Closing Central Asia's Tech Gap

From: Wired News
Oct. 22, 2002

By Robin Clewley

Barren landscapes. Marginal infrastructure. Megalomaniacal dictators. Central Asia isn't exactly poised to become the next Silicon Valley.

Still, citizens are being rapidly educated about computers and the Internet and the region is becoming more technologically savvy as each day passes.

Funded by the U.S. State Department, the Internet Access and Training Program (IATP) implements and operates centers that provide free Internet and computer training to the people of Central Asia.

Centers in the capitals and rural areas of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have experienced tremendous growth since the first one opened in 1995.

"The program has been wildly popular," said Tom Niemeyer, senior program officer at the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), the organization that administers the program. "We'll be the first one to set up a center in a town, and then other Internet cafes start popping up. It whets people's appetites for technology."

Three years ago, the region had only six centers. By the end of 2002, 49 will be operating, according to David Mikosz, who is coordinating IATP's efforts in the region.

It has recently extended its program to serve the Central Asian deaf community by teaching them how computers and the Internet can benefit their communications. IATP is also making its centers wheelchair accessible.

Despite these successes, the program has had to overcome huge hurdles.

The distance from the program's westernmost site in Uralsk, Kazakhstan, to its easternmost site in Karakol, Kyrgystan, is more than 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles). The sheer size of the region, coupled with its geographic isolation from any satellites or fiber optic lines, makes wiring a challenge, Mikosz wrote by e-mail from Bishkek, Kyrgystan. The program relies on radio, as well as high speed and dial-up modems for connectivity.

"The other challenges include the crumbling infrastructure," Mikosz wrote. "The Soviet Union was overextended in many senses and the onset of independence has only exacerbated this problem. There were at least three different telephone systems with few interconnections."

The differing politics and cultures of the five republics have also caused problems for the program. Citizens living in Kyrgystan have greater Web access than users in Turkmenistan, where many websites are blocked because of the ruling dictatorship.

Furthermore, providing usable and accurate content for this region's users has been one of the program's goals. IATP currently hosts 700 local Web pages in all five republics.

"However, to be totally honest, good content is still quite rare," Mikosz wrote. "Most of the content consists of very simple pictures and text-based pages that are nothing more than online self-promotionals. Even rarer than good content is content other than Russian or English."

Problems aside, the program has given local people employment opportunities, granted them access to previously limited information and allowed deaf citizens a new form of communication.

"For the hearing impaired, the Internet is absolutely necessary," according to Amina Shevelkova, a Central Asian teacher for the deaf. "With the help of the Internet, deaf children can receive the latest news. TV does not provide the sign language translation of the broadcasts. (The Internet gives children) the opportunity to raise their levels of knowledge, without experiencing any psychological inconveniences."

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