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Getting Afghanistan Online

Posted by samzenpus on from the like-this dept.

Velcroman1 writes "Imagine living in a country where only 3.5 percent of the population use the Internet. When you ask a neighbor about Facebook, they give you a confused look. Posting a status update on Twitter is a foreign concept, and most citizens still rely on printed newspapers and radio reports. That's life in Afghanistan today, where only 1.5 million people (out of 30M) have Internet access. A new National Social Media Summit intends to change that trend. To be held September 22 to 23 in Kabul, and featuring some 200 speakers, the event will promote the use of social media as a way to not only discuss current news, but to make news. The summit, called Paiwand (or Unity), aims to boost Net use further. It will break out into several themes including social media and government transparency, new media trends and emerging tech."

5 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Tempting by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Funny

    When you ask a neighbor about Facebook, they give you a confused look. Posting a status update on Twitter is a foreign concept, and most citizens still rely on printed newspapers and radio reports.

    Almost makes it sound worth the constant threat of bombings, shootings, and oppression by the Taliban.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:Tempting by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Insightful

      well the local newspaper is as good as the local tribal leader lets it to be.

      in other words it's pure shit. that's why getting them online matters. that's why getting everyone online matters.

      because that's the a way to get them out of their highly localized dictatorship dystopias. now their life is just what the local guy with most guns and dope for his gunmen wants it to be(and unfortunately those guys aren't very industrious - and making things better for their community would make them have less power...).

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  2. Prime Directive by ciderbrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sure there are a lot of issues to fix first. But maybe many there are not ready for *all* the stuff on the net just yet..

  3. Get off my lawn! by sjbe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Imagine living in a country where only 3.5 percent of the population use the Internet.

    That's not hard for anyone who is old enough to remember the 1980s. The internet as we know it today is a pretty recent development for most of the population. Before 1990 or so pretty much no one outside of academia had internet access.

  4. Re:Priorities? by arth1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In a country, where people are dying like flies from all sorts of preventable causes, and where illiteracy, ignorance and fanaticism are rife, will they REALLY welcome this?

    I thought we did?
    Oh, you're not talking about the US?