1. The Internet and Politics Agenda for Today  Course changes  Development projects  Discussion

2. The Internet and Politics Course changes  lab class March 28th (not April 4)  final paper FAQ online  no reading next week  April 2-4: exam prep  Where else would you find this info?

3. The Internet and Politics Development projects  number off (1-5)  each group has a village and a technology  come up with a development project  you will report back to group, so write down your project description (and hand it in, too)

4. The Internet and Politics Development projects 2  What did the real village do?  What advantages does their project offer (compared to yours)?  What are the problems that your project addressed, but theirs did not?  Which project would you ultimately choose?  Write it down! You’ll report back.

5. The Internet and Politics Simputer  Rural village in India, very poor & remote  no communications infrastructure, major disease problems  access to forests, arable land, mineral deposits  technology: simputer (Net-enabled, battery powered, $200 US)  key issue to address: health -- contact international organizations to ask for money, human capital, look online for health information  can also address agriculture -- find out market price, demand, address drought  use it for education -- goes hand-in-hand with health, agriculture  make Simputer available for free in a kiosk; volunteers will teach people how to use the computers  still a new technology -- not yet in use, but being widely manufactured  planning to charge for use -- will provide phone service, bus tickets, health info, etc  real project focuses on education; we think economic development should come first

6. The Internet and Politics Village Phone  small village in rural Bangladesh  package costs $310, plus $4.50/wk without airtime  phone will belong to a community collective. Base cost to be split by village. 1 operator (village leader) is elected to take out the loans to purchase the phone. Individuals pay for airtime unless it’s used by the whole community. Pay for incoming calls, too. Non-hierarchical. Based on community development, not profit.  benefits: market development, etc  Real phones (GrameenPhone) is profit-based. A village “phone lady” buys the phone using a loan and rents it out. Phones mostly used for social calls, discuss remittances. Airtime main part of price.

7. The Internet and Politics Solar computer  rural village in Cambodia  free Net-connected PC with solar power  couldn’t use for sales because no mail, surrounded by guerillas and land mines  language likely to be major barrier; need bilingual Khmer-English facilitator  use as education tool to learn more about farming techniques to improve harvest, track weather  Reality: they did have mail, no guerillas -- so used Net connection to sell silk scarves

8. The Internet and Politics Community radio  village in Kothmale, Sri Lanka  50-village, 17-school broadcast radius  use radio for educational programming, increasing literacy, lectures & workshops on ICT skills  public service announcements on how to start a business, get capital, etc. -- following example of Indian development bank  agro-technology: improve technology use in agriculture  bring volunteers into station -- participatory  Reality: radio web browsing. Use the radio station to offer phone-in Internet use. Translating Internet from English to Sinhalese.

9. The Internet and Politics Kiosks  New Delhi shantytown with slum children  “hole in the wall” with unattended, unsupervised Internet kiosk  GUI with cartoon characters educating on basic nutrition to reduce infant mortality  AIDS education  boil water education project with Mr. Boil Water  literacy training  Reality: almost no adults used the kiosks. They quickly learned some Internet skills. Wasn’t a very practical use -- just downloaded songs etc. No purpose in reducing local problems with hygiene health etc.

10. The Internet and Politics Discussion