Computing Edge

A key development tool
Computing has long been recognized as a means of ensuring that people from developing countries have a pathway to bettering their lives and joining the rest of the international community. Computing has been at the heart of many developmental programs in both the urban centers and rural centers. There have been efforts to increase the uptake of computing studies but the results have been mixed at best.

Whereas there is an almost universal recognition of computing as a development tool, there is some reluctance to undertake the activities that will make this dream a reality. One can lay the blame at the feet of government incompetence but there ought to be an element of personal responsibility in all this.

The first major issue that affects the level of computing in developing countries is the lack of infrastructure. There is a lack of transportation facilities to ensure that computers can get to the people in the rural areas. I take a recent example of a scheme to transport second hand computers from Europe to Africa.

The scheme took off but there were not enough transporters willing to deliver the computers to their intended recipients. Consequently the surplus computers had to go through either recycling or destruction. From this example you can see how a scheme to extend computing to some of the poorest people in the world fell flat on its face due to the lack of adequate infrastructure.

More issues that affect the growth of computing
The infrastructural problems that hinder the development and evolution of computing do not just end at the transportation. They can also be applied to the usage of the computer equipment. Some developing countries do not have the computers that are needed to get the technology to the common man. They also lack the essential facilities such as internet access which can increase the literacy of the people within local communities. I have an example of someone who wanted to do an online course but was frustrated because the bandwidth for their area was just not strong enough to sustain the course software.

It might seem rather churlish to be speaking of such things but there still remains an element of ignorance when it comes to computing. This is not willful ignorance but a lack of awareness because no one has made the effort to ensure that people in isolated communities can understand the implications of computing and softwares applications for the modern world that they will have to live in.

It might be shocking to some ears but the fact is that there are children in the developing world who do not know what a computer is and will probably never know what a computer is. It seems such a shame that an important piece of technology is kept away from a significant part of the world population.

Over here, I would say that it is imperative that computing should becomes a development goal for all countries that find themselves on the wrong side of the international poverty line. This means that every effort must be made to ensure that computer access is available to all people no matter what their social background is.