<amarc-1> Getting Here from There

[goebel@cs.ualberta.ca (by way of Bram Dov Abramson <bram@tao.ca>)]

Dear Kole,

>Is it possible to speak of Rights to communicate without a thought for the
>state of communication facilities available to the majority caught within
>that vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance and voicelessness? As a student in
>the basic science class we were told that it is the weakest part of the
>chain that determines its strength. I wonder if it will ever be possible to
>also have sessions for those countries that still rely on the good old
>postal system as means of moving messages, data and ideas from place to
>place.

We cannot continue to bypass poverty.  If we continue to think we can begin
initiatives such as "Hospitality Industry Training," which only benefits
managers and owners in the long run, we risk increased violence and
walk-outs by staff.  That is currently occurring here in Barbados.  Yes,
tourism runs the economy, but not to the exclusion of the rest of the
population.

As for speaking of postal systems, how about a Police Force that still logs
everything in a daily journal, by hand, and has no way of searching for old
information, or cross referencing anything?  All stock is still controlled
by the young people going up and down the shelves and counting each item
against the stock list.

>how can the information
>superhighway help the local pathways? why will the present crop of virtual
>conferees be bothered with such primitive technologies, have same concerns
>not been dramatized by those who have to travel to the Airport to be a part
>of this conference.

My lawyer, or my doctor say repeatedly, "If I could just know how to find
the information I need on the internet."  They spend hours of fruitless
searching to find nothing, and I can find it in moments for them.  When are
we going to start providing basic information, with time on the internet?
I can not buy "Tampax" without instructions, yet internet providers tell me
they do not want to teach people, because they will not buy as much time.
How can this be?

>The keyboard as insrument for change and advocacy seem
>only to be used, within the same conservative system. The ideology promoted
>by virtual practice of read alone, write alone,  think alone, will only
>promote the  notion that those of us without can go solve our problems alone.

No, I disagree here.  Many are still afraid to get out of their comfortable
homes in large cities, or to leave their good jobs to wander off into
uncertainty.  They have no concept of switching  comfort (which may only
mean a predictable routine), for the joys of killing cockroaches, and
seeing immediate response to the simplest teaching.  These conferences can
reach people who may be fed up enough with utopia, and have never
discovered that the reason we do not want "Gatorade, or Nesfit" in
Barbados.  For centuries they have been using coconut juice for that
purpose.  Therefore, when some sunburnt tourist can't find "Gatorade,"
instead of deciding to import it and put all the coconut pickers out of
work, he will discover an age old remedy for the burn, and it has no
additives or preservatives.

Lanie Goebel

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