Communication | Cooperation | Differences | Ethnicity | Perspective | Understanding | Value | Worth

TRACKERS & HACKERS
African trackers may not know how to read and write, but they are intelligent. But in the past, much of their intelligence has been unavailable to scientists who wanted to use it. So scientists devised a way to capture the knowledge and intelligence of these African trackers. Scientists developed a hand-held computer that was linked to a global satellite link. These computers used graphic icons rather than letters and numbers and allowed these illiterate trackers to record the type and quantity of wildlife they encountered as they traveled. This information allows scientists to keep tabs on the movements of endangered species and protect them from poachers. One tracker who now uses the computers told reporters, “I once thought that computers were very clever; I now know that I am the clever one.” The knowledge of the trackers was always there, but it was unavailable. Some even concluded that the African trackers were of no use. But the real problem was that…