On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 9:08 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
2009/6/1 Anthony <wikimail(a)inbox.org>rg>:
On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 7:17 PM, Thomas Dalton
<thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com
wrote:
I guess I'm so used to broadband I forgot
about the
existence of dial up for a second! You would need to hand out phones,
laptops, and network subscriptions, though - that's getting rather
expensive just to give someone an up-to-date encyclopaedia.
I guess I'm forgetting how cheap labor is in so many parts of the world.
Here in the US we're talking about less than a week's work, but in an
Indian
call center we're talking about over a month.
People working in Indian call centres probably already have internet
access, or at least can access the internet somewhere (in a internet
cafe, or something). They are generally quite highly educated (I
believe many even have degrees, but can make more money in a call
centre working for a foreign company than using their degree working
for an Indian company). For people in rural areas, there is no way
they could ever afford these things themselves, many have a
subsistence lifestyle, there is no possibility to save up for stuff.
The educated people in rural areas generally get themselves out. If someone
voluntarily chooses to live a subsistence lifestyle, there's no point in
providing them with a free copy of Wikipedia in the first place.
But still, over a month's salary is pretty steep, considering that there's
no guarantee it'll help. I guess for now it's better to focus on providing
access in schools and libraries.