One of the more interesting online efforts to spring up in the wake of the Haiti earthquake is Wired's Haiti Rewired. It's part and parcel of an outpouring of great geeky thinking about how tech can help Haitians rebuild, and then, already looking ahead, how tech might help Haiti build an entirely new kind of economy, one not reliant on subsistence farming. Looking at pictures like this one on the right, I'll admit it's hard to think too far ahead. What little tech infrastructure did exist in Haiti before the quake has been as badly affected as the rest of the country. But, on the other hand, maybe it's not so crazy to start thinking about what Haiti would need to do to rebrand itself, maybe along the model of Rwanda.
Last weekend, I was up in Montreal attending one of the various Crisis Camps that have been going on around the globe. You can hear the radio story I did for PRI's The World by clicking here. There were a number of young, smart IT people there with family ties to Haiti, and who have spent time in the country. I thought I would get their thoughts on what kind of tech, and training, Haiti might need to do some leapfrogging. First up, Stephane Jolicouer-Fidelia, who works in IT for Canada's National Film Board. He was supposed to go down to Haiti to visit family this month. He highlighted the need for any solution to be open source. Click below to listen to a short audio clip:
Stephane Jolicouer-Fidelia talks about open source solutions for Haiti
Stephane also told me that it was important to think about building out Haiti's tech infrastructure in a way that could survive these kinds of disasters. He also suggests thinking about technologies such as WiMax, and 3 and 4G cell networks that would allow more cell phone users to access the Internet.
I also spoke with David Casseus, another Montreal IT professional with family ties to Haiti. He lived in Haiti between the ages of 15 and 17. He wants to eventually go down and do tech training. He says that all of the outside efforts to get tech help to Haiti are great, but that moving forward, it will come down to the locals. Here's another short audio clip:David Casseus talks about tapping into local skills and talent in Haiti
David cautioned that there are local political, cultural and economic reasons which may hold Haiti back from leapfrogging to new technologies.Glenn Strachan, who has written on wi-fi for Discovery, is an expert when it comes to trying to build out new networks in the developing world. He's worked in Macedonia, and Jamaica to name only a couple of places. I wanted to get his take on whether or not we should even be thinking about Haiti's tech future at this point. Here's his take, forged from years of experience, and it's worth quoting at length:
It is all fine and good that technicians around the world want to help rebuild a national communications infrastructure within Haiti – the only problem is that there was not one before the earthquake and there is unlikely to be one after the earthquake unless it takes into account government and regulatory practices. No fiber has landed as of yet to Haiti despite a long standing hope that it would. Even if it landed, it would be highly regulated and serve the best interests of the controlling agencies within Haiti rather than the people who need reduced costs in order to access the Internet. I dare say that with so much giving coming from America and Europe that a carrier grade solution could be established within a month, or maybe two, which would make other island nations envious. However, without taking into account the power of the present mobile operator, Digicell, and the Haitian fixed line provider, and understanding the stranglehold they have over the communications sector within Haiti, “do-gooders” may end up simply enhancing the position of the incumbents rather than creating a competitive environment where pricing declines as uptake up services increases. Haiti is ripe for a bypass solution – a leapfrog over what they used to have – but the people who presently make money off of the older, more entrenched solution will likely place impediments in the way.You can find Crisis Camps for Haiti in your area here.
(Photo taken by the U.S. Coast Guard. Leogane, Haiti.)
Tags: Cell Phones, Communication, Internet, Open Source, WiFi and Mobile
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