Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Peace Corps to Wire Senegal

Posted by michael on from the goodwill-to-men dept.

An anonymous submitter wrote: "Peace Corps Online is reporting on the White House's Digital Freedom Initiative that will place volunteers from the Peace Corps, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco in a pilot program in Senegal where they will leverage nearly 200 cybercafes and 10,000 telecenters to provide opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The idea isn't new - David Rothman proposed an Electronic Peace Corps in 1984, the Geek Corps has been doing this kind of work in Ghana for years, and the Peace Corps already has about 1,500 volunteers working in information technology."

4 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. This is good but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    The internet has a vast store of information, and I think creating this kind of infrastructure is a good thing, but we have to keep in mind that technology can't solve all problems. There is an excellent article at the linux journal site that illustrates some important points:

    http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=4657

  2. Peace Corps not part of Homeland Security by Mothra+the+III · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the Peace Corps website: "Currently, 6,678 Peace Corps volunteers are serving in 70 countries, working to bring clean water to communities, teach children, help start new small businesses, and stop the spread of AIDS. Since 1961, more than 168,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, serving in 136 nations." These people most likely dont have the skills to combat cyber terrorism and are using the skills they do have to set up small networks and get people on the internet.

    --
    Worst. Sig. Ever.
  3. Helping out online by rf0 · · Score: 4, Informative

    In a similar vain people might be interested in NetAid which apart of the UN in helping out online less developed countries

    Rus

    --
    Cheap UK and US VPS
  4. Re:why? by pe1rxq · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is all very simple actually....

    You can find practicly anything on the internet, no need for expensive books, all you need is a little curiousity.

    As for fighting big business and governments all you need is to set up a 'poor-villages-against-whatever' mailinglist and you can organize.

    That is the power of the internet: spreading information at practicly no cost.

    Jeroen

    --
    Secure messaging: http://quickmsg.vreeken.net/