The crying need for Web access for all
By Alex Abraham
BANGKOK (JP): Getting access to the Web today in many Asian countries is not a very simple task. Connections are oftimes restricted, obtaining one is tedious and, when connected, access is woefully inadequate due the severe restrictions in bandwidth. Looked at realistically, from outside the box, this is a bus Asia just cannot afford to miss. Therefore it is incumbent on people of good sense and goodwill to radically change policy to make access to the Web extensively and freely available.
To understand the sheer urgency, one must pause to think and begin to comprehend the true power of the Web. For the last 10,000 years of human civilization and development, knowledge was a restricted commodity. Hard to find, difficult to access. Often it was restricted to the elite, the wealthy, the chosen few.
Empirical evidence through history suggests a strong and inarguable correlation between education, literacy and the wealth of nations. Even more importantly, the development of societal faculties of concern, harmony, security, peace, well-being and engendering further growth and human prosperity.
Today, the Web provides a unique and universal knowledge base, freely available to all at the touch of a button, the click of a mouse. In its sheer variety, scale and width it would dwarf the ancient library of Alexandria, the British Library or even the great New York Library. And the Web is still only in its infancy.
Its sheer mind-boggling scope offers the varietal challenge that would stimulate and bring to life a dead mind to the throes of ecstatic exhilaration. And it's excited, questioning minds which create the innovation to change today's world and achieve tomorrow's dreams.
Nations in our region have recognized the potential of the Web and are actively driving to create the infrastructure and conditions to extensive and rapid access, especially to the younger generation.
In my journey across Asia, I come across young people passionately interested in the Web. Their interest and interaction on the Web is changing their life for the better.
It's thrilling to sit with Chanchinan, 12, in Udon Thani in northern Thailand, as she surfs for data on orchids for her holiday project. Adeptly she downloads pictures and text, cutting and pasting, cross-referencing and indexing.
"The access to the Web has made the class homework so much more interesting," she said. "In the past I was limited to what my father or mother could help me with, but now my friends and I are able to get so many new ideas and share them. And projects like this were once or twice a year, but now our teacher would like to encourage us to do one project each week.
"We use our school computer to look for interesting subjects that we can work on."
I watched with interest as Supariyano, 18, in Bandung read the latest material on the development of robots.
"I have been interested in robots even before I joined college," he said. "Now with encouragement from my professor and all the data I can get from the Internet, my friends and I plan to build some model robots. Maybe network with our friends in college in Yogyakarta and Surabaya. And we plan to enter it in the National Science Talent exhibition."
He acknowledged the vast number of materials at his fingertips.
"In the old days it would have been impossible to do this with just books from the library. The only problem I find now is that we have to make special time for soccer practice. The Web is so interesting that we sometimes forget the need for sport!"
Chang Kwe Chek, 14, in Penang, worked on his model lunar "Mariner" drawing on the latest Web data on the martian probe vehicle.
"Parents are often under the misapprehension that the Web is full of smut, that youngsters spend all their time goofing off or playing games. That's an option the young have anyway, with or without the Web. It is there in books, in theaters, in discos or just in front of the TV."
His parents are supportive of his interests.
"I am very lucky that both my parents realize that the Web is truly a source of knowledge and power. In fact it was my mother who encouraged me on this project after she found that the martian probe vehicle had been named after a slave lady."
Even in distant Ulan Bator in Mongolia, the power of the Web was evident as I sat with a group of students engaged in a heated debate on the environment in a truly international cyber chat room.
The acme of Web experience is, of course, Singapore. The town, indeed the country, is targeted to become a virtual space. The keenness of mind, the pride, the sheer ecstasy of wallowing in the power of knowledge is reflected in the young people's faces in Singapore.
In our vast and developing region, the Web provides us an opportunity to leapfrog intellectual eons into a shining future. Jeremiahs will argue about the Web's English orientation, problems of bandwidth, power availability and computer availability. But the opportunity stares us in the face. Make connections available. Make bandwidth available. Without pontificating on control, lets's come out of the Dark Ages. There are enough keen minds to create the explosive growth that will result in a torrent of "trickle down" of knowledge to compensate for our past shortcomings.
Asians on line: Internet users (in million):
Country 1998
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Hong Kong 0.72.5
China 1.89.5
Singapore 0.51.2
Taiwan 1.13.2
Indonesia 0.21.1
Malaysia 0.31.1
Thailand 0.21.2
India 0.52.3
Source: International Development Center, Asia Pacific, Singapore.