On "They have laid bare the schism in this laudable project to bring cheap computing to millions of children across the developing world." From BBC News

Surely the real question underlying the One Laptop Per Child project is not the nature of the operating system -but the nature of "computing" itself.

This document is based on a short presentation/discussion I facilitated several days ago at ISIS International-Manila. Entitled "Death by ICT. A Critical Look at the Information Society", the presentation/discussion was intended to stimulate critical thinking about communication and technology concepts and how these concepts relate to and affect daily tasks, decisions and issues seemingly unrelated to ICT.

This same-titled document is an extended version of that presentation/discussion and is intended to open up more possibilities for analyzing ICT use and understanding within the expanding "Information Society." While this document is in outline form, it is open-ended and will be expanded to include more of my ideas and observations regarding some important issues:

1. The social catastrophe of the "new" when dealing with "new" technologies within the context of development.

2. The succumbing of the computer as a complex programmable computation machine into a device for communication and its dangerous implications on the so-called "Information Society."

3. The US military origins and the present doctrinal model of the Internet and its implications as a "social network" and as a ubiquitous and pervasive computing tool.

This document is a work-in-progress. As usual, comments, questions, corrections and suggestions are welcome.

In an article by Catherine Saez on Intellectual Property Watch WTO/WIPO Colloquium Aimed At IP Teachers, teachers of intellectual property from developing countries have been invited to attend a two-week colloquium jointly organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 30 June to 10 July.

I wonder if the WTO/WIPO Colloquium will also attempt to dispel the myths of Intellectual Property Rights, or will these myths continue to be taught as doctrinal truths to university professors of law, management and economy from developing countries?

1. "Innovation and technology: Twenty-First Century"

In the journal "Leonardo", Volume 28, Number 4 -published by Pergamon Press in 1990 we read an article with the title directly above, written by Lowell T. Harmison (biophysicist, scientist, administrator) Maxwell Foundation, USA:

The article "ARPA's 50th Anniversary and the Internet: a Model for Basic Research by Ronda Hauben"(1) really does need close scrutiny -because (in my view) it sketches the rise of a pernicious Military-Industrial complex (as warned against by President Eisenhower) -but which has now become even more dangerous by linking up with educational and entertainment systems (the edutainment business) to become the Military-Industrial-Edutainment complex.....

In response to Document Freedom Day efforts of promoting, adopting and raising awareness for Free Document Formats and Open Standards, the Philippines-based art initiative Korakora.org is organizing an open on-line dialogue entitled "Surfers or Serfs: Digital Freedom or Digital Feudalism?"

Once upon a time, adults used to question things: They would ask themselves and others why some things were good and why some things were bad. This was called "discussion" and some people enjoyed it.

However, one day, a very clever person discovered that if you kept repeating how clever you were and how wonderful your products were, then after a while other people got too tired to argue with you and so they just went out and bought these products however "good" or "bad" they really were. This was called "advertising".

The BBC article "Lesson one: no Orwellian language"suggests that education has somehow been undermined through the corruption of the very language used to discuss education itself.

Professor Richard Pring of Oxford University believes that education has been taken over by an "Orwellian language" which has started to control the way we think and act, pointing out how the aims and values of education has become "dominated by the language of management."

More examples of this language are:

Lesson one: no Orwellian language. By Mike Baker. From the BBC Report

An insightful speaker raised a massive cheer from the audience at an education conference this week. No, he had not called for a doubling of teachers' pay, the abolition of national tests, or even a ban on lumpy custard in school canteens. No, his rallying cry was much simpler and involves no complex administrative changes or financial costs.

Yet it went to the heart of what education is about.

He urged everyone to stop talking about "delivery" in education and to return to talking about "teaching".

The speaker was Professor Richard Pring, of Oxford University, and he was not just being fussy about the use of language.

His point was that education has been taken over by an "Orwellian language" which has started to control the way we think and act.

Is Media a Danger to Democracy?
From the Third World Traveler
by Robert Parry, American Dispatches magazine (formerly iF magazine), Feb. 2000

Shortly before New Year's 2000, writer Robert D. Kaplan penned a New York Times commentary about the world's future.

While thousands of people converged in Makati yesterday (Feb 29) for the inter-faith rally seeking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ouster, the shape of the country's future leadership is being designed via the automated ARMM elections (August 11, 2008 as per RA 9333), a test pilot leading to the 2010 presidential elections (May 10, 2010).

Click the link above for info on playing the OGG audio format.
Korakora Proyekto recommends OGG because:

Unlike MP3, Ogg Vorbis is not restricted by patents.
With OGG, you can listen to audio using many different media players, including free software that respects your freedom.

Anak ng Diyos 5:03
Hindi Po Maganda ang Dating.

Anglo-Saxon 6:35
Saan Po Pupulitin Ang Bansang Pilipinas?

US plans to 'fight the net' revealed
Last Updated: Friday, 27 January 2006, 18:05 GMT
By Adam Brookes
BBC Pentagon correspondent

A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.

In reference to The Economist article "The Laptop Wars", The Economist.com asks: "Will charity or profit end the digital divide?"

Do you think that there is a "digital divide" in your country? What does "digital divide" mean?

The Economist.com says, "Nobody disputes the merits of making laptops available cheaply to children in the developing world."

1. One Laptop Per Child extends promotion
11/25/2007 | 01:11 AM

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A promotion in which a customer buying a $188 computer in the US and Canada automatically donates a second one to a child in a developing country was extended until year's end, organizers said Thursday.

Vendor Lock-In
- From the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in

In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in, or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs. Lock-in costs which create barriers to market entry, may result in antitrust action against a monopoly.

ABSTRACT

Diwà has been defined in academic circles as a body of internal rules governing the systematic ordering of ideas that the Filipino whether on a national, tribal or personal level employs for a conscious meaningful purpose. In this essay, the author proposes a re-definition of diwà as a self-determined system of aesthetic equilibrium, of the mind struggling to balance its experience of contradictions. Diwà, the author proposes, is based on the principles of buhay (life) and bisà (inherited life force) with knowledge, language and body as the parameters of equilibrium. Thus, such re-definition of diwà enables a reframing of firmly held notions of these parameters, consequently providing the basis for a critical analysis of media, technology and the creative practices.

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that contemporary Filipino visual art institutions and communities have a limited role in vernacular socioeconomic development because of a lack of an auto-critique that is grounded on an historical and structural context. This paper argues that a re-conceptualization of the role and meaning of contemporary art in developing countries such as the Philippines must take place, and that such re-conceptualizations can only take place within a critique of development itself. In view of a “regeneration of digital art”, this paper offers a “contemplative regeneration” by studying relationships between art, technology and socioeconomic development within the international dynamics of economic and cultural imperialism.