NEWSWEEK: What’s the biggest challenge of getting technology to kids in the developing world?
ZUCKERMAN: When you have a computer in a school, it’s so special that there often is fear about who gets to use it. We’ve seen computers donated to schools and then locked up because they’re too valuable.
What kind of impact will these technologies have on the kids?
You’re going to have a generation of kids who are a lot more global–not in the sense of drinking Coca-Cola and wanting Michael Jordan footwear, but in that they have connections to people outside their own countries. Just because you’re born in Ghana doesn’t mean that your friends, your contacts, the people you interact with have to be Ghanaian.
What’s the downside?
In Senegal, there is increasing urbanization. People say, “I want a job in the information society. I need to be in Dakar.” Does that end up killing off village culture? It may.
What about the next generation?
You’re going to see haves and have-nots. And it’s going to have to do with who was lucky enough to be near what project, or have enough disposable income to go to the cybercafe.
