Even though many villages in the developing world lack basic amenities, where people live through a vicious cycle, suspended in between life and death on a daily basis, technology can still have unexpectedly useful applications. Especially in locations which lack land-line telecommunications, you see more and more people carrying and sharing cellphones.
“A few years ago, no one had heard of the Internet. But now, Mayan priests travel on busses loaded with livestock so they can get to towns where they can checkc their e-mails.” source: Guatemala Reports:NPR
It is extremely important to make use of new technology in the developing world in a way that makes sense locally. There are so many possible uses which can’t even make sense to foreigners. It is necessary for foreigners to provide resources or training, while local people develop solutions on their own, not becoming dependent on foreigners, but self-sustaining. In an interview about her Guatemala travels, Xeni Tech, co-editor of boing boing, states that there is still substantial discrimination facing many Mayan people. The law limits usage of their native tongue, giving way to the possibility of them forgetting their cultural roots. By using online teaching tools and documentation methods, it is possible to save the language and other cultural relics for the younger generation.
Xela Teco, a workshop in the town of Quetzaltenango, is a place where tech-minded Guatemalans build eco-friendly devices. The workshop is a small business supported by the U.S.-based nonprofit Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group. Xela Teco builds environmentally friendly technology that can be used to provide survival basics to poverty-stricken villages in the Mayan highlands: clean water, electricity and fuel. While American foreigners are currently part of the Xela Teco initiative, their goal is to eventually step aside. They hope that by arming rural communities with certain skill sets, they can help break a cycle of poverty, disease and malnutrition. (Their Indigi-Net entry: link)
Google Earth and the Holocaust Museum have a unique partnership, based on their assumption that technology can be a catalyst for education and action. “Crisis in Darfur” enables Google Earth users to visualize and learn about the destruction in Darfur and join the museum’s efforts in responding to this continuing international catastophe.
YouTourist.net is an Internet-based Trusted Social Network for the tourism industry with the objective of promoting and encouraging sustainable tourism based on the UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. The website is not active yet, but seems like secure participation will be a key element of this future service. Their take at poverty alleviation is through providing special communication opportunities for local communities and travel companies.