The TAD Consortium has been – and continues to be – a fascinating experiment in the use of Internet technologies to facilitate cheap communication and information flow. It has left me convinced that it is these aspects of the Internet that constitute its real power, and it is in these opportunities that South Africa can most realistically find ways to harness ICTs to accelerate social development.

When SAIDE took over the secretarial functions of the Consortium, there were 90 participants listed in the Consortium’s records. As of the end of August 1999, there are just under 800 participants, as calculated by names of the electronic distribution list established. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many people circulate information on receiving it, which is an indication that the information network actually reaches a much bigger group of individuals.

The Consortium has – largely by choice – operated on a shoestring budget during the first half of 1999, and this has set clear limits to its objectives. The grant provided by the CSIR has been used to run meetings approximately once every two months, and meetings were held in February and April. These meetings provide interested parties an opportunity to gather and share ideas, both through formal presentations and informal networking, about their respective projects. The grant was also used to extend the network in the way described above. In addition, Juta Publishers sponsors an electronic newsletter, which is distributed periodically to an electronic distribution list. In the first half of 1999, fourteen such updates were circulated.

·At the level at which it is operating, the Consortium appears to have been successful. It has demonstrated that information networking can be achieved with minimum cost, and feedback from members has confirmed that the activities and information are useful to participants. The following are a few examples of the kind of feedback we have received:

·This is a fantastic list that you have put together! Congratulations on a superb job.

·Thank you so much for the valuable information that you always send. I think you need to know that your work is highly appreciated.

·I enjoy looking at the various bits of info you send, so if you don’t hear from me, don’t think that I’m not interested! Keep sending the stuff - it’s very useful.

·I found the presentations and discussions to be very insightful, and would appreciate it if you could include me on the TAD mailing list.

·I found this session’s TAD Consortium information particularly interesting and more accessible, and like the contents - crucial touch.

·Thank you so much for such a valuable information update, keep up with your good work.

·Just a line to say how I enjoy reading your missives, even if I don’t always get to the TAD meetings! They are interesting, informative and well structured.

· Many thanks for a most useful source of information - in Durban we seem to be a bit cut off geographically speaking, but the TAD emails are a great source of information which I use in order to keep up to date.

· Thank you for the continuous stream of information. It really is great to have this service and it assists me in keeping up with developments especially as related to education.

· I have been meaning for some time to let you know how useful I find your compilation of news items and snippets in the TAD Information Newsletter. I teach a course on the Information Society, and our department also runs many workshops on the Internet, and I find this update most helpful. Many thanks for your efforts

· Thank you for your snippets, especially the one on students’ frustration with a Web-based Distance Education Course. So many of our universities are now going into this field and it is thus important that they should be aware of the pitfalls mentioned in this research.

· When am I going to find time to work with all these interesting topics to peruse?

A key question we indicated needed to be posed in 1999 is to what extent these activities should be broadened. The CSIR has indicated an interest in pursuing this line of questioning further with SAIDE, as well as a willingness to continue funding the activities outlined above. This has not, however, transpired to date. We have, however, integrated the TAD Consortium into the World Bank’s Global Distance Education Network in an effort to expand the reach of its information services.