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Ideas, Innovations and Comment - last updated August 2006
These ideas, innovations and comments are set out here in the hope that they may stimulate
additional ideas and even stimulate individuals and organisations to implement or fund
some of the better schemes proposed. I myself am always willing to do or to manage
any of the proposals, or to give additional thought and input.
*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
These ideas added 2006/08
PostCode System for 3rd world
Wind-powered ploughing/cultivation for the 3rd world
SCA - Sms classified advertising for the 3rd world and developed countries
Self-drive-remote-return wi-fi electric urban taxis as liquid fuel savers
zero-cost GPS by Mobile Phone
Arabic script phonetic representation of Western Languages - ASPR
sms payment system - ebanking for the 3rd world and for the poor
sms external encrypted voting - Removing 3rd world dictators for dummies
SAM - sms answerback mailboxes - mobile phones for the phoneless in the 3rd world
These ideas added 2004/05
Web Database/SMS/Text system for reporting faults and problems to government and local government
Aldi/ LIDL type of low-price supermarkets for 3rd world
Fixed Line SMS phone service for 3rd world
Web Database System as basis for paper-based free advertising newspapers
Freight-sharing and car-sharing web database systems for 3rd world
Crime self-reporting web database systems
Serial Number self-reporting web database system for stolen goods
These ideas added 2004/03
Using digital satellite radio (Worldspace) for global message receiving
Using digital satellite radio (Worldspace) for indigenous language news broadcast
Using digital satellite radio (Worldspace) for radio teletext service
Democracy Promotion - All National Elections to be RUN with no involvement of National personnel
Democracy Promotion - Hit-man funds for elimination of internationally-designated dictators
Democracy Promotion - Maximum Presidential Time Limit 2 Terms/ 10 years throughout 3rd world
Fairtrade is a Sham
Monitoring Inflation through online web database
Regional and Global Price Comparison through online web database
Protein Value Tables and Charts through online web database
Low bandwidth web-based email system
LAN-based intra-company email systems using one email account for outside communication
Remote database systems in low bandwidth and intermittent-connection areas of 3rd workd
Dirty communications - solutions for very low or zero bandwidth areas
20/80 Capitalism
Use of International Criminal Court for reparations for economic damage caused by colonially-installed
irresponsible 3rd world regimes and dictatorships
Use of DVD Players as HTML viewers for educational, vocational and leisure applications in 3rd world and developed countries
Multi-purpose rental workshop space for 3rd world development projects
Cash Top-up charity Payments
Free Global Online Web Database for Companies, Products and Services
Free Global Online Web Database for NGO's
Online and CD-based Medical Expert System for 3rd World
Online Web Database system to enable immediate operational feedback to ISP (internet service provider) from its clients
MTN RwandaCell scandal - refuses to deliver incoming international SMS to its customers unless sms originates from a MTN Rwandacell Business Partner and generates immediate revenue
SMS/Text - email for the people
CD with educational material for education in 3rd world - school, University-level, MBA,
and vocational education
These ideas added 2000/07
Virtual Phone Numbers for mobile phones
Virtual Bank Account Numbers for Inpayments and outpayments
Small International payments through Credit Card and ATM / Cash Machine
Rail Buggies
Free Advertising Newspapers
Free Advertising Television
Free Technical Instruction Video Tapes
Video Parlours
Communication ATM's (automatic teller machines)
Speed Limits - Vehicle Timing Systems
Tracking Government Excesses and Dictatorship
Monitoring Prison Conditions
Clockwork Radios
Obsolete Computers for 3rd world schools
PostCode System for 3rd world
In some developed countries, sophisticated postcode systems have been developed.
Probably the UK one is one of the best, since it identifies a house or appartment to
within say 4 buildings and 15 metres...
Many towns and cities in the 3rd world do not have street names never mind postcodes,
so the creation of a postcode system would be a difficult undertaking.
Use advanced technology to solve that problem - simply use the GPS position as the postcode.
Then courier and postal companies can deliver letters and/or parcels with no serious problems.
This of course would be a global system, and might for example even displace the existing USA and German systems,
among others...
See also zero-cost GPS below...
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Wind-powered ploughing/cultivation for the 3rd world
The strenuous, physically-demanding, and energy-intensive cultivation operation
(apart from availability of land) can be one of the bottlenecks to increasing
agricultural production, especially where no mechanical, tractor, or animal power is available
and human power must be relied on...
Work has been done in the 1970's on the 'Snail' concept of using a animal-drawn-type plough
with a winch and motor to do cultivation (Professor Peter Crossley, Cranfield University, UK).
Depending on windspeed strength and seasonal distribution in relation to the ploughing time-window,
there may be countries where wind-powered ploughing is economically and technically feasible.
A suitable rig would involve a 6 metre 3 inch water pipe as shaft, mounted vertically
on a tapered roller bearing, direct coupled to a winch drum made of 6 inch water pipe which is
mounted close to ground level below the shaft. The Savonius Rotor principle is used, with
4 buckets offset mounted as 2+2, each 3 metres high and 6 metres diameter. The top of the shaft
is held by a tapered roller bearing assembly which is guy-wired to pegs driven into the earth.
The polypropylene rope from the winch pulls a conventional steel ox-plough which costs about
US$ 75. The Savonius rotor would replace an ox of value and/or cost about US$ 200-00, therefore
it should also probably be in that cost range (?). The Savonius could also of course be coupled to
many other devices outside cultivation season, e.g. grain mills, threshers, generators, water pumps etc..
The ploughing would occur 24x7 and/or when windspeeds permit, using a rota of human operators; but unlike
using humans or oxen there would be no necessity to use the plough only 8-12 hours per day. The device would be carried,
dragged or wheeled
to the middle of the field or plot to be ploughed; the radius ploughed would depend on the rope length, rope diameter,
and the length of the winch drum...
I have personally around 1978 designed and built a number of horizontal and vertical wind energy converters,
including savonius rotors (in Tanzania at Morogoro University), so the practicalities of
design and construction are well within my capabilities...
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*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
SCA - Sms classified advertising for the 3rd world and developed countries
Internet classified adverts are a well established facet of life in developed countries,
but this has not taken off in the 3rd world because of low PC population (typically
much less than 1% pc's-per-population).
At the same time, mobile phone population is relatively high (4-8% in low-income 3rd world
and maybe 50%+ in middle-income 3rd world); and phone shops and fixed and mobile phone
telecenters and kiosks are everywhere...
And in the 3rd world, there is relatively a lot of informal sector employment, which could
benefit from better low-cost advertising and trading information than exists at present.
Typically a daily newspaper with adverts costs US$ 0.25, and the minimum cost of placing an advert is typically
US$ 3.00. Moreover there is a time lag of 1-3 days before an advert appears.
By comparison, an sms costs typically US$ 0.02 - 0.04.
An sms-based e-trading system would be extremely simple to implement, and
could operate as follows:
Sellers compose an sms and send to the e-trading service center number; typical messages would
read
Sell color TV 21 inch 2003 US$ 90 ono, tel 023 123 456
Sell Bee removal (non-chemical) sam 023 987 654
Sell Welding exhausts etc Greencroft shops Dennis
Sell Knitting to order sam 011 234 567
Sell Radio, TV, hifi's repaired tel 091 567 234
Sell Tree surgeon, insured, near Borrowdale garage Brian
Sell Barber - Hatfield shops Crispin
Sell Tyre puncture repair - Queensdale shops Quentin
Sell seafood restaurant MBK area bangkok tel 012 667 564 Poseidon Restaurant
Sell Hotel Gare du Nord Paris 39 rue St Quentin Hotel du Milan tel 014 222 333 Single 35 Euro
Buyers compose an sms and send also to the same e-trading service center number; typical message would
read
buy color tv 21 inch or greater tel 011 234 567
Buy bee removal tel 011 234 567
Buy exhaust welding tel 011 234 567
Buy home knitting tel 011 234 567
Buy radio repair tel 011 234 567
Buy tree surgeon tel 011 234 567
Buy barber tel 011 234 567
Buy puncture repair tel 011 234 567
Buy seafood restaurant bangkok sms +44 7950 511 606
Buy hotel gare du nord paris
When the buyer sends his or her sms then the compute selects all seller's adverts which seem to match
the requirement and sends either the complete text of all relevant text messages, or sends only the list of
telephone or SAM numbers. There could be an option even to send only
a list of physical addresses (if and when supplied). Normally the number of messages selected by the system would
be limited to the first 10 or 20 (a similar concept and system to many internet searches...).
An alternative to that scenario is that all buyers requests are sent to the seller when the seller submits his or her advert.
the service center sms number would be regional - e.g. one may be Lusaka, another Ndola, one Dar es Salaam, another
Arusha/Moshi etc..
How to fund the service? The service operator takes a cut from the MPPs' profits on the sms messages;
maybe even the MPP's themselves operate the service...
Maybe a premium sms number is used (which costs the sender more than a normal sms).
Maybe the operations are funded by
government or national or international NGO's who wish to promote business. Anyway the cost of running the service
is minimal.. and the benefits are appreciable.
Practicalities:
The adverts are also reproduced on a simple web system
The web system contents can be downloaded also as an HTM or PDF file, which can be printed on A4 paper and sold for profit
or at cost as an advertising
newspaper... The SCA organisers can give anyone and everyone the rights to do this.... so printing can even be
by low-cost risograph, gestetner or roneo duplicator, or by photocopy machine...
When the project is started up, existing adverts can be data input from conventional newspapers' advertising sections,
so as to have some sellers information when the first buyers sms's arrive.....
Most adverts have a default duration of say 3 days, and can be cancelled by the originator, using an advert ID and an
advert PIN, both of which are issued in the automatic reply. This default duration can be changed, e.g. many seller adverts
will be long-term and they dont want the effort and cost of continuously renewing...
As originator of this concept, I hereby declare that I require a royalty levy of US$ 0.0001 per sms made by buyer or seller to
any and all SCA systems globally.
*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
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*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
Self-drive-remote-return wi-fi electric urban taxis as liquid fuel savers
It is well accepted that we have entered an era of increasingly expensive and scarce
liquid fuels for transportation and other uses.
Electric cars are a good potential solution, but buying these things will be the preserve
of the rich - the average person cannot afford to own a conventional petrol or diesel vehicle
plus an electric car also.
Therefore we should consider electric cars for car rental and/or as taxis. But as we know,
with relatively high labour costs, any car owner will hardly ever use a taxi. Anyway, much of
the labour cost of a taxi driver is effectively his or her down-time (waiting for business).
As technology advances, it should be possible to have vehicles driven by a computer.
But of course there are technical and safety issues with that, and until that scenario is feasible, then
there is another cost-reducing alternative:
Make the electric taxis self-drive for the outward trip, and using on-board cameras and wi-fi
internet, have the taxi driven to the next fare (or back to base) by a HQ-located driver
who operates the electric taxi remotely. Remote mode is of course
also used to deliver the taxi at the start of the trip....
This way, a team of 20 HQ-located drivers could
operate probably 60 or more electric taxis, with consequent labour saving.
The HQ-located drivers would probably be driving almost full-time for their 8-hour shift, but of course
electronically switching from vehicle to vehicle...
When in remote mode, these
taxis could have an orange flashing roof light to alert people (especially pedestrians) that the
vehicle is being remotely controlled. There would also be a governed maximum speed when in remote control mode;
this would probably be lower than the governed maximum speed when in self-drive mode.
The self-drive taxi can be ordered by mobile phone or internet, and is paid for by any suitable and
available e-payment system. There should be some on-board alcohol/drug/sobriety check before the
taxi can be driven.
Depending on regulation (and the taxi-operating
company's insurance)
, the passenger(s) could request (and pay for) a remote-driven trip if tired, inebriated etc.. Their assent
could be internet video-recorded before start of trip...
The taxi's should be designed so that 2 can be hitched together if several passengers and/or luggage are
being transported, and driven by one self-driver. The same could be done for the remote return trip....
Onboard SatNav (Satellite Navigation) would of course ensure that self-drive is totally feasible even in the most
complex environments (e.g. London UK).
*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
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*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
zero-cost GPS by Mobile Phone
Many third world towns, cities, and especially
shanty-towns
have no proper physical addressing system, some have no street names. Therefore
finding a location and getting directions can be difficult or impossible.
If the location you are trying to get to has a co-ordinate or GPS (Global Positioning System) position, and you have a hand or car-mounted
GPS, then OK, but these things still cost US$ 200+ and are a temptation for thieves; also how often are they
really required?
A mobile phone can be located to within 10 metres of even less by the MPP (mobile phone provider). Therefore MPP's should
offer a (chargeable) service whereby any user can send an sms to a special service center number and receive within seconds or minutes an automatically-generated sms with the GPS position of the phone. Enterprising shop-owners and business-
owners will even
display the GPS position of their establishment on the outside of their building or kiosk, as well as on their
website and headed notepaper...
If you are using this technique to get to a location, then you send one or several of these gps-sms's en route
and use also a simple and inexpensive compass to guide you in. Street corners, shops, pavements
or concrete street covers can even have an indication of North, South, East and West to assist...
*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
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*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
Arabic script phonetic representation of Western Languages - ASPR
For westerners who can speak several languages, the challenge of learning to read in a language such as
Arabic or Chinese can be daunting - i.e. a quantum leap beyond a German learning English or vice versa....
Similarly, many Arabs surely find reading and/or writing in western script a difficult and/or relatively
slow process.....
But Arabic script at least is in some ways very similar to Western - there is an alphabet of 26-30
characters which are phonetically similar to Western Script, and the numbering system is under the hood
identical (western numbers came from Arabic, as everyone knows).
Therefore to popularise the english language among arabs, why not popularise the use on webpages, other computer documents, and maybe even in print of using Arabic script to represent phonetically English text; it should be possible to
agree a standard for this, and the software to do the conversion would be a trivial matter to write; moreover, since no
actual translation takes place, there should be zero possibility of misunderstandings. Thereby Arabs who
can understand some spoken English will also be able to read english, but without having to master Western script...
Similarly, there should be also a demand (which however may be smaller) for the representation of Arabic webpages and documents in western script, using also the same phonetic principles.
Of course those on both sides of the fence who wish to maintain ignorance and hostility among their peoples
will resist such popularisation moves.
*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***
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Web Database/SMS/Text system for reporting faults and problems to government and local government
A global system for the above; which also issues reference numbers and has progress tracking/progress AND
MIS (management information system). Free to governments globally; could be funded by World Bank
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Aldi/ LIDL type of low-price supermarkets for 3rd world
Many supermarkets throughout 3rd world overcharge consumers; and the 'low-cost' street vendor
also overcharge atrociously; therefore 3rd world needs supermarkets in the Aldi/Lidl model -
stock few lines (10-200) vs. maybe 1000 in a normal supermarket. Charge very low prices and very low
margins. No fancy POS point of sale computerised systems. Full of people all day.
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Fixed Line SMS phone service for 3rd world
This is already done in Germany. I dont know much about the technology, but may be possible
with computerised /digital exchanges and the special handsets without any further
changes (maybe only some software upgrade for the digital exchanges). Would bring down cost
of communication and enable more messaging for same infrastructure.
But mobile phone profit-making culture creates disincentive for low-cost high-value services like this...
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Web Database System as basis for paper-based free advertising newspapers
Free advertising newspapers are potentially useful for promotion of SME's in 3rd world.
The data inputting is a major cost. So set up global internet-based free web database site(s)
which allow anyone and everyone to enter free adverts; also any and every (usually geographically-
based) free advertising newspaper organisers can indicate on the website that they come to it
for some or all of their material....; and put a facility so that anyone and everyone can bulk
download the free adverts for a specific geographical location. Of course the free adverts will
usually (but not always) have a time-expiry date field, so that out-of-date adverts no longer appear
and are not bulk-downloaded. The bulk download format will be something that
DTP packages or similar text-processing packages can work with (maybe some flavor of XML or
maybe QUARK Express or similar...). Thus adverts can be seen on the website itself but also
on the paper-based free advertising newspapers....
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Freight-sharing and car-sharing web database systems for 3rd world
That is pretty self-explanatory... - sharing freight and car trips not only saves money, it
saves fuel, forex and the environment....
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Crime self-reporting web database systems
Throughout the 3rd world, the police are usually even more incompetent than they are in developed countries.
A non-police-based open-to-the-public crime self-reporting web database system would enable the
public to work out where, what and when crimes were taking place; security companies could also
learn something useful. Consultants could advise the police on how to do their job...
The reporting would normally be direct by web browser, and if people didnt want to
specify the exact address they could give a street number range, i.e. instead of saying
1415 Sunset Boulevard they could specify between 1399 and 1423 Sunset Boulevard. The system could also
allow the anonymous or named posting of messages and comments.... This kind of system could allow
the analysis and counting of many unreported petty crimes which are never detected or solved....; it would
be relevant to developed countries as well as developing countries...
Such systems can save police time, money and effort...
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Serial Number self-reporting web database system for stolen goods
That is pretty self-explanatory... - this could cover cars, vehicles, VCR's, DVD players, TV's etc etc
and if effective one could make it a requirement that any individual or business buying second hand
goods would have to check there first before purchasing; otherwise committing a criminal offence...
Such systems can be global, regional or national; regional or global of course is best.... An email
address or international sms/text number can be given as contact info if the goods are located....
Such systems can save police time, money and effort...
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Using digital satellite radio (Worldspace) for global message receiving.
Messages would be sent by normal email or by webpage; messages limited to a maximum size of say
184 bytes or characters (same as a text/sms message) or maybe as large as 1000 bytes per message.
Person who wished to receive messages would have to register at some time with the service's website,
which would allocate an Account Number and also a PIN number. On the Worldspace radio being used
to receive messages, each registered user would enter their Account Number, which would be stored in
the radio's memory. Each message would be transmitted probably 2-3 times over a 2 day period.
The display would indicate if/when a message for one or more of the stored account numbers had been received
(all other non-stored account messages would never be stored); to access/read the message would require input
of the correct PIN number.
Advantages: almost global reach. Low or zero cost. Available in totally remote locations far from GSM, SMS, text and
other mobile and fixed-line related messaging.
Disadvantages: some time-lag in receiving messages due to large number of users and relatively low bandwidth - could
be 24 hours before message received; passive service - impossible to reply through worldspace directly.
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Using digital satellite radio (Worldspace) for indigenous language news broadcast.
Broadcast can use digital tagged phonetic language transmission which is routed through text-to-speech
software in the radio to produce a phonetic audio output. Bandwidth for each 'channel' would be extremely
low, enabling the transmission of many (maybe 100?) 'channels' in each of the 40 x 128k baud channels
available through Worldspace. Indigenous language translation could be done by PC (machine) translation
techniques and programs. This would be suitable for news and technical material, although obviously not for
plays and fiction readings... The major missing component at the moment would be the tagged phonetic
language pronunciation standard, which would however be relatively simple to produce given resources at
any half-reasonable university phonetics department. One could also run normal computer text file(s) in the
indigenous language through a language-to-phonetics translator to produce the tagged phonetic output files.
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Using digital satellite radio (Worldspace) for radio teletext service This concept is self-explanatory to anyone who knows of teletext services - the usually small display is of course a negative, but that could be corrected on
future radio models if/when the radio teletext concept takes off. Excellent also of course for non-mainstream language
output with bandwidth advantages as per the text-to-speech concept as outlined above.....
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Democracy Promotion - All National Elections to be RUN with no involvement of National personnel
It is well known that many if not most 3rd world elections are rigged at and/or before the time of vote counting.
This more than most other factors is responsible for the lack of Economic and Social Development and Improvement in
the Quality of Life in the 3rd world. If the UN could do nothing else, why dont they organise an International
Global Electoral Commission (IGEC) which RUNS ALL 3rd world elections; do not confuse that with the present ineffective
system of election observors. Running all aspects of the election is totally different and would result in the
very rapid departure of most if not all 3rd world leaders, dictators, exploiters and corrupt persons.
Of course very often the International Community is very afraid of democracy and how it might impact
negatively their economic and resource interests...
This concept would require a massive circus of trucks, mobile voting booths, computers, planes and containers.
The money would be well spent........
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Democracy Promotion - Hit-man funds for elimination of internationally-designated dictators
As an extension of the IGEC concept, to cover countries which refuse to hold any elections at all and/or
refuse to hold elections under the IGEC; countries are designated every 6 months or so to be:
- a democracy
- a dictatorship
- somewhere in between
For example a country which held an IGEC-run election may have slipped into dictatorship within 2-3 years
after that election.
Any country which is designated a dictatorship will also have the dictator or dictators named on a list.
And it will NOT be an offence under International Law for any individuals or organisations to collect funds
for the physical elimination of the dictator(s). Similarly not illegal for a hit-man to perform the contract if and
when issued. The mere existence of such a fund, whether complete or partial, should be enough to persuade the
dictator in question to follow his or her money to its (usually Western) location and to leave his or her
disgruntled subjects alone....
You can call this kind of solution a Privatisation of the work normally carried out by
incompetent Western politicians, civil servants and intelligence services......
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Democracy Promotion - Maximum Presidential Time Limit 2 Terms/ 10 years throughout 3rd world
This is self-explanatory and ties in with the other categories of Democracy Promotion as above... Any
President who breaks this rule becomes a de-facto dictator and a hit-man target....
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Fairtrade is a Sham. Typically, a 250 gram bag of non-fair-trade coffee in the UK sells for
GBP 2.49; and a 250 gram bag of fair-trade coffee also sells for GBP 2.49; but in both cases the Producer
gets less than 10 pence ( less than 4% of that retail price). So so-called fair-trade is very fair for the
parasitical organisations involved, but it is only incrementally more fair for the producers. One way
to combat this disgusting exploitation through the marketplace is to request or to enforce 'fairtrade'
produce to exhibit on the outside of the packet a 'sticker' which indicates the actual auditable amount
which the producer is paid (e.g. 10p, 15p, 20p etc..); this would surely have impact with the consumer
who would choose the 35p sticker packet and would still lobby to change this ridiculous and exploitative practice.
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Monitoring Inflation through online web database.
Rapid inflation in 3rd world countries has very serious negative impact on the shopping basket of
all classes, especially the poor and the very poor. There are several dimensions to this:
- traders and supermarkets often unscrupulously take advantage of people's inability to effectively track
prices when they are moving so fast - they deliberately overprice since people have trouble to identify
a price as excessive
- traders and supermarkets also have a legitimate reason for overpricing since they have to consider
replacement cost of their sales (not the actual or current cost) in the few weeks which may elapse during the
procurement-sales-replacement cycle...
- people do not have the money or time to shop around;
- hyperinflation is often accompanied by shortages - therefore people simply have to pay the asking price
without the business of shopping around and price comparison....
- government is usually technically incapable of monitoring prices
- government is usually deeply embarassed by hyperinflation, and wishes to downplay or underplay the
extent of the problem
Thus hyperinflation often results literally in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
Monitoring consists of 2 components: getting data and producing reports. Getting data can be done from 2 sources:
the supermarkets themselves supplying data to a system by XML format text files emailed to some adminstrator or
loaded by XML file to a web page using a username and password which had been issued by an administrator. The second source is data from individuals filled out on a web page or sent by email or by mobile phone text/sms.
Since supermarkets have a vested interest in overcharging and/or minimising competition, it may take government
regulation or consumer pressure to enforce conformation. And some supermarkets will cheat to flatter their
prices between actual and stated....
Reports can be 'shopping basket' type which tries to identify the good and the bad supermarkets this week;
and/or they can identify bargains by suburb or city.
Prices can concentrate on brands and/or can also give some emphasis to generic no-name non-branded items.
A good system would operate globally or at least over several countries, thereby maximising the benefit for the
effort put in. To maximise information exposure, newspapers could be encouraged to print reports or report summaries.
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Regional and Global Price Comparison through online web database.
This is an extension of the above project, and can be of particular use where the importation, wholesale
and retail processes are inefficient and/or exploitative, thereby causing artificially high prices for certain
products; cross-country comparisons can highlight such discrepancies and create a more perfect marketplace...
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Protein Value Tables and Charts through online web database
It is pretty difficult for any shopper to mentally know and calculate what kind of value he or she
is getting from various foodstuffs. This is worsened with inflation but even with zero inflation is
very difficult to do. By using retaively easily-available charts which list calories and protein content
per kilogram of various foods, and by combining that info with current prices in local currency and/or
a benchmark such as US$, then it is possible to calculate at any time:
- which protein-rich foods (meats, dairy products, eggs, legumes, beans, spinache, cabbage) are currently good value
- which basic foods (cereals, root crops) are currently good value
- how these prices compare with prices in other countries with similar conditions, incomes and cost structures.
Such online web systems can be database-driven, or can be in the form of a printable chart on which
current prices can be circled, giving easy visual access to 'best-buys' and to 'bad-buys' ....
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Low bandwidth web-based email system.
Yahoo, hotmail and now Google web-based emails are invaluable to the cyber-cafe user and the
international traveller. They are particularly essential to the 3rd world; but sometimes bandwidth is
simply so bad that web-based email takes too long and costs too much to to some simple letter sending and receiving.
Part of the problem is that these services typically are 10% efficient - they need to load and send 50k to send a 5k
(1000 word) message. The rest is nice graphics and advertisements (which of course in theory and maybe in practice pay for the 'free' service).
There may be a market for a web-database-based service which enables you to compose several messages offline
and then to go online and in one command send all the messages and also receive all your incoming messages at the same time.
This could be done very simply by having a static htm page with several AREA text input boxes and a submit button;
when the page returns it also brings back all the incoming email text.
An ASP, PHP or similar web database system could handle all that, along with groups and even with the facility to
junk all incoming 'email' which does not originate from a user-designated email partner. This service could run as
a system with a gateway to 'proper' email or it could run as a closed system (which could however encompass
1,000, 10,000 or 100,000 or more users). It could even indicate when and if your email was downloaded by the
recipient.
A variation could store all incoming and outgoing in a database and could perform the downloading and uploading
automatically and/or manually...
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LAN-based intra-company email systems using one email account for outside communication.
This could be an interesting product using for example a single PC with dialup access and normal email account
to handle emails for a number of people on the network. The application could be VB6 and access or sql server database,
working with outlook client on the dialup PC (or it could use 3rd party POP3 DLL's to obviate the need for
using Outlook). Such a system would probably be only of interest to 3rd world users. The system would decide
to whom to route incoming emails by certain key text in subject line or in message body. If there is a market for such a system, it would be quite easy to develop...
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Remote database systems in low bandwidth and intermittent-connection areas of 3rd world.
Sometimes it would be nice to have an online system, but it is not possible all the time. e.g.
a company with several branches around a country and shared stock; or even a single location company
which wanted to have an online database of stock and prices for general view to encourage sales
and minimise phone queries and staff requirement... In that case it could be nice to decide which
database is the master (usually the single company offline/local database or the multi-company
Headquarters database, but maybe sometimes the online database would be the master). Then there is the
question of synchronising the online database with the offline database(s). That can be done
automatically by an application when connectivity is available. Since dialup would normally be the
internet access mode, then conventional replication technology would not be applicable (I think) and
a database-specific application would have to be written in each case. With some luck, the necessary application-
specific code could be minimised and some application-general code used mostly. This need is rarely or never
necessary in developed economies.... But could be very useful in 3rd world....
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Dirty communications - solutions for very low or zero bandwidth areas
.
This kind of technology is a possible solution for very very bad phone lines. It can operate typically
without TCP/IP and with direct computer-to-computer modem links. It is possible to send a stream of
'break' commands at modulated intervals and to decompose the message at the other end.... This technique
can be slow but effective, and can use even old primitive equipment like 300 baud or 1200 baud
modems, although there may be advantages in using higher-speed. I personally did some experiments using
386 computers back around 1993 with Clipper 87 software.... I guess nowadays maybe cellular networks
render this kind of technology non-essential, but maybe not.. An extension of this is an even more serious
or 'scottish' technology where you dial from one computer to another with a modem set to non-answer; and you
count the number of incoming rings before hangup to modulate the message.... Some international phone systems charge the
user even for non-answered calls, but in some cases you would save money (but it would take a long time to send
even a short message).
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Capitalism 20/80
It took me 30 years living on and off in the 3rd world to spot what is going on. The World Bank is busy explaining to everyone that capitalism will save the 3rd world, but without explaining that the Capitalism in the 3rd world is not the same Capitalism which is bringing prosperity to the developed World. In the West, the value-added in the production of goods or services is divided approximately 80% to the workers and 20% to the owners; in the 3rd world, the proportions are reversed - the value-added in the production of goods or services is divided 20% to the workers and 80% to the owners. In fact sometimes it is 97% to the owners, but the principle is there…
We all know that increasing the income of a poor man by 10% means that the increase gets spent and goes round and round in the economy (a multiplier effect); whereas increasing the income of a rich man by 10% means that he hordes it in a bank or in a hole in the ground, and the spin-off is zero or extremely limited.
Add to this the fact that the elites (of all colours) in much of the 3rd world do not plough their money (fairly or unfairly earned) back into their own economies – they externalize it to Switzerland or some other secretive tax-haven.
And then the World Bank tells the 3rd world that they must attract foreign investment – when that same World Bank knows full well what these 3rd world elites are doing. That foreign investment which the country is trying (and probably failing) to attract is the same money which has been externalized unofficially (it sounds better than illegally) by their own elites.
Thus we have a deception on a grand scale, where the losers are the 3rd world workers who have to get by on the 20% of the value which they add, and the average citizen in the West, who has to subscribe financially and politically to the nonsense which the World Bank (and even international NGO’s and charities) peddles.
The 20/80 thing is real – I have seen it affect directly (and I have calculated the numbers for ) at least 2 members of my wife’s family here in Zimbabwe Africa.
This also explains some of the scandal to do with people like Nike in the 3rd world – foreign companies are in the 3rd world because of the enormous profits to be made under the 20/80 system. They behave no worse than local companies (and often much better).
And if you really think about it also, capitalism in the West used to be of the 20/80 variety.
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Use of International Criminal Court for reparations for economic damage caused by colonially-installed
irresponsible 3rd world regimes and dictatorships.
The West often illegally installs completely unsuitable dictators in 3rd world countries either by coup d'etat or by
frauded election. Then either immediately or after some short or even long time, things go wrong, and the
population suffers physically and/or economically because of the unsuitability of the dictator who cannot
be removed, and who is still big buddies with his installers, or who may even have already fallen out with them. Idi Amin is just one such (extreme) example - he was incidentally installed secretly by the British Government.
The problem is a dual one - first of all the Western Civil Servants, Intelligence operatives, and Politicians
involved have no sense of honour, guilt or responsibility to the 3rd world nation concerned; and secondly their
voters do not give a damn, and do not regard themselves as responsible for the actions and inactions outside
their own country of their elected representatives (unless they or their family or possibly fellow countrymen
have to go to war). This is partly racism and partly ignorance, and is certainly fostered by the politicians
themselves.
There are a few ways to counter this problem. One is terrorism by the affected population against the
Western Government and their population and voters; the other is to institute legal action through the
Intenational Criminal Court (ICC) and similar bodies. This second option is much preferable since it is legal
and since it hurts the voters in their pocket, something which even the most Xenophobic, ostrich-like
and apolitical understand...
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Use of DVD Players as HTML viewers for educational, vocational and leisure applications in 3rd world and developed countries.
The coming of recent technologies such as CD and DVD means that it is now possible to collect and
disseminate/ distribute an immense amount of useful knowledge to urban and rural 3rd world
for very low cost; but there remains the problem of low cost reading or viewing - computers are still
relatively expensive. Recently I considered using or adapting games consoles for use with televisions,
but now since DVD players are so inexpensive (US$ 50-00 each) it makes a lot of sense to adapt those
for the viewing of text and .jpg and .gif graphics using the HTML format. There were some experiments in
recent years e.g. the CDi initiative by Philips (which seems now dead or nearly dead); so there
is need for some new project to create the necessary software...
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Multi-purpose rental workshop space for 3rd world development projects.
Around 1994 in Bulawayo Zimbabwe I got briefly involved in a church project to set up a workshop for
small industries. The building they created seemed expensive and badly designed; and in fact the best
projects were taking place outside the building in the dirt. It seems to me that what is required is the
following:
- concrete floor space to work on
- a roof against sun and rain
- electricity plug points
- power equipment to rent during the day (or night if on 24-hour operation), e.g. welders, drills, angle grinders etc..
- tools to rent during the day
- a secure place to store people's own tools
- a secure place to store work-in-progress
- materials for purchase in small and/or large quantities
- telecommunications for incoming and outgoing calls
- a marketing organisation which can buy product which is of sufficient quality
at some kind of support price; whether they merely stock or whether they sell to
traders or even sell back to the producer when he or she has money
- an associated free advertising newspaper in the local, regional or national area which
can give free advertising to the producers
The space can be free at first, then once demand has increased it can be charged for by the day or
even by the hour
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Cash Top-up charity Payments.
In the UK it is very common for users of prepaid mobile phones to go into a newspaper shop
and pay cash over the counter which is then credited against their account using a swipe
card (like a credit, debit or store card with a magnetic stripe). The till machine
communicates over the internet to credit the users phone.
Of course charities like to commit people to pay monthly by direct debit from their bank account,
and they put a lot of resources into marketing that technique, and they have significant success;
but there are people who are unable or unwilling to commit themselves in that way. Therefore
for charities and NGO's to extend payment techniques to a till-swipe in people's local shops
could be very effective. Even better if they combine it with an SMS/text message to their
mobile phone to acknowledge that the payment was received corectly. And further better if
it is possible to view all ones contributions to various charities on one webpage. And further again
better if those contributions were tax-deductable at source by the Inland Revenue without any special action
by the contributor.
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Free Global Online Web Database for Companies, Products and Services.
There are a myriad of nationally-run government and private Companies, Products and Services
online web databases in the world. But who is going to take the time to search through all of
those when seriously trying to source goods or services?...Better to stick to one service like
for example www.kompass.com. But what about the many small, medium and large companies
and producers throughout the 3rd world, who cannot or will not for financial reasons or
even structural impediments get their entry on such well-known and popular systems?
And the World Bank and IMF talk about export-led growth when the playing field is uneven?....
What is required is a service which sucks off all the existing entries in Kompass and similar well-known
predominantly Western company databases and allows the self-addition of industries and producers and traders
from the 3rd world. This could be a single unitary database system, or it could even be simply a search machine
which pulls data from maybe as many as 30 existing databases plus also its own database content.
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Free Global Online Web Database for NGO's.
OK - a lot of NGO's are inefficient and many are even corrupt. But it would still make sense to
encourage them to register themselves on one single global database detailing contact info, bank details for
inpayments/ contributions, geographical operation, sectors of operation, manpower employed, budgets,
overheads and salaries paid etc etc.. Then those who are dodgy can be avoided and those who are
efficient and effective can be encouraged
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Online and CD-based Medical Expert System for 3rd World.
In 2002, the great book "where there is no doctor" became available in a electrionic form. Although
not yet widely distributed, that was and is a great step forward for humanity. Now it would be nice to
build on that success by creating a Medical Expert System for the 3rd World. This could be a
simple static HTML series of web pages with menus and links - it doesnt even need to be anything fancy.
But there is a great lack of interest in any such project. Why???
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Online Web Database system to enable immediate operational feedback to ISP (internet service provider) from its clients. Many ISPs provide a bad service, and then there is also a very labour intensive, time-consuming and blood-pressure raising process to report any fault. Better to have an online system where anyone globally can report
a variety of conditions online, merely by clicking a link; and there is a control panel screen which anyone can access
(including and especially the ISP staff) to indicate the state of the service according to feedback. Of course sometimes
one simply cannot get online to report a problem - in that case also have an integrated SMS/text feedback feature which feeds into the web database, and/or encourage customers to sms/text their friends outside the country or with another ISP
to click on the website reporting system for them...
Incidentally, ISP's could easily use a transmit-only answering machine or answering service to tell users
the current condition of services, e.g. with a 30-second maximum message time and automatic hangup at end of
message broadcast. That way, when there are problems, the engineers/managers/support personnel can
put an informative message on the answering machine/system and just let the machine tell customers the bad news -
much more efficient and a lot cheaper and less frustrating...
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MTN RwandaCell scandal - refuses to deliver incoming international SMS to its customers unless sms originates from a MTN Rwandacell Business Partner and generates immediate revenue. The famous international South African mobile phone provider supports a customer-unfriendly scandal in Rwanda - as per the title above. They say that
there are technical problems, but in fact the whole thing is a management and financial scandal of great proportions.
And they are even very very stupid, because by delivering incoming international sms/text which costs almost nothing they
would be generating a lot of profit from the resulting outgoing sms/texts. Cutting off nose to spite face...
And it looks like the Rwanda government is unaware or unconerned about the problem.
And about 15 March 2004 the webpage http://www.mtnrwandacell.co.rw/sendsms_01.htm shut down - previously that had been a way to deliver sms/texts from outside Rwanda to Rwanda cellphone users - now no more....
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SMS/Text - email for the people. About time that 3rd world governments forced mobile phone companies
to give sms/text a bit better service and to lower the ridiculous prices. It is well known that delivering and sending
SMS/text costs a small fraction of what is normally charged for the service. Time for Ministers to get out of the
pockets of international and national mobile phone companies
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CD with educational material for education in 3rd world - school, University-level, MBA,
and vocational education. Since the majority of international aid and development programs, projects and
organisations are hopelessly useless and have no intention of assisting meaningfully in development, let these
organisations at least collect a body of useful public domain and freeware knowledge and disseminate it - then
let the 3rd world help themselves.
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VIRTUAL PHONE NUMBERS FOR MOBILE PHONES - (year 2000) - most people welcome the convenience of mobile phones but resent their intrusive character when business people try to phone evenings or weekends. One possible solution is that each mobile phone can be allocated several phone numbers with various priority levels - e.g. a business level can accept calls 0800 through 1700 Monday through Friday, and outside those times callers get a not-obtainable message; a higher level can give access 0700 through 2300 Monday through Friday and 1000 through 2300 weekends; the highest level can be allocated access 24 x 7 x 365. These numbers must of course NOT be sequentially allocated, or persons on low access levels will simply guess and try the higher access levels.
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VIRTUAL BANK ACCOUNT NUMBERS FOR INPAYMENTS AND OUTPAYMENTS - (year 2000) - at present, if one wishes someone to make a bank transfer to one's bank account, then that person must be given the account number, sort code etc etc..; BUT this information is the same information required to make OUTGOING transfers from your bank account. Therefore you are jeopardising the security of your money. A better system is to be allocated TWO bank account nunbers for each bank account - one of these numbers can only be used for INCOMING transfers. Then you can give out that number freely without security risks.
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SMALL INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS THROUGH CREDIT CARD AND ATM BUT WITHOUT MERCHANT ACCOUNT - (year 2000) - the growth or potential growth of E-Commerce can be hastened by several factors: firstly many people (for good reason) do not feel safe typing in credit card number over the internet; secondly it is not the easiest thing in the world to get Merchant acceptance for credit card inpayments; thirdly, people do not always want to give out their account number, even for inpayment. These 3 problems can be solved simultaneously by the following scheme: use the internet to set up an International Payment Reference Number (IPRN) which contains reference to the Credit Card Number to be credited, and also reference to the amount to be paid. This IPRN is input at an ATM Cash Machine or similar outside or inside a bank, where it debits money from your Credit Card or Normal Bank Account and credits it to the Credit Card Account (or even bank account) of the provider of the goods or services. This process also gives the payer a further International Payment Confirmation Reference Number (IPCRN) which the payer then emails or web page enters to inform the supplier that the payment has been made. The IPRN submission process only gives out the IPCRN if the payer has funds and foreign exchange authorisation where required. When the supplier receives the IPCRN he or she can release the goods or services (which may be FTP'd or emailed to the buyer if it is that kind of transaction). Thus the buyer does not know the sellers bank account or credit card info, the seller does not know the buyers bank account or credit card info, and the IPRN is a once-only payment vehicle which protects the buyer against duplicate or follow-on transactions or debits. It is not quite so fast or convenient, and involves a trip to an ATM Cash Machine, but it does involve a much higher level of security than any internet transaction (since ATM's use their own private network, unconnected to the internet). Also it allows small-payment suppliers and/or low-volume suppliers to receive international payments without the complications of setting up merchant accounts - i.e. everyone can become a supplier - thereby giving international transactions the same freedom as local transactions done using cash.
PS - the above is probably now superceded by
http://www.cd3wd.com/SPS/
- sms payment system....
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RAIL BUGGIES - (year 2000) - a recent BBC World Service TV Program showed in the Philippines that services similar to rickshaws operate on rail lines into and out of Manilla -home made contraptions which carry typically 6 passengers and are pushed by one person riding at the back like a sledge. This concept could be tremendously useful in other parts of the 3rd world for commuter passengers, general freight, water, farm produce, vegetables and fruit, wood fuel, charcoal, even cattle (one per rail buggy). They are illegal in the Philippines but are informally tolerated. They could use ball bearings to keep friction low and be made of welded mild steel rectangular section with wooden or plastic seats for passenger use. A design can be made which is even convertible between passenger, freight and cattle. Rail transport is ecologically far superior to road transport. Where freight must be delivered farther than the rail buggy can take it then existing fleets of handcarts can be utilised.
Postscript 2006/08 - BBC World TV ran a similar feature recently on 'Bamboo Railway' in Cambodia - these guys
use buggies with small petrol engines (3-6 hp?) and carry freight and/or passengers. But no technical details
on the program unfortunately...
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FREE ADVERTISING NEWSPAPERS - (year 2000) - papers like Loot (London), Kurz und Fuendig (Munich) should do a lot for small business people (informal sector) in third world cities and towns. But the concept is till now almost non-existent. Probably it needs funding by IDA (international development assistance) projects for the first 3 months to get the concept understood and accepted. Submission could be free by email or self keyboard entry or with nominal charge if on paper.
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FREE ADVERTISING TV - (year 2000) - 3rd world countries could use television time when they are normally broadcasting a test card to carry free adverts again for small business people and informal sector. Submission could be free by email or self keyboard entry or with nominal charge if on paper.
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FREE TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION VIDEO TAPES - (year 2000) - IDA organisations should make high quality technical instruction video tapes for carpentry, sheet metal work, plumbing, welding, horticulture, agriculture etc etc and make them international public domain freeware for anyone and everyone to copy and give away or resell. They can be shot in English and can also have companion audio tapes in various languages such as spanish, french, arabic, portuguese, chinese etc etc.. These free tapes can be used by state and private schools, state and private colleges, direct by individuals, cooperatives and companies, and also through Video Parlours (see below). Of course possibly DVD is nowadays more sensible than VHS.
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VIDEO PARLOURS - (year 2000) - this links in with item (4) above - FREE TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION VIDEO TAPES - these subsidised video parlours will operate in city centres and suburbs and possibly even rural centres or villages to show video tapes to persons without TV or Video (much like a mini-cinema). They can show technical tapes daytime and possibly entertainment tapes in the evening. Their showings of technical tapes can be subsidised or totally funded by IDA organisations.
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COMMUNICATION ATM's - (year 2000) (automatic teller machines) or communication centres. Mobile phones are actually providing to some extent great opportunities for some informal sector self-employed producers and traders, but the technology is still out of reach of many who could benefit from it. It is certain that affordable rapid communications can help to lubricate business, trade and income generation. Even a letter from one self-employed business person to another can take typically 3 days to travel, even within the same city or suburb, and in many places Post Office PO Boxes are sealed so that people can not simply insert a slip of paper with a message on it - they must pay the Post Office stamp cost and wait 3 days for the privilege of having it delivered. Thus there is cope for a variety of communication services, from very manual to totally automated. Various options are outlined:
a set of steel letter boxes with padlock hasps and numbers. People will provide their own padlock and other people can freely insert mail or possible even small packages. 24 hour security guards will oversee the installation. There will be lighting and probably temporary parking, and roofing to protect from rain. The service may be free at the start and then chargeable if it reaches takeoff within a reasonable time frame.
a semi-computerised type service which will allocate virtual PO Box numbers (VPON) to people and which will receive faxes, emails and normal post. People can check if any incoming mail exists by viewing one or several scrolling computer screens (behind security glass or shop window) on which will appear their VPON if any incoming mail exists. Mail is collected in paper form from a counter with a queuing system. After some initial free period clients must have a positive cash balance in order to collect messages. The computerised system charges micro amounts for each service. Sending a (handwritten) message to another client at the same service booth may be free. The collection counter will have a numerically sorted message storage system much like library card trays.
a completely computerised system which operates globally, much like cash machines - every subscriber will have an ID and PIN number, and can not only receive messages from anywhere in the world but can also send them. System can be topped up with cash using prepaid cards much like prepaid cellphone services. Scrolling screen VPONs system can also be used to save queuing for empty inbox. Client is charged also per second spent at the messaging machine in order to keep queues low. Machine will deliver printouts or miniprintouts.
The best location for these types of service is at city centre (e.g. right next to central post office, rail station or bus station).
PS - 2006/08 - the above is much superceded by SAM - sms answerback mailboxes -
http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/
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SPEED LIMITS - VEHICLE TIMING SYSTEM - (year 2000) - speeding and the resulting accidents are a major problem in many 3rd world countries. Also those which are not oil producers could save valuable foreign exchange if their vehicles kept to speed limits. As in all countries, drivers generally collude to inform other drivers of the presence of speed trap checks, so those dont work too well. One good solution could be to do what is done in Netherlands - there automatic cameras are mounted on motorway bridges and computers read number plates, calculate average speeds and automatically issue speeding fines. Because of lower labour costs this could be done manually with only a limited computerisation in the 3rd World - have data recording personnel writing down number plate numbers, date and time for all vehicles or maybe only for all buses and commercial vehicles, writing the information into ledgers. These ledgers can be sent to some central location once per month and data input to PC. The system then calculates where average speed exceeds the limits on the routes in question and automatically issues the fines. If the vehicle register is not computerised then the system will print out a list of licence plates to be matched to addresses, and that matching can be done manually and re-entered into the computer so that future speed limit breaking by those vehicles can bypass that manual process. The system will pay for itself and will be a lot cheaper than non-effective speed traps.
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TRACKING GOVERNMENT EXCESSES - (year 2000) - there are several simple statistical indicators which if maintained and published for all the countries in the world would give the global population an idea of which countries are practising democracy and which are only paying lip service. I list some possible indicators below:
Hours per week when Head of State is on National Television. This includes main evening news and TV Specials
Days per Year when Head of State is outside the country
Number of Years existing Head of State has been in power
Number of Years existing Ruling Political Party has been in power
Number of politicians of any party who have died not apparently of old age during the last 10 years. This can include car crashes, food poisoning, mystery illnesses etc..
Number of political prisoners
Number of private newspapers
Number of private Radio Stations which are allowed to produce and transmit local news and current affairs
Number of private TV Stations which are allowed to produce and transmit local news and current affairs
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MONITORING PRISON CONDITIONS - (year 2000) - it is difficult or impossible to effectively monitor that prisoners are being treated reasonably. One only partially effective way is to have each and every prisoner weighed every week and those figures submitted to an internationally recognised body for analysis. Spot checks must also be allowed and authorities which are found to be cheating on those bodyweight figures must be punished effectively. In many prison systems in the world, supplies such as food and soap which are destined for prisoners are in fact diverted to enrich individuals or groups in charge of prisons or even prison services. This bodyweight checking may bring some of this diversion to light
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CLOCKWORK RADIOS - (year 2000) - in the last few years there has been set up a factory to
produce clockwork radios - a tremendous idea which instead of requiring throwaway or even rechargeable batteries gets power from a small clockwork mechanism, generator and voltage regulator. But this apparatus cannot compete in quality terms with offerings from Sony, Panasonic etc etc.. Therefore someone should start to produce not Clockwork Radios themselves but Universal Clockwork Power Supplies for radios, similar to these multi-voltage AC->DC power supplies which one can buy so easily. Then people living in remote areas (or sometimes not so remote areas) without electricity can still listen to music, news and current affairs the whole day on a high quality shortwave radio without incurring an unbearable cost for batteries.
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OBSOLETE COMPUTERS FOR 3RD WORLD SCHOOLS - (year 2000) - there are millions of obsolete computers in the 3rd World itself and in developed countries which are underpowered in terms of today's software. But these can perform well enough with older software, which has very often been given away on Computer Magazine Free CD's. There are also some recently developed web browsers which will not only operate under 640k DOS but which can show graphics, even on monochrome screens; these browser can be used with html local files stored on the PC's hard disc - these are easy to compose, distribute and update. The objective should be 3-fold - to use these computers to assist in general teaching of all subjects, and to use them also to teach computer useage, and also possibly to teach computer programming. Of these 3 aims, the general teaching of all subjects is probably the most important (and the most neglected so far). What is required is a program to create software which is not only used by one school, one rural region, one country or one continent, but which is useable globally, or at least within the 3rd world in a global spread. These softwares and teaching materials will then be made global public domain property, to be copied, duplicated, emailed, ftp'd and distributed without cost and without limits. Once this collection of teaching materials is available then international donors will provide the small amounts necessary to transport and organise obsolete PC's to schools. By the way, conventional wisdom says that anything less than 486 or 386 is unuseable for anything, but I am certain that even 286's are useable given the right software. There are also a worldwide community of CBT specialists, some of whom would create materials on a voluntary basis, given the raw domain input with which to work.
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*** All Rights Reserved - Alex Weir 2006 ***