[Foundation-l] One Wikipedia Per Person (regarding the distribution of and the ability to read Wikipedia)

[Anthony]

On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 9:08 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>wrote:

> 2009/6/1 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
> > On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 7:17 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at 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.