TIME EUROPE
July 17, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 3
Techwatch
HOMELESS KIDS AND THE WEB
Taking IT to the Streets
It's a common enough sight in Latin America: a scruffy street kid slips into a shopping mall in a rich neighborhood and pauses before a lit computer screen. Entranced by the shimmering world of cyberspace, he makes a few tentative moves with the mouse before he is chased off by store guards. Social activists have found that the Internet has tapped the imagination — and the learning skills — of street children in a way that classrooms never could. With $280,000 in funding from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and the Ottawa-based International Development Research Center, Fundaci—n Renacer in Colombia and Fundaci—n Chasquinet in Ecuador are using the Web to help these abandoned kids build a life beyond drugs, theft and prostitution on Latin America's mean streets. The Street Children Telecenter enables homeless kids in Bogot‡ and Esmeraldas, a town in northern Ecuador, to send and receive e-mails — and exchange survival strategies and words of encouragement — with other homeless kids throughout the region. The project leaders are also teaching these young people valuable computer skills that could one day help them escape the daily grind of poverty and crime in which they live. Using second-hand computers, volunteers teach basic computer literacy through work with Windows, Word, Excel and a variety of games. Now kids like Oscar, a 15-year-old Ecuadorean, is learning to scan photos, design Web pages and offer his computer skills to the local Esmeraldas newspaper. Through the Internet, Maria, 13, has found a friend named Miguel in Chile, another wired street kid who helps her with her homework and gives her tips on how to keep safe and sane on the street. "Speaking through the computer has been a big adventure," Maria says. "[Miguel] is helping me discover this world I never knew existed."
INFLIGHT E-MAIL
Send It on the Fly
Air Canada passengers will be the first to sample Tenzing Communications' airborne e-mail and Internet access when the system goes on trial later this year. The Seattle-based company caches 180,000 Web pages on an onboard server. The selection includes business portals and online stores such as Amazon. Business travelers can e-mail through their own ISPs or use Tenzing's service. Early next year Cathay Pacific will implement the system in its fleet.
INTERNET IN INDIA
A Web for the Masses
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore have found a way to get India's masses, nearly half of whom are illiterate, onto the Internet. The user-friendly and inexpensive Simputer (Simple Computer) has a touch-sensitive screen, an iconic interface and text-to-speech capabilities in local Indian languages. Users can surf the Web by selecting pictures rather than reading words, and the text-to-speech function enables the Simputer to read back Web content in local languages and dialects. The project is driven by the non-profit Simputer Trust, which is made up of scientists from the Institute and private Bangalore-based company Encore Software. The aim is "to empower the population of the developing world," says V. Vinay, an assistant professor at the Institute's computer science and automation department. The Simputer prototype — which will feature Internet access and e-mail and cost less than $200 — will be released at the end of August. The Trust then plans to license the design to private hardware manufacturers.
This edition's table of contents
TIME Europe home
More stories from TIME Europe and related links
E-mail us at mail@timeatlantic.com
COPYRIGHT © 2000 TIME INC.
|
|
|
|
July 17, 2000
COVER
The Lure of Ecstasy
The elixir best known for powering raves is an 80-year-old illegal drug. But it's showing up outside clubs too, and advocates claim it even has therapeutic benefits. Just how dangerous is it?
Rave New World
It's more than just ecstasy. The youth culture is in thrall to deejays and floats on the relentless beat of electronic music
EUROPE
Putin's Hard 100
The honeymoon's over for Russia's new leader as he battles on military, political and economic fronts
Putin's Chechnya Nightmare
The War the Kremlin Said Was Won
The Haider Effect
Isolated and angry over diplomatic sanctions, Austria threatens to raise the stakes on E.U. enlargement
That's Another Fine Mess
An underage drinking spree sees Euan Blair arrested, and his dad nursing a political hangover
Sun, Sand and Toxic Waste
For the first time ever the European Court of Justice fines an E.U. member state
Europe's Not Up in Arms
A Euro Army is the declared goal, but there's more smoke than firepower
MIDDLE EAST
Why Arafat's in a State
He wants a Palestinian nation, but fears that his people won't forgive him if he makes concessions
The Modern Mullah
One of the architects of Khomeini's revolution has become a guru of Islamic reform in Iran
AFRICA
Fatal Destiny
Experts are meeting in South Africa to combat a plague ravaging the continent — but already there are disputes over the right strategy
Death Row
Kenyans would rather not talk about the disease that is destroying lives and threatening the economy
The Cost Of Living
Pharmaceutical Companies and Drugs
A Distant Mirror
Europe's Black Death is a history lesson in human tragedy — and economic renewal
BUSINESS
Keep the Change
Turkey's government takes on the structural problems at the heart of the country's economy
The Infoanarchist
Could this 23-year-old Irish programmer begin to unravel the Web?
The Data Haven
Closely Guarded Secrets
RELIGION
The Stained Glass Ceiling
Despite stubbornly held conservative attitudes, women are claiming their place in the pulpit
DEPARTMENTS
To Our Readers
Tech Watch
World Watch
|
|
