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Dear Colleague,
Numbers are interesting. We use them to mark the passage of time, the distance between us, and the value of material things. They also help us understand how things change. And how! When we announced the 50x15 commitment in 2004, only 10% of the world was connected to the Internet. Four years later, that number has doubled, reaching the 20% milestone in the first quarter. Did you notice?
The tricky question is, what will happen in the next four years? To get some different perspectives on that, read on! For the first time, we're featuring great submissions from readers like you, people who spend a lot of time trying to connect the world. We've also got tales from the field, with updates on newly deployed learning labs, OLPC, and the incredible Open Architecture Challenge. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. A number of the labs are being replicated and going to scale. Others are expanding, starting to address the effects education and health have on each other.
Throughout this quarter, you'll see just how enabling these solutions can be, through the eyes of the children, the communities, and the doers who are leveraging access to the Internet to change their world. One person at a time. Which is just fine as far as we're concerned. Numbers are interesting, but they're not everything. Change, that's what matters. And a lot is starting to change.
Check it out.
Dan Shine
Vice President, 50x15 Initiative
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Anyck Turgeon
Chief of Market Strategy and Security
Crossroads Systems
As chief of market strategy and security for Crossroads — leading provider of data protection solutions — Anyck Turgeon spends many hours in the air, traveling to attend data security meetings for customers, conferences and regulatory organizations such as NIST, the United Nations and ASIS.
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Carolyn Purcell
Director, IBSG (US State and Local)
Cisco
As Director, IBSG (US State and Local), Cisco, Carolyn Purcell is called upon to travel frequently, most often to Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway), the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. She took time from her busy schedule to answer questions about digital inclusion.
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World Internet Usage Hits 20 Percent
Global Internet Growth Nearly Doubles Since 50x15 Premiere in Davos
When Hector Ruiz announced a new initiative called 50x15 at the World Economic Forum in 2004, the program's goal of connecting 50 percent of the world to the Internet and computing devices by 2015 was called "bold and far-reaching." At the time, only 11 percent of the world had Internet access. But in just four years since Ruiz's announcement in Davos, Internet usage worldwide has nearly doubled according to a recent update provided by Internet World Stats.
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50x15 Deployments Roll On; Help Schools in Three Different Continents
2007 was a year of growth and diversification for 50x15 Learning Labs. We deployed in more regions, addressed more vertical markets, and empowered more people. A novel e-health project took place in rural South Africa. Then, we worked with a very prolific non-governmental organization to launch two education labs in India. Finally, an attempt to empower small businesses in the favelas of São Paulo brought together the community and key private sector players in our Heliopolis deployment.
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Making a Difference in India
Susan Moore, Director, Public Policy & Government Affairs, AMD
As we rush through busy days — sprinting from one meeting to the next while proudly scratching items off the "to do list" before adding new ones — do you ever find that you are stopped in your tracks in awe and inspiration because of events occurring around you? Such was the case for me during a recent trip to India.
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