Class One

My name is Alex Lanes, and I would like to welcome you to my first blog ever. These series of blogs will be about my experience in America’s Changing Faces, a class I am taking during the summer session of Cornell in Washington.

During the first lecture of class, we were introduced to our professor, Raul Roman and our TA, Sudeshna Mitra. We were also introduced to our first guest lecturer of the course, Dr. Royal Colle, a former professor at Cornell.

The first lecture of the class was meant to focus on how new communication technologies are shaping life in America and the world. However, after getting an introduction from our new professor and his guest lecturer, they focus was slightly altered. Rather than concentrate on how new technology affects America, we centered on how technology, specifically computers and cell phones, influence developing countries such as India and Thailand. Dr. Colle explained to us the process of setting up information and communication technologies (ICTs) throughout these developing countries and the larger affect they had on the economics, social life, and culture of the areas. Dr. Colle went on to give us several concrete examples of how ICTs affect the lives of those around them.

Technology has had an incredible impact on the efficiency of workers in developing countries. An example I remember from the readings was on fishermen and the inclusion of mobile devices. “It reports that fishermen in Kerala who owned mobile phones found their profits to increase by an average of about US$4.5 per day, sufficient to justify phone ownership in cost-benefit terms... The revenue gains by all fishermen arose because they wasted less (i.e. sold more) of the fish they caught” (Heeks, 632-633). The reading goes on to discuss how since the fishermen able to catch more fish, the price of fish were lowered, which made more fish available to more consumers. The increase in efficiency from mobile phones, in the end, improved the overall market for fish, allowing fishermen to increase their income and their effectiveness.

Additionally, technology has had an impact in making markets fairer for farmers. An example of this would be Chinese farmers we discussed in class. These farmers would be able to go on computers and see the market price of the crop they were attempting to sell. Previously, the buyers of their crop had offered below the fair market price. Now that they had this information, they were able to get a proper price for their product. In this way, technology has aided the lives of some farmers.

In the end, the lectures and the readings gave concrete examples on how information and communication technologies increased the livelihood of those in developing countries. ICTs did this in several ways; two examples are by increasing efficiency and the fairness of markets.

Overall, this class was not exactly what I was expecting, as I was anticipating the topics to be related more to America than to developing countries. However, Dr. Colle was a good lecturer and a very enthusiastic speaker regarding the topic. So, that is it. I just wrote my first blog. Sadly, there are only about six weeks left in Cornell in Washington. Until next time.