5 ms·

These types of sites, TED, Khan Academy, etc. get me so excited for the future. Unfortunately the phrase 'everyone, everywhere' comes with that little asterisk:

These types of sites, TED, Khan Academy, etc. get me so excited for the future. Unfortunately the phrase 'everyone, everywhere' comes with that little asterisk: *with high-speed internet access. I think a movement to get internet to 'everyone, everywhere' needs to happen along side this internet education movement to be as potentially world-changing as I'd like to imagine it. Not that the education movement alone isn't great, there is a huge gap between being able to afford high-speed internet and affording/getting into a good college.

nitrogen 15y ago
Still, the set of "everyone, everywhere with high-speed internet access" is larger than the set of "everyone, everywhere with money and access to a top-tier university."
sneak 15y ago
Red herring. Internet access will only become faster, cheaper, and more prevalent. It's not the job of educators or video producers to string fibers in Africa, after all. I think it's a completely different discussion - bringing The Knowledge Of The World to people and places that don't have it - than online education systems.
stonemetal 15y ago
Yeah but you are talking about everyone with access to a library, or a computer and a McDonald, Barnes and Noble ...
cabalamat 15y ago
> comes with that little asterisk: *with high-speed internet access By the end of the decade, I expect that >90% of humanity will have this (or be able to easily afford it).
ippisl 15y ago
Even in africa , for places where bandwidth is expensive, once the community got computers, or android phones, it's pretty easy and cheap to distribute some content from khan or TED,without needing internet access for each person.
nico_h 15y ago
And that speaks English. For example, there is this brand new country called East Timor (1 million people) who decided 9 years ago that the official languages would be Portugese and Tetum. As for fast internet, while it is north of Darwin, Australia, it is connected via satellite to Miami, Florida. The fastest residential* internet money can buy is 512k/64k (on paper) for 200 USD / month. And that is already unreliable in the capital city. Using your own satellite dish is around 1k$ for 1Mb/128k. *Professional speed is up to 2Mbps for 6000$

nitrogen 15y ago

Still, the set of "everyone, everywhere with high-speed internet access" is larger than the set of "everyone, everywhere with money and access to a top-tier university."

sneak 15y ago

Red herring. Internet access will only become faster, cheaper, and more prevalent. It's not the job of educators or video producers to string fibers in Africa, after all. I think it's a completely different discussion - bringing The Knowledge Of The World to people and places that don't have it - than online education systems.

stonemetal 15y ago

Yeah but you are talking about everyone with access to a library, or a computer and a McDonald, Barnes and Noble ...

cabalamat 15y ago

> comes with that little asterisk: *with high-speed internet access By the end of the decade, I expect that >90% of humanity will have this (or be able to easily afford it).

ippisl 15y ago

Even in africa , for places where bandwidth is expensive, once the community got computers, or android phones, it's pretty easy and cheap to distribute some content from khan or TED,without needing internet access for each person.

nico_h 15y ago

And that speaks English. For example, there is this brand new country called East Timor (1 million people) who decided 9 years ago that the official languages would be Portugese and Tetum. As for fast internet, while it is north of Darwin, Australia, it is connected via satellite to Miami, Florida. The fastest residential* internet money can buy is 512k/64k (on paper) for 200 USD / month. And that is already unreliable in the capital city. Using your own satellite dish is around 1k$ for 1Mb/128k. *Professional speed is up to 2Mbps for 6000$