APEC Low Cost Private Schools for Developing Nations

APEC Schools provide low cost education in the Philippines. At first I assumed this was an initiative of  the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group of countries. But it is actually a non-government for-profit company, Affordable Private Education Center Inc., set up by the UK education company Pearson PLC.The fees for a high school student are the equivalent of about AUD$800 a year.

Dr Bjorn Lomborg to Advise on Australia’s Aid Program

The innovationXchange is an initiative from the Australian Government to provide innovation in Australia’s aid program. That appears a worthwhile idea. However, Dr Bjorn Lomborg has been nominated to the innovationXchange International Reference Group. UWA recently withdrew from the Australian Consensus Centre project, due to Dr Lomborg's involvement in it. It is unfortunate that the Minister for Foreign Affairs exercised poor judgment by nominating Dr Lomborg to the innovationXchang. Other members of the reference group might want to reconsider their membership of it, as a result.

ICT in a Developing Nation

Greetings from the Australian National University College of Asia & the Pacific in Canberra, where Dr. Joseph Kim Suwamaru from Divine Word University (DWU) is speaking on "Emerging challenges for ICTs in Papua New Guinea". He pointed out that opening the PNG telecommunications market has resulted in a drop in mobile phone charges to customers and benifits to the community in terms of selling produce and access to online banking. However, he pointed out possible rent seeking by the backbone owner. PNG has a terrestrial microwave network, with islands connected by satellite, with two undersea fibre-optic international connections. It would not be economically efficient for multiple companies to duplicate this infrastructure, but it should still be possible to have multiple ISPs and mobile providers sharing the infrastructure at reasonable cost, with oversight by the regulator (however, the regulator is not independent of the Minister).

Dr. Suwamaru has written a paper with Peter K Anderson on "Closing the digital divide in Papua New Guinea: A proposal for a national telecommunications model". Other papers are on "ICT for education: Achieving the goals of PNG Vision 2050", "Proposal for free, fair and safe elections through mobile phones in Papua New Guinea", "An SMS-based HIV/AIDS education and awareness model for rural areas in Papua New Guinea".

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is witnessing substantial changes in telecommunications infrastructure and in information and communication technology (ICT) services. Much of this is due to the entry in 2007 of the Irish company Digicel into the mobile phone sector. Digicel is now the dominant player in PNG’s telecommunications services market, with a market share of more than eighty per cent of PNG’s combined mobile phone and mobile data services. It has recently moved into other areas of telecommunications, acquiring businesses in the television broadcasting and narrowcasting sector. Digicel also has a keen interest in undersea submarine fiber-optic infrastructure. Some of the benefits for PNG citizens include market access, m-banking and payments via SMS messaging among others. However, the near-monopoly status of Digicel, which looks set to move to other related sectors, gives rise to the question of whether value in choice and price can be sustained within the small telecommunications market in PNG. This presentation concerns emerging challenges in ICTs with respect to interconnection arrangements, infrastructure sharing and number portability between operators in PNG. These aspects require regulatory diligence to prevent market abuse. Lack of competent regulation may lead to a regulatory vacuum where operators and citizens may be subject to the whims of the incumbent – in this case, Digicel. This presentation provides an overview of the current ICT infrastructure and delineates emerging regulatory challenges needed in safeguarding the healthy growth of the sector while protecting the interest of citizens. About the speaker Joseph Kim Suwamaru is currently visiting SSGM from Divine Word University (DWU), Madang, in Papua New Guinea (PNG) where he teaches in the department of information systems. Joseph earned his PhD from DWU for his research on aspects of mobile phone usages in socio-economic development in PNG. Prior to completing his PhD and joining DWU, Joseph was the Executive Director of the Engineering Department within the former ICT regulator, PANGTEL. He also served as Vice Chairman within the Asia Pacific Tele-community study groups, headquartered in Bangkok from 2005-2009. Joseph currently sits in the board of directors of a new state owned enterprise (SOE), DATACO, tasked with rolling out terrestrial and under-sea submarine fiber-optic cables across PNG and Melanesia. He can be contacted by email at joseph.suwamaru(a)anu.edu.au or jsuwamaru(a)dwu.ac.pg

ICT in PNG

Joseph Kim Suwamaru will be spaking on "Emerging challenges for ICTs in Papua New Guinea", at the Australian National University in Canberra, 3pm, 12 Feb 2015.

"Papua New Guinea (PNG) is witnessing substantial changes in telecommunications infrastructure and in information and communication technology (ICT) services. Much of this is due to the entry in 2007 of the Irish company Digicel into the mobile phone sector. Digicel is now the dominant player in PNG’s telecommunications services market, with a market share of more than eighty per cent of PNG’s combined mobile phone and mobile data services. It has recently moved into other areas of telecommunications, acquiring businesses in the television broadcasting and narrowcasting sector."

Information Systems for Development Symposium

UNSW Canberra (aka ADFA) is hosting a free Information Systems  for Development Symposium (ICT4D), in Canberra 25 to 25 September 2014. This will feature Professor Robert Davison, City University of Hong Kong.

Current Trends, Future Prospects in ICT4D Research

Professor Robert Davison, City University of Hong Kong

Abstract

While ICT4D research is widely conducted in Developing Countries, it is not always very visible to audiences in Developed Countries. Some of this research is commissioned by entities like the World Bank and various UN agencies. Other research projects are initiated and conducted by academics in Developing Countries. It is this latter type of research that I am most familiar with and that will be my focus. Academics, globally, seek to publish their research in the best outlet they can identify. However, there is not always a good match between the individual academic's objectives and those of the publication outlets. As the editor of both mainstream IS journals and a journal that focuses on Developing Countries, I am particularly conscious of this tension. For instance, many academics in countries as far flung as Iran, Nigeria, Fiji and Brazil send their papers to top journals in the IS field, like the ISJ and IT&People. Unfortunately, these papers are almost invariably rejected – because the research topic does not fit well with the journal selected and the quality of research is too weak. Nevertheless, there is a select group of journals that focus exclusively on ICT4D. These include EJISDC, ITD and ITID. However, although these journals do not claim the status of the top journals in the field, they do have respectable standards. In this presentation, I will explore the kind of research that is currently undertaken in ICT4D, focusing in particular on the key issues of context, theory and epistemology. I will also explore how I would like to see ICT4D research developing in the future.

Bio

Robert Davison is a Professor of Information Systems at the City University of Hong Kong. His current research focuses on virtual Knowledge Management and Collaboration in Chinese SMEs. He has published over 70 articles in a variety of journals such as MIS Quarterly, the Information Systems Journal, IT & People, Journal of IT, Journal of the AIS, Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Decision Support Systems, Communications of the AIS, and Communications of the ACM. Robert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, co-Editor-in-Chief of Information Systems Journal, and co-Editor-in-Chief of Information Technology & People.

Rights and Sustainability in Timor-Leste’s Development

Greetings from the Australian National University where Charles Scheiner, Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis, is speaking on "Rights and Sustainability in Timor-Leste’s Development". He questioned the Timor-Leste's government's policy of economic development based on petroleum extraction and processing. He presented a detailed analysis of the problems. However, these problems could equally apply to many small developing nations and some to Australia.

What was lacking from the analysis was proposals for fixing the problem. At question time Scheiner related an anecdote that junior public servants in the Timor-Leste government who related in private they agreed with the analysis but faced political pressure preventing putting this in official proposals.

Perhaps there is need for more emphasis in higher education courses on how to have policy proposals adopted.In the course "ICT Sustainability" (COMP7310) I have the students spend the first half working out what the problem is and the second what to do about it. Students discover that it is relatively easy to come up with a technical proposal, but much harder to put it in a way their boss will find compelling. This is something which we can teach over the Internet to students anywhere.

 There is a Timor-Leste Conference at ANU tomorrow.

Delivering real aid results virtually

The Australian Government has released "An Effective Aid Program for Australia: Making a real difference—Delivering real results". This is a response to an "Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness". The review mentioend education five times in its summary and specifically recommend the use of new media:

Public engagement should be improved through a new community grants scheme, embracing new media technologies and promoting development education.

From: Recommendation 38, Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness, 6 July 2011

The government response has education in two of its ten objectives:

3. enabling more children, particularly girls, to attend school for a longer and better education so they have the skills to build their own futures and, in time, escape poverty ...

4. empowering women to participate in the economy, leadership and education because of the critical untapped role of women in supporting development ...

From: An Effective Aid Program for Australia: Making a real difference—Delivering real results, Australian Government, 6 July 2011

The review also recommended "Partnerships with multilateral and non–government organizations" (Recommendation 15). The government response reflects this:

"... We will increase support for multilateral organisations such as the World Bank and the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI), and United Nations development agencies that we assess as being efficient and effective ...

We will also make greater use of multilateral partners, civil society, and Australian non-government organisations to deliver our assistance, particularly in regions where they have a greater capacity to deliver results for poor people than we do ..."

However, the Australian Government does not appear to have taken up the reviews idea of the use of new media technologies. The government appears to be still think that to deliver an aid program they have to send aid workers to the filed and that this infrastructure needs to be replicated for each country involved. Particularly in the case of education, this may not be necessary, nor the most effective way to deliver aid.

Developing nations are bypassing the conventional public sector wired telecommunication networks of developed nations and introducing privately funded wireless networks. These networks can be used for education and for commerce. The Australian Government can use this infrastructure to deliver education and training directly to people in developing nations. Australia is a world leader in e-learning, having developed the Moodle free open source learning management system. Moodle is designed to deliver education in multiple languages and can be used with smart phones and tablet computers. Australian volunteers are working with Moodle on OLPC laptops for remote indigenous schools.

ICT for Indian Social Change

The book ICTs and Indian Social Change: Diffusion, Poverty, Governance
has 16 thought provoking articles on the politics, economics, business and technology of providing computers and the Internet in India.

Of most interest for me was chapter 3 "Sustainable Internet Connectivity in Rural India" (by Ashok Jhunjhunwala and AnuradhaRamachandran). This details the difficulties in providing a conventional telecommunications network in a rural area and some of the innovative alternatives developed for India. and In 2005 I spent three weeks living in an Indian village and saw first hand the difficulties in getting Internet access. It could take dozens of attempts to get a slow, unreliable dial-up connection via a phone line (assuming the householder could get a phone line). As a result wireless systems were being used, the most interesting of which used CDMA desktop telephone handsets, with data ports.

The Australian Government is planning to spend $43B on a National Broadband Network with poorly defined economic and social goals. The policy makers could benefit from reading "ICTs and Indian Social Change: Diffusion, Poverty, Governance":

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: ICTs and Indian Social Change—An Agenda of Concerns ASHWANI SAITH and M VIJAYABASKAR
2. Culture of Technology and ICTs SUNDAR SARUKKAI
3. Sustainable Internet Connectivity in Rural India ASHOK JHUNJHUNWALA and ANURADHA RAMACHANDRAN
4. Two Mutually Reinforcing Applications of ICT for Socio-economic Development of India RAJESH JAIN, ATANU DEY, REUBEN ABRAHAM and VIVEK PADMANABHAN
5. ICTs and Poverty Alleviation: Hope or Hype? ASHWANI SAITH
6. Decrypting E-governance: Narratives, Power Play and Participation in the Gyandoot Intranet T T SREEKUMAR
7. Crossing a Chasm: Technologies, Institutions and Policies for Developing a Regional IT Industry NIRVIKAR SINGH
8. The Electronic Grassrooting of Democracy: A Case for Community Radio VINOD PAVARALA
9. Wired Watchdogs: How ICTs are Aiding Civil Society to Enhance Public Accountability GOPAKUMAR KRISHNAN THAMPI
10. Influence of Software Trade on Development of Web-enabled Governance Initiatives: Comparative Perspectives of Indian and UK Experiences AMIT MITRA and ALWYN DIDAR SINGH
11. Evaluating the Developmental Impact of E-governance Initiatives: An Exploratory Framework SHIRIN MADON
12. Ricocheting Gender Equations: Women Workers in the Call Centre Industry PIYUSH ANTONY and V GAYATHRI
13. Constructing Work and Identity in the Indian Outsourced ITES Sector M VIJAYABASKAR
14. Ethnic Transnational Middle Classes in Formation: A Case Study of Indian Information Technology Professionals XIANG BIAO
15. Virtual India: Indian IT Labour and the Nation-State PETER VAN DER VEER
16. Uncanny Networks: Pirate, Urban and the New
17. Globalization in India RAVI SUNDARAM

• Index

Edited by: ASHWANI SAITH Institute of Social Studies, Netherlands and London School of Economics and Political Science
M VIJAYABASKAR Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai
V GAYATHRI Institute for Human Development, New Delhi

Pages : 424

About the Book

ICTs and Indian Social Change: Diffusion, Poverty, Governance is the first book of its kind that puts together the optimistic voices of techno-idealists, critical social science perspectives on technology and a range of empirical material on the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the lives of people. The book traces these processes across urban and rural spaces of work, consumption, e-governance, and highlights the new kinds of social identities they are fostering in India. It opens up an arena for dialogue between activists, technologists, policy makers and academia on using ICTs for development.

The book is a logical sequel to ICTs and Indian Economic Change: Economy, Work, Regulation that addressed the implications of the growth of ICT-based sectors in India for macro-economic development and industrial efficiency. This volume views the diffusion of ICTs in India primarily in the socio cultural realm. In responding to the pioneering voices of innovators in ICTs, it provides empirical and theoretical assessments and critiques of some of the important though often latent, premises that underlie these powerful initiatives.

Climate Change and Development Panel

Greetings from the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University in Canberra. For a free panel on "Crises in human development: Climate Change: What does Copenhagen mean for the world’s poor?" The event did not start well, with a representative of ActionAid making an attack on western neo-liberalism. I didn't think would help with climate change or development.

Guest panellists:

• Dr Lorraine Elliott, Senior Fellow in International Relations, The Australian National University: Dr Elliott asked what forum should be used for climate change negotiation. She said the G20 was not suitable as it is not a formal legal international forum, concentrates on financial issues. The UN FCCC process is flawed but is deliberative and inclusive, or superior.
  
• Annemarie Watt, Negotiator, Department of Climate Change: Ms. Watt suggested we need to fundamentally change the way we are looking at the problem and come up with new solutions. She pointed out how complex and demanding the negotiation process is, with multiple streams and limited skilled negotiators. She noed that a the Copenhagen meeting the cohesiveness of the developing nations block broke down. She has an extensive background in environmental issues in government, but curiously I could find no mention of her on the Climate Change Department web site.
  
• Mr Phan Van Ngoc, Country Director ActionAid Vietnam: Mr. Van Ngoc argues that the Copenhagen agreement was for and by the rich. This may be true, but is not a useful observation. Obviously rich and powerful nations will act in their own interests. The question is how the interests of others can also be promoted. A more useful observation was that most of the negotiations were closed and by a small group of countries. His view, which I share, is that the negotiations had no useful outcome and were a waste of resources and effort. He pointed out the effect climate change will have on Vietnam and that the country has strategies to address this. This was useful for pointed out that this is not just an abstract political problem and that nations are taking action.
  

At question time I proposed that ANU help the Australian Government provide an online forum to assist future climate change negotiations. The panel pointed out that some developing nations had only limited Internet access and that face to face meetings were needed, particularly where high level political leaders are involved. But there seemed to be some support for the idea. Ms. Watt pointed out that Department for Climate Change makes extensive use of video conference, but are concerned by the limitations of the technology particularly for large groups and with technical glitches.

Negotiate Post Copenhagen Climate Change Online

Greetings from the Australian National University, in Canberra where "Post Copenhagen: Where Do We Go Now?" was just held. The event is also streamed live online.

Professor Will Steffen, Executive Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute hosted. More than 50 ANU staff and students attended the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. They provided insights on what happened.

Some insights:

• One Russian spokesperson make commitments one day and a different one explained these were not going to be commitments the next day,
• Developing nations argued for financial help to mitigate climate change. There were allegations that this was being used to gloss over the lack of progress. There were also issues as to if any funding would be new and would actually be paid.

The Australian Government's Climate Change Ambassador will be speaking
at ANU tomorrow. My suggestion is that ANU should host online forums on behalf of the Australian Government to provide a low emission high efficiency place to negotiate the Copenhagen Climate Change global agreement. This could include training in how to negotiate efficiently as well as how to use online technology to do it.

Climate Change and Development

Ms Louise Hand, Australian Ambassador for Climate Change will be part of a free panel on "Crises in human development: Climate Change: What does Copenhagen mean for the world’s poor?" at the Australian National University in Canberra, 24 February 2010.

Guest panellists:

• Dr Lorraine Elliott, Senior Fellow in International Relations, The Australian National University
• Ms Louise Hand, Australia ’s Ambassador for Climate Change
• Mr Phan Van Ngoc, Country Director ActionAid Vietnam

Speaker/Host: Actionaid and Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy
Venue: APCD Lecture Theatre, Hedley Bull Centre ANU
Date: Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Website: http://apcd.anu.edu.au
Enquiries: Frederique Blanc on 02 9565 9119, Andrea Haese on 02 6125 7983

Humanitarian Technology Challenge

The IEEE, in association with the UN Foundation has launched a Humanitarian Technology Challenge. with three projects for developing nations: Reliable Electricity, Data Connectivity for Health Facilities and Individual ID for patient medical records. Interested professionals are invited to submit ideas and join an online collaboration platform. A Solution Development Workshop will be held in Washington, DC (USA), October 26 - 28, 2009.

There are detailed documents on each project. For data connectivity there is "Data Connectivity of Rural District Health Offices". This is a very good overview document, but unfortunately it has been formatted as a 29 page 267 kByte PDF file. This is at odds with the aims of the project which emphasises the use of mobile devices and efficient use of communications. The project might want to reformat its documents in mobile friendly web pages, will reduce the bandwidth requirements by about 10 to 100 times.

Another problem with the project is the use of a red cross on a white background in the home page. The red cross symbol is reserved under international law for use by specific medical and other humanitarian operations. The usual symbol for first aid, is a white cross on a green background.

Low cost water filters for developing nations

Stuart Forsyth talked about Abundant Water at the Engineers Without Borders Canberra meeting in Canberra on Thursday. AbundantWater.org is a non-profit organisation developing a system using low cost clay pot water filters for developing nations.

The water filters are made from local clay mixed with organic material to make pots using traditional local craft techniques. When fired, the organic material burns away leaving fine pores in the clay which filer out bacteria.

The filters are claimed to have been developed by materials scientist Mr Tony Flynn of the Australian National University. There is a step-by-step guide (PDF 169k) to making the filters.

However, while Mr. Flynn may have researched how to make an effective filter, it is too much to claim to have invented the clay pot filter. Potters have known since the discovery of fired clay, that if you mix some organic material with the clay you end up with a porous pot.

The key to the Abundant Water project seems to be to transfer the technology to the local communities. The local existing potting techniques can be used and local staff employed.

While Abundant Water appears to be a worthwhile project by sincere people the way the project is promoted could be improved. In this case the presenter told a stories about family planning and corruption, which was inappropriate and insulting to people in developing nations.

One part of the talk claimed that Abundant Water used a tertiary model of technology transfer, with a partnership between the first world educator and the third world learner. However, it was still assumed that the people of the first world are needed to teach and the people in the developing nation are doing the learning.

The talk also diverted into a factually incorrect analogy to open source. The claim was made that Open Office.com started out as a European open source project. This is not correct: OpenOffice.com started as a closed source product: StarOffice. This product was purchased by Sun Microsystems and only then became an open source project.

The Abundant Water approach to development seems to be for trained engineers and other professionals from developed nations to go to developing nations to tell them what to do. This is a slow and expensive process. In the Internet age it would seem more efficient and effective to put the information and education online, so that those already in these nations could apply the technology. This could be done by providing a mobile phone compatible training course. Engineers and other professionals can be educated in place in developing nations in place. As an example of this, staff at the ANU and CSIRO work online with students in Indonesia.

Another problem with Abundant Water seems to be its charity business model. It is assumed that all the funding for the work will come from donations from the first world and be directed to projects in the third world. This may well perpetuate the poverty such projects are supposed to be working against. Abundant Water should look at business models which will make the project self supporting and allow the project to expand without donations.

Earthquake resistant straw bale buildings

Darcey Donovan founded the Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (PAKSBAB) in 2006. They adapt straw bale and other sustainable methods for low cost earthquake and storm resistant buildings in developing nations.

The buildings are typically one story high with walls made of straw bales covered with earth render and a wood framed corrugated steel roof. The straw provides a low cost building material which insulates and will also flex rather than break during an earthquake. The earth render makes the building fire resistant.

In countries such as Australia, straw bale construction is sometimes used, but usually with wooden supporting frame and the straw just used for infill.

Solving the global sanitation crisis

"The Last Taboo" (Maggie Black and Ben Fawcett, Earthscan, 2008) tackles the little mentioned, but important problem of sanitation in the developing world. The authors point out that this problem was largely solved in western countries more than a hundred years ago with the flushing toilet, but that system is not economically or environmentally feasable for most of the world. They also point out that most attention and resources about water-related diseases go to providing clean water, when it is the failure to correctly dispose of human excrement which causes the problem.

The authors detail and critique several designs of low cost and water saving toilets (pour flush pit toilet, double vault composting toilet,VIP Toilet, sanplat) and the programs developed to supply them. They are critical of projects which do not plan for maintenance of the systems and do not involve local people. They also advocate looking first to low cost solutions, based on behavior, not technology. As an example in rural areas they advocate an approach where people are educated to use a designated piece of land away from housing and simply bury their waste (in a "cat scratch").

I have one quibble with the book. At one point they discuss the benefits of separating urine from feces. They point out that urine contains much of the nutrients of the waste, while being almost free of pathogens and suggest its separate collection for use on crops. But they then point out that toilets designed to collect the urine separately are difficult to make, especially for females.

However, they don't suggest an obvious and simple solution: provide a urinal for males. Urinals are simple to make and maintain.They need not be complex waterless urinals which have been designed to look like a flush unit (some also require to be refilled with Sealing Liquid).

A urinal cab be as simple as a designated patch of ground, or a funnel and pipe. Males in many cultures are happy to use them, as satirized in the novel "Clochemerle". A urinal would divert about half the urine at minimal cost. In a communal facility it could also greatly increase capacity.

Open Source System Needed for Global Distribution of Curriculum Materials

The New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) have issued a Request for Tender for a National Policy on Procurement, Storage and Distribution of Curriculum Materials for the Solomon Islands. The detailed Request for Tender (RFT) document has a good overview of the issues that a small Pacific country faces with educational materials. However, perhaps an alternative solution to new warehouses and book stock control systems should be considered.

The paper based education system could be replaced with a computer based one, using devices like the OLPC and the ASUS EEE PC. This would remove the need for tonnes of books to have to be looked after. The same equipment could be used for primary, secondary and tertiary education, as well as civil administration functions. This would be initially more complex and more expensive to install, but would have long term benefits. Modular buildings, with the computer equipment pre-installed, already facilities could be used to speed the process.

The New Zealand Agency for International Development, NZAID, is inviting the submission of tenders from consultants interested in undertaking the role of providing Technical Assistance to the Solomon Islands Education Resource Unit for the development of the National Policy on Procurement, Storage and Distribution of Curriculum Materials.

Tenders must demonstrate understanding and experience of the following:

• school curriculum materials distribution, procurement and storage policy and management;
• policy development and practical implementation of policy in the education sector;
• facilitating capacity development, skills transfer and mentoring of staff;
• and experience working cross culturally and in developing country contexts, preferably in the Pacific.




Relates to the following TenderWatch Categories
865 Management consulting services
866 Services related to management consulting
929 Other education services
914 Policy advice and guidance for Government

From: National Policy on Procurement, Storage and Distribution of Curriculum Materials for the Solomon Islands, Request for Tender, New Zealand Agency for International Development, 2008

Doing Business in India

Came across the book with the wonderful title of "Doing Business in India For Dummies" by Ranjini Manian. This combines business and cultural advice which would be useful for those doing business with, as well as in, India. Some of the advice on language, laws and customs will be familiar to those in the UK and Australia, but it is still worthwhile.

One aspect that I had not realized is that India adopted for its Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, the model of the UN Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (UNCITRAL). The result of this is that, as the book suggests, you can write arbitration into your contracts and more than likely avoid a long and expensive court case in the event of a business dispute.

For my own report on India, see: "Living in an Indian Village in Goa for Three Weeks".

InkMedia mobile computer

The US$300 InkMedia mobile computer seems to be similar to other low cost laptops proposed for education in developing nations, such as the One Laptop Per Child and the ASUS EeePC. These have no hard disks, to reduce power use and hard disk failures; and use the Linux operating system.

The InkMedia web site makes some questionable claims, such as "cannot get a virus, a worm or ad-ware of any kind" and "never slows down, as it doesn't have a hard disk to de-fragment". These claims are overstated: solid state memory, when used to emulate a disk can have malicious software installed and needs to be defragemented occasionally.

Also the InkMedia's removable keyboard design would appear to make the unit more vulnerable to damage, than the more traditional clamshell design of the ASUS EeePC. The One Laptop Per Child has a swivel and fold mechanism which also may prove to be a point of failure.

Portable learning centre

The technology of the flexible learning centre looks usable in Australia and could be built into a transportable classroom. But could this be taken a step further and be made portable? That would allow the equipment to be carried into a room in a number of travel cases and set up in a few minutes. As well as being used for education, this could provide a temporary office.

Carry Cases

One useful definition for what is portable is the size of an airline carry on bag:

Cabin baggage should have maximum length of 22 in (56 cm), width of 18 in (45 cm) and depth of 10 in (25 cm). The sum of these three dimensions should not exceed the 45 in (115 cm). These dimensions include wheels, handles, side pockets, etc.

From: Luggage, Wikipedia, 22:05, 26 July 2007.

A typical Carry On Watertight Hard Case is the Pelican 1510, which is
19.75" x 11.00" x 7.60" (50.1 x 27.9 x 19.3 cm) inside.



Display Screen

A flat panel screen such as an LCD or plasma display will not fit in a travel case. Also the large plastic or glass surface of the screen is subject to damage in transit. An alternative is a projector, DLP Projectors currently offering good brightness at a reasonable price.



Student Screens

Laptop computers are more easily packed than LCD screens. In this case high power computers are not required. An alternative is the ASUS Eee PC which has no hard disk and a 7" or 10" screen.

Flexible Learning Modules for Indigenous Education

Education was an area identified by the Australian Government for more support for remote indegnious communities was. However, more school buildings will be required if more aboriginal children attend school. Also it will be difficult to obtain sufficient trained teachers willing to work in remote areas, nor provide educators in advanced subjects or for adult education. Part of the answer would be to provide networked computer enhanced flexible learning centers in pre-built modules.

Advanced computer based learning systems can be used for elementary education in remote areas and by people with limited literacy. Examples are the
Simputer, which was designed for Indian villages and the “zoom” interface of the OLPC $100 Children's Machine for education in developing nations. Wireless terrestrial (WiMax/3G) and satellite networks can be used to provide connectivity and accessible web design can enhance the usability.

Prefabricated modules could be mass produced for upgrading the education services in remote indigenous communities. The modules could be built in regional centres using local labor and then transported to the communities and used to upgrade existing schools and community centers.

One of the problems to be addressed by the Australian Government's emergency response to the Protection of Aboriginal Children Report is education. Even if sufficient funding was available to provide teachers for remote indigenous communities, qualified persons would not be available for all the education required. Nor would there be sufficient tradespeople to build schools rapidly enough.

It is therefore suggested that modular classrooms could be built in factories for modular and prefabricated housing. The modules would be equipped with wireless broadband and computer facilities for education, as well as power, water and lighting. The equipment would be ruggidized to survive transportation to the site and use. The same technology on a smaller scale would be used for housing.

The modules would be the size of a ISO shipping container. Rather than build the components into the smallest possible space, where they would need to then be connected by qualified trades people, it is proposed to install them in a building module, providing the rooms where the services are delivered (classroom, kitchen and bathrooms). In this way the services can be pre-connected to the delivery point. The empty space in the module would be used to transport components which need to be installed outside the building, such as solar panels or wind generators.

The modules could use one of the many available modular building technologies to construct a unit the size of a standard ISO container for ease of transport. The modules would be fitted out with classrooms, bathrooms and kitchens, with fixtures and fittings included. The fit-out would be customized for different regions. Where reliable reticulated water and power are available, the building would equipped for connection.

For remote areas, solar and/or wind power generation and battery storage would be installed. Water would be provided by in-built pumps and a modular water tank transported in the module. At toilet would be installed for sewage/septic, or in dry areas a waterless composting toilet would be used. A wireless terrestrial (WiMax/3G) or satellite would be fitted.

The classrooms would be fitted out as flexible learning centres, complete with wall and desk mounted computer screens. The screens would be built into the building with rugged dust proof and reinforced enclosures to protect them during transport and when in use. The equipment would provide access to global educational resources, from pre-school, trough K-12 to vocational, university and adult classes.

The classrooms would be smaller versions of the MIT TEAL (Technology Enabled Active Learning) technology. This provides a combination of mini lectures and lab sessions in the one nightclub style room.

The MIT TEAL leaning rooms accommodates groups of students at tables sharing a computer. The walls are equipped with conventional white and blackboards as well as video projection screens.

University of Melbourne uses similar technology in its Collaborative Learning Spaces. MIT research shows the TEAL approach produces better results than traditional classes. The environment is particularly good for helping the poorer performing students and for retaining groups who may have been disadvantaged by traditional teaching methods, including females and those from indigenous communities.

The classrooms could be used for university level students as well as primary and secondary school. The Australian Computer Society provides online education modules for IT professionals, using the Australian Moodle system, which would be able to be used via such a system.

The system could also be used for training local government staff in how to administer their local community. I used my own installation of the Moodle system for a one day commercial industry course on writing for the web with 24 students from local government.

Design with Australian Research and Defence Help

Australian Defence Force personnel are being used to assist with logistics for aiding indigenous communities. This includes the building of some facilities. The ADF could aid in the design and deployment of modular computerized classrooms.

More advanced versions of the same modules could be used as deployable headquarters facilities for the ADF. Use of such containerized facilities is envisaged in 2012 on the new amphibious ships HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide.

Australian universities, including the ANU are investigating smaller and lower cost versions of the MIT technology. LCD screens with VESA Mounts can be used in place of projection screens. WiFi communications to wireless, battery powered devices could be used. Thin client workstations, can be used in place of PCs. Low cost devices, such as the ASUS "Eee PC" and MIT $100One Laptop Per Child.