Heroes of the Digital Divide

[David Goldstein <goldstein_david@yahoo.com.au>]

Heroes of the Digital Divide
The Internet boom sharpened global awareness that technology can
drive a wedge between those with access and those 
without. While the experts talk, a few people are doing something
about it

Gaopeidian is one of those numberless dusty towns scattered across
the plains of northern China. If asked, locals would say it's 
important because of its rail hub. Few realize that Gaopeidian is
also a huge nexus for a broadband network. China Netcom, 
the country's third- largest telecommunications firm, has laid
fiber-optic cables along the railroad tracks that intersect here as 
part of a $1.2 billion plan to pipe 40 gigabytes of data traffic
among 34 cities in China. But that means nothing to Gaopeidian's 
few thousand residents. With annual incomes that measure in the
hundreds, not thousands, of dollars, they have been bypassed 
by the information revolution. Most don't even have telephones.
"They're still living as though it was a few centuries ago," says 
Edward Tian, the president of China Netcom. Tian plans to change that
for at least a few residents. His company will wire one 
local elementary school with broadband hook-ups that will let
children take part in classes in Beijing or Hong Kong, using 
Netcom teleconferencing technology. The nonprofit project will be
done by year-end. "Internet technology is fundamentally 
good for China," says Tian. "It changes the way of living and
learning, like electricity." 
 http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/technology/article/0,8707,132165,00.html

=====
David Goldstein
2/3 Belmont Ave, Glen Iris 3146, Australia
email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
phone: +61 3 9885 0601 (home)
       +61 418 228 605 (mobile)

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