Mr. Bhattarai's Presentation - My Thoughts
Today, our IST 110H class was granted a very unique opportunity- to hear Mr. Manohar Bhattarai of Nepal's High Level Commission for Information Technology speak on the merits, challenges, and socioeconomic implications of the proliferation of information technology in the context of a developing nation. Between his photographs of villagers mounting wireless antennae in treetops and his accounts of their desires for connectivity, I found his presentation absolutely fascinating and quite enlightening.
One issue in particular that I'm glad he addressed, is one of the harshest criticisms facing the One Laptop Per Child project: If some of these people barely have the basic necessities of life, why should they be at all interested in procuring information technology resources? According to Mr. Bhattarai, in his travels to these areas, they've heard of information technology's benefits, and see it as a viable means of education. Perhaps this is the secret to bridging the educational divide, which will in turn hopefully provide a better life for the people in these developing nations.
The speech given by Mr. Bhattarai was an excellent insight to just how global information technology is, and how an underdeveloped nation is attempting to bring its connectivity infrastructure up to a more competitive level. Mr. Bhattarai is a charming man, and I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to meet him.
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I wish I could have stayed to hear his whole speech, except I had class at 2:30. It seems like he was a pretty interesting speaker. I kind of agree with you on the $100 Laptop project. It seems foolish to have a laptop when these people don't have the basic necessities of life. I guess if they can somehow get free Internet and electricity then it might not be a bad idea. I just can't imagine people being able to afford the Internet, electricity, and the $100 laptop (which, I believe, is looking to cost more like $189 now).
Tim,
As for the internet, the OLPCs operate in a mesh network environment, so, if even one laptop is connected to the internet, all OLPCs in range of it, and subsequent levels connected can share that same connection.
Also, the laptop isn't plugged in, it's charged by a hand-crank, thus eliminating the need for a power source. It is, however, failing to meet the $100 goal set.
I'm not actually criticizing the OLPC project, I'm actually in agreement with the notion that perhaps this can be a gateway to education, to help these people make better lives for themselves.
Ahhh, I remember this interesting speech. I don't mean to disrespect, BUT for some of the questions, I remember Mr. Manohar Bhattarai evading and answering the questions with a point he, I'm guessing, wanted to stick in our heads, and it worked. He got the point that third world countries are trying their best to bring technology about to get a better means of an education. It'll be incredible because who knows what will emerge from this! Would it actually change the third world country to a rapid developing country?