In the educational/developmental sense, after a decade and a half of blocked communications (during which telephone and post were easily monitored and disrupted) the communications breakthrough using newly ubiquitous alternative media (Yahoo Messenger and VOIP) is welcome and significant.

The following, which takes into account the lack of ease with which a (now) larger institution can be fleet of foot and adaptable, is proposed:

1. That this site be simply an additional 'take it or leave it' resource, that :

1.1.  introduces staff to the medium and to simple media tools that can be easily adapted to enable use in any way that existing offline practitioners see as beneficial to themselves and/or their students;

1.2. introduces a few completely new skills that are available if and when anybody wants to pick one or more up as a free extra curricular activity;

1.2.1 one is immediately commenced development, as time and other resources permit, at kumasipolytechnic.net/kpolytrendtradeindex.htm as a demonstration course/module. Placed in the setting you discussed yesterday, of local tax revenue from natural resources exploitation (by non indigenous shareholders), being insufficient to finance free education, it should appeal to some at least, in several ways, not the least of which being the fact that it is available for free, to all;

1.2.2. the next one to be developed, might most usefully be one selected by the polytechnic (within constraints imposed by medium characteristics and intentional low operational and overheads cost parameters). There may for example be a course or a course module, either for full-time or part-time polytechnic students or as an outreach to KNUST (a "Science & Technology" university that doesn't teach science or technology - KN must be twirling in his grave) or to lower schools, that the poly would like to implement to increase its educational 'footprint' and cost-effectiveness, but can't find or afford the necessary expertise and other resources with which to do it?

2. That this site is complementary with, the earlier proposed wholly independent SoACT group netconnected via commercial cafe(s) in town and financed by SoACT *through*, not *by*, the polytechnic  - commercial cafe use could however be significantly diminished or even ruled out altogether on a quid-pro-quo basis if non fee-paying people could participate as a distinct/discrete SoACT group via the polytechnic's own  'cafe' occasionally during off peak periods. The non fee-paying basis is an important issue, importnat enough to have provoked a lock out of staff and students at Legon - SoACT's autonomous 'aid' free and self-financing unit at the University of Ghana had opened the door to free education, without in any way being a drain on Legon's resources but also, in keeping with SoACT's brandished 'aid'-free bootstrap constitution,  without 'dashing' anybody within an institution accustomed to begging and receiving 'aid' in its usual form (of greater financial benefit to the intermediary than the intended citizen beneficiary of enhanced educational systems).

FAO the guy(s) who have to keep your netgate functional 24/7/36(4?):

IEEE on Distributed Systems | Pre-Digital 'Natives' Internet | in other words, distribute, distribute, distribute..... and if the output offends the olfactory sense of the World Bank Quisling local establishment, then you've probably hit the developmental jackpot