Affordable Wireless Connectivity Linking Poor Latin American Communities Binding Their Schools by Sharing ICT Training for “Maestros” of Primary Schools

C. OSVALDO RODRIGUEZ

Human Computer Interaction, Internationalization, Design and Global Development

Springer Verlag

Lugar: Berlin Heidelberg; Año: 2009; p. 404 - 412

Abstract. A very poor neighborhood in Argentina that has many features oflower middle class is called “barrio carenciado”. Many heads of the families areunemployed and although children have access to schools it is common that theydo not finish their basic instruction. In many cases NGOs play a fundamentalrole in changing this reality. In this presentation we detail the implementation ofa test bed where 14 families and a school were provided with computers, Internetaccess and were educated out of digital illiteracy. Connectivity was provided byWireless Mesh Networking (WMN). The research project, was carried out by agroup of researchers from the Universidad de La Plata with different backgroundsin collaboration with the NGO Barrios del Plata (a chapter of MuhammadYunus´s Grameen Bank). The study monitored the changes in families’ life(in particularly children education and parents opportunities related to obtainingwork). The deployment of WMN in a such a broad area, aimed to define the possiblelowest cost implementation, and conforms an important part of the researchactivities. The school #502, originally a node of the WMN, has become a “Laboratoryfor the use of innovative methodologies in ICT training of primary schoolteachers”. The project was financed through an award given in a public competitionby Microsoft research and CentralTech, a leading Argentinean educationalcenter.