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Forums: Technology & Innovation
| Simple Technology To The Rescue |
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May 17, 2009 7:02 PM
A few days back, I took a taxi from the ambassadorial enclave at Ridge to Abbosey Okai, both in Accra, Ghana. To help me cope with the stress as a result of a traffic jam, I launched Windows Media Player on my iPAQ and started Ryan Shupe's Dream Big.
The taxi driver was so glad to hear the song. He tried singing along with great difficulty since he did not know the lyrics. 'This is my favorite song', he said. I taught him how to visit the google website to run a search for the lyrics he needed badly and any other information he was interested in. Somehow, I knew it was going to take him a long time to accomplish the task.
I therefore decided to whet his appetite for technology as a tool for solving our everyday problems. I launched Internet Explorer on my iPAQ, connected to the internet via the GPRS service of my mobile network provider, visited google, run the search, found the lyrics and sent it to the taxi driver's cell phone via SMS.
He was amazed and overjoyed. Simple technology already present in his environment had come to his rescue and made his day. Isn't that what technology should be doing for everyday people?
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June 17, 2009 12:09 PM
Yes I agree with you Samuel. I have come to believe after taking the Mobile Web Development course in school that mobile technology is the answer to bridging the digital divide of Africa and other so called third World regions. But other issues also come up here. How many taxi drivers can afford such devices like yours. I believe also that prices will go down over time. I just hope it is not too late.
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July 06, 2009 6:59 PM
It's great what technology can do for us - citizens of developing nations. However, I think that some creative people are making it possible for most of us without sophisticated hand-held devices to enjoy some of the luxuries of high-end phones. Around the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, some ‘innovators’ have setup desktops and laptops along the pavement to give pedestrians ringtones, songs, lyrics, etc in exchange for a little token. This will make it possible for ordinary people who may find it difficult to access the web for such information the ability to obtain those services easily.
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