Administering Computers With Limited or No Internet

Computers remain a valuable tool independent of their use as a portal to the Internet.  But our experiences in São Tomé are demonstrating the challenges of administering computers that have limited or no Internet access (this includes computers on fast last mile connections like ADSL, but with slow Internet to the whole country, as is the case in Sao Tome).

First, Windows is highly susceptible to viruses unless an up-to-date antivirus software is used on the computer.  But we are discovering that even with dialup-speed Internet access, antivirus programs are unable to download the database updates needed to block the newest viruses.  Many of these viruses can spread through USB flash drives, which are prevalent on island.  As a result, even our laptops brought from the United States with the best commercial antivirus software available were becoming unusable because of viruses spread through USB flash drives.  Once infected, removing the viruses required downloads of special software, something difficult given slow Internet to São Tomé as a whole.

Second, while debatably Linux remains safe from viruses, it has become dependent on the Internet for installation.  There was a day when installing programs on Linux was a difficult process requiring specialized knowledge to turn plain text files into executable binary files.  Today, package managers have been critical in streamlining and simplifying installation.  But in researching how to install applications offline, I discovered that interdependencies between programs and the decentralized update process of those programs, necessitates a careful consolidation by the package manager to assure what is being installed integrates properly with what is already installed.  This consolidation depends on access to an Internet-based database and Internet-based installation files.  The recommendation is that installation first occur on an online computer, that the installation files be captured on that computer, and then transferred to offline computers that otherwise have identical software versions.  But what if downloads to the whole nation slow, and the only recourse is to distribute installation disks for single applications?
Access to high speed Internet is no longer just a requirement to access the vast resources of knowledge stored there, but it has also become a cornerstone for simple and effective administration of computers.  But while this may foster inclusion of many more people into a technology-based society, it is also unintentionally excluding others who do not have access to the necessary base network infrastructure needed to properly administer their computers.

Why I am in São Tomé

I have come across two quotes that I believe capture in large extent the great value I find in traveling to a place like São Tomé, a place quite different from my home town in many ways (although the more I am here, the less different it really seems).

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

- Lilla Watson,
Aboriginal elder, educator, and activist

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

- Paul in his letter to the Philippians, first chapter.

In his book “Travel as Political Act”, Rick Steves points out that travel not only can change us in many wonderful and positive ways, but it also can significantly impact our communities as we return home with changed perspectives regarding our own communities.  Unless I challenge myself by going to places that are far outside my daily experience and that put me outside of my comfort zone, my knowledge and depth-of-insight will not grow more and more, and my love will be immature and limited as well.  I go not to serve, but I go because my liberation from my self-centered, self-serving, parochial view of the world is bound up with the liberation of those whom I go to meet and to form partnerships.  And in so doing, I am also able to better serve in my home communities to which I belong.

Laughing Readily

The people I know in Sao Tome:

• laugh readily;
• argue passionately; and
• complain rarely

A people who face chronic un-/under-employment, a lower quality of health care, and the other typical challenges of a developing nation have much to teach us.  Elves says his country is a great country because if someone found themselves stranded here with just $1, they would find that they will be fed, will have a place to stay, and will find friends to laugh with.  I believe it, for the culture here is that everybody is family, everything is shared, everything is appreciated.

We travelled today to a resort island on the equator.  It was a 2 1/2 hour bus ride and another 30 minute boat ride.  With us travelled a Sao Tomean family.  We ended up eating our lunch at the same time.  At the end of their meal, they brought out a birthday cake they had brought with them from Sao Tome so they could celebrate the 50th birthday of one of the women.  She made a point to carry a piece of cake to each of us in the restaurant, as well as to the servers and cooks.  It was such a joy to celebrate her birthday with her.  It is nice to come to Sao Tome and find so many family members!

The small one-room shops

Departing from the place Paul and I sleep, we passed by a small one-room shop, maybe 6′x10′ in size with a counter and a few shelves.  Paul mentioned that a truck comes by every morning to sell them fresh bread that many workers eat for breakfast on the way to work.  These little shops are located up and down many of the side streets of Sao Tome.    There is such a shop across from the house where the core of our group sleep.  The lady who runs the shop is often open early in the morning until late at night.  Sometimes others run the shop, sometimes it is closed during short stretches in the day.  But much of her waking time the person running it is in her shop, serving out small food items, phone cards, and cold beer. People hang out in front of the shop eating snacks and drinking beer from the shop.  But they also play cards, gossip, and just watch people.  We’ve done that ourselves.

Other than the size of the  uilding and the wares being sold there (beer vs. ice cream), I could be describing my favorite East St. Louis hangout, Pirtles Ice Cream.  Or it could be any the mom and pop shops throughout America, where the dedicated owners and employees spend many of their waking hours at their shop, and as a result serving as a gathering place for community to come together.

The World’s View of America

I read an article today entitled “The World Reponds to Obama’s Victory“.  The author, Wes Granberg-Michaelson, travelled to Geneva the afternoon of the elections.  On the plane, the results were announced to rousing cheers.  Upon landing, he was continually congratulated on this victory for America.

I spent the 10 days immediately prior to the election in Italy.  The elections were a hot topic, not only on CNN Europe, but amongst the international community in general.  Attendees at the conference that brought me to Europe were quick to ask for new insights into the campaign.  Store managers, hotel staff, and others on the street were also anxious to talk about these elections.  Parties were planned throughout Europe early into their morning on the 5th to await the results.  Before leaving the conference, one colleague begged me to make sure America made the right choice this time, and he sent a note of congatulations to a group of professionals the day after.  I know of one election party in the Netherlands in which guest speakers were invited and at which they took a straw poll (Obama 93, McCain 11).  The main Dutch national paper opened with five pages on the election following Obama’s victory.

It’s one thing to hear about strained relations between America and the rest of the world.  But to experience it first hand in such a positive outpouring of hope is quite something different.  The election of soon-to-be President Obama is a positive step in the world’s eye.  But fixing the current strained relations cannot rest on his shoulders alone.  We all need to share the burden of moving positively into a global society.

The Gift of Freedom

My friend Brad Watkins turned me on to John Jakes’ The Kent Family Chronicles. Books one and two are an historical fiction of events leading into, and during, the American Revolution. It’s been a great reminder of the sacrifices made by so many during the 1770’s and 80’s to establish our freedoms that we enjoy. Those who served generally made a choice to live in leaky tents with minimal blankets and patched clothing. They would wrap rags around their boots to try to keep their feet a bit warmer. We would have a hard time accepting what they ate as food as opposed to garbage. Payment was questionable, death seemed likely. Moral was low and a fair number just walked out of camp never to return. It was during December of that first year following the publication of the Declaration of Independence that Thomas Paine wrote these words, published under the title The Crisis:

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

The rest of that first of the series, as well as the remainder of the papers, can be found at: http://www.ushistory.org/PAINE/crisis/c-01.htm. It is estimated that only 40-45% of the population in the 13 colonies were patriots, 10-15% loyal to England, and the rest remained neutral (Calhoon, “Loyalism and neutrality” in Greene and Pole, A Companion to the American Revolution (2000) p.235). How hard it must have been to not only face such harsh conditions, but do so while the majority of the population either fained unconcern or expressed outright disrespect for your cause. And to continue on for seven years!

Yet because of those very sacrifices, we enjoy considerable freedoms as individuals and a nation today.  The gift of freedom our ancestors left us is captured in the Bill of Rights.    July 4th is the day set aside to celebrate our independence as a nation.  We should also take time to pause and remember with appreciation those minority who stepped forward and accepted the call to win that freedom for future generations!

One sign of appreciation for a gift is how we use that gift.  If Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or the foot soldier who served under General Washington were to stop by today, would we need to quick run into the house and pull out their gift from the back of a cabinet?  Or would they find us tossing their gift around with abuse and disrespect?  Or would they find us using their gift to fullest advantage.  Cheering in a parade is hollow praise; valuing and wisely using a gift everyday is high praise indeed.

So how are we using the gifts that were so dearly fought for and so graciously given to future generations?  I write this blog entry today without concern for repercussions from a government.  Not so everywhere.  According to a World Information Access Report, 64 bloggers have been arrested internationally since 2003 for their blogging activities.  While that may seem a small number, imagine our concern if we found that 64 newspaper reporters had been arrested in the United States for their reports of political activities in the country.  These citizen journalists were detained because of their activism and their freedom of speech was denied.

While the court system continues to refine our understanding of the separation of church and state, it remains that tomorrow night I will gather at the home of a friend and with my small group from church we will assemble to celebrate the 4th and also express our faith.  Sunday I will go to the church of my choice, not the one determined I should attend by my government.  In a week I will travel with our church’s youth group to spend a week in East St. Louis serving and sharing our faith.  At no time do I need to file a travel itinerary with my government or defend my beliefs.

I went to the Global Rich List website and found I am among the top 0.6% of the world in earnings.  Both my wife and I have jobs that we find meaningful and that have brought us unimagined wealth compared to those around the world.  I have traveled to some of the poorest regions in the United States, and I have looked for ways to help as I can.  But at the end of the trip, I come home to a relatively safe neighborhood and comfortable home.  I have traveled to Africa and befriended those who earn 1% of what I do and are considered lucky in their country.  And I come home.

So I do use daily the freedoms gifted to me, the unalienable rights that include Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.  But to quote the sage Beastie Boys lyrics, am I only using these freedoms to “fight for my right to party”, to serve myself.  Is that what was meant by the unalienable right to pursue Happiness?  If “we find these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”, why does it seem that so many are unequal?  Why is it that while the global economy has grown sevenfold since the 1950’s, the gap between the richest and poorest countries has more than doubled (see http://www.worldwatch.org/node/82)?

In reading the Kent Family Chronicles, I am once again reminded of the great sacrifices made to form this great nation of ours.  Recent series such as the World War II series on PBS remind me of the continuing sacrifices that have been made by young men and women throughout our countries life to keep us free.  If find that this year as the 4th of July approaches, I am inspired that the best way I can say thank you for the gifts that have been given to me through these sacrifices is to realize the fight for freedom and justice were not won once and for all by the soldiers of the past.  And to realize that the future fight is not particularly a military one.  But it is a fight none the less.  Concerns of social justice and economic equality, and the fight against tyranny in all its forms continues.  Will I be a summer soldier described by Paine, or will I make the sacrifices that will wisely invest the gifts given me for future generations?  I find my faith and my conscience leave me no choice.

Discovery!

In 1998 I added a number of hands-on, active learning activities to the course Introduction to Networked Information Systems. This transition opened a number of doors for students to gain a more practical understanding of the components that make up computers and networks, and to discover some of the challenges in working with the technology. While relatively controlled, the unpredictable nature of working with technology assured that every semester brought its share of “learning moments” in which the students and I would have to work together to solve problems. In the Fall of 2000, a service-learning component was also added to the course in which students refurbished donated computers, set them up into small labs, and delivered these labs to community organizations working within economically distressed communities around Illinois, and especially within East St. Louis, Illinois. The nature of the work meant that students would often strike off in unique, unpredicted directions in order to appropriately setup the computer labs for their commuity partners. This further increased the number of learning moments.

During these learning moments, we would occasionally reach a point where I, as the instructor, would perform a sequence of steps that would resolve the problem. Students would ask me how I knew precisely what to do to address that problem. While many times I could describe what I observed and why I chose to take certain steps, there were times when my very unsatisfactory answer was “gut instinct”. Students didn’t like hearing this answer, and I felt uncomfortable giving it, but I also didn’t have a good explanation for how I seemed to be able to do what others couldn’t readily do. I needed to find a better answer.

At the time, I had been reading “The Dragon Riders of Pern”, fiction that included characters filling roles as apprentice, journeyman, and master. I began to reflect on my own childhood working in my family’s sawmill as a youth. I realized that I had served as an apprentice under my dad during those childhood years, eventually working my way up in status and responsibility at the job. An advantage of being an apprentice is that you are assigned rather menial tasks that provide you with a lot of time to observe. You begin to tune into the rhythm and music of the craft. Certain loud clashes went seemingly unnoticed by the others in the facility, while a slight, almost inaudible change in pitch of a constant sound might bring about great scurrying of everyone available. Over time, I found I began to adopt similar responses, and began to understand the unremarkable noises from the signs of significant problems. Indeed, over time I internalized these responses to the point where I couldn’t tell a friend visiting why I responded as I did. I reasoned this might be what is meant by gut instinct.

The question then became, short of an extended apprenticeship, how could such lessons be taught. Over time, I came to realize that a core skill students needed was one they already possessed, that of troubleshooting. Or that of the scientific method. Or that of the inquiry process. Or as one student who had served in the military once remarked, the OODA-loop — the military equivalent. For purposes of my class, I distilled it down to four basic steps:

• Observe — use all your senses to take in as much information as you can;
• Think — consider the various possible causes;
• Plan — consider how you might test each possible cause considered, as well as which tests might be easiest to run or most likely to succeed; and
• Act — perform the selected test, then observe, think, plan, and act.

It seems rather obvious now that gut instinct is really just a very rapid application of the above four steps, combined with an historical perspective that allows a person to rule out many of the possible causes as unlikely and narrow in on the most likely causes. Still, for me this was a discovery that helped transform my teaching in a way that allowed me to empower the students very early on in the semester.

I can say that students don’t always appreciate the empowerment — at times they would be much happier to receive simple cheatsheets that they can carry with them and that would fix the problems. And in truth there is a fine balance between strongly encouraging them to practice the troubleshooting skills vs. pushing them over the edge and into unrecoverable frustration. Identifying when to step in and provide more guidance, vs. when to help them ask salient questions and think through the process is a key part of the art of teaching in my mind. But when practiced well, I find I now am able to help encourage the development of gourmet chefs who can walk into a situation, identify the needs and resources, and combine them to produce a meal worthy of a fine restaurant, as opposed to someone who reads the box every time they make spaghetti.