Good! The discussion has begun. Yes, good points, all.
I’ll focus on news, but others - especially from different areas of the world , know their regional needs better. I do understand that Outernet can be much , MUCH more than a mere news platform. Everything from
home making rocket stoves
and ovens to save fuel and greatly reduce life killing smoke from homes,
water treatment information ,
health information and warnings,
schools and literacy assistance -
it’s all quite possible to get this information into remote areas using ONE or more Outernet stations. If combined with the village radio and lighting projects from Ears to Our World (ETOW link) , the downlinked Outernet information can easily be downloaded and read using low power FM to those who have been given solar/crank radios which ETOW deliver free of charge. In short - the possibilities are tremendous. These two projects (Outernet/ETOW) would be a natural combination.
I focus on news and information because I see the increasing trend to shut down news which governments - including the U.S. government - find displeasing to them personally. This is common across the globe. Most wars are begun using controlled news stories to make some other nation look like a threat - real or imagined. Better and more variety in news, makes people much more difficult to lie to and control in large numbers. (" weapons of mass destruction able to launch in 45 minutes…" was the grand lie of the U.S. led Gulf War II. )
Wolfgang - XKCD is GREAT! The language barrier can perhaps be dealt with but they are a thinking person’s simple comics :-))
k5ted - Language skills for 2/3rds of the Americas would be great. Thank you for offering.
Abihshek - Yes, totally understood about State run media; the VOA is a prime example. Even as a U.S. citizen I see them not as the voice of America, but strictly as a voice of the powers who run Washington D.C. Believe me when I tell you that here in the rural West of this country, people are tired of controlled media drumming the same federal controlled pabulum day after day. Internet has changed much of that, which brings us back to Outernet for the world which has no internet at this time.
I’m a child of the propaganda wars of the Cold War and I lived on both sides of The Wall during that time. One thing I know is that no single source of news is going to be free of agenda; whether national, regional or personal. The cure for that is to listen to the news (with agenda bias) from many places because each news cast and discussion contains items or slants different from the others, making it easier to compare, add together the EXCERPTED items in some but added in others to form a picture of what is really happening. That is what I am suggesting - finding sources to add some semblance of balance of agendas to let the reader decide.
The first phase with DW, VOA &etc. is a fine beginning. Now, to enter phase II of the news portion, by adding a greater variety of at least national views and likely a phase III going further with independent, internet ONLY news sources and analysis and provide the best of this (who decides?) to remove the ‘single source’ advantage from national propaganda agencies.
Examples:
The U.S. gov hates RT and Sputnik News ? GREAT! Let’s source both and let the global reader decide.
Pakistani -v- Indian news ? Great, let’s read both and let the GLOBAL reader decide.
Even to people outside of these -and other- nations, events on the other side of the world can and DO cause local changes - usually for the worst. Best to at least have read the basics of these conflicts and problems.
Sorry for running long, I’ll see what we are ABLE to get permission for in English, Spanish speakers like k5ted and others on this forum can likely accelerate the inclusion of 2/3rds on the Americas with Spanish language content ( Brazilian Portuguese too, eventually ). Continuous improvement .
RadioRay …_ ._
Looks like there is good interest already on this forum building for Spanish language filecasting into South America and they also specifically mentioned Central America. Aprovecho here in the US has some excellent information on homeaking very efficient wood/bio-mass stoves, heaters and food dehydrators. I’ll drop them a line as well for permission for filecasting their VERY HELPFUL designs. They already publish some works in Spanish.
