Value of the Internet (5)
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[Some more postings to the topic from AFRIKA-IT list; DN Mod.]
Jeff,
Good post. Consider also the value of listserv. This allows scientists (and anyone else) to participate in International discussions of high value for relatively little cost. Many listservs, as you know, develop into mutual assistance societies. We here at FAO have been looking closely at the qualitative difference between Internet communications and previous communications technology advances, with a focus on what this might mean for development. The most obvious features are low cost and inter-activity. But that does not quite seem to explain the unprecedented growth of networks in the past 5 years.
Keep up the questions and let us know what you find.
Regards,
David Dion
FAO of the UN
mailto:david.dion@fao.org
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Hello All:
I just spotted Jeff's posting in relation to above and David's con-
tribution.
I do agree with David's point that listserv's could provide a suit-
able medium for participatory types of dialogs be it an online con-
versation or a discussion of one type or another on this or that sub-
ject.
Of course a typical example of this type of exercise (referred to by
Jeff) is putting together a proposal using a collaborative group de-
cision making approach through online discussion and exchange of
ideas be it among African scientists or any group of people based in
any part of the world.
The real issue is not however, whether the Internet and its resources
can support this type of application (of course we do this all the
time on Afrik-IT), but as Jeff puts it .... is assessing (quantify-
ing) the value of the Internet as a medium for supporting this exer-
cise as against other types of traditional media/means like fax,
smail, teleconferencing, video conferencing and so on.
Yes, apart from the apparently obvious cost cost advantage of the
Internet as compare to other media one can also list a number of
quantifiable and 'not-so-quantifiable' criteria to use to assess the
value of the Internet in this respect. From the 'top-of my head', one
could consider....
1. The time factor... i.e. the time it takes to put the proposal (of
the final discussion document together) using the resources of the
Internet to initiative and conduct the discussion (as against us-
ing other means).
2. The cost factor.. involve in generating the discussing and keeping
it going (e.g. the cost of involvement as per individual.. time
cost, transmission cost etc.).
3. The richness of the discussion/dialog session itself ...measured
in terms of a number of factors including....
- the turn-around/response time to generate and respond to ideas,
suggestions and contributions... 'how lively is the dialog' some
may say;
- the rate at which ideas are generated or added to or commented
on;
- the degree to which participants, respond to points raised as a
measure of connectivity of points... a measure of cohesiveness
or lack of disjointness of the discussion;
- the comradeship generated by the discussion and how this encour-
age interaction leading to chances of collaborating on other is-
sues on the future...
4. The quality of the final output of exercise ( a measure of "a job
well done"??) and
5. Other advantages associated with typical group/collaborative deci-
sion making within an online (or 'near online') discussion/dialog
environment.
I am sure others have other points on how to go about this issue.
Best regards,
Clement
Clement Dzidonu Ph.D.
Department of Computer Science
National University of Science and Technology
Bulawyo, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263-9-71736 or +263-9-71737
Fax: +263-9-76804
mailto:clement@THEMBA.CSZIM.CO.ZW
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