[atlarge-discuss] Membership fees/One solution for the digital divide

[espresso@e-scape.net]

One possible future I've seen discussed is based on the concept that everyone on the planet will eventually have some degree of Internet access and a unique domain name through which their communications will be routed.

If we're heading in that direction, we will certainly need:
- more openness in the naming of domains (so as to include extensions which make sense in languages other than English, domain names written in Bangla or Inuktitut as well as ones that use the Roman alphabet, etc.)
- an ICANN-like body with some cultural as well as technical expertise (since it's not likely there would be a member from every language group or that the entity could function efficiently if there were)
- formal recognition that the true purpose of the Internet is efficient, effective communications in all directions rather than to provide a framework for cutting the cost of doing business and selling to remote markets.

In principle, I rather like the notion of scaling the membership fee in proportion to the costs of using the Internet. In practice, though, it's likely to make the fee extremely regressive rather than progressive: Internet access is cheap in the developed countries where telephone systems and Internet infrastructure are plentiful, and extremely expensive in other places where access may require long distance charges as well as per-minute and per-kilobyte charges. Also, how would one calculate the fee for a person whose access is obtained for an hourly fee from an Internet café or library? 

As things stand, I am lucky enough to get my access through a local ISP which does not set minimum system requirements, offers limited-hours plans as well as the more costly unlimited service, and (finally) through a telephone line that doesn't dissolve into static every time it rains (the original lines were put in here around 1910). My domain name (.net, not .ca) costs me as much per year as one month's (25 hour) ISP fee, or the equivalent of three hours' work at the minimum wage here. The same amount of access from Mauretania would cost at least three times as much, and the average working person would have to work several weeks to cover the access cost, which makes it pretty unfeasible. 

The U.K. initiative cited below works because the U.K. has a good system of public libraries; they are also putting public access terminals into the post offices. Many parts of the world (including rural Canada!) have neither local libraries nor post offices so alternatives are schools, clinics or the offices of various NGOs. It is simply absurd to assume that Internet use in other places can follow the business model which allows the richer half of North American and western European populations to count on home access: it just won't happen elsewhere in the foreseeable future given the costs of infrastructure and the inherent limits on what one can charge for the service and still find a market. 

Therefore, I think, if we are talking about the membership of Internet users, rather than the sub-class of business users, we're looking at the wrong model for participation in an at-Large-ish organization. We need to be looking at things like:
- more, rather than less, use of e-mail (unlike Web forums, you don't need to stay online to read messages) to keep the interested well-informed
- Web sites designed to degrade gracefully, load quickly, and lead people easily to materials (preferably in their own language) which explain what the organization is and does (and what it obviously cannot do under the current conditions), how to join and why, what aspects of Internet policy are being debated and what steps are being taken by various organizations in what directions, etc.
- perhaps improving the signal-to-noise ratio in discussions by turning this into an umbrella-list with sub-lists to focus more tightly on specific aspects (ICANN's internal workings vs. techical issues vs. At Large's restructuring, etc., and a "CHAT" list for those who want informal banter and flame wars).

Anyway, that's more than enough from me for today. The rest of this message may interest you more.

Regards,

Judyth la pomme

-- FWD--

http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/content/glance.asp

Wired News 2:00 a.m. July 27, 2002 PDT

Excerpts:

"Libraries have proven to be the natural place to get people online. Over 60
percent of the population has a library card, and borrowing a book from the
library is one of the country's five most popular pastimes, five times more
popular than going to a professional football game."

[but that's Britain, not North America where fewer people read, or an LDC where fewer people know how.]

"The network was inspired by a groundbreaking report

(New Library: the People's Network
http://www.lic.gov.uk/publications/policyreports/newlibrary/index.html)

about creating a networked library service and the U.K. government's
determination to get the entire country connected by 2005. It has prompted
interest by library services and governments across the world."

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Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
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"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once 
they have exhausted all other alternatives." (Abba Eban)
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