Hello Tquabo,

On Nov 17, 2005, at 12:17 AM, you wrote:


> Thank you for inviting me to forward any questions that I have  

> related to technology and literacy. As a background to my questions  

> for discussion I would like to raise two of the most significant  

> International commitments which are:- Education for All(EFA) and  

> Millennium Development Goals(MDGs). These of course may seem to  

> focus on developing countries on the emphasis of equitable access  

> to education and poverty alleviation.

>

> On the other hand; digital divide is expanding fast and literacy  

> divide is still large in most of the countries in question.

>

> It seems to me the above raised issues could not be addressed  

> without clearly addressing the issue of appropriate technology. The  

> questions that I want to raise in relation to the above  

> considerations or assumptions are:-

> 1. The difference between technology in literacy(education) and  

> technology of literacy


Could you say a bit more about this? What do you mean by the  
"technology of literacy" ?


> 2. Is technology affordable for developing countries suffering of  

> digital divide and literacy divide? How


Do you think a $100 battery (and crank-operated) computer with an  
open source platform would reduce the digital divide in developing  
countries?  If so, see http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ for more  
information.

How about Mobile learning using mobile phone text messaging and  
access to the Web?


> 3. How about the South-North co-operation in such situation/issues


Please explain more.  Are you talking about South-North in terms of a  
particular country, a continent or something else?


> 4. How literacy attainment could contribute to poverty alleviation,  

> narrowing the digital divide etc


Have you read Thomas Friedman's __The World is Flat___ ? Do you think  
earth-flattening phenomena make the divides of poverty and technology  
wider or narrower?

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net