[Telecentres] WSIS ignorance!

[Taran Rampersad]

Hannah Beardon wrote:

> Can I just quote from the WSIS website:
> "/Paradoxically, while the digital revolution has extended the
> frontiers of the global village, the vast majority of the world
> remains unhooked from this unfolding phenomenon. With the
> ever-widening gulf between knowledge and ignorance, the development
> gap between the rich and the poor among and within countries has also
> increased/."
> Does this mean that the WSIS see those who are digitally excluded as
> 'ignorant' as if there is no vaulable knowledge that does not exist on
> the Internet and the information flow needs only to be one way - that
> is for those poor ignorant people to receive our welath of knowledge?
> If this is so, surely we need to be promoting telecentres as models of
> two-way information exchange, documentation of local knowledge etc. In
> my experience this is of equal if not more imoprtance to people in
> remote communities as receiveing the information that is out there on
> the net.
> If this is not so, then we need totell them to change their website.
> hannah beardon

Err... the way I have read that quote, in context, I would have to say
that the WSIS is supportive of Telecentres. It's identifying a problem,
and lending the WSIS some credibility at the same time. How credible the
WSIS is perceived... well, that's partly up to us.

-- 
Taran Rampersad

cnd at knowprose.com

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