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Help Wire Remote Laos Villages
rODbegbie writes "Lee Felsenstein is appealing for donations to help provide Internet access to remote Laos villages. The New York Times considered the idea one of the best in 2002, but they need to raise $25,000 to get this in place before monsoon season. Donations can be made using Paypal (mention that it's for "Remote IT")."
Would be more then happy to send them a bunch of CD's if that helps.
People need food and shelter before they can worry about getting online. I know that it's stupid to say that they should be donating something else, but...it just seems like there's a huge push to get underdeveloped areas on the 'net instead of taking care of necessities first.
I don't think that Laos needs free Internet connections. I think what they need is houses, and a literacy rate above 60%. How do expect a small village, only 60% literate, to know how to use the Internet? In a country where the phones to people ratio is well over 1:100, I doubt that the Internet will be of must use.
I'll repeat what I said about India regarding the Simputer: there are more important things than the Internet. You know, food, water, shelter during the monsoon season
Most people in Laos don't have computers or even a need for one. Why would internet connections be "one of the best ideas of 2002"??
Is this project at the behest of the villages or an outside person assuming only positive things will result? Cultures have been quickly torn apart by ideas which seemed positive to outside initiators.
This is just rediculous. Couldn't we focus on giving them something a little more practical like, you know, food, clean water, and medical supplies?
I'm just sick of the techno-fetishism that's taking the place of true humanitarian efforts and generosity. These people don't need cell phones and microwaves, they need basic living supplies. Let them establish some hygenic standards and bring the infant mortality rate down, and we can worry about convenience later. Never mind that the health effects of wireless networks have not yet been studied in great detail. For heaven's sake, we could be sending these people to their graves with invisible radiation!
The PayPal thing is just insult upon injury. I'll make my donations by check, thanks, so none of my money goes to line the pockets of some hokey e-business that can't even protect its own databases (and doesn't claim to!).
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
I just came back from a small village in Mexico about the size of this one. They have internet access now, but I have to ask: Do these people really need it?
These people have gotten along fine without computers, why do they need them now?
Sure, it is a nice convenience for tourists when they travel to these areas, but you can't tell me indiginious people, such as these, truely need internet access or computer usage.
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
Remote Laos villages?
Sorry but speaking as an American, I'm more worried about wiring remote US villages and schools.
I am getting really fed up with these appeals to make the general population of either our nation or the world PAY for internet access for others. Internet access is *NOT* equivalent to food or health care.
I realize we all feel the internet is a miraculous invention that is "setting people free." I generally hold this view as well. But it is not a necessity!
This reminds me of all of the extra fees on your telephone bill that were put there by Al Gore. Yes, the "creating of the internet" that Al Gore takes credit for is largely the sneaky tax increases he jammed through Congress by adding numerous fees to your phone bill. That money is then used as welfare to (supposedly) give free internet access to low income folks. That is *NOT* the proper role of government.
Similarly, bringing internet access to the jungles of Southeast asia is *NOT* the role of charitable organizations and it is certainly not the type of project that should be gobbling up the limited funds charitable people have to donate to causes in the world.
Internet access is a part of a nation's technological and industrial infrastructure that needs to evolve organically along with the rest of its culture. You cannot take a country that is 50+ years behind the western industrialized world and plop down mondern internet technology. It makes no sense and it is a huge waste. If you want to help these countries economically, you need to help them get a basic economic infrastructure in place so they can actually grow in a normal fashion.
This kind of crap is frivilous, back-patting BS being done by people who want to feel like they are "making the world a better place." In truth, they are accomplishing nothing.
If you want to help out people in the 3rd world, join the Peace Corps.
-Michael
Threshold RPG
Read an interview here. /there/ during the genesis of the personal computer revolution.
Lee was involved in getting public access terminals deployed in the early 70's in San Francisco, created the Pop 'Tronics "Penny Whistle Modem" project, and the highly collectible SOL-20 personal computer, member Honbrew Computer Club - this guy was
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
And of course ... more of my opinion on the post ...
Like I said to mandrake (a company) and many before on the slashdot donation network, NO ... the only thing that I donate to is things I can directly control. IE scholarships, trusts, etc. I wanna know who I'm benifiting not the well dressed president of the NON-PROFIT organization. I still can't believe the black-tie events I've been invited to in the name of "Charity" ... I love the fact that "feeding children" requires a fucking charity dinner ... how about this ... invite everyone to a charity dinner and then don't have one, make them see what it's like to be hungry.
As far as internet in Laos ... laughable ... I would really like to see the benifit of this ... not from the begging for money site too. Plus ... $25,000 because grants won't come in time ... pretty optimistic about those grants coming in.
You all really have money to burn after the holliday season? Why dontcha look at what's happening in your own backyard. Call your old college and tell them you want to start a scholarship (they won't mind really). Education is the key to it all, don't care what you say.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
I live in a large US city, 20,000 ft from the CO. My only option is dialup.
If I move to a grass hut in Laos, I get high speed wireless.
Yeah.....
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
From snopes.com (www.snopes.com/spoons/felsenstein.html):
So, you see, it's an urban legend.You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
But something's not adding up here.
...if you read the article, it says that "This year, they're living in the 19th century; next year, they'll be in the 21st," meaning that they're doing this right now with pencil and paper, or by oral arrangement. Why a pressing need to move them into the 21st century?
1) We're delivering internet access to a remote country to remote villages in a far-east Asian country. Villages in that area (Laos, Vietnam, Thailand) consist mostly of small farmers and laborers who have probably never heard of the internet, let alone a computer.
2) The reasons the villagers need computers are (taken from the article):
a: a way to make phone calls so that they could communicate with relatives overseas
b: to secure local crop pricing information.
c: the use of small spreadsheets and simple word processing so that they could bid on things like construction jobs.
A sounds understandable. B...that would work as an excuse here in America, but it doesn't make sense for Laos. Remembering some old cultural information, most farms there are very small-scale (a few acres at the most), meaning that farmers wouldn't own silos. Along with the lack of huge harvests, there's seems to be no necessary need for them to periodically check up on crop pricing. And option C?
3) Expenses (again, from the webpage):
a: $1,000 One RT US-Laos Trip for One Technical Consultant
Why are we paying a "consultant" to set up a single computer system in a remote village? Typically, someone who volunteers the time and energy to undertake such an adventure finds ways of appealing to travel agencies to cut expenses so that volunteered dollars go further.
b: $1,500 One Complete Jhai Computer
Why in the world are they paying $1,500 for a computer system for "the use of small spreadsheets and simple word processing"? Sure, many readers might think they're just buying a "new computer" without knowing how to get cheaper deals elsewhere. But the supposed letter has some very detailed information: "...interconnected by Wi-Fi (802.11b) digital data links and coupled to the local phone system several miles away. Through this system VOIP (digital telephone) calls could be placed to the local phone lines..." If they have that technical knowledge, they should know very well how to set up a cheaper computer system (As cheap as $400 for a new Lindows system including monitor, etc) that will accomplish the same thing.
c: $2,500 One Complete Village Set-up
What the hell is this? "Complete Village Set-up?" I didn't know that we were turning this into a profitable business when it involves volunteered donations! I mean, seriously, look at this supposed "line-item" description of what the project costs:
$10 20 lbs. shipping costs
$25 Keyboard
$50 Headset
$75 Antenna
$100 Battery
$250 Bicycle Powered Generator
$450 CPU or Mountain Top Solar Panel
$850 Base Station
$1,000 One RT US-Laos Trip for One Technical Consultant
$1,500 One Complete Jhai Computer
$2,500 One Complete Village Set-up
$3,000 Relay Station
$25,000 The Full 5 Village System
This sure doesn't add up to $25,000! And why does the village need a solar panel if they're going to generate electricity with a bicycle generator?
This list keeps getting longer and longer. Why are they setting up a wi-fi network when much of Laos is mountainous and forest? That kind of terrain will eat up any 802.11 communication!
On top of it all, how are they asking for donations? Through PayPal. A slick way of getting easy money, and an easy way to bag and run.
Now, I could be completely wrong, and all this might be an actual true organization with good intentions. But as I said before, something just isn't adding up.
(http://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED
To be fair, Negroponte got the 'how' wrong (he thought satellites would provide cheap internet access), but the why is spot on. People talk about how you can't leapfrog 50-200 years of development to catch up to the industrialized world
We talk about helping the poor in the US or in Europe
... I now know where to send some of the $30 MILLION DOLLARS that my dear friend Mr. Mboto of Nigeria will be wiring to my account very shortly.
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.