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Don Cameron wrote: "<font face="Times New Roman, Times">In
acknowledgement that funds will always be limited, I believe part of our
focus should be <b>to construct a model or formulae</b> to help determine
just where sustainability support and growth is required (the Solomon
Islands?) and where such support is not required and possibly detrimental
to other development (Sydney and surrounds for example). "<br><br>
</font>The sustainability of these telecentres (we may define them in
various ways) are extremely important as indicated above. Funds are
getting restricted, or difficult to follow through, or even may not
support the stop gap, thus depriving support personnel, and stakeholders
from smooth services. Projects of similar nature in developing country
context should accommodate proper and proven sustainability plan
(difficult, perhaps), and thorough implementation of them from the very
day of starting. They should not reflect the idea of exhaustion of donor
funding and disruption of services, especially not a very practical
example for under-privileged communities.<br><br>
Regards.<br>
Hakik.<br><br>
At 04:01 PM 9/29/04, Don Cameron wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font face="arial" size=2 color="#000080">>>
</font>Shahiduddin Akbar comments that "Nowhere in the world,
Telecentre has widely expanded".<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
Arun I believe the reason for this (an aspect possibly integral to any
WSIS presentation) is because most early Telecentre’s were developed by
comparatively affluent communities where the success of the Telecentre
resulted in conceptual obsolescence and project transformation. There are
arguably a great many more Telecentre’s today, however we do not call
them Telecentre’s – These are Internet Cafés, Library PAC’s (Public
Access Centre’s), BIC’s & BEC’s (Business Incubation and Enterprise
Centres) and other point-of-presence initiatives born from the original
concept of a Telecentre. A great many of these societies have also
developed to the extent where physical points-of-presence are no longer
required (wide domestic broadband dispersal and other modes of fostering
access, familiarisation, training and content development). The number of
Telecentre’s is neither static nor declining… rather the concept is
evolving as expected of any community initiative facing changes in
community and market conditions (albeit Telecentre’s contributed to this
change).<br>
<br>
These are also communities where a concept of artificially sustaining a
Telecentre (often cited by Government grant providers and others as an
overriding requirement of all Telecentre’s, although argued less so by
most practitioners), can in fact be counterproductive to the overriding
mission of community economic development. Technology and ICT providers
do not enter a market and generate competitive advantage when the market
is dominated by a single entity artificially sustained by Government
(Australia lost a great many of our small community ISP’s and other ICT
initiatives before we learnt the truth of this lesson and ceased funding
Telecentre’s in affluent communities). <br>
<br>
Matters of sustainability and Telecentre growth projections are aspects
specific to communities lacking the economic and/or educational base and
ability to move the mission of a Telecentre to the next stage of
development. I am very supportive of a concept to sustain and develop
Telecentre’s where a Telecentre is required to meet the objectives of a
needy community – less than supportive of expending tax-payer funds to
artificially prop-up Telecentre’s acting in competition with other
service providers in affluent communities. In acknowledgement that funds
will always be limited, I believe part of our focus should be to
construct a model or formulae to help determine just where sustainability
support and growth is required (the Solomon Islands?) and where such
support is not required and possibly detrimental to other development
(Sydney and surrounds for example). WSIS could well be used as a vessel
to help support the equitable deployment of resources, and I would like
nothing more than to see Australia redirect some funds away from local
initiatives and financially support initiatives in the Solomon Islands on
a basis of recognising the importance of Telecentre’s for these
communities as a focus of international aid. <br>
<br>
Rgds, Don <br>
<br>
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