Dear friends,

Included in this circular, please find the latest technology report from the

Centre for Lifelong Learning at Technikon SA, as well as findings from an

evaluation report on telecentres conducted by the Universal Service Agency.

Regards

Neil Butcher

TO CONTENTS
**********************

Report on Selected Technology

Centre for Lifelong Learning

by Paul West

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

The information age is being heralded by many advances, such as a new jet

aircraft called the HyperSoar which according to its developers can fly

between any two points on earth almost within two hours. The HyperSoar will

operate at Mach 10, ten times the speed of sound, and will fly just outside

of the atmosphere, about 60km above the ground. Complementing such

inventions, a researcher at the Xerox Paloalto Research Centre came up with

the idea of a digital paper which they are turning into a prototype. The

"paper" consists of a mass of tiny plastic balls painted white on one side

and black on the other sandwiched between two layers of plastic. When a

voltage is applied to each tiny ball, it is able to rotate showing different

shades of grey. The paper is, at this stage about the thickness of seven

sheets of normal paper and the company's working on how to produce a full

colour reproduction. This technology is likely to revolutionise the way that

notebook computers use their batteries since it uses so little power to run

the display.

Notebook computers are also likely to see reductions in size resulting from

the introduction of new disk drives the size of an existing PC card and half

the weight of a golf ball. This type of technology could see a renewed

revolution in the power of PalmTop computers. New generation machines are

also expected to accept voice instructions for everything from instructing

browsers to conduct searches to dictating e-mails and giving the machine

other operating instructions.

listen to their e-mail from any telephone. The service uses a digitised

voice to play e-mail messages after the caller has listened to a 10-second

advertisement. Telephone charges apply, where appropriate.

Canada is striving to be a true information society and the efforts of the

Minister of Industry have boosted these efforts through the unveiling of a

new highspeed Internet backbone which will be able to move at speeds some

1.5 million times faster than the popular 28.8K modems.

Developing countries that are not inhibited by existing technologies should

design the very latest in technologies in their new investments to ensure

that their countries reach par with the most developed countries in the

world when they install a basic infrastructure. This can and should be done

through new projects including cellular and satellite technologies which are

rapidly becoming more cost-effective.

E-COMMERCE

Advances in electronic commerce are enabling at least seven state

governments in the United States to combine their efforts in a test of

Internet-based purchasing. The state governments led by Massachusetts are

said to have a combined purchasing power of some US $6 billion. They expect

the system to give them ways of doing their job better. Taxes on e-commerce

remain a dilemma with the US National Governors Association estimating a

loss in taxes on the US $3 billion to US $4 billion turnover per year in

mail order items. Some organisations such as Jupiter Communications estimate

that on- line shopping in the United States will exceed US $37 billion by

2002. The present level is about US $5.8 billion.

According to a survey conducted by Ernst and Young, financial firms are

still trying to figure out what to do with the Internet. Their survey

reveals that only 1% of the companies listed were using the Internet to sell

more products and services. 33% cited "retaining existing customers" while

23% said they were trying to reduce operational costs. 40% of respondents

said they had not developed their web strategies in concert with other

distribution channels and as many as 70% had not even developed a pricing

strategy for their products. The scenario outlined above is giving academic

institutions such as the University of Texas new areas in which to do

research on how the Internet affects both business and society. We need to

see more funded and formalised research to ensure that the rapid advances in

technology are matched by developments in the human and business arena.

International law will also be affected dramatically as has been witnessed

recently with various international cases of pedophiles being tracked down

across many countries and the case against a Florida, USA man who apparently

defrauded 25 people in on-line computer transactions. A court has banned him

from doing any business on the Internet for life. One may wonder though, how

this could be upheld if he moves to another country or establishes a

business in another country using the Internet without physically moving

there.

COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Trends in the holding of copyright in academe are seeing more academics and

their institutions holding copyright over articles published in preference

to giving these to publishers. It seems that another characteristic of the

information age is the right to retain ownership over intellectual

copyright. Some publishers are moving boldly into this realm with the

introduction of virtual books and virtual bookstores, while others are

finding it too intimidating.

The academics who wish to see their work in a published format for all the

world to see must either cope with the e-commerce and publishing aspect

themselves or if they do not wish to earn any money from their publications,

must publish on the Internet.

The role of the publisher as a partner in the process that adds value will

need to be reinforced in a way that satisfies academic and other authors of

this role and of the income earned from the labours of the author.

One company called On-line Originals is buying the rights to original books

and is selling these in digital-only format through the Internet. The author

receives 50% of the books cover price of only $7.00 for books which are then

delivered by e-mail. These books may be stored and read on 3 Comm

PalmPilots, which are able to store three books at one time or on other

computers.

The question frequently asked is, "if one creates a hyperlink on a website

to another site that contains material which infringes copyrights, can you

be sued for having a link to that site?" The answer to this question up till

now has been no. A Los Angeles Federal District Court dismissed such a claim

in the United States.

Restrictions such as these could render search engines dysfunctional and

give rise to the selective suppression of freedom of speech.

VIRTUAL UNIVERSITIES

some what surprised recently by its very low number of applications for

registration for its on-line university (75 applications). The university

has apparently been plagued by a number of computer glitches which have

prevented people from seeing all the information they needed about its

courses. The Consortium of Universities which is not thought to have an

extensive history of distance education, had hoped to register as many as

600 students for degree and certificate programmes.

High-end multimedia and video-conferencing through the Internet may be

restricted for the next few years to certain campuses and highly developed

countries due to bandwidth constraints. The Internet may still provide a

wonderful add-on to the services already offered by long-standing distance

offers more than 120 degree and diploma programmes comprising well over 600

year-long subjects. All programmes are available in print form and all

academic staff have access to the Internet and to electronic mail. This

makes it feasible for students who have only occasional Internet access to

still have better contact with their institution than they might have had

through the traditional postal system. If you are interested in searching

do a search for "virtual university". While there, if you are looking for

help with computer glitches, you might want to check their "on-line text

FEEDBACK

If you have a comment, request or suggestion on this report, please e- mail

it to Paul West at: pgwest@pgw.org.

Paul West

TO CONTENTS
**********************

We at the Universal Service Agency would like to share the following short

evaluation of telecentres in six provinces.

Fikile Khumalo

Acting Head

Universal Service Agency

Tel: +27 11 726 5241

Fax: +27 11 726 5313

Email: Fikile@icon.co.za

..........................................

1. Background.

Finding ways to serve rural people is one of the most critical concerns in

International communications technology development. Here in South Africa

the Government established the Universal Service Agency (USA) to spearhead

this effort. In 1997 the USA conceptualised a telecentre pilot project for

this purpose. Six pilot telecentres were set up in the Northern Province,

Northern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, North West Province, Free State and Eastern

Cape provinces. The idea was to learn from this pilot project and hopefully

come up with the most appropriate method for serving rural people. The USA

was aiming to fine-tune this method of service delivery based on the

lessons from the pilot and start with the implementation of about sixty of

these telecentres during 1998. Some lessons have now emerged. The lessons

are not only important and relevant to the South African experience but for

all people around the world who are involved in this work.

2. Technology

The telecentres in the pilot are connected via the fixed wireline network

of the national carrier, Telkom South Africa. Each telecentre has six

exchange line connections. One of the lines is dedicated to a fax. One line

is dedicated to Internet access. This leaves four lines for voice

telephony. The telephone lines are connected to a telephone management

system that monitors telephone usage. The system allows the operator to

load the phones with money amounts. A photocopier and a scanner are also

provided. Telecentres are equipped with an overhead projector.

3. Services

Users can do the following:

Make and receive telephone calls to and from anywhere in the world,

Send and receive a fax to and from anywhere in the world,

Make photocopies,

Use the computer for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation

applications and more. Users can have any of these services done for them

by the telecentre organisation.

Send and retrieve electronic mail,

Search for information on the Internet.

4. Evaluation and results

The telecentres were launched in the following order:

19 March 1997 Ga-Seleka, Northern Province

01 April Ndevana, Eastern Cape

16 April Thaba Nchu, Free State

22 April Pescodia, Northern Cape

28 April Bamshele, KwaZulu Natal

12 May Winterveldt, North West

The starting point is that for telecentres to be a long-term solution, they

must be sustainable. Sustainability, as used in this document, means

financial sustainability. At the least, a telecentre must pay for its cost.

At best it must generate a surplus that can contribute in local economic

development. This means that the test therefore is that first the

telecentre should provide quality service to the local community. For

example a telephone should be of an acceptable voice quality and work most

of the time (functionality). Second the facility must be available for the

community at all reasonable times (accessibility). Finally the operator

must generate revenue to cover the costs and make a reasonable surplus

(sustainability). Other indicative factors are more of a long-term nature

(e.g. wider social economic impacts).

4.1 Accessibility

Most telecentres are open from 8.00 till 17.00 on weekdays and from 8.00

till 14.00 on weekends and public holidays. People of all age groups, with

younger people dominating, use them. In this sense they are reasonably

accessible.

4.2 Functionality

The equipment is working most of the time. Occasionally Internet and email

is not working. This is attributable to three things. First the operators'

competence in using Internet/email is lacking. So are most users. Second,

most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) do not have local points of presence

(POPs) and aaccess is relatively expensive. Thirdly the software installed

on most computers is inappropriate and of poor quality (crashes most of the

time).

4.3 Service usage

The telephone is by far the most commonly used, followed by photocopying,

fax, computer work (mainly word processing), and printing. At most

telecentres, except Ndevana computers are not optimally used. At Ndevana

they are used for training (but not so much for generating revenue for the

telecentre). A scanner and overhead projector has never been used at any of

the telecentres.

4.4 Sustainability: Operational costs, expenditure and income

The pricing of services is not uniform but varies from centre to centre.

Pricing structures and policies do not reflect the cost of provision. They

are based more on guesswork and comparison with other similar providers.

Almost all centres have not received Telkom's bills by the end of July 1998

or incurred any expenses. The income generated by the telecentres is quite

reasonable. For example, the Ndevana telecentre generated R14 665.25

between 02 April and 27 July 1998 (Note that this is gross income). If this

is maintained or even improved through other support mechanisms, the

telecentres could be sustainable over time.

Two of the telecentres (Thaba Nchu and Winterveldt) are not operational as

of today (17 August 1998). Thaba Nchu does not have grid power. Winterveldt

was closed on account of the equipment theft that occurred there.

5. A summary of the main problems and how they can be resolved

A major difficulty of the telecentres is that there is no proper financial

systems at most of these telecentres. The operators cannot accurately

record transactions. This is clearly a function of their training that they

received from the USA. For example, they are not able to generate a shift

report from the telephone management system nor from the fax machine. The

training was good, but very general. It did not prepare them for the

day-to-day activities of running a business.

There is no clear understanding of the responsibilities and obligations.

For example, some telecentre operators think that the USA has to pay their

salaries. This is clearly inadequate communication on the part of the USA

as well as from the representatives of the telecentre organisation who

received the training from USA.

Other areas that need to be clarified relate to salaries, ownership of the

telecentre business, the equipment, stocks, payment of expenses.

There is no tariff and pricing guidelines. At one telecentre, for example

users are charged R0.30 per page to make a photocopy. And this is way below

cost. On the other extreme, to send a fax outside a province, the user pays

R7.50. The point here is that the price is not related to costs.

Security is another major concern. When a theft occurred at one telecentre,

it was not clear whether or which equipment was ensured.

There is sub-optimal use of the equipment.

In summary, the telecentre organisations are not in a position to properly

manage their business. They are unclear about their responsibilities. The

USA does not have a management system to monitor the performance of the

telecentres and detect misuse or misappropriations should they occur. There

may be a need also to clarify the role of the USA as the franchisor.

Before proper management of this investment can be guaranteed, it would not

be good acceptable practice to go ahead with the implementation at a large

scale.

6. Suggested solutions and wayforward

The USA has a duty to facilitate access to communications technology. It

must do so with more clarity as regards management and monitoring. The USA

must move ahead from a sound basis. The idea, as was the intention, is to

take these lessons very seriously, learn from them, refine the project and

move forward. The USA has reached a very important stage of its pilot

project: evaluation and refinement.

There has obviously been a delay in the planned implementation programme.

In order to make up for lost time, it is necessary to adopt a "fast track"

approach. The most plausible way is to go through a tender process. Before

the modalities of a tender can be explored, it is necessary to address the

foremost important lessons:

1. Develop a management system for the USA and for the telecentre

organisation the system should give the USA the capability to monitor

developments at the telecentres (monitor use of equipment to advise on

expansion when necessary, get a true reflection of income/expenditure of

the telecentres). It should enable the telecentre organisation to

effectively and efficiently manage the business).

2. Expand on and communicate the responsibilities of the USA and that of

the telecentre organisation (clarity on ownership, level of support from

USA, complaints handling, etc.)

3. Provide a clear guideline on tariffs and pricing policies.

4. Reformulate the specification in terms of the lessons.

............................................................................

***********************************************************

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

www.saide.org.za