Hi mark, there has been lots of talk about the digital divide and the reality of being on the wrong end of the divide is pretty grim. So it's really encouraging to see you and your organization working so tirelessly too address the situation. the one area i see that could use more attention is that of content. the real value of the internet is access to information. but where does your average south african kid go for locally relevant information, especially kids from our rural areas where language comes into play?
I can see this being applied with great success in actual peer to peer networks.
Before the 'digital / internet' era people traded 'physical / analogue' objects like books, taps, records, pictures. Today they do trade mp3s, pdfs, jpegs, etc.
Right now peer to peer networks scale globally, which is really cool, but i'm trading stuff with strangers, what about my friends? With the proliferation of wireless and bluetooth type networks we will have the ability to create local p2p networks. I want to be able to share music, pics, video, data, etc seemlessly with my friends without having to connect to the internet. Why should i have to if he's standing right next to me? Why cant my device just talk directly to his?
The next killer app will meerly leverage peer to peer technology. Peer to Peer networks will just be a means to end end. What we will be sharing is way more important than how will will be sharing it...
Similarly, searching on an obscure actor would return hundreds of sites all wanting to sell you posters, DVDs and videos of the movie they had their bit parts in, but little actual information.
That is a good example of information pollution, a term I heard first from Earthlink
Is that really Information Pollution or a case of our search tools not scaling well to the volume of information? I think it's just a matter of coming up with better tools to filter and find information. The semantic web is a promising move in that direction. But with no clear way to implement it, it's going to be a long wait...
I'm not familiar with search engine technologies at all, but it looks like the technology is not keeping up with or adapting fast enough to the rate that new information is being put on the net.
That's my point. The technology has become intrusive as soon as you feel the need to leave it behind, even if you only need to do it now and the.
And, as the article points out, it's no longer just The Man you have to worry about. Ordinary people can start tracking each other. Now not only do you have to worry about the illegal stuff (and The Man), now you worry about the personal and private activities too...
but wait. what if you actually need to you use your phone? you might need to make that final call to secure that arms deal or need to arrange someplace to meet your secret lover.
Not so moblie if you're going to leave it at home all the time is it?
Slashdot Mirror
Hi mark, there has been lots of talk about the digital divide and the reality of being on the wrong end of the divide is pretty grim. So it's really encouraging to see you and your organization working so tirelessly too address the situation. the one area i see that could use more attention is that of content. the real value of the internet is access to information. but where does your average south african kid go for locally relevant information, especially kids from our rural areas where language comes into play?
I can see this being applied with great success in actual peer to peer networks.
Before the 'digital / internet' era people traded 'physical / analogue' objects like books, taps, records, pictures. Today they do trade mp3s, pdfs, jpegs, etc.
Right now peer to peer networks scale globally, which is really cool, but i'm trading stuff with strangers, what about my friends? With the proliferation of wireless and bluetooth type networks we will have the ability to create local p2p networks. I want to be able to share music, pics, video, data, etc seemlessly with my friends without having to connect to the internet. Why should i have to if he's standing right next to me? Why cant my device just talk directly to his?
The next killer app will meerly leverage peer to peer technology. Peer to Peer networks will just be a means to end end. What we will be sharing is way more important than how will will be sharing it...
Racism Holds South Africa Back
South Africa Struggles to Rebuild
I'm not familiar with search engine technologies at all, but it looks like the technology is not keeping up with or adapting fast enough to the rate that new information is being put on the net.
That's my point. The technology has become intrusive as soon as you feel the need to leave it behind, even if you only need to do it now and the.
And, as the article points out, it's no longer just The Man you have to worry about. Ordinary people can start tracking each other. Now not only do you have to worry about the illegal stuff (and The Man), now you worry about the personal and private activities too...
but wait. what if you actually need to you use your phone? you might need to make that final call to secure that arms deal or need to arrange someplace to meet your secret lover. Not so moblie if you're going to leave it at home all the time is it?