Pentalk

I really found the Hagar and Haythorne article interesting because it was a practical, yet uncommon (at least for me), example of the value of technology to communities. I say uncommon because I don't often put agriculture and computing technology together in my mind. This is not to say that I view farmers as less intelligent; it's just something that I really had never thought of before. It seemed to me that Pentalk was well-organized and thought out, and it really brought two types of literacy to the affected community: literacy in computer operation and literacy about (then) current methods of disease prevention. I liked that they provided the computers on a rent or rent-to-own basis. I think it gave the farmers more of a choice, rather than just jamming literacy down their throats. It was also interesting to read about the formation of new communities not based on a shared physical space.

It then got me thinking about different ways that those types of technologies apply to my own life (excluding Facebook, Twitter, etc.). There is/used to be an emergency text message system on campus available to notify students and staff of emergencies on campus through text messages when e-mail wasn't readily accessible. Too bad I never subscribed to this service and will therefore, presumably, be unprepared in the case of an emergency situation on campus. This doesn't really bother me. Otherwise I would have subscribed already.

Back to Pentalk. What if the farmers chose not to subscribe? They could call neighboring farms owned by farmers who had subscribed to get the same information almost verbatim. The neighbor with the service could read from the Pentalk service. Just like my friend could forward an emergency text to me if he or she deemed it necessary.

Then I thought about literacy being violent. The farmers who chose to use the Pentalk system gained a new literacy that made them different from their peers. The relationship is changed because of this new literacy. Maybe resentment becomes a factor. "Why didn't you subscribe and therefore always calling me for information?" So couldn't this resentment, in turn, tear apart the physical community? Does the physical community matter now that the virtual one is in place?