Posted: Soumis par wtanaka (648) le ven, 2006-03-03 12:39. | Sujet: Geekcorps: Peace Corps for techies

How do you bring the Internet to countries like Mali, where more than 70 percent of the population is illiterate and the telecommunications infrastructure barely exists?

You use the radio.

Geekcorps (a U.S. non-profit) sounds like a very cool project.

If a villager wants to get a note to a friend in another part of the country, he or she comes to the radio station and dictates an e-mail to the DJ, who then sends the message off to another station closer to the recipient's location. The DJ who receives the e-mail then issues a broadcast: Muhammad Kanoute, come to the station and I will read your e-mail message to you.

Previously, sending a message could take several days of jarring bus rides...

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