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That means we are back to square one ! <BR>
I feel the reason for inactivity in this group is a lack of common ground to communicate, hence it is necessary to address the issue. Take in India, & other south east asian countries , Africa - commercial telecentres popularly termed as Internet cafes locally, will be a misonomer for a European, or North American concept . cause none here offers coffee !! but these commercial centre offer all the facility what is refered as a telecentre. & contribute substantially in bridging the digital divide. <BR>
From what I understand from the messages in this group, Australia, & New Zealand , Trinidad telecentres are heavily supported by the local community & Goverment funded. While in India/Egypt/ China concern for financial sustainablity is not even talked about. & nor they receive Goverment support. save except for a few interesting telecentre projects like the one conducted by Arun of MSSIR in India. <BR>
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IMHO , A telecentre definition will depend greatly on the geographic location, Income level, literacy level. terms of operation & medium of communication. May be then we will find a set of multiple definitions which will fit for say Hungary, Trinidad , new Zealand . <BR>
Another Definition may fit in for Peru, Brazil, India, China, Kenya etc. This will help us identify how to address the common aspirations, challenges, problems faced. Like the commercial telecentres face constant harrasment due to IPR, piracy illicit content access issues, While may be the goverment aided telecentres have challenges in justifying investment , coordination etc. <BR>
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errr am I adding to the heap of nonsense ? <BR>
<BR>
Clueless <BR>
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Ashish Saboo <BR>
President <BR>
Association of Public Internet Access Provider , India <BR>
URL: http://www.apiap.cybernook.net <BR>
Blog: http://apiap.blogspot.com <BR>
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On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 Toby Beresford wrote :<BR>
>Thanks Don, I'll forward your reply on.<BR>
><BR>
>I certainly agree that a working definition is needed before a count can be made.<BR>
><BR>
>Toby<BR>
><BR>
>Don Cameron wrote:<BR>
><BR>
>>Hi Toby,<BR>
>><BR>
>>I am not aware of any such study - and even if there was such a count I feel<BR>
>>it would present an unrealistic picture. The term "Telecentre" (Scandinavian<BR>
>>in origin) is used to describe only a small percentage of Public Access<BR>
>>Facilities/Centres - A great many PAP's around the world operate in the<BR>
>>accepted format of a Telecentre however are not named as such. Also<BR>
>>discussions here by Telecentre participants/advocats demonstrate how even<BR>
>>amongst ourselves we have difficulty defining the concept - anyone taking<BR>
>>such a count would need to firstly define exactly what a Telecentre is...<BR>
>>And this will always be open to interpretation.<BR>
>><BR>
>>Rgds, Don<BR>
>><BR>
>> <BR>
>>-----Original Message-----<BR>
>> From: telecentres-bounces@wsis-cs.org<BR>
>>[mailto:telecentres-bounces@wsis-cs.org] On Behalf Of Toby Beresford<BR>
>>Sent: Thursday, 23 December 2004 12:33 AM<BR>
>>To: telecentres@wsis-cs.org<BR>
>>Subject: [Telecentres] [Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] how many telecenters...]<BR>
>><BR>
>>Fellow Telecentrers...<BR>
>><BR>
>>Did we ever get
</P>
Ashish Saboo
<br>
President
<br>
Association of Public Internet Access Provider (ApiAp)
<br>
The voice of independent Cyber cafe operators
<br>
URL: http://www.apiap.cybernook.net
<br>
Blog: http://apiap.blogspot.com
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