YouTube and Tech

            This blog posting won’t have visuals.  Instead you can access some interesting videos on YouTube. They were put up recently by a couple of my fellow PCVs. They show our swearing-in ceremony from last August.  A number of people in our group are accomplished performers—and fortunately some people with cameras captured most of the performances. I think you’ll enjoy seeing them. Here’s the address:

http://www.youtube.com/user/asb353.

 

Today’s subject: Technology

 

I was walking down the hall when I heard it.  It was a sound from the past, familiar but foreign.  The sound was coming from behind a closed door in the government building where I work.  Then I realized what it was:  the sound of a manual typewriter, clickety clickety clickety.  When I heard the sound I was on my way with my Apple laptop to the Internet connection in the building.  I was about to send an update to my blog and perhaps to reach my son or daughter on Skype. Just that sound out of the past highlighted for me the state of technology here—old and new side by side.

            While some things here haven’t changed in centuries (and I like that), technology has certainly made its impact on the country.  Here’s a little summary based on my observations:

Internet access

Yep, you can get to the Internet nearly in most any sizable town if it has electricity.  There are Internet cafes and many post offices offer access for a fee.  Of course, the connection is sometimes sporadic and bandwidth is generally limited.  Email is common, along with computer games.  Most people use yahoo, though it’s pronounce “yahoe” here and most people aren’t aware there is anything else available.

Cell phones

When I first arrived in Muron, my co-workers and I went out to lunch together, When we sat down, the first thing everyone did was to put their cell phones on the table.  Except for me. It was my introduction to the ubiquity of the cell phone in Mongolia and to its pre-eminence in everyone’s lives here.  Everywhere you go, you hear the sound of the cell phone, multitudinous ring tones—snippets of American pop music, bagpipes, Christmas music, whistles, classical excerpts, Olympic fanfares, children laughing, you name it, it’s on a cell phone signaling you have a message or a phone call.

            The cell phone has certainly become the most visible signal that modern technology permeates the world, at least this world I’m living in.  It has its benefits making it easy to keep in touch with friends, family, business associates, etc. wherever each of you happen to be.  You hear the phones frequently wherever you are—in stores, on the streets, in meetings.  Even young children seem to have them. But the phone’s omnipresence can be annoying since no consistent cell phone etiquette has evolved.  So, whenever the phone rings, people answer it no matter what’s going on.  If you’re in a meeting, people bend over and try to answer quietly under the table.  Sometimes people do leave the room, but not often.  Messaging is very common here—cheaper than actual calls, so it does hold down the actual conversations going on.

Computers

            Computers have also become common here and they are on nearly every desk in the business world.  And everyone seems to have a flash drive since networks in businesses often don’t exist.  Unfortunately, many of the computers are old and few have up-to-date anti-virus protection.  Most computers have Microsoft Office—but many people have limited knowledge of how to use the programs.  I try to help my co-workers expand their knowledge of Word and Excel and share computer tips.  I brought my Mac with me and so am immune from most viruses. 

Television 

Everyone also has a TV.  Today I went to several stores looking for something. And in every store, the clerks were gathered around a TV—must have been a popular soap opera on.  Plus, the TV is almost always on when you go to someone’s house.  Once, when I stayed overnight at a friend’s house, the 5-year old boy stayed up after everyone else went to bed watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon DVD (everyone sleeps in the same room along with the TV).  While there is much that is good about TV, I am concerned about the kind of stuff shown here and the amount of time children are sitting in front of the tube.  Will TV help connect Mongolians to the world and increase their knowledge?  For children especially, I don’t think so.

Digital cameras 

Mongolians love to have their pictures taken.  When you visit someone’s home, one of the first things they often do is to bring out their picture albums for  you to look through—mostly photos of  friends, families, school groups, co-workers.  Mongolians rarely smile for a photograph—though I keep trying to get them to smile—they have such beautiful smiles.  Photo stores that print out photos from your flash drives or memory cards are popular and make good gifts for people to give friends so they can add them to their photo albums.

ATMs and Banks

Since I am in an aimag center (like a state capitol), I have easy access to my bank and it has two ATMs, one inside the bank and one accessible from outside.  They aren’t always working but overall they certainly make access easier.  If you go to a teller in a bank, it can take quite a while since there is still a lot of paperwork that seems to be required for each transaction although each teller also has a computer.

 

So that’s the state of technology as I see it, for now.  And it is just a view from my own limited perspective.  Next blog will be more interesting and have my own photos and will be up soon.