Dr. Parker Rossman <grossman@mail.coin.missouri.edu>
Mercy Grace A. del Rosario <merge2899@hotmail.com>
Rafael Bozeman Rodriguez, Ph.D. <rbrsat@pworld.net.ph>
Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
Dr. Minda Sutaria <MINDA@innotech.ph.net>
Thomas D. Tilson <ttilson@aed.org>
Dr. David A. Johnson <daj@utk.edu>
Dr. Teresita I. Barcelo <tbarcelo@iconn.com.ph>
Victor T. Ching <vicching@compass.com.ph>
Dear Parker:
============
(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I).
Dear Mercy Grace:
=====================
(2) I read your msg with great interest.
We would be very happy
if our project could be of any help to yours.
Pls visit;
Draft of Travel
Grant Application to the National Science Foundation
for the Manila Mini-Workshop
-- 1 of 5: Travel Grant Application / 2 of
5: Workshop Schedule
/ 3 of 5: Grant Nominees / 4 of 5: Philippine
Counterparts / 5 of
5: GUS in the Philippines Pilot Project Proposal -
February 16-17, 2000"
and any others at;
<http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/global-univ-2000.html>.
You may be of some interest
in helping our telemedicine demonstration
with echocardiography
during the workshop. Pls contact Teresita, Ralph
and Victor at your earliest
convenience.
(3) I took the liberty of admitting you
into our listserve so that you will
be kept updated with
our daily progress.
Dear Ralph:
===========
(4) I would be very happy if you can locate
any person at St. Luke's College
of Medicine and St.
Luke's Medical Center (ATTACHMENT II), who can help
our telemedicine demonstration.
I have sent you enough
materials about it before -- in case when you
lost them, pls go to
the web site mentioned above.
Dear Steve:
===========
(5) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT
III) with Dr. Sutaria's very
interesting and excellent
paper (ATTACHMENT V).
Dear David:
===========
Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT VI) -- this would be a very
good answer to Dr. Sutaria's proposition.
Dear Ralph:
===========
(6) Referring to your msg (ATTACHMENT IV), have you talked with Dr. Sutaria?
If so, pls inform me
her email address. Thanks.
Best, Tak
****************************************
Return to Global University System Early 2000 Correspondence
ATTACHMENT I
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 07:44:02 -0600 (CST)
From: G Parker Rossman <grossman@coin.org>
To: Tak utsumi <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Subject: [GKD] Introducing the Merge Foundation,
Philippines (fwd)
I am sending this in case you do not know about it.
Parker Rossman
grossman@coin.org
3 Lemmon Drive
author, EMERGING WORLDWIDE ELECTRONIC
Columbia MO 65201
UNIVERSITY (Praeger, 1993) Draft of sequel volume
RESEARCH ON CRISES is at address below:
http://trib.net/~prossman
========================================
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 08:13:02 -0800
From: Mercy delrosario <merge2899@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: gkd@phoenix.edc.org
To: gkd@phoenix.edc.org
Subject: [GKD] Introducing the Merge Foundation,
Philippines
Dear Members of GKD,
I would like to tell you about the Merge Foundation,
Inc. of the
Philippines. Merge Foundation was founded
in 1997 in response to a felt
need for assistance by a health sector to improve
and streamline their
information/communication methods and procedures.
Even as they have
expanded organizationally, corresponding office
and program management
systems were not sufficiently developed and adequately
installed. For
its launching project, Merge partnered with a
national consortium of
community-based health programs, and each program
was given a
multi-media computer provided with sustained
and customized training
program. After 1 year, an interactive network
was established. The
results were so positive that they paved the
way for an expansion of the
network. As a result, the second Phase strengthened
the network and is
leading to the eventual establishment of a comprehensive
Health
Information System.
Merge Foundation mission/vision:
We envision a society where the citizen's basic
rights are protected,
upheld and promoted by the social institutions
mandated for such a task.
A society that thrives on democratic processes
that are just and
respectful of the rights of the poor and the
majority. And where there
is equal opportunities for social advancement
and economic emancipation
for all. To this end, efficient, appropriate
and mass-based computer
technology shall be utilized to assist developmental
organizations in
their information/communication needs.
Our goal and strategy:
The Foundation aims to install information and
communications technology
that services the needs of the poor and marginalized.
Towards this end, the Foundation shall forge partnership
and join
efforts with developmental organizations and
concerned individuals
aiming for the maximum utilization of computer
technology as a tool for
genuine social transformation.
Our slogan:
Computer democratization for people's empowerment.
Best regards,
Mercy Grace A. del Rosario
Technology Dev. Director for
Merge Foundation
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 00:26:59 -0500
From: Ralph Rodriguez <ralphrod@nsclub.net>
To: utsumi@friends-partners.org
Subject: RE: Mtg for native American community
project and others
Dear Tak -
The fast-ttracking of your global distance learning
program via broadband
is getting very exciting and i\I am sorry that
I cannot be as active aqs
you atre with it. Please rest assure that I will
try my best to help you in
whatever way I can. As you know my interest is
in telemedicine because of
my work with St. Luke's College of Medicine and
St. Luke's Medical Center.
I pray that we can be involved with your project
and with the coming
(although postponed as of now) meeting in Manila.
I am so glad for you and
I know that your world-wide project is getting
much support. The best to
you always Tak. I am so happy to have known you
and our long time
association since Bozeman, Montana. Go to it
and get this world closer
together and at peace with one another.
Always your friend,
Rafael Bozeman Rodriguez, Ph. D.
(Ralph)
****************************************
ATTACHMENT III
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 16:30:26 +0900
From: Steve McCarty <steve_mc@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
To: utsumi@friends-partners.org, gcole@www.friends-partners.org
Subject: Re: Requesting your help
At 11:05 AM +0900 00.3.31, Tak Utsumi wrote:
><<March 30, 2000>>
>
Utsumi-Sensei,
By the way, I'm afraid Dr. Minda Sutaria whom
you were looking for
in the Philippines has retired or something.
By various Web searches
I was able to locate items only up to 1997. Her
e-mail was
MINDA@innotech.ph.net but there has been no response
to my message
earlier this year.
> Dr. Sutaria is Director of SEAMEO INNOTECH in
the Philippines.
> Formerly, she served as Undersecretary of Education
for Programs in the
> Philippine Department of Education, Culture
and Sports.
This was in her article "Technology is the Answer"
for UNESCO at:
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/doc/portfolio/opinion11.htm
Best wishes,
Collegially,
Steve McCarty
Professor, Kagawa Junior College, Japan
President, World Association for Online Education
Website Map: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/
In Japanese: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/
****************************************
ATTACHMENT IV
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 11:34:34 -0500
From: Ralph Rodriguez <ralphrod@nsclub.net>
To: utsumi@friends-partners.org
Subject: RE: Dr. Sutaria's article on International
cooperation in learning
environment technology
Dear Tak -
Thank you for this message - I know Minda Sutaria
and I will make a point
of seeing her and telling her how impressed you
are with what she is doing.
It will be good working with her - she is a sincere
and dedicated person.
Hope all goes well with you - I know that you
are making waves with GUS and
GLOSAS and it will be successful - the future
needs your vision and
mission. You do not need luck - you are doing
it and doing it in great
style. Keep up with the good work and more power.
Ralph B. Rodriguez
****************************************
Return to Global University System Early 2000 Correspondence
ATTACHMENT V
<http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/doc/portfolio/opinion11.htm>
Opinion Article 11
Technology is the Answer
Minda C. Sutaria
Education for all by the year 2000! This has been
the battle cry of
countries across continents since the 1990 Jomtien
Conference on Education
for All. In less than three years, the year 2000
will be upon us, yet we are
not any closer to this goal despite the dramatic
efforts of governments and
the private sector to universalize primary education
and eradicate
illiteracy.
Seven years after the Jomtien Conference, the
picture is still bleak. Close
to a billion people can neither read nor write
and compute. Nearly 130
million boys and girls of school age are not
in school, and an alarming
number of young people drop out of school, and
for many of them, the
prospects of retrieval are dim on account of
reasons they and their families
alone cannot resolve.
To provide immediate and effective educational
service to these hapless
sectors of the world's population before the
year 2000 will require forays
into unbeaten paths and a paradigm shift in delivery
systems and curricula.
No time must be lost in meeting the challenge
of adopting fresh approaches
for providing basic education and illiteracy
eradication programmes that
provide the foundation for lifelong and lifewide
learning which should equip
them for life in the next millennium.
Traditional solutions to the problem, such as,
providing more classrooms,
teachers, and books alone can no longer be depended
upon to solve the
problem. There is an urgency for new alternatives
that will make it possible
to reach the vast unreached populations as quickly,
effectively and
economically as possible. There is no time to
waste. The approaching
millennium will require more and higher ? level
skills for coping with life
in a more complex, technologically?driven world.
This is the raison d'etre
for the need to accelerate the tempo of action
towards the delivery of
education for all.
How can the vast unreached populations be made
functionally literate more
quickly, effectively and economically within
the little time left before the
year 2000? How can greater learning effectiveness
be insured? Technology is
the answer. Technology that is appropriate and
affordable, if properly used,
can be the solution to the problem of how the
great masses of illiterates
across the world can be made literate in order
to prepare them for the
challenges of life in the next millennium which
is only less than three
years away.
Technology is capable of revolutionizing the way
education and training are
delivered and the manner in which individuals
learn, if properly harnessed.
It is known to have toppled critical barriers
to learning, such as, fixed
and rigid class schedules, so that learning can
take place any time with
appropriate use of old and new technology. Learners
who cannot join the
formal school or training programmes can now
learn wherever they are and
whenever they can with appropriate technology
in place: print, radio, audio
and video, TV or computer, or a combination of
any number of these.
Technology can raise the quality of learning by
making teaching more
interesting and consequently encourage learners
to stay on until they
complete basic education or become functionally
literate and capable of
managing their own lifelong and lifewide learning.
Technology has proven effective in countervailing
the rigidities of the
formal school and in reaching out to vast unreached
school?age populations.
This has been well demonstrated in Australia,
New Zealand, India, Indonesia,
Pakistan and Thailand where distance education
programmes have effectively
delivered education to young people who are unable
to attend school or
training courses for various reasons. They have
been able to effect
out?of?school learning for youth and children
and even adults who are
separated from the teacher in time and space
through learning systems that
heavily rely on printed self?instructional materials
backstopped by radio
and audio and video tapes and supported by occasional
contact sessions with
tutors and facilitators and user?friendly assessment
systems.
Where teachers are insufficiently trained, distance
education technologies
offer alternatives for providing them much?needed
training or upgrading of
competencies without pulling them too often from
their classrooms where they
ought to be.
Technology has made it possible for China to train
1.2 million teachers
through TV broadcasts within six years. The Allama
Iqbal Open University
Primary Teacher Orientation Program of Pakistan
trained 47,000 teachers in
only six months. The various permutations of
distance education practised
worldwide provide a "smorgasbord" or selection
from which education
providers can choose alternatives that are appropriate
and affordable for
unique target groups of learners. Experience
documented worldwide indicates
that while the initial cost of distance education
programmes is high, in the
long run, they prove to be cost effective. Distance
education need not be
prohibitive.
Technology can improve the quality of learning
and its outcomes by
encouraging active learning. This has been effectively
demonstrated in
interactive radio instruction which has been
experimented on in Nicaragua,
Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Bolivia and Costa Rica
to improve the quality of
teaching and learning.
Technology can make it possible to individualize
instruction and make
learners experience a sense of achievement in
learning through computer
networks called integrated learning systems.
The teacher can assign students
individual learning paths which they pursue at
their own rate in a
psychologically secure manner. Technology can
develop thinking skills by
provoking thought through interactive video and
computer?aided programmes.
With computers, it is possible for students to
collect and evaluate
information efficiently as well as communicate
what they
think and feel. Experience in many computer?based
learning systems suggests
that if learners are provided a collection of
computer applications and
taught how to use them, they can significantly
improve in the way they think
and work.
Technology can thus contribute to the development
of personal and social
competence. Technology offers countless possibilities
for providing quality
education for all in less the time that traditional
strategies require,
provided that its utilization is well thought
out, planned and subject to
continuing evaluation and system renewal.
When the old approaches continue to be ineffective
in meeting the goals of
education for all, it is time to explore new
avenues, to try out fresh
approaches and venture into unbeaten paths. Technology
can infuse newness
that can generate interest and effectiveness
in old approaches. It can
provide the innovative ingredient that spells
the difference between success
and failure in meeting the goal of quality education
for all.
It will do well for education decision makers
and providers to muster
courage to depart from the old strategies and
structures for providing
education for all and adopt technology that is
appropriate and affordable.
Innovative or stagnate! might well be their battle-cry.
They must have the
courage to experiment, to develop and try out
new alternatives. This might
be a combination of old and new technologies,
or a new technology grafted to
an old strategy to replace the traditional one
which has become ineffective.
There will be some risks that will make those
with faint hearts falter, but
they should have courage and not shirk the challenge
of crafting a more
effective solution to a long festering problem.
They must draw inspiration
from Andre Gide who said, "No man can discover
new oceans unless he has the
courage to lose sight of the shores."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Sutaria is Director of SEAMEO INNOTECH in
the Philippines. Formerly, she
served as Undersecretary of Education for Programs
in the Philippine
Department of Education, Culture and Sports.
****************************************
Return to Global University System Early 2000 Correspondence
ATTACHMENT VI
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 19:48:13 -0500
From: djohnutk <djohnutk@utkux.utcc.utk.edu>
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
Subject: FWD: Business Week Article
Tak:
This was sent to me by a colleague. I found
it very interesting.
I think you will too.
Dave Johnson
========================================
>ARTICLE:
>
>NOTE: This article is from a Businessweek
Online Daily
>Briefing, dated March 2, 2000.
>
>An Indian physicist puts a PC w/ a high speed
internet connection
>in a wall in the slums and watches what happens.
Based on the
>results, he talks about issues of digital divide,
computer
>education and kids, the dynamics of the third
world getting online.
>
>New Delhi physicist Sugata Mitra has a radical
proposal for
>bringing his country's next generation into
the Info Age
>
>Edited by Paul Judge
>
>Sugata Mitra has a PhD in physics and heads
research efforts at
>New Delhi's NIIT, a fast-growing software and
education company
>with sales of more than $200 million and a market
cap over $2
>billion. But Mitra's passion is computer-based
education,
>specifically for India's poor. He believes that
children, even
>terribly poor kids with little education, can
quickly teach
>themselves the rudiments of computer literacy.
The key, he
>contends, is for teachers and other adults to
give them free
>rein, so their natural curiosity takes over
and they teach
>themselves. He calls the concept "minimally
invasive education."
>
>To test his ideas, Mitra 13 months ago launched
something he
>calls "the hole in the wall experiment."
He took a PC connected
>to a high-speed data connection and imbedded
it in a concrete
>wall next to NIIT's headquarters in the
south end of New Delhi.
>The wall separates the company's grounds from
a garbage-strewn
>empty lot used by the poor as a public bathroom.
Mitra simply
>left the computer on, connected to the Internet,
and allowed any
>passerby to play with it. He monitored activity
on the PC using
>a remote computer and a video camera mounted
in a nearby tree.
>
>What he discovered was that the most avid users
of the machine
>were ghetto kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom
have only the most
>rudimentary education and little knowledge of
English. Yet
>within days, the kids had taught themselves
to draw on the
>computer and to browse the Net. Some of the
other
>things they learned, Mitra says, astonished
him.
>
>The physicist has since installed a computer
in a rural
>neighborhood with similar results. He's convinced
that 500
>million children could achieve basic computer
literacy over
>the next five years, if the Indian government
put 100,000
>Net-connected PCs in schools and trained teachers
in some
>basic "noninvasive" teaching techniques for
guiding children
>in using them. Total investment required, he
figures:
>Around $2 billion.
>
>On Feb. 25, BW Online Contributing Editor Thane
Peterson sat
>down with Mitra, a stocky 48-year-old with a
mustache and a
>mop of graying black hair, in his tiny, triangular
office
>at NIIT's R&D center on the campus of the
Indian Institute
>of Technology in the south part of New Delhi.
>Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.
>
>Q: What gave you the idea of giving slum kids
access to the Internet?
>
>A: It was a social observation rather than a
scientific one.
>Any parent who had given his child a computer
would invariably
>remark to me about it. I could hardly ever find
an exception.
>Within a very short period of time, the parent
would be claiming
>that the child was a genius with a computer.
When I poked a
>little further, I invariably found that the
child was doing
>things with the computer that the parent didn't
understand.
>
>I asked myself whether the child was really
doing something
>exceptional or if what we were seeing was adult
incomprehension.
>If the adult was simply underestimating the
child's ability to
>cope with a computer, then that should happen
with any child.
>And I asked myself, "Why then would we want
to use the same
>teaching methods for children as we use for
teaching adults?"
>
>At first, I tested my ideas with children who
were easily
>available -- children at the company here, whose
parents are
>in our executive group ...
>
>Then we tried this "hole in the wall" concept,
where we put a
>high-powered Pentium computer with a fast Internet
connection
>into a wall and let [slum] children have access
to it with no
>explanation whatsoever. To be very brief on
what happened,
>the results have been uniform every time we've
done this
>experiment. You get base level computer literacy
almost instantly.
>By computer literacy, I mean what we adults
define as computer
>literacy: The ability to use the mouse, to point,
to drag,
>to drop, to copy, and to browse the Internet.
>
>The children create their own metaphors to do
this. To give you
>an idea of what I mean, a journalist came up
to one of these kids
>and asked him, "How do you know so much about
computers?"
>The answer seemed very strange to her because
the kid said,
>"What's a computer?" The terminology is not
as important as
>the metaphor. If they've got the idea of how
a mouse works and
>that the Internet is [like a wall they can paint
on], who cares
>if they know that a computer is called a computer
and a mouse
>is called a mouse? In most of our classes here
at NIIT, we spend
>time teaching people the terminology and such.
>That seems irrelevant to me with these children.
>
>But we also found that they would tend to plateau
out. They would
>surf the Web -- Disney.com is very popular with
them because they
>like games. And they would use [Microsoft] Paint.
It's very,
>very popular with all of them.
>
>Because these are deprived children who do not
have easy access
>to paper and paint. Every child likes to paint,
so they would do
>it with that program. However, that's
all they could do. So I
>intervened, and I played an MP3 [digital-music
file] for them.
>They were astonished to hear music come out
of the computer for
>the first time. They said, "Oh, does it work
like a TV or radio?"
>I said, in keeping with my approach, "Well,
I know how
>to get there but I don't know how it works."
Then I [left].
>
>As I would have expected, seven days later they
could have taught
>me a few things about MP3. They had discovered
what MP3 was,
>downloaded free players, and were playing their
favorite songs.
>As usual, they didn't know what any of it was
called. But they
>would say, "if you take this little box, and
you drag this file
>into this box, it plays music." They had found
out where
>all the Hindi music was on the Web and had pulled
it out.
>
>Q: What does it mean? What does it say for the
potential of
>these slum kids? After all, being able
to download music
>isn't enough to get them a job.
>
>A: I don't wish to claim that this shows anything
more or less
>than what it has shown, which is that curious
kids in groups can
>train themselves to operate a computer at a
basic level. In doing
>so, they also can get a generally good idea
about the nature of
>browsing and the nature of the Internet ...
And, therefore, if
>they view these things as worth learning, no
formal
>infrastructure is needed [to teach them].
>
>Now, that's a big deal, because everyone agrees
that today's
>children must be computer-literate. If computer
literacy is
>defined as turning a computer on and off and
doing the basic
>functions, then this method allows that kind
of computer
>literacy to be achieved with no formal instruction.
Therefore
>any formal instruction for that kind of education
is a waste
>of time and money. You can use that time and
money to have a
>teacher teach something else that children cannot
learn on their own.
>
>Q: What else have you learned?
>
>A: Well, I tried another experiment. I went
to a middle-class
>school and chose some ninth graders, two girls
and two boys.
>I called their physics teacher in and asked
him, "What are you
>going to teach these children next year at this
time?" He
>mentioned viscosity. I asked him to write down
five possible
>exam questions on the subject. I then took the
four children
>and said, "Look here guys. I have a little problem
for you."
>They read the questions and said they didn't
understand them,
>it was Greek to them. So I said, "Here's a terminal.
>I'll give you two hours to find the answers."
>
>Then I did my usual thing: I closed the door
and went off somewhere else.
>
>They answered all five questions in two hours.
The physics teacher
>checked the answers, and they were correct.
That, of itself,
>doesn't mean much. But I said to him, "Talk
to the children and
>find out if they really learned something about
this subject."
>So he spent half an hour talking to them. He
came out and said,
>"They don't know everything about this subject
or everything I
>would teach them. But they do know one hell
of a lot about it.
>And they know a couple of things about it I
didn't know."
>
>That's not a wow for the children, it's a wow
for the Internet.
>It shows you what it's capable of. The slum
children don't have
>physics teachers. But if I could make them curious
enough, then
>all the content they need is out there. The
greatest expert on
>earth on viscosity probably has his papers up
there on the Web
>somewhere. Creating content is not what's important.
What is
>important is infrastructure and access ... The
teacher's job is
>very simple. It's to help the children ask the
right questions.
>
>Q: Are you saying that if we put computers in
all the slums,
>slum kids could become literate on their own?
>
>A: I'm saying that, in situations where we cannot
intervene very
>frequently, you can multiply the effectiveness
of 10 teachers by
>100 - or 1,000 - fold if you give children
access to the Internet.
>
>Q: This is your concept of minimally invasive
education?
>
>A: Yes. It started out as a joke but I've kept
using the term ...
>This is a system of education where you assume
that children know
>how to put two and two together on their own.
So you stand aside
>and intervene only if you see them going in
a direction that might
>lead into a blind alley. That's just so that
you don't waste
>time ... That would create teachers who are
experts at
>composing questions.
>
>Q: What are the business applications of all
this?
>
>A: I get asked this question all the time. It's
kind of ironic
>that a company that makes [a big chunk of its
sales from running
>computer-training institutes] should invent
a method where no
>teacher is required. The answer is that just
because a method
>is economically viable, doesn't mean you shouldn't
look for
>alternatives. A good business is one which provides
more and more
>for less and less. The cost of your goods and
services should
>spiral downwards.
>
>The second point is that we are going to have
an e-commerce boom.
>But what happens when an Indian businessman
puts his shop up on
>the Web? Where's he going to get customers from?
If someone lets
>me do this experiment for five years, with 100,000
kiosks, I
>reckon that I could get 500 million children
computer-literate.
>It would cost $2 billion. But if you had to
pay to educate the same
>children using traditional methods, it would
cost twice as much.
>
>Q: If this were to become a business,
>would it require government funding?
>
>A: Advertisers like Coca-Cola might be interested.
But it would
>absolutely have to have government funding.
I can't think of a
>company that would put $2 billion into this.
The governments
>will have to realize that the problem of the
haves and have-nots
>is about to [become] the problem of the knows
and knows-not.
>Do we want to create another great big divide
where the problem
>of illiteracy will come back in another context?
In a very short
>period of time, adults who do not know
how to deal with a
>[computer] mouse will have a very difficult
time dealing with
>almost everything in life.
>
>Q: But most of the information on the Internet
is in English
>and the people you're talking about don't speak
English.
>
>A: We had some very surprising results there.
We all have great
>misconceptions about what these children know
and don't know.
>At first, I made a Hindi interface for the kids,
which gave them
>links for hooking up with Web sites in their
own language.
>I thought it would be a great hit. Guess what
they did with it?
>They shut it down and went back to Internet
Explorer. I realized
>that they may not understand the dictionary
meaning of [English]
>words, but they have an operational understanding.
They know what
>that word does. They don't know how to pronounce
F-I-L-E, but they
>know that within it are options of saving and
opening up files ...
>
>The fact that the Internet is in English will
not stop them
>from accessing it.
>
>They invent their own terminology for what's
going on.
>For example, they call the pointer of the mouse
sui, which
>is Hindi for needle. More interesting is the
hourglass that
>appears when something is happening. Most Indians
have never
>heard of an hourglass. I asked them, "What does
that mean?"
>They said, "It's a damru," which is Hindi for
Shiva's drum.
>[The God] Shiva holds an hourglass - shaped
drum in his hand
>that you can shake from side to side.
So they said the sui became
>a damru when the "thing" [the computer] was
doing something.
>
>Q: Of all the things the children did and learned,
>what did you find the most surprising?
>
>A: One day there was a document file on the
desktop of the
>computer. It was called "untitled.doc" and it
said in big
>colorful letters, "I Love India." I couldn't
believe it for
>the simple reason that there was no keyboard
on the computer
>[only a touch screen]. I asked my main assistant
-- a young
>boy, eight years old, the son of a local betel-nut
seller --
>and I asked him, "How on earth did you
do this?" He showed me
>the character map inside [Microsoft] Word. So
he had gotten
>into the character map inside Word, and dragged
and dropped the
>letters onto the screen, then increased the
point size and
>painted the letters. I was stunned because I
didn't know that
>the character map existed -- and I have a PhD.
>
>Q: So what you're talking about is a different
sort of literacy,
>a sort of functional literacy ...
>
>A: Yes, it's functional literacy. There are
two examples I'd like
>to give you from the recent past. It's already
happened in cable
>TV in India. There are 50 or 60 million cable-TV
connections in
>India at this point in time. The guys who set
up the meters,
>splice the coaxial cables, make the connection
to the house, etc.,
>are very similar to these kids. They don't know
what they're doing.
>They only know that if you do these things,
you'll get the cable
>channel. And they've managed to [install] 60
million cable
>connections so far.
>
>Example No. 2 is the bicycle. I think we have
the biggest
>bicycle-manufacturing industry in the world.
The bicycle is
>ubiquitous here, and it's much the same
in Malaysia, China,
>Africa. But you don't ask how the population
became
>bicycle-literate. They just use it. So what
I'd like to see
>is an India in which a large part [of the population]
treats
>the computer that way.
>
>The other thing is [how the Internet will change
when most
>Indians gain access to it]. We have the analogy
of cable TV
>in India. Originally, it was all in English.
It took exactly
>four years for all the programming to become
Hindi. Star TV
>is now almost all in Hindi. If you go to Bangkok,
they hate it.
>
>Q: You're saying that a lot of Hindi content
will appear
>as more Indians surf the Net?
>
>A: Exactly. Let me go on record as saying it's
not a question of
>what the Internet will do to India. It's a question
of what India
>will do to the Internet ... If rural India goes
onto the Internet,
>there will be an absolute flood of Indian-language
content from
>people trying to sell to them.
>
>Q: Has the Indian or any other government expressed
interest
>in funding such a project?
>
>A: Several government agencies, several state
governments, and
>several world agencies have expressed an interest.
Unfortunately,
>I don't want to name them because I need to
get the funds first.
>
>Q: You say that only the children used the computer,
not adults.
>What does this mean for adult education?
>
>A: I'm not even going to suggest that we use
this [technique]
>for adults. The only reaction we got from adults
was, "What
>on earth is this for? Why is there no one here
to teach us
>something? How are we ever going to use this?"
I contend
>that by the time we are 16, we are taught to
want teachers,
>taught that we cannot learn anything without
teachers.
>
>There are two points I'd like to make about
the adults. One is
>that the adults asked the children to do things
for them. For
>example, to read their horoscopes on the Hindi
news sites.
>The second thing is the reaction of the women.
I would ask them
>why they didn't use [the computer], and they
would say, "I don't
>have enough brains to understand all this."
I would say,
>"What about your daughters?" And the answer
was, "They have
>lots of brains." So I said, "Do you think I
should just remove
>this thing?" The answer was always, "No, no,
no." I asked why
>not. And they said, "Because it's very good
for the children."
>
>Now, if the mothers have realized that, I'm
happy. I don't care
>if they don't come [to use the computer]. Because
all we have
>to do is wait one generation. Not even that.
In five years,
>a 13-year-old is going to be 18 and be an adult.
>
>Q: Where do you go from here?
>
>A: There is one experiment that scares me. These
children don't
>know what e-mail is. If I gave them e-mail,
I don't know what
>would happen. I'll probably try it anyway. But
remember the
>stories one used to hear about people finding
lost tribes and
>introducing them to Coca-Cola? I'm really seriously
scared about
>what would happen if suddenly the whole wide
world had access to
>these kids. I don't know who would talk to them
for what purpose.
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------
Richard E. Klosterman, Professor
Department of Geography and Planning
University of Akron
Akron, Ohio 44325-5005
Phone: (330) 972-8037
Fax: (330) 972-6080
E-mail: Klosterman@UAkron.edu
<http://www.uakron.edu/geography/faculty&staff/klosterman.htm>
------------------------------------------------------------
****************************************
Return to Global University System Early 2000 Correspondence
List of Distribution
Dr. Parker Rossman
3 Lemmon Drive
Columbia MO 65201-5413
573-443-3256
FAX: 314-876-5812 (emergency)
grossman@mail.coin.missouri.edu
jrossman@mail.coin.missouri.edu
grossman@bigcat.missouri.edu
http://www.trib.net/~prossman
Mercy Grace A. del Rosario
Director, Technology Devision
Merge Foundation
merge2899@hotmail.com
Rafael Bozeman Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Former President of St. Luke School of Medicine
#7 Visayas Avenue, VASRA
1128 Quezon City, Philippines
+632-524-7118
Cedllphone: 0918-880-2799
Pager: 1481-792171
Powerpage: 633-3333
rbrsat@pworld.net.ph
ralphrod@nsclub.net
paeling@mailcity.com
Steve McCarty
Professor, Kagawa Junior College
President, World Association for Online Education
(WAOE)
3717-33 Nii Kokubunji, Kagawa 769-0101 JAPAN
+81-877-49-8041 (office, direct line); Fax: +81-877-49-5252
steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp, steve_mc@kagawa-jc.ac.jp,
mccarty@mail.goo.ne.jp (web mail)
Website Map: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/
Home page in Japanese
/ English
/ WAOE organization
Online library in Japanese
/ English
(Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library 4-star site)
Fundamental
Projects of Dr. Takeshi Utsumi (English and Japanese)
Global
University System Asia-Pacific Framework
Dr. Minda Sutaria
Director
South East Asian Ministers of Education Organization
(SEAMEO)
Innovative Technology (INNOTECH)
UP Diliman, Commonwealth Ave
Quezon City
Manila, Philippines
tel: 928-7348
fax: 921-0224
MINDA@innotech.ph.net
info@innotech.org<<February 24, 2000>>Did
not work.
http://www.innotech.org
http://www.islesite.com/innotech/
http://www.islesite.com/innotech/news/story.turning.htm
http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/aset/confs/edtech94/rw/sutaria.html
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/doc/portfolio/opinion11.htm
Thomas D. Tilson
Vice President
Learning Technologies and COmmunication
Academy for Educational Development
1875 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202)884-8247
202-884-8000 (main #)
fax (202)884-8402
ttilson@aed.org
Dr. David A. Johnson, AICP
Board member of GLOSAS/USA
Former President of Fulbright Association
Professor Emeritus, School of Planning
College of Arts and Sciences
University of Tenneseee
108-I Hoskins Library
Knoxville, TN 37996-4015
USA
Tel: +1-423-974 5227
Fax: +1-423-974 5229
daj@utk.edu
davidj@buncombe.main.nc.us
http://web.utk.edu/~djohnutk/
Dr. Teresita I. Barcelo
Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Philippines/Open University
Manila, Philippines
Tel: 526-2272
523-1633
Fax: 523-1633
Pager: 1441-17-1114
tbarcelo@iconn.com.ph
sdemla@mozcom.com
fhs-upou@mozcom.com
Victor T. Ching
President, Philippine Office
Foundation for the Support of the United Nations
(FSUN)
President
Chinatown Broadcasting Network
Rm. 1908 Cityland 10 Tower 1
6815 H. V. Dela Costa St., cor. Ayala Ave.
Salcedo Village, Makati City
Philippines
867-4490 to 92
Fax: 00632-812-7733
00632-718-1814
vicching@compass.com.ph
265397@easycall.com.ph
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA
*
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association
in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence
in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE
*
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance
Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology
and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS)
*
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998,
U.S.A.
*
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time
only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt
ID: 11-2999676
*
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/
*
**********************************************************************
Return to: Global University System
Early 2000 Correspondence
Web page by Steve
McCarty, World Association for Online
Education President