The Benefits of Backwardness

I'm just back from my assessment trip with the Liberian Legislature. I had a great time with a lot of interesting folks. In a number of ways, this assessment was easy.

• Tech infrastructure and capacity of the Legislature: Virtually nil.
• Long-term infrastructure development plan: The same setup needed for, say, a small college .

The real challenge is the short term, and it's basically a question of triage. What are the most critical, targeted steps that can be taken in the next year or two that will have the greatest impact for the most people when you are starting from zero? The Legislature has some great opportunities precisely because of their complete lack of infrastructure. This is the "benefits of backwardness" - when you're catching up you have a chance to leapfrog technologies. Historians suggest that's one reason Germany did so well when it first industrialized; it was able to jump to cutting-edge capital equipment, not start from spinning jennies. Then there's "path dependence" - where you are going depends on where you have been. This is also know as "Microsoft's business model." Decisions made in the past constrain future decisions. In this case, the blank slate gives us tremendous flexibility to think about the directions computing and networks are going. From this perspective, it's a real advantage that only 25% of people in the Legislature are able to use a computer. The sky's the limit for new ideas. I'll keep you posted as this project progresses; it's a remarkable case study.