I'm sorry if we gave the impression that we don't appreciate the work other NGOs are going. Our focus on getting businesses to help businesses is not an attempt to belittle or draw attention away from the great work organizations like APC are doing. We've chosen to focus on working with businesses because we think it's a rapid path towards economic development. We're playing up corporate responsibility (and featuring projects like helping.org) because we think it's important that tech corporations step up and take responsibility for bridging the digital divide... and because we're supported exclusively by individual and industry funds. But we certainly appreciate the work other groups are doing - including IESC and Global Techcorps, both of whom we work with. I'll make sure the next version of the site does a better job of featuring organizations like APC and ISOC.
Actually, the reason we didn't start domestically is that there's a ton of good work being done in the US. If you're interested in the problem of wiring K-12 schools, we think very highly of Techcorps. They do terrific work bringing knowledgeable techies into local schools. If you're interested in other groups that are working on domestic digital divide issues, or you're interested in volunteering, check out VolunteerMatch which provides an excellent db of organizations and opportunities.
>a) software and web development centre Some private industry efforts are already underway, and those are the types of businesses we're trying to assist.
>b) practical seminars at university level(how to install a server, linux123, networks[practical useable stuff that theydon't learn at the uni]), you might have a more efficient and wider reach and they will surely welcome a foreign expert with hands on experience We're likely to offer these to universities, to Peace Corps, to NGOs... it won't be the main focus of our work (building businesses), but it's one of the additional benfits we can provide. Even better, we'd like to train folks in the businesses we're working with so they can provide these services to their own universities...
>c) convince the government to officially commit to a tech zone and This one may take some time, but long-term it's a great suggestion. I think we may need to run some successful programs and build some credibility before we can push for it...
>d) talk to biggies to start investing over there, even if starting only with a small office for outsourcing software development. It is a chain, if this starts, small companies that will supply them will come and so on and so on Slowly but surely working on this one. First, we're trying to support Ghanaian efforts to be a place to outsource your programming tech. But as we talk to more businesses to obtain funding, support and volunteers, this is a message we can and will spread.
> e) increase efficiency of the government bureaucracy using IT Okay, that one I'm a little scared of.:-) If I felt confident it worked in the US, I'd feel better about undertaking the task in Ghana.:-)
>>f) if you are going to go for helping subsistence farmers and their villages try cooperating with econ academics(email me if you are interested, could get you some contacts that are just working on informational issues and developing countries) We're definately focused on urban areas first, rural areas second, but will definately email you re: contacts in the econ field. Thanks!
Yes, we are talking with the Ghanaian gov't as well - hoping to meet with the Minister of Communications when we're next in the country.
>It would be nice if they could set up some sort of index of "how to contact a Geekcorps near you" type of thing. (Mebbe there is one, haven't clicked the link yet..)
Wish we had a Geekcorps SA at this point, but we don't yet. We're building out a page of links to local digital divide efforts for folks who can't take the time to volunteer overseas. I'll drop you an email if we find a good group in SA.
Actually, that's the intention behind Geekcorps. If you qualify to be one of our volunteers, we pay planefare, living expenses and a small stipend. We can't cover your apartment while you're overseas, but you can always sublet, right?
This means that we can't accept a ton of volunteers at once, since we've got to provide a substantial amount of money for each volunteer to go overseas... but we hope that funding won't prevent anyone from joining Geekcorps.
I think the comment Elisa or I made about cybercafes is confusing people. We're working with a wide range of different businesses in developing nations that want to use the Internet. Some of these businesses are focused on the access side - ISPs, cybercafes, etc. Most are businesses that would be using the Internet to reach a wider market with their products. Whether you're running a manufacturing facility or producing crafts, having access to the web, and the ability to build an ecommerce presence, makes it loads more likely you're going to be able to sell your goods to a world market, rather than a local or regional market.
In some cases, it allows you provide services that simply don't have a local market. One business we're hoping to work with in Ghana is providing software development services for companies in the US who are running large COBOL systems. There's not neccesarily a large market for their services in Ghana, but there is in the US, and net access allows them to work in a market they couldn't otherwise reach.
I agree with the poster that IT by itself doesn't neccesarily improve living standards or development conditions. Our goal instead is to help businesses use IT to create jobs. Better paying jobs means more money to spend on medicine, education and other essential services. IT's not a magic bullet, but may be a catalyst for long-term change.
Thanks for bringing up the subject of "brain drain". At Geekcorps, we see this as one of the toughest problems many developing nations face. Since there's such a shortage of talented techies in the US (recent figures suggest 300k unfilled tech jobs in the US), the US gov't has made it fairly easy for highly skilled citizens of other nations to come to the US. While this is great for US companies - and many US companies, including my previous two employers (Tripod and Lycos) have been built with their efforts - it's tough for countries to lose their most talented citizens.
The solution to brain drain - IMHO - is to create more economic opportunities for these talented folks in their home countries. If Trinidad had a few more successful IT businesses, there might be fewer folks grabbing those H1-B visas.
A bit of good news - brain drain can be reversed. That's one of the reasons we're so excited about Ghana. Ghanaians who've been living in the US for the last few years are starting to return home to start IT businesses. This is great news, and a major step forward...
Great observations. We're looking towards Grameen, Accion and other microlending programs for ideas for how to run Geekcorps in a way that - eventually - will be sustainable.
We're working exclusively with businesses, rather than building NGOs, which have the tendency to work to sustain themselves rather than to solve problems and move on. Our goal is not to continue working with a business, but to train trainers at that business, so they can train their staff and communities. To keep ourselves honest, we're limiting ourselves to five years in a country.
We're also looking towards the venture capital community to provide an essential component of our work. As we work with companies to expand their online presences, they're going to need money to expand their work. If we can help introduce our best partners to venture capitalists willing to take the risks inherent in investing in the developing world, we'll consider ourselves very successful.
Sustainable economic development's a challenging field, though. It's taken Grameen, Accion and others a couple of decades to work the kinks out of their admirable methods. Give us a little time to work out the right model.:-)
>Yes, I know this isn't an interview, but if someone on Slashdot is in the Geekcorps, could you please tell us:
It can be an interview if you want it to be. Keep throwing out questions and I'll answer them as fast as I can. Can't promise I'll answer everything today (gotta mow the lawn at some point), but I'll get you responses faster than Lars did to the Napster questions...:-)
>Do people in developing countries prefer Gnome, KDE, or Afterstep? Vi, emacs, pico?
In Ghana, the developing nation where I've spent the most time, most people aren't aware that they could be running Linux on their PCs. Part of the work we're hoping to do is introduce folks to the opportunities free *nix presents for folks who want to run a highly scaleable tech presences. So, give us a few months and we'll get you some data back from the pilot.:-)
That's cool with us, as long as you work on the issues that you think are more important. I'm certainly not going to claim that universal access to the Internet is the most important issue facing the world. I am going to claim that it's an important step towards economic development and job creation in countries that desparately need good paying jobs.
There are numerous issues confronting the world community. Some of them require short-term action: famine relief, refugee assistance, peacekeeping missions. Others require long-term solutions: economic development, infrastructure development, public health. The world needs organizations and people to work on long-term and short-term issues. So if you feel Geekcorps is working on the wrong issues, that's fine (and perhaps true), but please back up your words with your time and money and support the efforts that you see as more important than what we're doing.
There's some terrific work being done on Digital Divide issues in rural America. If Slashdotters want to get involved, a great org to look into is TechCorps, which works on wiring and supporting educational efforts in US schools, especially schools in rural areas. Actually, we're learning a lot from TechCorps' efforts in rural areas, and we're trying to apply those efforts in Geekcorps' work. (The idea of virtual volunteers - folks providing answers and research support via email - is something we've unabashedly stolen from TC.)
Actually, the reason we're choosing to focus on the International Digital Divide is that so much good work is being done on DD issues in the US. For a good overview of some of the other groups out there, check out helping.org.
Just to weigh in - let me reassure you all that we didn't choose Ghana via the dart method. I lived in Ghana in 1993-1994 and have travelled there subsequently. On a trip in January, my wife and I were amazed at how many people asked us questions about using the Internet. After spending most of an afternoon giving a spontaneous class on web-based email at a cybercafe in Accra, we concluded that Ghana would be an excellent place to try a Geekcorps pilot project.
Ghana's an interesting example of a country in transition - most of the population lives in rural areas and work as subsistence farmers, but there's a large migration to urban areas and a need for high-paying jobs to support these migrants. No, most folks aren't going to come from a village and land a job doing web design... but they might find jobs working for a factory that's expanding... because it's suddenly selling products to a wider world market... because someone's helped them set up an ecommerce presence and fulfillment system. This is realistic in Ghana because the government has substantially liberalized telecommunications law, allowing ISPs to operate and ordinary individuals to get relatively inexpensive phone lines. (Not the case in much of the world.)
One of the populations we're most concerned with helping in countries like Ghana is the thousands of university graduates who have computer and business skills and bring them to the US, because there aren't a lot of good IT jobs in Ghana at the moment. Our goal is to help folks build great IT businesses in Ghana to give folks an incentive to share their talents in their home countries, rather than contributing to the problem of "brain drain" many developing nations face.
Hi. Ethan from Geekcorps here. Yes, Peace Corps is starting a couple of programs for technical volunteers - we were down meeting with the Director of the Peace Corps earlier this week and he's pretty enthusiastic about what the Peace Corps can do to bridge the International Digital Divide. But we agreed that Peace Corps and Geekcorps are focusing on different aspects of bridging the digital divide. Specifically, Peace Corps is sending volunteers who can spend a lot of time with communities teaching basic tech skills (word processing, basic web usage, email.) We're sending volunteers for a much shorter period of time (three months instead of two years), but our volunteers are specialists with deep skills in an technical area. Thus, the projects we're going to undertake are more like helping a business set up an ecommerce presence or a wireless WAN than teaching basic email skills. We're really excited about working with the Peace Corps - one thing we talked about with the Peace Corps recently was the idea that we could serve as a resource for Peace Corps when we're working in the same country.
Thanks for the mention. My name is Ethan Zuckerman and I stepped down as VP of R&D for tripod.com a few months back to start Geekcorps.
Geekcorps is trying to help companies throughout the developing world take advantage of the 'net. We believe that the best way for less-developed nations to address development issues (healthcare, clean water, nutrition, education) is to improve their economies as a whole. As we've all seen over the last few years, the net has the potential to create powerful new busineses out of thin air in a short time. We're betting that some companies in the developing world could become major players in their economies - and create a large number of well-paying jobs - by taking advantage of the Internet.
Geekcorps is recruiting volunteers to go overseas for three-month stays to work with companies to build better websites, networks, ecommerce systems, etc. We'll be sending our first six geeks to Ghana late this fall, and should be expanding to other countries in 2001. If you're interested in volunteering, or just want to find out more, drop a line to info@geekcorps.org. (We've got a site at www.geekcorps.org, but there's very, very little there at the moment.)
Just to respond to some of the threads going around: the term "developing world" is amazingly broad. The term includes countries like Mozambique, which has a far bigger troubles right now than underdeveloped internet infrastructure, and areas of India like Bangalore, which give Silicon Valley a run for its money in terms of 'net startups per square foot. I think it's worth remembering that, just in the same way that there are highly wired corners of the US, Canada and Europe, there are more and less wired corners of the developing world. I was in Ghana for several weeks in January, a country that meets almost anyone's definition of "developing nation". Despite the poverty and lack of development that pervades the country, there are five national ISPs and over a dozen cybercafes in operation. The net's on the move, in every corner of the world.
For hard data on the international digital divide, I highly recommend the United Nations Human Development Program's 1999 Human Development report, available online at http://www.undp.org/hdro/ There are some thought-provoking stats in there - what does it mean for the culture of the Internet that 1 of 3 Americans are online while 1 of 1000 sub-Saharan Africans, or 1 of 2500 South Asians are online?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sorry if we gave the impression that we don't appreciate the work other NGOs are going. Our focus on getting businesses to help businesses is not an attempt to belittle or draw attention away from the great work organizations like APC are doing. We've chosen to focus on working with businesses because we think it's a rapid path towards economic development. We're playing up corporate responsibility (and featuring projects like helping.org) because we think it's important that tech corporations step up and take responsibility for bridging the digital divide... and because we're supported exclusively by individual and industry funds. But we certainly appreciate the work other groups are doing - including IESC and Global Techcorps, both of whom we work with. I'll make sure the next version of the site does a better job of featuring organizations like APC and ISOC.
Actually, the reason we didn't start domestically is that there's a ton of good work being done in the US. If you're interested in the problem of wiring K-12 schools, we think very highly of Techcorps. They do terrific work bringing knowledgeable techies into local schools. If you're interested in other groups that are working on domestic digital divide issues, or you're interested in volunteering, check out VolunteerMatch which provides an excellent db of organizations and opportunities.
>a) software and web development centre
Some private industry efforts are already underway, and those are the types of businesses we're trying to assist.
>b) practical seminars at university level(how to install a server, linux123, networks[practical useable stuff that theydon't learn at the uni]), you might have a more efficient and wider reach and they will surely welcome a foreign expert with hands on experience
We're likely to offer these to universities, to Peace Corps, to NGOs... it won't be the main focus of our work (building businesses), but it's one of the additional benfits we can provide. Even better, we'd like to train folks in the businesses we're working with so they can provide these services to their own universities...
>c) convince the government to officially commit to a tech zone and
This one may take some time, but long-term it's a great suggestion. I think we may need to run some successful programs and build some credibility before we can push for it...
>d) talk to biggies to start investing over there, even if starting only with a small office for outsourcing software development. It is a chain, if this starts, small companies that will supply them will come and so on and so on
Slowly but surely working on this one. First, we're trying to support Ghanaian efforts to be a place to outsource your programming tech. But as we talk to more businesses to obtain funding, support and volunteers, this is a message we can and will spread.
> e) increase efficiency of the government bureaucracy using IT :-) If I felt confident it worked in the US, I'd feel better about undertaking the task in Ghana. :-)
Okay, that one I'm a little scared of.
>>f) if you are going to go for helping subsistence farmers and their villages try cooperating with econ academics(email me if you are interested, could get you some contacts that are just working on informational issues and developing countries)
We're definately focused on urban areas first, rural areas second, but will definately email you re: contacts in the econ field. Thanks!
Yes, we are talking with the Ghanaian gov't as well - hoping to meet with the Minister of Communications when we're next in the country.
Thanks for great questions and comments.
Wish we had a Geekcorps SA at this point, but we don't yet. We're building out a page of links to local digital divide efforts for folks who can't take the time to volunteer overseas. I'll drop you an email if we find a good group in SA.
This means that we can't accept a ton of volunteers at once, since we've got to provide a substantial amount of money for each volunteer to go overseas... but we hope that funding won't prevent anyone from joining Geekcorps.
In some cases, it allows you provide services that simply don't have a local market. One business we're hoping to work with in Ghana is providing software development services for companies in the US who are running large COBOL systems. There's not neccesarily a large market for their services in Ghana, but there is in the US, and net access allows them to work in a market they couldn't otherwise reach.
I agree with the poster that IT by itself doesn't neccesarily improve living standards or development conditions. Our goal instead is to help businesses use IT to create jobs. Better paying jobs means more money to spend on medicine, education and other essential services. IT's not a magic bullet, but may be a catalyst for long-term change.
The solution to brain drain - IMHO - is to create more economic opportunities for these talented folks in their home countries. If Trinidad had a few more successful IT businesses, there might be fewer folks grabbing those H1-B visas.
A bit of good news - brain drain can be reversed. That's one of the reasons we're so excited about Ghana. Ghanaians who've been living in the US for the last few years are starting to return home to start IT businesses. This is great news, and a major step forward...
We're working exclusively with businesses, rather than building NGOs, which have the tendency to work to sustain themselves rather than to solve problems and move on. Our goal is not to continue working with a business, but to train trainers at that business, so they can train their staff and communities. To keep ourselves honest, we're limiting ourselves to five years in a country.
We're also looking towards the venture capital community to provide an essential component of our work. As we work with companies to expand their online presences, they're going to need money to expand their work. If we can help introduce our best partners to venture capitalists willing to take the risks inherent in investing in the developing world, we'll consider ourselves very successful.
Sustainable economic development's a challenging field, though. It's taken Grameen, Accion and others a couple of decades to work the kinks out of their admirable methods. Give us a little time to work out the right model. :-)
It can be an interview if you want it to be. Keep throwing out questions and I'll answer them as fast as I can. Can't promise I'll answer everything today (gotta mow the lawn at some point), but I'll get you responses faster than Lars did to the Napster questions... :-)
>Do people in developing countries prefer Gnome, KDE, or Afterstep? Vi, emacs, pico?
In Ghana, the developing nation where I've spent the most time, most people aren't aware that they could be running Linux on their PCs. Part of the work we're hoping to do is introduce folks to the opportunities free *nix presents for folks who want to run a highly scaleable tech presences. So, give us a few months and we'll get you some data back from the pilot. :-)
Me, personally? Gnome and Emacs.
That's cool with us, as long as you work on the issues that you think are more important. I'm certainly not going to claim that universal access to the Internet is the most important issue facing the world. I am going to claim that it's an important step towards economic development and job creation in countries that desparately need good paying jobs.
There are numerous issues confronting the world community. Some of them require short-term action: famine relief, refugee assistance, peacekeeping missions. Others require long-term solutions: economic development, infrastructure development, public health. The world needs organizations and people to work on long-term and short-term issues. So if you feel Geekcorps is working on the wrong issues, that's fine (and perhaps true), but please back up your words with your time and money and support the efforts that you see as more important than what we're doing.
Ethan Zuckerman, CEO and co-founder, Geekcorps
Actually, the reason we're choosing to focus on the International Digital Divide is that so much good work is being done on DD issues in the US. For a good overview of some of the other groups out there, check out helping.org.
Ghana's an interesting example of a country in transition - most of the population lives in rural areas and work as subsistence farmers, but there's a large migration to urban areas and a need for high-paying jobs to support these migrants. No, most folks aren't going to come from a village and land a job doing web design... but they might find jobs working for a factory that's expanding... because it's suddenly selling products to a wider world market... because someone's helped them set up an ecommerce presence and fulfillment system. This is realistic in Ghana because the government has substantially liberalized telecommunications law, allowing ISPs to operate and ordinary individuals to get relatively inexpensive phone lines. (Not the case in much of the world.)
One of the populations we're most concerned with helping in countries like Ghana is the thousands of university graduates who have computer and business skills and bring them to the US, because there aren't a lot of good IT jobs in Ghana at the moment. Our goal is to help folks build great IT businesses in Ghana to give folks an incentive to share their talents in their home countries, rather than contributing to the problem of "brain drain" many developing nations face.
Hi. Ethan from Geekcorps here. Yes, Peace Corps is starting a couple of programs for technical volunteers - we were down meeting with the Director of the Peace Corps earlier this week and he's pretty enthusiastic about what the Peace Corps can do to bridge the International Digital Divide. But we agreed that Peace Corps and Geekcorps are focusing on different aspects of bridging the digital divide. Specifically, Peace Corps is sending volunteers who can spend a lot of time with communities teaching basic tech skills (word processing, basic web usage, email.) We're sending volunteers for a much shorter period of time (three months instead of two years), but our volunteers are specialists with deep skills in an technical area. Thus, the projects we're going to undertake are more like helping a business set up an ecommerce presence or a wireless WAN than teaching basic email skills. We're really excited about working with the Peace Corps - one thing we talked about with the Peace Corps recently was the idea that we could serve as a resource for Peace Corps when we're working in the same country.
Geekcorps is trying to help companies throughout the developing world take advantage of the 'net. We believe that the best way for less-developed nations to address development issues (healthcare, clean water, nutrition, education) is to improve their economies as a whole. As we've all seen over the last few years, the net has the potential to create powerful new busineses out of thin air in a short time. We're betting that some companies in the developing world could become major players in their economies - and create a large number of well-paying jobs - by taking advantage of the Internet.
Geekcorps is recruiting volunteers to go overseas for three-month stays to work with companies to build better websites, networks, ecommerce systems, etc. We'll be sending our first six geeks to Ghana late this fall, and should be expanding to other countries in 2001. If you're interested in volunteering, or just want to find out more, drop a line to info@geekcorps.org. (We've got a site at www.geekcorps.org, but there's very, very little there at the moment.)
Just to respond to some of the threads going around: the term "developing world" is amazingly broad. The term includes countries like Mozambique, which has a far bigger troubles right now than underdeveloped internet infrastructure, and areas of India like Bangalore, which give Silicon Valley a run for its money in terms of 'net startups per square foot. I think it's worth remembering that, just in the same way that there are highly wired corners of the US, Canada and Europe, there are more and less wired corners of the developing world. I was in Ghana for several weeks in January, a country that meets almost anyone's definition of "developing nation". Despite the poverty and lack of development that pervades the country, there are five national ISPs and over a dozen cybercafes in operation. The net's on the move, in every corner of the world.
For hard data on the international digital divide, I highly recommend the United Nations Human Development Program's 1999 Human Development report, available online at http://www.undp.org/hdro/ There are some thought-provoking stats in there - what does it mean for the culture of the Internet that 1 of 3 Americans are online while 1 of 1000 sub-Saharan Africans, or 1 of 2500 South Asians are online?