TO CONTENTS

 Dear TAD friends,

I am pleased to be able to announce that we have now established a web site

of Telematics-Related sites around the world, which includes a special page

on South African initiatives. Please visit this page, and bookmark it for

If you would like your web site included (or another interesting site you

have visited), please e-mail me the URL and I will pass it on to our web

designer.

In this message, I have included two articles on the Internet that adopt

somewhat different approaches to the topic. I thought these may be of

interest to TAD members. Which do you think is more applicable to

South Africa?

Regards

Neil Butcher

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The internet and the developing world

Richard Smith talked to India's premier information scientist, Subbiah

Arunachalam, about whether the internet will solve the information

problems of the developing world

Subbiah Arunachalam, India's most distinguished information scientist, is

a gentle fellow with a gift for controversy. When the New York Times

covered a speech in 1982 by India's prime minister, Indira Gandhi, it

quoted extensively from an article that Professor Arunachalam had written

entitled, "Why is Indian science mediocre?"--just at the time that Mrs

Gandhi was telling the world that India would soon catch up with the

advanced countries with the quality of its scientific research. She was of

course wrong.

Now Professor Arunachalam has been asked to go to Germany to debate with

Nicholas Negroponte, the guru of the digital age, on whether the digital

revolution will solve the information problems of the developing world.

Professor Negroponte thinks it will. Professor Arunachalam says it might

eventually, but first it will increase the gulf between the haves and the

have nots.

Professor Arunachalam, who shares his time between the Indian Institute of

Technology in Madras and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, has also

made himself unpopular with those running research in India by pointing

out that much Indian medical research is not relevant to the needs of the

country. The major health problems faced by India are diarrhoeal diseases,

diseases of children, infectious diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis,

while Indian researchers are mainly active in general medicine,

pharmacology, tropical medicine, neurosciences, radiology, and oncology

(National Medical Journal of India 1998;11:27-34, and Current Science

1997;72:912-22). At least two funding agencies have responded by turning

down his requests for research grants. In particular, his request for

funds to set up an Observatory for Science and Technology in India has

been turned down. But many Indian scientists agree with him.

Professor Arunachalam became an information scientist when he switched

from being a "not so successful chemist." It was while he was a student of

the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, that he discovered that he had

a flair for finding information that others could not find. "The tall man

in the library will help you," researchers would say. And the two years

that he worked for the Indian Academy of Sciences--1973 to 1975, as editor

of publications and secretary--gave him ample opportunities to watch men

who managed Indian science from close quarters. His new found interests

led him to science writing and scientometrics.

Researchers and doctors in India are, he says, deprived of information:

"There are some universities in the developed world that receive not less

than 50000-60000 journals. No academic or research library in India

receives more than 2100, and most receive only a few hundred. So access to

information is a major problem in India. And for individual doctors it's

even worse. Honest doctors have so many patients to treat that they have

little time to do research or read. Other doctors are more interested in

making money than reading. Many doctors are happy with the free pamphlets

that drug companies give them."

So will access to electronic information help? "Probably not yet in India

because very few doctors have access to the internet or email. And often

medically trained people are not good with communication technology and

computers. They take time to learn. Very few doctors use computers. Plus

they have not been made aware of the benefits of using computers."

Of course, there are agencies in Mumbai, Professor Arunachalam points out,

which use new technologies to provide information to doctors, but their

clients are mostly pharmaceutical companies. The internet may eventually

be a great equaliser for research scientists around the world, but in the

early days, says Professor Arunachalam, it will widen the gap.

Many researchers in India cannot access the technology for various

reasons. "The government is not making it easily available. The telecom

regulating agency and the only internet service provider do not get along

well with each other. Cost is another factor. Telephone lines are very

poor and connections are not stable. This means that even those who have

access to the internet must spend hours downloading material that would

take only minutes for those in the developed world with the best access."

"But," Professor Arunachalam continues, "it's not just a matter of

resources. India has enough resources to provide access in the major

cities where higher education institutions and major research laboratories

are located. But it takes time. That's what makes us third world. The

major difference between the first and the third world is the time it

takes to transfer something from the realm of possibility to reality."

There are examples of where new technology has been introduced quickly to

India--for instance, the green revolution and the installing of telephone

lines to make long distance and international calls in small towns and

villages throughout India. "But," says Professor Arunachalam, "they are

far too few."

"The internet will grow in India, but I'm concerned that my countrymen are

taking too long to recognise its importance. Many scientific journals now

are purely electronic, and many Indian researchers simply cannot get

access to them."

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Dear Distance Educators,

This is an article written by me and it is in the process of update. I

want some more valuable suggestions from pioneers of Distance Educations.

So that I can add some more compherensive reviews and suggestions.:-)

Regards,

Arun Kumar Tripathi

The Internet and its Uses in Education

* What is the Internet?

* Internet Culture

* Students using the Internet and the World Wide Web

* The Use of the Web in Education

* What the Web Offers the Classroom

* The Web as a Resource

* The Web Connects Students Around the Globe

* The Web is a Great Tool for:

* References

What is the Internet?

The Internet is a global computer network allowing communication

with millions of computer users and access to resources from around

the world. It doesn't matter what type of computer is used for connecting

to the Internet, a virtually limitless wealth of resources is available

for everyday use.

Teachers and students gain access to the World's Largest archives,

Dow-Jones Report, satellite weather stations, and thousands of other

educational and research sources.

The Internet can provide opportunities for inquiry-based learning.

Students and teachers can network, study, and collaborate with others

around the world. Teaching strategies can be shared through communication

with other educators and may be integrated across the curriculum.

The real significance of the Internet is that it defines an

instantly ubiquitous highway. There will be fascinating implications

here for the way people work---for example the Internet makes an

individual's geographical location less relevant.

The Internet Culture

>From a different perspective, the Internet is a virtual playground

with an open libertarian ambiance where "Information wants to be

free." Information on the Internet is increasingly available in languages

other than English, and many lists and newsgroups cater to non-English

speakers.

The World Wide Web is the big part of the InterNET; to understand the

world wide web (WWW), one first has to understand its home ---the

InterNET. The Internet is an enormous library or collection of libraries

through which one can access information and people. The Internet has gained

widespread popularity relatively recently.

The Internet and the World Wide Web are (or will soon become)

themselves most of the infrastructure a college or school needs, and

that infrastructure is in place worldwide. With the computer becoming the

total technology machine combining text, sound, and images, there is no

need to invest in one-way television systems or other expensive "monologic"

technologies that require the student to come to a specialized place for

The Internet is the global "Network of Networks," linking thousands

of computer networks together. Because of the Internet's vast

resources, it has already become impossible to "cover the territory." The

Internet was established at the end of the cold war to ensure continued

communications between the military and various branches of government. Now,

however, its uses have far outgrown its creators intentions.

Students using the Internet and the World Wide Web will:

* Develop the technical skills required to use the Internet for

communication and information gathering.

* Acquire geographic awareness based on understanding the global nature of

Internet connections and communications.

* Improve their ability to learn and understand new and changing information

technologies.

* Learn to evaluate the validity of information acquired through Internet

Resources.

* Learn to synthesize data acquired through the Internet into a meaningful

whole.

* Develop the skills required to rate information for relevence in meeting a

specified need.

* Understand and know how to use at least one Web Browser.

* Understand differences and similarities among search engines.

* Understand how to ue a variety of serach engines.

* Develop strategies for finding and evaluating new Internet growth and use.

Use of the Web in Education

For the past eight months I have been very busy with some of

important educational mailing lists, such as K12ADMIN@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU

the lists for K-12 Educators who are interested in Educational

Administration and DEOS-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU; the list of The Distance

Education Online Symposium and also some others.

The National Center for Education Statistics has released a major

survey on Distance Learning in Higher Education conducted by the

U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Postsecondary

Education, Libraries, and Life Long Learning. The Complete Survey,

Distance Education describes educational activities which

interactively link two or more people at two or more loactions.

Distance Education is viable, effective and efficient training medium for a

number of reasons.

Distance Education can be used in any environment where people need

improved access to information, have a need to share resources. or

where learners, teachers, administrators and subject matter specialists must

travel to distant locations in order to communicate with one another. EDC

was founded in 1958 when a group of scientists at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology joined forces with teachers and technical

specialists to develop a new high school physics curriculum, PSSC Physics.

EDC refined the curriculum, which taught science as the product of

experiment and theory, constructed by real people, and introduced it

successfully in schools across the country.

In the 1970s EDC (Education Development Center) applied the

educational techniques that had proven so effective in science,

mathematics, and social studies to challenges in the areas of child

development, gender equity, cross-cultural understanding, and health

education. At the same time, EDC's international work grew beyond basic

education to include projects to promote community health, nutrition, and

The 1980's brought innovation in the areas of special education,

workforce preparation, and numerous projects designed to prevent

violence, substance abuse, and AIDS. Mathematics and science curriculum

development continued to be a major focus of EDC's work, with an increasing

emphasis on creating an expanding - and award winning - range of educational

tools for learning, from videotapes to computer software and networks.

Programs to promote private and nongovernmental sector development and

preservation of the envirnoment were new emphasis in the international

arena.

As EDC grows through the 1990's, projects continue to build on the

collaborative approach used in our earliest work: our programs are

not designed solely by theoreticians; they reflect the ideas of those who

know the field as educators and learners. We develop programs in partnership

with -- and balancing the diverse viewpoints and expertise of -- the people

who will use them. Another important element of EDCs' evolution is that

while we maintain a strong tradition of creating innovative curricula, we

have learned that good materials cannot succeed in isolation. In the 1990's,

we are moving beyond the curriculum to create more comprehensive systemic

solutions than ever.

What the Web offers the Classroom

The Internet is a great resource for harnessing the teachable

moment. It is not difficult to imagine the educational impact that

such an immediate and visceral connection to the world's events can create

among the Teachers and students. The Web itself is probably the best source

for the information that you seek, requiring no more that lots of searching

using different search strategies.

The Information Superhighway is transporting teachers and students

beyond the walls of their classrooms by providing access to people

around the world and to vast amounts of informations. ISTE

telecommunications, the Internet, and the World Wide Web (WWW) to help all

the Internet educators and Students navigate and use the Unlimited resources

developed with the great information for teachers and administrators, is the

school page.

The American School Directory is the Internet Guide to all 106,000 K-12

schools, providing information and communication for teachers, students,

parents, local communities and families planning a move. The American School

Directory (ASD) is sponsored by Computers For Education

The Web as a Resource

The web is also called as another Virtual library at your disposal. Not only

does it offers access to many libraries, but it offer sites developed on

The Web connects students around the Globe

Not every country is present on the web...but many of the developed and also

developing countries are on the web, this gives the trends to an unprecented

educational opportunity for students....It also affords the opportunity to

collaborate on a project with another classroom over great distances...The

International Telecomputing Consortium has already conducted a World Class

Project in the year 1997, the theme was USING THE RENEWABLE SOURCE OF

The Web is a great tool for

a.) Student-centered education

b.) Project-based learning

c.) Cooperative Education

d.) Integration of the Curriculum

e.) Team teaching

f.) School-Based management

g.) Teaching social skills such as cooperative problem solving, conflict

resolution, etc....

The Cornell Theory Center Math and Science Gateway for secondary school

students and educators provides an easy starting point for locating science

and mathematics resources on the web.

The Gateway for Eduactors originated in February 1995 as a portion of the

Math and Science Gateway. It contains links to information on curriclum,

lessons plans, software for the classroom. It was developed by Caroline

Hecht.

Top Picks

The world wide web and the internet offer new horizons to reach the

modern global audiences. Internet is the largest province for researchers

and academics in laboratories. Now, Internet is everywhere, it is growing

rapidly worldwide. The purpose of this publication is to offer an

overview of the internet and its educational applications, and also it

provides teachers and students with a guide for a hands-on experiment with

the Internet. It also shows how educational resources from around the world

can be brought into the classroom, and very important it also reveals that

How some educators have used the Internet.

References

g. Internet Technical Academy Newsletter for Education Network,

Administrators--- newsletter

With Kind Regards

Arun Kumar Tripathi

Research Scholar, Internet Search Expert

University Of Dortmund

Internet Information Investigator

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Telematics for African Development Consortium
P.O. Box 31822
Braamfontein
2017
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 +11 403-2813
Fax: +27 +11 403-2814

neilshel@icon.co.za