A Sri Lankan reader has added to our thread on bringing the web to third world villages.

He writes that he’s also seen farmers being “forcefully dragged” into computer labs, photos taken while they reluctantly tapped on PCs and these photos then put on websites to make donors happy. In Mahavilachchiya, however, he says, things are different.  Farmers read local language newspapers before going to ricefields, with their children’s support in many cases. He gives two examples – you can check them out here and here.

He admits that the programme still has a long way to go and has asked for more comments from GTF readers, both positive and negative. If you’ve wanted to connect to a project like this – here’s your chance. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing more about how these ambitious goals are being met, particularly how the pricing of broadband access is going and the latest on World Bank funding.