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Iraq, a technology frontier

4 comments on Iraq, a technology frontier

Iraq, a technology frontier
: Doc Searls sends us to a Linux Journal piece arguing that Iraq is a blank technology slate (and thus fertile ground for Linux, they say).

It is a blank slate for so much more.

I’ve argued, of course, that it is a great breeding ground for weblogs, as Zeyad and company have now proven.

Forward-thinking American companies should see Iraq as a proving ground for all kinds of technology: broadband, wireless, cellular, ISP… and for technology work and education. So should the government. So should foundations.

Kerry Dupont — who’s working on something exciting to help the Iraqi bloggers (more on that very soon) — has a great idea about forming a nonprofit to provide technology to bloggers and journalists in Iraq and other developing democracies. I would get behind that and I hope computer companies would, too.

We need to stop thinking just about today’s problems in Iraq but also about tomorrow’s potential. Look at Zeyad’s new photo today from a Baghdad computer cafe: This is a nation dying to delve into technology. Helping them helps their economy and thus their politics and security and thus our political agenda and our business. Everybody wins.

Iraq should be a technology frontier.

4 responses to “Iraq, a technology frontier”

  1. Yehudit Avatar
    Yehudit

    I’d really like to see some pix of women freely entering and using these computers without harassment.

  2. AST Avatar
    AST

    Zeyad’s coverage has been terrific, but note how much play he’s gotten outside the blogosphere.
    I guess those of us used to the way things develop in technology are too impatient for the rest of the world to keep up. I certainly am, but then I’ve been waiting since 1964 for America to figure out what it’s founders gave it, and I’m still disappointed.
    Brit Hume had a panel discussion on the coming year in politics for his New Year’s Day program, and it sounds like 9/11 hasn’t made much of a dent in politics as usual. Political changes take lifetimes, it seems, even with, or maybe because of, improved communications. After all, how can a nation which has learned its critical thinking skills from TV ads be expected to see what needs to be changed?
    What the web has done is allow people who care to find alternate interpretations and underreported stories. Keep up the good work, Jeff, and webbloggers everywhere.

  3. rodman Avatar
    rodman

    if “Iraq should be a technology frontier”
    then i’d be scared.
    the sooner we put modern technology in iraq, the sooner terrorists terrorize us using modern technology.looks like we have ourselves a catch-22, huh?
    for once we “educate” them (the iraqis), who is to know what they will do with that knowledge 2,5,10 years down the line?

  4. KMK Avatar
    KMK

    Great. Now you’ve let the cat out of the bag. Next thing you know Microsoft and Apple will be donating computers to Iraq racing to get their platforms in first. Have to change the slogan to “it was all about the technology.” (it still fits in the whole “line the pockets of greedy corporate America” thing)
    Kidding aside – You’ve already proved what a camera and an internet connection can bring. I’d like to see much more of it.