TECHNOLOGY-JAMAICA: Catching Up With Cyberspace

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Virginia Hardy

KINGSTON, Aug 31 1998 (IPS) - Even as developed countries continue to soar into Cyberspace, technology experts here are worried that the majority of the Jamaican population will be left behind.

With less than one percent of the 2.5 million people who live here having access to Internet services, the situation has been described as “woeful”.

More than 30 percent of the population in the United States, 28 percent in Canada and about 10 percent in the United Kingdom are currently on-line.

It is understandable if Jamaica, a small, developing nation is not on par with these industrialised countries. However, countries like Costa Rica and Singapore that are similar in size to Jamaica are also far ahead, observers say.

“We are way, way behind,” says Patrick Terrelonge, Chairman of InfoChannel Ltd., a local Internet service provider. “But because we’re small that gives us an opportunity that a lot of larger countries don’t have.”

Terrelonge has urged the government to devise a strategy that will enable Jamaica to have at least two or three percent of the population on-line by the year 2000. “We have a long way to go but it is achievable,” he says.

The first move Terrelonge has advised the government to make is to address the high cost of telecommunications infrastructure, which he describes as an “impediment to growth.”

Although the statistics about Internet access are disturbing, Edward Taylor, Vice-President of the University of the West Indies’ Computer Science Alumni Association is looking on the bright side.

“Because so many Jamaicans have access to Cable TV and they’re hearing and seeing a lot about the Internet they are becoming more serious about getting on to the net,” he says.

“There are also a lot of parents who are seeing that this thing is the wave of the future and they want their children to have access to it,” he adds.

Similar sentiments are expressed by Fleur Gooden, Director of Information Technology at the Ministry of Health. “The number of people on the net is small but it’s growing,” she says.

” A lot of people are starting to get access at the workplace, because companies are beginning to understand how important the Internet is,” Gooden adds.

However, Taylor says that because Jamaicans currently have to contend with severe financial problems, many people who would be interested simply do not have the disposable income to acquire Internet access.

With the cheapest Internet-ready computers in the island costing about 1,100 dollars, Taylor says, “it’s difficult for an ordinary person to get on the Internet.”

The need for a computer-literate population is not lost on the government. So far, several public libraries have been equipped with computers with Internet connections but in some cases members of the public have handled the facilities carelessly.

According to Dr. Simon Clarke, special consultant to the Ministry of Education, users have vandalised both computer hardware and software at some locations.

“In a few cases, entire programmes have been deleted,” says Clarke.

Grace Spence, the Senior Librarian at the St. James Parish Library says the staff at that facility had to replace the keyboard for their Internet kiosk after a user dropped it.

In addition, Spence says the library has had users who have interfered with the software on the computer.

“They tend to explore and go into other programmes and one person eventually wiped off some programmes. Now we just keep the software on the machines as basic as possible so they don’t have too much to fool around,” she adds.

Another aspect of the government’s thrust to ensure more access to the Internet is the Ministry of Education’s multi-million dollar programme under which all primary and all-age schools will be provided with computer and Internet access.

So far, more than 100 of 983 schools which are listed to benefit from the programme have already received their equipment.

However, with more than 20 percent of the population illiterate, Ronald Thwaites, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Resources and Social Development has said that the government needs to make sure it is straight on its priorities.

Thwaites warns that the govenrment may be “putting the cart before the horse,” in its hurry to supply schools with computers, if the students at some of these schools cannot read and write properly.

Professor Rex Nettleford, who was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies last month, has also said that there is still a great need to focus on basic education.

He stresses that it is critical that students become functionally literate if they are to become proficient with modern technology.

“First of all, will the kid know what to punch in and when things come up on the screen they will have to be able to read. So aren’t we supposed to be thinking about reading, writing and arithmetic and spending a lot of time on that so they can really master the computer,” Nettleford says.

However, Gooden maintains that there is no reason why there should be a toss up between literacy and technical knowledge.

“You have to give students a reason to want to read and write,” she says. “If a student is more inclined to fiddle around with a computer instead of reading a book, if the technology peaks their interest, why not use it as a tool? Most of the material on the Internet is written material anyway so you’re forcing them to read.”

Gooden suggests that since the government is the country’s largest employer, it should ensure that employees have access to the net at work. This would enable several thousand people to be exposed to the Web.

Taylor says the government should continue to set up kiosks at community centres, libraries and even post offices in order to make the Internet more available. However, he stresses that a public awareness programme is also necessary.

“We have to get the community involved but just sticking a computer in a community centre is not the answer. Public education needs to be done,” he says.