A recent posting to CLICK4HP included the following passage which is so
pregnant with presumptions that I am having to constrain myself to comment
on only a few of the presumptions and them implications. The posting was
well intended so I hope that individual doesn't take too great an
exception to using this exerpt from their prose.

----clip from earlier posting by CLICK4HP member -----
My reason for doing this is to highlight to my fellow classmates the
demographics of internet users.  This way, they could decide if the
internet is a good medium for finding (for example) social research
subjects.  I think that because most of our friends (and many family
members) have internet access, students fail to realize that internet use
is not widespread in ALL groups in society.  As future health
professionals we need to keep this in mind before conducting research or
program planning that heavily involves the use of the internet.
----------- end of clip ------

This is what I would call a consumerist approach to the existance of the
internet. It treats the internet like a "big box retail store" (e.g. Home
Depot, Walmart, etc.) One only goes there, or recommends it, if it carries
what one wants, is conveniently located, and isn't too priy. The other
approach is to see it as a territory in which social process will develop
and in which -for good or bad- humans will pursue human pursuits. It is a
place to make things, and to make things happen. It is only a place to
'find things' if someone else has taken the time to make them.

I have just returned from two weeks abroad, looking at how others use the
internet among other things. Finland, for example, has about 3 times the
internet access level of Canada and it will rise to 4 times by the middle
of this year. Finland's cellular phone use is a multiple of Canada's and
has allowed Finland's Nokia Cell Phone producer to take a significant
slice of the global market - from a small community as far north as
Yellowknife.

Ireland, the fastest growing tourism destination in Europe, and for
Europeans, has put every Bed and Breakfast in the country on the internet.
I can book a B&B from here. Does that mean that every B&B has a computer
and modem. No! It means they got their act together, zoned who did what,
and created a web production process whereby a B&B can update its data on
the web site using an ordinary touch tone phone. Both the 'experts' and
the delegates' at a recent internet and tourism conference in Edinburgh
voted their top awards to the Ireland site.

Other countries are using public kiosks to connect homeless people to
social services, to emergency aid, and - to their families in a
non-threatening venue -. I have looked at two Canadian sites dealing with
the government funding cuts in Ontario. One, act.cuts.ont, is located at
the community oriented Web Networks and is active as hell. Another is at a
local university, is just as old as act.cuts.ont, but has no subscribers
and no traffic. I have looked at CLICK4HP with its 380+ subscribers and a
nicely modulated traffic flow. On the same machine I run an academic list
on participatory research, set up at the request of a group of academics.
It has about two dozen members and no postings in the last 18 months.

There is a lesson here. The internet is not a virtual 'big box' goods
outlet. Women, when asked about intended internet use, smartly always list
'shopping' in last place. It is a place to do things. The one thing you
can get there is 'empowered'.

The head of the Thomas Cook travel agency, talking about why Thomas Cook,
and 140 airlines have taken such a keep interest in the internet said
recently. We are there because it is there and it is a place where things
will happen. As for those who don't get it, or don't want to get it, he
commented "They will really get it!".

The head of the VISA credit Card's joint Secure Electronic Transaction
(SET) project, jointly with Master Charge, commenting on their SET billing
system which will roll out in weeks and be MORE secure than using a card
in a store, explained why they were out in front and trying so hard (they
take 51% of travel credit card billings). He said it in terms that should
be clear to Canadians. He said in a dog sled team if you are not the lead
dog you have to run just as fast, you have no say in where you are going,
and - worst of all- the view never changes.

My colleagues keep telling me that they are 'to old' to adapt to the
territories of the internet. They say it will come naturally to the kids.
I, like a number of us on CLICK4HP make my living teaching "the kids" -
and others. If what we teach them is the critical skills of a big box
retain consumer we have failed. Canada is a country whose vision has
always been one of people trying to domesticate the edges of a vast
wilderness. We have done that well and we have done that badly, for both
sides of the frontier.

We now have a new frontier before us. It is neither a glass half empty nor
a glass half full. It is a place to stand and a place to build. Or future
will depend on what we build there, not on whether it has boxing day
sales, or has my shoe size.

At a recent meeting a young South African entrepreneur, talking about the
difficulties he faced in Africa, talking to others facing similar
difficulties said: "If you cannot find a door, build a door, if you cannot
find a bridge, build what". As one dreams about the future it is what you
cannot see that should inspire you, not the Club-Zed, PetroCan or AirMiles
points that come with the purchase.

Health promotion (social and personal) is listed as a major reason why
people seek access to the internet. The other is education (formal or
otherwise). Fulfilling the promise will depend on what we build there, not
what we find there.

Back to the tool shed -

 Sam Lanfranco (usually quiet CLICK4HP list co-owner)

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