InkTank

Technology: would you like fries with that?

The customer-adoring McDonalds “love(s) to see you smile;” technology companies do, too. And they’re setting out to expand their customers’ smiles – in fast-food style – by way of the drive-through.

“You have drive-by McDonald’s, and we have drive-by Wi-Fi,” said Amir Alexander Hassan, founder of United Villages, a Massachusetts-based company and a graduate of MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

United Villages is one of several technology providers jumping on board the ever-expanding technology train (in what the NY Times is calling the “digital pony express”* to bring wireless web content to developing nations. The mission of United Village is “to provide two billion people living in rural areas of developing countries with an email address, a phone number, and Web access using our patent-pending First Mile Solutions" and our DakNet Prepaid Services.”

The BBC reported on the less-than ordinary wi-fi system:

“In rural India and parts of Rwanda, Cambodia and Paraguay, the vehicles (buses equipped with wi-fi) offer web content to computers with no internet connection. The buses and a fleet of motorcycles update their pages in cities before visiting the hard-to-reach communities. As well as offering popular pages, the United Villages project also allows users to request specific information.” A small box, with an antenna, onboard the buses and motorcycles communicates with the rural computers.”

United Villages describe the process:

“Using pre-paid cards, locals in remote villages write emails or record phone messages and save their words at computer kiosks installed in schools and community halls—and this is where United Villages comes in. Using what United Villages calls DakNet, buses fitted out with short-range Wi-Fi antennas pass through villages, automatically picking up stored emails and voice messages as they go. Once a bus reaches a city with Internet connectivity, it relays the emails and messages to their appointed destinations via the web.”

Hassan and his company is after more than just smiles, of course, as revenue is key. So, for a fee (up to $2.20 per use) customers get their “slice of the web” – a piece of the technology pie.

Certainly it’s exciting to see technology expanding, but should this be the primary concern in developing nations, especially when hundreds of thousands are without food, water, and shelter – in the Sudan, to name just one example?  Perhaps the companies pushing the technology initiatives should be pushing first for health in the developing countries. As the gap between the rich and poor only continues to increase globally, food and water for millions of people should be touted as “the next big thing” rather than wireless networking technology.

Supporters of wi-fi technology emphasize that the internet can actually lead to improving people’s lives. Bill Thompson, technology critic and essayist, agrees with the “many examples of ways in which net access can help people living in poverty, from getting access to weather forecasts to enable fishing boats to avoid storms, through to monitoring prices to decide when to harvest a crop.”

While these internet uses present many positive potentials, it’s interesting to notice what the majority of the people in the rural villages are actually using the internet for.

“There’s only 0.003% of the web that rural India cares about, (Hassan) told the BBC News. They want to know the cricket scores, they want to see the new Aishwarya Rai photos, and they want to hear a sample of the latest Bollywood tunes.”

In this case, and in countless other nations where western TV shows and movies are widely viewed, is the increase and spread of technology leading more to the increase of western/Hollywood values and interests, rather than to the improvement people’s lives? Yes, internet capabilities bring new hope and excitement to these villages, but perhaps more reason for concern – especially in the U.S. in seeing what our society is so easily spreading to others.

We’ve certainly seen the effects of Fast Food Nation.

The effects of American values, being imposed and spread through technology, is a story still in progress.

*See: Rural Cambodia,Though Far Off the Grid, Is Finding Its Way Online" featured in NY Times print edition, Jan 26, 2004.

Brangelina Efforts

The famous Hollywood couple Brad and Angelina are at it again it seems.  Not only has the couple found pleasure inadopting children from foreign countries such as Africa and Cambodia, but they have also decided to help globalization by contributing $100,000 to the construction of the first modern medical facility in Duk County, Sudan called "Duk Lost Boy's Clinic"

The couple started their own charity foundation, “Jolie/Pitt Foundation” back in 2006 in order “to aid humanitarian causes across the globe,” said a spokesman for the couple. The couple has given out millions of dollars to charities such as the Daniel Pearl Foundation, and Global Action for Children.  They also just recently adopted another child, Pax Thien , from Vietnam in order to continue their diverse, yet very happy family.

John Dau, director of Direct Changes Sudan Project, came to Jolie and Pitt about the project in January at the  Hollywood premiere of “God Grew Tired of Us,” a documentary produced by Pitt, featuring Dau’s story as a “Lost Boy.” The people of Duk County, Sudan now have to walk 75 miles to the nearest medical facility. This new clinic will provide not only a closer location but will contain seven rooms and serve around 150,000 people.

“Words cannot express my gratitude and the gratitude of the people of Duk County. Angelina and Brad demonstrate the American spirit of generosity,” said Dau.

It is common to see the dynamic duo doing giving to charitable organizations, which I think every publication covered, however, no publication covered why the couple decided that the clinic was a worthy cause. To me, the news is not that they donated more money to yet another worthy cause, it is what prompted them to and why they felt led to do just that. Just like, we all know Michael Jackson is a pedophile so why is it necessary that we continue to read about it in the news. Get a new hook and then write another  piece.

Hollywood actors and actresses really should take a look at what this couple has done in the past few years. Of course, each person has charities he/she is involved in but it is clear that this couple continues to put globalization as their first priority. After adopting three children from different countries and obtaining a passion for different cultures, it is clear the couple puts so much before their career, which is obviously enlightening to those of us who become fans of such Hollywood figures.

The canaries in the democracy

By Richard Potts, Assistant Director of the Washington Journalism Center

You might recall that study I mentioned about the weird relationship of journalism and democracy worldwide.  Turns out that there's a lot more democracy than freedom of the press, but conventional wisdom says they should be about equal.   

Well here's a tidbit about the relationship between democracy and journalism you can take to the bank: if your journalists are dying from anything other than natural causes, you've got problems with your democracy.

You've probably heard the bit about how miners used to use canaries to test the air in the mines.  If the air was bad, the birds usually bought it first. Well, I think journalists provide a very similar function for democracies.  When journalism is ill, democracy is ill.  For those of us who track trends in international governance, these sorts of indicators are very useful. 

Reporters without Borders  is another great source if you're interested in these issues.  They've compiled data on the mortality and general persecution of journalists worldwide.   It's sobering.  2006 has been a tough year for journalists, with 56 killed.       

But back to democracy. 

Take a place like Russia, that has been transitioning to democracy for 15 years.  As Putin has  moved the country back toward authoritarianism, journalists have begun to take the heat, and occasionally have died.   This was the case of a reporter, critical of Putin's war in Chechnya, who was killed last week. 

Mexico supposedly became a thriving democracy after throwing off 75 years of one-party rule with the election of Vicente Fox in 2000.  It has also suffered a spate of murdered journalists in recent years--3 just this year.  But this represents a different sort of threat to democracy: drug violence.   Business Week counts 10 murdered journalists on the drug/crime beat in Mexico in the last five years.

And I could add case study after case study to this list (without even addressing Iraq).  It seems quite clear what the "canaries" are telling us.