Thursday 1 April 2010
OH BLESSED e-RESEARCH
The chapter by Anderson & Kanuka (2003) – ‘The Literature Review Process in e-Research’ – has once again reminded me how miraculous these last few years have been! When I was in school in the early to mid- 80’s we used Commodore computers that – in hindsight – couldn’t do much (though they were bulky like small refrigerators)! The first ever computer I owned was in 1995 and the Internet had just happened! Windows 95 was revolutionary, and Microsoft still had credibility. I remember the first time I surfed the Internet. I was amazed! I spent hours accessing information ranging from interviews with famous musicians to the latest news (these lengthy trips through Cyberspace would eventually prove costly though, with me working through a basic dial-up). Today I cannot believe how accessible information has become. As much as I still crave the lonely cabin in the misty mountains, I cannot deny that I have a love affair with the Internet as well. Hence, a lonely cabin in the misty mountains with a modem seems even more appealing to me now. The authors mention a constant increase in both the quality and quantity of both formal and informal sources of information on the Internet (p.54). If the Web continues to develop at this pace, I doubt I will ever be able to imagine where we will be 15 years from now. Needless to say, today the Internet is THE SINGLE MOST INVALUABLE TOOL AVAILABLE FOR THOROUGH ACADEMIC RESEARCH (with the exception of the human brain, of course)!
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What are you talking about? There is no internet in South Africa! I discovered it for the first time when I arrived in Korea and it remains one of the reasons I refuse to leave.
ReplyDelete:)
Ha ha! You're kind of right . . . I mean, Internet there is, but it's so awfully slow. Here's a story taken from the BBC a short while ago (you may have heard about it - if not, here it is):
ReplyDeleteSA pigeon 'faster than broadband'
Winston the pigeon carries a 4GB memory stick across country
Broadband promised to unite the world with super-fast data delivery - but in South Africa it seems the web is still no faster than a humble pigeon.
A Durban IT company pitted an 11-month-old bird armed with a 4GB memory stick against the ADSL service from the country's biggest web firm, Telkom.
Winston the pigeon took two hours to carry the data 60 miles - in the same time the ADSL had sent 4% of the data.
Telkom said it was not responsible for the firm's slow internet speeds.
The idea for the race came when a member of staff at Unlimited IT complained about the speed of data transmission on ADSL.
He said it would be faster by carrier pigeon.
"We renown ourselves on being innovative, so we decided to test that statement," Unlimited's Kevin Rolfe told the Beeld newspaper.
'No cats allowed'
Winston took off from Unlimited IT's call centre in the town of Howick to deliver the memory stick to the firm's office in Durban.
According to Winston's website there were strict rules in place to ensure he had no unfair advantage.
Winston is over the moon
Kevin Rolfe
East Africa gets high-speed web
Africa - are you connected?
They included "no cats allowed" and "birdseed must not have any performance-enhancing seeds within".
The firm said Winston took one hour and eight minutes to fly between the offices, and the data took another hour to upload on to their system.
Mr Rolfe said the ADSL transmission of the same data size was about 4% complete in the same time.
Hundreds of South Africans followed the race on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
"Winston is over the moon," Mr Rolfe said.
"He is happy to be back at the office and is now just chilling with his friends."
Meanwhile Telkom said it could not be blamed for slow broadband services at the Durban-based company.
"Several recommendations have, in the past, been made to the customer but none of these have, to date, been accepted," Telkom's Troy Hector told South Africa's Sapa news agency in an e-mail.
South Africa is one of the countries hoping to benefit from three new fibre optic cables being laid around the African continent to improve internet connections.
Yes, I've read that article and that's was what I was referring to. Well that and countless other horror stories.
ReplyDeleteIt is really Telkom's fault!
In Ghana there is no running water or reliable source of electricity, Internet cafes are actually just hobbled together tin shacks with second hand, 10 year old computers donated as charity from Korea. Yet somehow Internet access is more affordable and ubiquitous than in SA...in some cases even faster.
Telkom can offer us better and less expensive Internet coverage but high profit margins are their first priority. Their lack of interest in providing services for everybody (not just big businesses) leaves the youth, our students, with an additional disadvantage (globally speaking). From disadvantaged students to underdeveloped work force their actions prevent progress in our country.
Sorry for the rant but Telkom really just gets under skin!
I agree!!! Hear hear! TELKOM are to communication what ESKOM is to light! A liability! The rates they charge for a shitty Internet service are shameful and - as you point out - deny a large part of the population from vital access to the Internet. The biggest problem is that they are semi-privatized (the SA government owns over 1/3 of the company), and very little competion has been allowed to enter the public telecommunications market.
ReplyDeleteHi Natasha.
ReplyDeleteStill want to get to that chat and those drinks. You still keen? It may have to wait just a little while longer though, but I'll get back to you once things have settled down to arrange a date and time that is most convenient for you.
Kind regards.
paul