RE: Last mile technologies and having an impact, following the Hirsch & Silverstone's _Consuming Technologies_ (1992) chapter on the Amish which was followed up in 1999 in WIRED magazine with the Amish and cell phone use. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.01/amish_pr.html While in the Wired article the cell phone was cast as quite subversive and was forbidden by the men, women in the community were using the phone to get the Doctor and to get important community news. While these things are always presented sensationally what I notice in my own country-based friends (in Wisconsin, where I grew up) is that the battle to get things done in rural life is endless. Which means my friends would use any technology that would save them time, and they used to do their yearly canning by sterilizing jars in the dishwasher, etc. The computer came into their home to do the accounting, which gets more and more complicated for small farmers each year. The internet meant that they get to talk to their remote relatives more - and in some cases, facilitate the farmer's wife outside job, which she can do some of it one the computer. I find this utilitarian approach to comm. very similar to the outback Australia, which has always focused on ways to improve the communication services, in the early days by radio to reach the Flying Doctor service in remote areas and also to offer remote education via 'School of the Air'. Innovative comm. services included the unfortunately doomed and now destroyed Iridium satellite phone system (sponsored in part by Microsoft). The serious nature of comm. in the outback was recently highlighted in a news story where a boy with asthma died because the phone was out of order, and the old radio network for calling Flying Dr's is of course, long gone . . . . Which relates to another interest of mine - the presence of technology 'orphans' when good working technology, like the Iridium sat. phone system is taken down, and the "NEW" technology, such as digital mobile remote areas services don't work well, or at all. This is a long way to say that last mile service is extremely important for anyone living more than 200k from the nearest town, it's the biggest issue in a place like Australia, a huge issue for anyone who needs it for doctors, schooling, or transportation, etc. . . Denise ===== "it's easier to use your mouse than your brain" Denise Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637 Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com