The Digital Divide Meets the Rooftop

David, one of the maids who works at my old apartment in Kampala (I moved to a different place last Sunday), had been saying that he'd like to stay in touch with me, but didn't have an e-mail account. So, I agreed to help him open one. Yesterday I returned to my old apartment complex, where he assured me that there was internet access in one of the offices for me to show him how to open an e-mail account. This was the first I'd heard about internet access at the apartment complex, but I trusted him anyway. I arrived at the complex and the following conversation transpired:

Jordan: "So David, you mentioned that there was internet access in one of the offices here. That's where we'll need to go so that I can set you up with an e-mail account."
David: "Yes, there is internet here. On the roof."
Jordan: "On the roof?"
David: "Yes, there is a satellite dish there. We can climb up on the roof together and get onto the internet."
Jordan: "But David, in order to get onto the internet, we will need to use a computer. We can't just climb on the roof."
David: "But what about the dish?"
Jordan: "The satellite dish doesn't allow you to use the internet. You see, the internet is a system of interconnected computer networks. You can only access internet through a computer." [it was way too complicated to explain blackberry usage, e-mailing from cell phones, etc. ]
David: "Oh, I see. So we can't use the internet on the roof?"
Jordan: "No, we need a computer. We will need to go to an internet cafe
together. Climbing on the roof will not help you open an e-mail account."

I proceeded to write up a set of instructions on how to open a Gmail account using a *computer*, but it occurred to me that David had never used a computer before ...

The thought of climbing on a roof and dancing in front of a satellite dish to send an e-mail is far more entertaining than staring at a computer screen ... perhaps roof-top dancing will be the next innovation in Web 2.0 ...