television, fixed phone, mobile phone, all the
way up to webcasting and VOIP. </p>
<br>
<p>Regardless of what level of technology deployment we are talking
about, there are serious political issues that civil society has strong
views related to government surveillance and individual rights to
privacy, for example. </p>
<br>
<p>On the other hand, I must say that in the remote fishing village
in the Philippines that my family is from, we barely have potable
water, regular electricity, much less a telecentre. But lots of folks
have mobile phones. Cell phones are the only ICTs that are realistic
for our village to access given our significant infrastructure needs. I
think lots of places in the developing world are in a similar boat. </p>
<br>
<p>So what are the public policy issues surrounding cell phone
deployment that civil society groups need to be seized of? </p>
<br>
<p>Rik Panganiban </p>
<br>
[... text deleted ...]<br>
<p><font face="Arial">RIK PANGANIBAN Communications Coordinator </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship
with the United Nations (CONGO) </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">web: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ngocongo.org">http://www.ngocongo.org</a> </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rik.panganiban@ngocongo.org">rik.panganiban@ngocongo.org</a> </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524</font> </p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="100">--
Bill McIver, Ph.D
==
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==
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