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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Don,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As you bring us up, more on the
Solomons. The approach where the demand from the community and the
awareness and skills are an essential part of growth of the telecentres is borne
out of the conditions here. Look at a map of the Solomons - don't just see a few
large islands, but screw your eyes up so you can only see the hundreds of
pinpoint communities, all isolated from each other. This implies
many risks to sustainability. So we start small and allow the community
to drive the growth - or not - depending on their perceived needs.
Participatory research is an important part, too, and great with donors
and/or making a business case.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What we want is for agencies to support
applications of the network, rather than direct support, although we have
welcomed that input in the initial growth stage. It's important for players in
the different sectors to take ownership of this idea, and then we can help them
to utilise the network which also helps to sustain it and stimulates utilisation
- a win win situation. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>However, in our experience it is very
difficult to get these central institutions to take up this step and realise the
potential.</FONT> <FONT face=Arial size=2>Even in simple matters such
as creating an email enquiry point, with appropriate procedures and training
(this is CRM really). So, these ideas should also be targeted at the points
where these programmes are written. That is in the planning departments of
government, but also the aid donor communities. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>David</FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=donc@internode.on.net href="mailto:donc@internode.on.net">Don
Cameron</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=arun@mssrf.res.in
href="mailto:arun@mssrf.res.in">'Subbiah Arunachalam'</A> ; <A
title=unisys@bdonline.com href="mailto:unisys@bdonline.com">'Unisys'</A> ; <A
title=telecentres@wsis-cs.org
href="mailto:telecentres@wsis-cs.org">telecentres@wsis-cs.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 29, 2004 9:01
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Telecentres] Working
Group</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">>>
</SPAN></FONT>Shahiduddin Akbar comments that "Nowhere in the world,
Telecentre has widely expanded".<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">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).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">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).
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">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.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Rgds, Don <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=navy
size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
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