South Asia: Computer Technology

" We bought a new computer yesterday. I am also ready to purchase a new desktop computer your advice will be appreciated " My sister a wonderful woman and being married, residing in Kathmandu told me over the phone.

"I expect that all members of your family will become proficient at the computer, including your son. Enjoy your new computer and learn from it. I learn much by it every day". I told her.

"I can't advise you on the manufacturer since I know nothing about it. Best way to assure quality. Quality is extremely important because you want to avoid repairs, which are expensive. If you buy a cheap computer with poor quality, then you will pay lots of money buying replacement parts and paying for the labor to have them installed. Here in the US, I buy only the DELL brand, which is more expensive, but it has an excellent reputation for quality (reliability), which means I rarely have to buy new parts and pay to have them installed. In the US, the reliability ratings of different manufacturers are given in PC Magazine, a weekly publication. Maybe you have a magazine there that provides reliability ratings for the computers sold in India.?" I gave my advice.

I think buying the 3.0 GHz microprocessors also importent so the computers will not soon become obsolete. In India and in Nepal 1.44 MB including 250 MB internal or 250 MB external Drive can be found. The sellers understand that what is 250 MB internal or 250 MB external Drive. They confused about it. May be in Nepal it is not found or no use at all because our market is not so advance that can use that kind of computer process. May be some chartered accountants use it but no the general people. So the charter accountant do not buy in Nepal, they may buy if foreign countries, right?

There are somany computer sellers in the market and one of them is Merchantiles company which sells only the original parts imported from high qualified company and country.

I gave my advice to her.

1.Please verify that the computer has a sound card; otherwise, you cannot hear the sound from the speakers. This is to listen to videos and music.

2. There must be some kind of larger internal or external drive than the 1.44 MB floppy so that large amounts of data can be transferrred between computers. The 1.44 MB is too small a storage for large amounts of data.

3. There must be software available in Nepal that allows people to write letters on the computer. We call that a "word processor". Also, there must be software that allows for columns of data, e.g., in accounting. We call that a "spreadsheet". Check these out again.

Finally, buy a highly rated (superior) surge protector. This device protects the computer against a lightning strike on the house that would be transmitted to the computer. Without the surge protector, the electricity would destroy the computer.

According to i4d "The technology has been tested and trained for variations over a large number of speakers from different regions of the country. The technology could be also useful in voice- enabling ATM kiosks and in car navigation systems. It also converts Unicode text into ISFOC fonts to enable a user to import the text to any Windows based application". Source:i4d.

The biggest advantage of technology in education is its ability to provide each student with information at a pace that is effective to his/her learning ability and motivation without increasing the number of teachers and school expense. In other words, it provides the most effective learning at reduced cost.

Specific technologies are the following:

(1) Multiple videos of lectures and experiments located in libraries that can be taken out by each student and studied at a pace that is commensurate with his/her ability and motivation.

(2) Internet lectures by a competent teacher that can be viewed by students with computers simultaneously in many locations, thus reducing the number of teachers. Questions can be forwarded to the teacher for individual responses.

(3) Computer examinations of student learning in supervised laboratories, thus saving teacher time.

Journalist and Story Writer Kamala Sarup associates and writes for http://www.mediaforfreedom.com/ . She is a regular contributor to United Press International - Asia News. She is specializes in in-depth reporting and writing on peace, anti-war, women, terrorism, democracy, and development. Some of her publications are: Women;s Empowerment in South Asia, Nepal (booklets); Prevention of Trafficking in Women Through Media, (book); Efforts to Prevent Trafficking in for Media Activism (media research). She has also written two collections of stories. Sarup's interests include international conflict resolution, cross-cultural communication, philosophy, feminism, political, socio-economic and literature. Her current plans are to move on to humanitarian work in conflict areas in the near future. She also is experienced in organizational and community development. A meeting of jury members held on March 21, 2007 in Geneva decided to honor Sarup, with an Honorable Mention International Award for reporting on women's issues.

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