It's the Appropriate Technology, Stupid!

David Kirkpatrick's recent Fortune Magazine article on Bridges.org has been hitting the blogs the last few days (e.g., Smart Mobs and ICTlogy). Bridges.org is an international non-profit organisation that promotes the effective use of Information and communications technology (ICT) in the developing world to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. Teresa Peters is Bridges' Executive Director. Three quotes jump out immediately:

"Many IT-related projects in Africa are failing. That's because, Peters says, too many ignore the basic criteria for success: 'Small, cheap, local, and relevant are the key things for IT here, with a suite of applications around the device.' Often, for instance, what's appropriate is not a PC but a handheld, or even just a cellphone."

"Peters says the most effective use of technology she's ever seen was in a pilot project that gave doctors and medical students in Kenya Palm handhelds that contained a regularly updated set of medical reference materials. Drugs change frequently, as do treatment regimens. But, she explains, 'Doctors are out all day seeing patients two to a bed and on the floor—so many it's unbelievable. They make notes on each patient but without a handheld they have to wait until the end of the day to check reference books for drug interactions and other information.' The program resulted in clear improvements in patient care."

"Bridges is now conducting a study comparing open-source software like Linux with proprietary software for community-access computer labs and Internet cafes. It is assessing the total cost of ownership—doing what Peters calls a 'reality check.' While the report is not complete and she says they aim not to take sides in a commercial competition, 'today's realities indicate that proprietary software is more suitable for most of these labs. Technical support is the absolute deal killer. The tech support is just not there for open source.' While she says most African governments are feeling pressure to move to the 'free' open source, most projects will fail because, for now, there is simply no technical support in Africa for desktop Linux. (People aren't having as much trouble with Linux for server installations, she says.) Microsoft, on the other hand, which is the de facto supplier of proprietary alternatives, has a well-developed support infrastructure in many places."