[wsfii-discuss] Economic Sustainability of Community Wireless

Mon Apr 9 16:55:57 UTC 2007

> 
> many reports seem to me too positivly tinted, for example: 
> opportunities,
> capacity/comunity/democracy-building, potentials, synergy, ect.,
> or the hardbreaking foo of those, planing to sell a chicken,
> would be empowered to search the i-net to maximise cash flow ;-)

Unfortunately the context of these developments is often lost in other regions.  Here in British Columbia, we frequently see the
digital divide in terms of understanding of how something grown an urban center applies to a rural or remote (or "uneconomic area",
if you prefer the Incumbments language).  

>From a simplistic perspective, the common values we've seen shared are:
 * Increasing Connectivity (be it Internet, broadband, or information sharing)
 * A need to fix problems in our respective communities - problems we face here in Vancouver are similar, but different than in a
remote community where the Highway network may not even connect with.
 * A desire to co-operate, to resolve our various local issues.

> shure only a part benefits from this shifting, the 
> social-divide will deepen,
> and, first of all and ever, digital fences will be put up by 
> this evolution.
> so called development is much based on media-hyp, tech.-talk, 
> nerdism-egos,
> figures+numbers, progress-myth, futur-hopes, ect., to call some, only
> little reflected missionairic, colonial, touristic, western vallues.

Absolutely.  

We must all be mindful that solutions to local problems must come from within the communities, and that perhaps, our roles within
our respective organizations when dealing with cross-cultural or cross socio-economic co-operation are really gatekeepers; but
ultimately the answers to Socio-Economic development have to come from the local community, or regional districts.

> everbody's darlings like to talk about targets, forces, 
> tasks, successes,
> but it makes me supicius, that many of these so hailed solutions,
> do NOT work fine, or got under critics; even under developed 
> conditions,

What works here may not work elsewhere.

Just a few thoughts this Monday morning.

Matthew