Walter Brown just posted on the ciresearchers listserv (for people working in community informatics), run by Michael Gurstein. He echoed a provocative question from Mike’s blog: “So What Do We Lose if We Don’t Have the Internet?” He continued,
The burning question for CI Researchers in my opinion is “How can policy makers, business and economic leaders, academic and related research institutions and organizations, and the whole development community, refocus their attention on finding solutions to providing high quality affordable information directly to individuals in marginalized communities?” and “How can marginalized communities and individuals be made aware of the power of ICT4D and begin to demand affordable high quality information services?” And the emphasis on finding answers to these questions must focus on “doing” more than just knowing the underlying theories of how to or why it does not get done.
Brown recommended an article from a 2005 issue of The Information Society (1: 41-51) that I will try and locate: Govindan Parayil, “The Digital Divide and Increasing Returns: Contradictions of Information Capitalism.” I am in the midst of writing proposals to the state and feds for stimulus funding related to broadband access and find I am hobbled by similar questions to those posed by Walter Brown.
