Changing The Game. Which Game?
All the talk around the iPad (other than name jokes) has been whether it’s a game changer. Well, is it? That depends on what game you’re talking about. It may be, if you’re just talking about how it will affect the consumer habits of the ‘connected’ and affluent tech-heads in the west. Maybe it will change the way you surf, read magazines, play games. Hell, you might even be able to take pictures with it one day.
But is that the only game here? Because the implication of all these new tech developments is that it is ‘making the world a better, more connected place’ and that the social web means we’re all just a click away from speaking truth to power, albeit in 140 characters.
But isn’t this missing a crucial point? Isn’t it ignoring a fairly large constituency? Like most of Africa? And large swathes of China and India? How connected do they feel? How will the iPad change their lives? How many of them have heard of Twitter or Facebook or Tumblr?
If we really want to talk about a connected world - and let’s face it, a lot of people blithely throw that phrase around - shouldn’t we be looking at how we can make it a reality? Wouldn’t a real game changer be comprehensive electricity coverage? Or a cellphone network that worked outside the major urban centres? Shouldn’t we be looking at ways to get technology working for the poorest, using our skills in cooperation with theirs to help them lift themselves up.
The gap between the connected and unconnected grows every day. And it contributes significantly to the growing chasm between the North and the South. I’d like to see more entrepreneurs looking to use their abilities to reverse this trend. I’d like to see development agencies embrace the the idea that people from outside their closed society may have a contribution to make outside of monetary donations. I’d like to see north and south collaborating and sharing ideas, so that the promise of our new connected world is not a private members club that only the rich can play in.
A pipe dream? Maybe. But Open Development has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
