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The Internet by Motorbike

Posted by michael on from the honda-express dept.

MrHatken writes "An interesting combination of wireless, wheels, and store-and-forward email: 'In Cambodia, motorbikes act as routers for a store-and-forward email system: The New York Times reports on a system that allow remote villages in Cambodia to send and receive email via Wi-Fi-equipped motorbikes. The Motoman system converges in the provincial capital where a satellite-enabled school uploads and downloads email for the remote recipients. The system is funded in part through U.S. benefactors who aren't just sending money; they're spending time there as well, and helping to improve the quality of medicine and people's livelihoods.'"

10 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. base necessities by vargul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    so we can say that the ability of sending and receiving email became one of the things which essentially needed for human life just like proper medicine for example... or at least the benefactors think so...

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    Aure entuluva!
  2. Talk about Pony Express by Sir+Pallas · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, really -- talk about the Pony Express.

  3. Reinventing the wheel (pun intended) by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Insightful

    motorbikes act as routers for a store-and-forward email system

    I know a very similar store-and-forward messaging system that has the same kind of throughput and latency, has been working very well indeed for the longest time, and doesn't require people on the non-internet-connected dinky village side to have a computer : it's called the mail. The store-and-forward delivery system is called a postman ...

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    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. The irony here is absolutely phenomenal... by 10101001011 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The equipment that they built for cents a unit ends up being resold to them for huge markup values. Sure they have benefactors but they still have to pay a heck of a lot more than cents a unit. Yeah, this is the thing that this country really needs...how about food, an infastructure that they built - not benefactors, compassion and respect. This is just kind of, well, stupid.

    Bob: Hey Charlie, you know what Cambodia needs?

    Charlie: Doctors?

    Bob: Nah!

    Charlie: Food?

    Bob: No way, they have plenty of rice!

    Charlie: Respect from the global community?

    Bob: Charlie, we are the strongest country i the world, respect ain't in our vocabulary!

    Charlie: Well I give up then!

    Bob: E-mail!

    Charlie: I'm moving to Chile...

    1. Re:The irony here is absolutely phenomenal... by kfg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Charlie, we are the strongest country i the world

      I don't suppose you noticed that they got schools first, all the internet equipment was donated by their neighbor, Thailand, who well understand the local economy, needs, wants and special enviromental issues of the area and also have plenty of rice (which is even what the well to do folk in the cities eat in that part of the world) with additional equipment and monies coming from Japan?

      This is a local show. We aren't part of it. They're taking care of their own, their own way.

      I think we might at least have the decency to leave them to it without poking them with pointy sticks.

      KFG

    2. Re:The irony here is absolutely phenomenal... by HeghmoH · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, I know all of my cheap electronics comes with a giant "Made in Cambodia" stamped on it.

      Come on, cheap electronics is made in a place where you have a highly-educated (compared to a place like extremely-rural Cambodia) technically-minded but still rather cheap populace. This is a place like China, not Bumfuck, Cambodia.

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    3. Re:The irony here is absolutely phenomenal... by Aaden42 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think you're kind of missing the point...

      These are rural farming areas. They're not starving. Most of South East Asia has rich soil (or marsh land) for growing rice, soy, and whatever else they may need to eat. Compare that to parts of Africa where people ARE starving because they're in the middle of a desert where food crops won't grow.

      Adding effective global communication to the mix allows farmers to market their crops more effectively in a global market. It gives them access to weather forcasts and allows them to plan what to grow, etc. It allows semi-skilled medical staff in the villages to communicate with expert physicians for help with more difficult cases.

      This project does all of those things in the context of village schools where students are presumably taught all sorts of useful things.

      Rapid long distance communication was largely responsible for tranforming the US from a rural farming economy to industrial, tech, and other more profitable means of making a living. The areas served by this system are probably quite similar to the US in the late 1800's in a lot of ways. Adding rapid communication may well aide them in building their own infrastruture for future development.

      And you've got to admit... Packet motorcycle is just brilliant!

    4. Re:The irony here is absolutely phenomenal... by glesga_kiss · · Score: 2, Insightful
      In addition to the other replies, they also sell scarfs over the internet made in these remote villages. Here's where your cash goes:
      The villagers for Robib are deeply appreciative of your support. Local salaries are paid to the weavers and spinners of silk items. The equipment are building where they work was donated (see Generous Supporters). Profits from sales go into a fund that is establishing a modest agriculture project in Robib, pig and chicken raising, to provide more employment for villagers. The final proceeds of this go into a community fund to support the aged and sick in the area. Please see Telemedicine for more details.

      This is a fucking brilliant project all in and all involved get my full respect. It's even technologically brilliant, remember the old IT saying about the bandwidth of a truck carrying backup tapes. They don't need up-to-the-second stock quotes from the internet, the lag isn't that bad compared to the zero access they had in the past, including the lack of traditional postal mail. Access to doctors, farming info, family members, government. There are two technologies that changed our society forever; books and communication. They just got the latter over the hardest "last-mile" on the planet, instantly giving them acces to all the worlds knowledge. Cool.

      They paint an admirable image of their culture, whereas you hardly do the same for yours. RTFA, tosser.

  5. Industry anybody? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This is the lamest idea that I have ever heard. Is e-mail really what Cambodia needs? No. What Cambodia really needs is some non-agrarian jobs. It needs some industry. When it has some industry then it will have the money and incentive to build some infrastructure including better transportation and the Internet. Then they will have to power to do it themselves which will make it much better for them anyway. So next time that somebody considers outsourcing your job to India, maybe you should suggest Cambodia as a more charitable alternative.

  6. Consider the cost efficiency. by AnotherSteve · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, sure it isn't a grand gesture and it isn't infrastructure you can put your hands on. On the other hand, look how much bang they're getting for their buck: The press release above says they spent $18,000 from a grant and they've got monthlies of a few hundred bucks a site? So call it $30,000, even $40,000 a year. You're not going to get much road for that, and only the village that gets the road is going to benefit. You might be able to fund one visiting team of clinicians for $40K, but again, that only helps the people who can get to the clinic. Sometimes it is okay to improve things incrementally.

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    Information wants to be $1.98/lb.