Borneo children in an international digital playground: intercultural issues and idiosyncrasies

Reviewer: Cecilia G. Manrique

How do we solve the digital divide__?__ Although many people and writers talk about its possible explanations and solutions, this particular paper actually articulates what is practically being done in the small rural community of Bario in Sarawak, Malaysia. The eBario project was first conceived by the University of Malaysia, Sarawak to bring information technology to this remote place in Borneo, Malaysia. It was born out of the belief that information technology is an engine for community growth and development, and that if such a project was successful in Bario, it could be successful in other rural communities. The participatory action research method was used in the implementation of the project. A strong rapport was built between researchers and community members. Thus, any type of decision for the project was made in consultation between researchers and community members. The necessary infrastructure-telecommunications, solar power, and computer systems-was brought into the community, to enable the children involved in the project to use the Internet as a means of cross-cultural communication and bring about intercultural awareness. Children in a remote community (Bario) would be involved for the first time in the Pangaea program, which uses the concept of an international digital playground as a means to bring children from different countries and cultures together, in a yearlong series of activities. It is unfortunate that the paper only covers the first two activities of the yearlong project. It may have been too soon for Mohamad et al. to embark on writing about the project, which began in January 2010 and is supposed to continue the entire year. Beyond the preliminary findings from the first and second interview sessions with the children, the more substantive results of the program have been left out for what hopefully will be a future paper. For now, the reader will have to be satisfied to know that almost all the children have no computers at home, but have access to mobile phones-the primary mode of communication in the community; their homes do not have electricity; none of the children have traveled overseas; and only one child has been to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The second interview reveals more information about their daily lives, including their farming lives, the festivities in which they participate, and descriptions of their traditional costumes. Although the society seems isolated and is homogeneous, the researchers found that due to the dawn of mobile phone technology in 2009, the place may not be quite as isolated as it was initially believed. But the homogeneity of the culture that helps form the worldview of the children can be enhanced by technology, since there seems to be a high level of acceptance of the use of technology for cross-cultural communication. It's too bad that the paper did not go far enough to indicate what can be expected of the rest of the program. The paper concludes with a presentation of partial findings of a much larger study, but does not point to the direction of the rest of that study. Maybe it is a way to whet one's appetite for the next installment of the study. Online Computing Reviews Service