World Telecommunication Day 1999 |
The rapid introduction of Internet cafés, wired schools, electronic libraries and other on-line facilities is gradually bringing every aspect of the world to an increasingly vast number of fingertips.
Most countries - and even smaller cultural and political entities - now have Web sites that enable cybertourists to marvel at monuments and statistics, business travelers to look at a hotel room before booking it on-line, and e-commerce and ''e-tail'' purchasers to buy virtually anything without leaving home.
The phenomenon is universal. Network Computer Systems (NCS) has spearheaded the Internet craze in Ghana, where it is one of the Internet Service Providers and runs an Internet café.
''The Internet has opened up an entire world of business, communication and products to Ghana, while our site [www.ghana.com] provides information about Ghana to the world,'' says NCS's communications specialist, Frank Mantey. ''Although computers are still too expensive for most people here, schools and Internet cafés are gradually providing access to people at almost every level of society.''
The spread of the Internet is occurring everywhere and it is happening quickly - much faster than the dissemination of television a few decades ago.
The Internet began to penetrate the kingdom of Saudi Arabia only earlier this year, and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology near Riyadh has become the national hub of activity for Internet development. Its impact, however, was immediately felt throughout the conservative country.
''Ninety percent of my wife's friends use the Internet, and they are getting exposure to a wide variety of ideas and a wealth of information,'' says Saud Sabban, an executive at the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah.
The new school
The Internet has also enabled many developing countries to revamp their educational systems. Although the initial costs of getting wired can be high, there are long-term savings gained from on-line educational methods in countries like Uruguay, where an imported school textbook can cost $100 - much more than a teacher makes in a month.
One of the most encouraging examples of the Internet as an educational tool is seen at the Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management, which was created in a former military barracks in Rwanda in 1997. The institute, which has 550 students and 40 professors, offers a program with degrees in environmental technologies, civil engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, information technology and business management.
''The educated class in this country was specifically targeted during the genocide, and formal education was completely destroyed,'' says Silas Lwakabamba, the school's rector, as he shows a visitor a computer-filled classroom with Internet-connected students. ''Our initial objective here is to begin to fill the almost total vacuum that exists in many professional fields. We are using the Internet to accomplish that.''
Although putting a personal computer in every household or every school is impractical in heavily indebted countries like Rwanda, the establishment of cybercafés helps make Internet access possible almost everywhere.
Cybercafés exist around the world, and their names and locations - the @Café in Rio de Janeiro, Andy's Internet Café in Tasmania, the Astoria Internet Cafe in Macedonia, C@fe.Net in the Kalahari Desert, iC@fe in Zimbabwe, the Monkey Online in Ecuador, the Sharkbyte in Australia or the Cybermannia cybercafés in Guatemala - are testimony to the growth of the Internet.
Joel Stratte-McClure