On The Dissemination Of Information.

Introduction: This article is about how to manufacture, store, and then distribute small amounts of reading material, or pictures, or listening material, in societies where this is difficult. Here, the author states clearly that his aim is to use these ideas to distribute educational curriculum materials, or short stories, or home-works, or articles, or “audio-books” – items commonly used by English teachers working in China. It is not intended for subversive purposes – although, it could be.

I am an English teacher in P. R. China. I have been in China for almost 13 years now, and I like my life here very much; it suits me. In addition to classroom teaching, and out-of-class “free-talks”, I like to share useful self-study materials with some of my old students. The problem is, how do I get it out to them? One would say, “That is easy! Use the Internet. Use messaging on your own cell phone. Use the post office.” Yes, all these things work, and they work well. However, there are some problems with these systems (for “systems” they are); they are all inter-connected, and centrally supervised. The users really have no ultimate control over their ideas.

This country, and especially my corner of this country, is very controlled. Now, this is a good and necessary thing (otherwise, the whole society would revert to utter chaos). However, for the writer of curriculum, and especially non-traditional curriculum, which is not under the eyes of the censor, this is a problem. I want to write my own curriculum – under a certain, voluntary restraint, of course – and get it out to my students. I do not fear law, as that is good; I fear someone whose mind is provincial, wrongly biased, and fearful of his superiors, who are conveniently not at hand to defend themselves from their subordinate’s blame. So, I want to by-pass them, if possible. Also, if I operate outside their purview, they can claim, “I never knew about this”, and remain innocent. Of course, they know what is going on – there are no secrets in China, apart from those held by those in authority. The “small man” is really afraid to give permission to something new, lest it haunt him later on. So, he instinctively says no.

I start with the premise that the conventionally assumed means of disseminating information are flawed. Here, I mean the Internet, the cell-phone networks, the printing houses, and the post office. Effective thought they are, they are all subject to interference, from a wide range of sources: this is well-known. Also the popular concept of “being wired, being inter-connected” is an even more dangerous thing, as it places all users of technology under one roof. What happens if the roof is leaking? Everyone alike gets wet. If one is affected, then all are affected. Rather than liberate the individual, “being connected” is in reality a trap, a Trojan horse of the group apparatus. So, for certain transfers of information, but not all, a different means is required, one that is not a part of the “inter-connected system”. For it is not the police who are the enemy: it is us, each other, the other users on the network.

In this controlled society, certain types of information are distributed by CD, or DVD, or a text-CD for use on a computer. Note how the CD and the DVD can be used independently of the computer; they can be used on a CD-player (music and audio), and on a DVD-player (video messages, and films). Even a CD with Word files on it can be used on a computer that is not connected to the Internet. The “non-connected network” is somewhat more secure than a connected network.

There are two groups in this very controlled society who are the masters of distributing limited amounts of CD and DVD-based information – and they consistently succeed. First are the criminals who distribute hard-porn films – the really dirty ones. Their men can be seen distributing CDs and DVDs in the train stations, and even in busy city squares. It is a “one salesman – one disk – one client” system, for one time, and it works very well. All the players need not know each other – only the “kingpin” knows the big picture, and he/she can be well-hidden. Second are the Muslim radicals / political separatists who want to cause trouble to the central state apparatus back in Beijing. The government has allocated enormous resources against these troublemakers, and yet there is a very active, thriving information infrastructure in place, bringing a wide variety of illegal messages to a wide range of their society – and right under the noses of the police. How do they do it so well? Go into the bazaars, go into the backwater stalls where everyone knows each other, and if you are patient and observant, you will see, tucked under some bundle in the back of the stall, several forbidden books, CDs, or DVDs. The salespeople come by at odd intervals and leave their wares with the stall owner, who has only a limited amount on hand at any time; the customers know where to come looking. Presumably, only the “one-of-us” folk are told about this quiet network. Thus, an unseen “kingpin”, if there even is one, reaches a very large target audience, using un-connected couriers, a simple product, and time. As the Taliban have said, “You have the clocks, but we have the time.” Let the reader take note: The Muslims take the mass dissemination of their “educational” material very, very seriously, and they have refined their systems of “curriculum development”, product, end-users, and security counter-measures to a very high level of effectiveness.

(Thesis statement): This article will discuss the small-scale dissemination of information, specifically in societies where this is difficult. The following five paradigms will serve as a conceptual framework: (a) the means, (b) the tools, (c) the helper, (d) the keeper, and (e) the user. Again, all this information applies to educational curriculum, and not to “other products”.

Body: (a) The Means: What are the means by which educational curriculum can be disseminated in a controlled society? Here, the means are a direct response to the obstacles. It was stated above that connected networks, and even the computer itself are liabilities; that is because people serve the technology, and not vice-versa. The answer lies in presenting the information in many small, disconnected units, in fragmenting the current web of “connectivity” which is so much a part of the cyber-world.

The basic unit of the fragmentary information world (F.I.W.) is the 3” x 5” index-card. College students the world over use them for note-taking, language-study, and other purposes. The problem is, few people ever share their contents with others, except perhaps someone nearby, like their seat-mate or room-mate. They are unthinkably laborious and difficult to copy out by hand. Yet, their size, and the need to write on them carefully and intentionally, makes the quality of written product much higher than that coming from a computer keyboard. (Perhaps this is why literature from before 1900 has a different – better, maybe? – quality than today’s writing.) The writer who sits alone at a table, or on a rock at the top of a mountain, alone with a few flash-cards, can better conceal the written product than someone else with a computer at home, or a terminal at the Internet bar. If the writer has access to many tables arranged in a long row, then the flash-cards can be arranged in a long line (even up to 50 feet long, for longer works!), so that a narrative “gestalt” can emerge, with obvious spaces begging to be “filled in”. The computer screen is a mere peep-hole, by comparison. Many people can work on parts of the project together, or one person can do it alone, over time. However, the strongest advantage of the flash-card is the user’s ability to move information around, into different configurations. Information can be “juggled around”. Computers cost money; flash-cards are very cheap.

Once the information has been written down and arranged in order, it can be scanned onto a “.pdf” file, or photocopied onto 8-1/2” x 11” paper. The rate is about five or six cards per page.

One might argue that using 3” x 5” flash-cards is a silly way to collect and record information. However, information from the field (“combat information”) is typically sparse, and here, flash-cards are perfect. In time, someone might try to invent a small scanning device, which can scan one (or both) sides of a 3” x 5” flash-card, and convert the image into a “.pdf” format without the need for a “mother” computer sporting Adobe Paint Shop software. At the back of this device will be a socket to receive a USB flash-stick. The machine can be used manually, and process flash-cards one at a time, or have a holder for 100 flash-cards, and process them automatically. Here, the manual system might be better, so that more people can afford the machine, and disappear into their attics, away from others.

At the same time that information from flash-cards is being scanned onto “.pdf” files, other information can be typed onto standard Word files, using disconnected, Internet-free computers. To this end, obsolete and slow “clunker” computers can be kept, and given a second life. Finally, audio files can be made, using MP3, “recording-stick” microphones, and conversion software.

Finally, the scanned, typed, or audio-recorded material is put onto a CD, and many copies are made. After this point, the product need never enter the Internet.

(b) The Tools: This part has already been mentioned before. Again, they are: “.pdf” files, Word files, audio files, the MP3 “recording-stick”, un-linked computers, scanning machines, photo-copying machines, the specialized 3” x 5” flash-card scanning machines, and CDs. Everything converges on the CD, for it is through the simple CD that all information will be shared with others. CDs are small and easy to carry around. They are everywhere in society. They can easily be copied. They can hold a lot of information. Unlike hard-drives, they are fairly robust. Finally, they are cheap. They can be passed around easily. They leave little or no trail of their passing. With a CD distribution system, who needs the clocks? A little time, and the job is done – unnoticed.

It is true that when the information is being created and assembled, some high-tech gadgets are necessary. Many of them can be used at home. Once the CDs have been made, one is independent of the “inter-connected, cyber-system”, and one can begin to quietly disseminate information.

(c) The Helper: Much of this work can be done alone, but there are three people whose help is essential – the owner / operator of the local copy-shop, the person who makes the CDs for you, and the person who helps you to distribute the CDs. First is the copy-shop owner. In the past, going to a copy-shop was an easy thing, but now, it is like going to a water-hole in the Serengeti during the dry season: the lions are surely there, waiting for you. Even simple photo-copy machines now scan your document, before they copy it. There is a record of your passing! CDs are copied from the copy-shop’s computer – another record. Although not perfect, there are some ways to ameliorate the situation, to your advantage. You should develop four categories of copy-shop owner. The first is someone you can trust, to a point. This person knows you fairly well, because you are a frequent customer. What you are looking for here is reliability, and a fair chance they will execute the copies, the way you want. China is a “passive-aggressive” culture, and it is full of people who will fail you, or let you down, or ruin you. You cannot succeed in your dissemination of curriculum information, if your copy-shop owner is not with you. With this person, you never give him “compromising”, or subversive material to copy… never! It will ruin both him, and you. The “eco-system of assistance” is extremely fragile in China, and should not be abused in any way. Never, never share this “main-line, copy-shop contact” with another expat – many expats are stupid, or care only about their own career agenda, and certainly not about any collateral damage they will cause you, or your friendly copy-shop owner! Almost certainly, the locals will know you are working with this copy-shop owner, but that does not matter. If you have a covering of respectability, and a fairly reliable system in place, then you are lucky. The second person is for your normal, work-related copying needs – things not related to your curriculum dissemination. Going to the copy-shop in Third World countries is a nightmare for those who do not “know the system”, and a head-ache for those who do. You do not want to lose “social capital” with your curriculum dissemination copy-shop owner, over little things. When you have a big copying job (like copying 500 exam sheets), give it to the first copy-shop owner, because of the money he can earn. He will appreciate that. The third are multiple copy-shop owners. You will go in once, and once only, and copy something a little bit “sensitive”; you never come back a second time. Owners who are not very literate, and who only care about making money are preferred. If the copy-machines are older, “single-page feed”, and do not have a pre-copy scanning function, all the better. They should not be near the place where you work, or places you need for regular shopping. You want to walk in, copy something, pay, and get out in a short time. Over the course of your stay in a given city, you will passively come across these shops, by chance. Never, never “intentionally” go out on a search for such shops, as you will spoil their purpose. Keep their location in your mind. The fourth shops are for the most sensitive types of material. Maybe this is a very good friend with a small copy-machine in their house. You cannot trust people in China to copy your hard-core curriculum – your stigma of being a foreigner is too great, and they will let you down. Far better to do it at your home country, at a public copy-shop (in limited batches), or in the field at a friendly expat’s house (do not ever over-load them!). Do not go into the “shady districts” of your city, thinking they will be your partners-in-crime; they will harm you.

The way I have used is to have little or nothing of a sensitive nature to lose, to be plain and open with the copy-shop owners, and move about openly, and predictably. Over time, the regular flow of copying fees will offer some protection; the copy-shop owners like regular customers who pay up in cash.

Here are some copying tips. Do not come when the boss is flooded with customers. Due to “culture-of face” issues, he will serve the other people first – even if you came first. Other customers will look at your papers, with no concern at all for your privacy. Therefore, ask the boss when the shop is quiet, and go then. The Chinese invariably congregate at “life’s bottlenecks”, so avoid these times and places. Pay up in cash, and with the right bills; do not “break” big bills on the copy-shop! If the copy-shop sells other things, try to buy them sometimes. Bring a book.

The second person, after the copy-shop owner, is the person who will make the CDs for you. Here, trust is of the highest importance, since any foreigner manufacturing and passing out CDs is instantly put under suspicion – and why not? Perhaps the best person is the first copy-shop boss. When you are ready to make CDs, make large batches, so you do not have to visit the Serengeti water-hole too often. Most copy-shop owners will not risk losing a large cash-contract like that.

There is one other type of helper. The third person is the one who will help you to distribute the CDs. Personally, I feel it is best to do this aspect of the work alone. Others cannot be trusted – either they do not care about your vision for your curriculum, or they give the materials to the wrong people. The successful distribution of CD curriculum depends, in large part, on “the right person, in the right mood, at the right place and time”. Yes, you can give some of your students two or three CDs, and ask them to give the extra CDs to “a person who really cares about learning English”. That is all right, but one should not use this way a lot.

Usually, a dedicated helper is more of a liability than a help. They can, however, be useful in places where you cannot go. What would motivate someone to do this? Money should not be considered; it is volatile and dangerous. Idealism for “the cause” – of sharing educational curriculum? These people are very rare, and were they to do this work, it would be dangerous for them. Still, there are some people who will do this, so give them 20 or 30 CDs, and turn them loose, with instructions to follow their intuition, catch the right moment and place for the right person, and contact you infrequently or not at all…. Better still, is to give one CD to each promising person, or two or three CDs to those who also show signs of effectively passing on the curriculum.

However, the best way is to always carry five or six CDs in your daily-life attaché-case, wherever you go. “The right person” is the most rare and elusive of animals, but sometimes, quite out of your control, he or she appears, for a few brief moments. The moment is everything, and if you are ready, the moment will naturally evolve into a short talk, and maybe a chance to give away a CD. If you have a friend who is a salesperson, discuss these ideas with him or her.

Sometimes one can be intentional; sometimes one must “follow the moment”, when it comes. There is no “one, infallible way”, I think. Ultimately, when it comes to the actual process of CD distribution, there are no helpers – you are alone, waiting for the “right moment”. To involve others, and set up a distribution network is dangerous, and a drain on your other creative efforts.

(d) The Keeper: Distributing CDs in a security-layered, closely controlled society is a hard and lonely task, with few or no people to help you out. Once you have your CDs, and the promise of people to take them, you need somewhere to store them. In fact, finding safe, secure and easily accessible storage space is one of the biggest problems facing most expats in China. How should one store one’s educational curriculum?

First comes paper storage. Typed sheets of 8-1/2” x 11” paper should be the basic unit of storage, and not digital forms. Paper can be copied or scanned. The original copies should be kept in your home country. If all goes wrong in China, you still have something you can start up with again back home. You can also have other “original copies” in the field, for lesser emergencies. Make up to six sets.

Second, you have digital archives of CDs, either in Word form, or in “.pdf” form. Have multiple CD archives both at home, and in the field. Do not mix them with your production copies. You should have up to six sets of archive-level CDs, for your curriculum.

Third, in addition to the CD copies, buy a high-capacity “portable hard-drive”, and use that. If you find another curriculum distributor, you can give him / her everything in one move, since CDs have a limited capacity. With one visit to their computer, you can transfer everything.

Fourth, you have boxes of copied CDs, waiting to be sent out. Depending on the security climate, you have many “caches” of CDs, in various people’s homes. Never tell any of these “cache” friends about the existence of the others. Try to use up the “caches” of those who are less reliable, or more sensitive to loss or punishment at first, quickly. The more reliable people can hold onto your CDs for longer. Give these last people clear instructions about how to get rid of their “cache”, if something bad happens to you. Do not visit your friends frequently, just to pick up a few CDs; this will bring them a lot of trouble, from those watching you. When you want CDs, take the whole batch, and keep it yourself. Each “cache” should have no more than 300 CDs. This means you will have many “caches”, spread out over a wide range. Some “caches” are to be kept for a long time – maybe five years or more, ready to appear out of nowhere.

The main keeper, of course, is you. Keep some disks in your luggage in your room, ready to be used, as needed. Of course, they will be looked at, but so what? You are an English teacher, and having “clean”, normal curriculum on hand is part of your job. However, if you have many “small-minded” people in your work-unit, then you need to be careful, and use a different approach.

Finally, you can keep a digital copy of your curriculum on the hard-drive of the copy-shop’s computer. Then, tell your students about it. They go to the copy-shop, and down-load the material onto their devices – laptop, MP3, MP5, a CD, or their cell-phone. In this generation, the “20-somethings” are using their cell-phones for a wide range of activities. It would be a good thing if audio-books, short stories, novels, and pronunciation models (auditory) could be created or adapted for cell-phone use. For this service, do not use your primary copy-shop boss! To do so would compromise his / her effectiveness as your materials-maker. Find someone who is discreet, but expendable.

What about leaving your English curriculum materials in the curriculum library of your school, or work-unit? Is it a good idea to build up one’s curriculum library, for future teachers and staff? In theory, yes, it is a good idea. However, in most of the “foreign teacher’s office-libraries” that I have worked in, I have noted the following problems, on a number of occasions. Used materials are not properly filed away, or not even returned. Many people want to hoard any useful materials for themselves, rather than contribute to the library, and their successors. In short, nobody cares, really, about curriculum development. I think this is because many foreign English teachers do not place a premium on actually teaching English, but on “something else”. Curriculum development is an even lower priority. Many foreign English teachers prefer to build up their own personal library, which others have little or no access to. In fact, why should they share? Loaned items often “disappear”. In defence of the local Chinese teachers of English, many Western-teacher curriculum items are hard or almost impossible to use, for they are written in a “cultural shorthand” that only the original writer would understand. Perhaps it is better that much of today’s curriculum items do not make it into the office curriculum library! Frankly speaking, I am very disillusioned about developing my school’s curriculum library in a big way. Where there is little or no practical, daily co-operation among teachers in the teacher’s office, curriculum suffers. In most “work-units”, people are unwilling to speak English; why then would they build up their curriculum library?

Still, it would be good to have viable curriculum libraries in school and university work-units throughout China.

(e) The User: The most important person in the dissemination of (educational curriculum) information is the end-user. Typically, this will be a Chinese teacher of English (primary, middle, high, university), or a student. However, it could be anyone else – “Everyman”, or “Everywoman”. These people are the ones who will receive the CD from you. In many cases, the person-to-person contact will be very short – a few minutes. At the outset, it is important to consider the environment in which they will use their educational curriculum CD.

English-learning in China (and especially in the closely-controlled regions) is a lonely affair. To be present with “the foreign teacher” outside of the prescribed classroom structure raises eye-brows. To study English alone, openly, and with the zeal of the “newly-converted” raises even more eye-brows, as well as suspicion. Consider the porn artists and the Muslim separatists mentioned earlier in this article. They do not behave in public! The police would take them. Unfortunately, the tradition of patriotism and nationalism (inherently good things) has a side-effect, that is, the unwillingness to “step out” of the ethno-centric paradigm, and fully commit oneself to second / third language immersion. The pressure of social non-acceptance for “deviant behaviour” weighs very heavily on the Asian psyche (a bad thing). Furthermore, the “work-unit” (both private and state, where almost everyone works) is the worst place to develop one’s English-learning and cultural understanding. People just do not want to be seen learning English in front of their peers. This state of affairs will probably never change.

This individual (“Every-Person”) can acquire materials from the usual, openly-available sources in the big cities – the chain bookstores (Xin Hua Shu Dian), and the Internet bars (“wang-ba”). The materials available are now getting better and better. (However, I would like to see more “audio-books”, suitable for down-loading onto cell-phones, and MP3s, and read slowly and clearly by linguistically sensitive native speakers, pure, simple, and above all, not “re-engineered” by Chinese editors to suit Chinese perceptions of “how it should look / sound / feel” made available in CD and Internet form. This would be a quantum-leap in the advancement of English-learning in China.) Thus, in the big cities, the prospects are getting better every year. However, in the smaller towns and outlying areas, there are very few English-learning materials available; it is an unfortunate reality. However, in these same areas, there are many CD-players, DVD-players, as well as MP3 / MP5 players and desktop computers in households. This means that over much of China, the dissemination of educational curriculum through the discreet use of CDs is a viable option. The model is therefore of a lone individual in a quiet room. The curtains are drawn; the cell-phone is turned off; the outside world is excluded; it is the evening or siesta-time.

When one considers the end-user, “Every-Person”, one must consider the variables he or she faces, and design the contents of the CD accordingly. Remember: in many cases, the CD will be the only material available for many miles around. The contents must be soundly designed, easy to use, easy to understand, and practical for use in daily life. In a country that is bursting with “get-rich-quick”, “beat-the-competition” and “get-saved” materials, you owe it to the end-user to create and distribute a product that effectively promotes “disconnected, distance learning”.

I also think it best to have as little social contact with the end-user as possible. There are many reasons for this. First, too much contact with you, an outsider, will draw too much social observation onto them, and endanger them. Reader: never, never doubt these words! Second, everything you might want to communicate should already be inside the CD. Remember – no “dangerous” or “questionable” contents! Otherwise, you will be giving them an instant ticket to the “gulag”. (This is no joke.) Third, by keeping away from them, you will allow them to naturally evolve your ideas and materials into an indigenous form, suitable for the local population. Fourth, it will help to reduce any forms of “dependence”. Remember: English is for everyone (to anyone), and not a few lucky ones (who managed to have frequent contact with some outside foreigner). There has long existed in China a pernicious view that says: no foreigner present, no more foreign language spoken. This way of thinking condemns effective English education from the beginning. The CD model presented here strongly pre-supposes a lone end-user, acting like a “last survivor”, willing to learn his or her language outside of society’s purview. Fifth, if the educational curriculum CD materials are effective, then the end-user might share them with a few friends, at the appropriate time and place, and in the right way. Most outsiders cannot do this, and especially in ultra-ethnocentric areas, under close control. There is no real substitute for a satisfied end-user sharing something new with a few good friends. You, the outsider, would only get in the way. By the time this “passing on” of the CDs occurs, you, the first contact, should be far, far away, and forgotten. Besides, many people are innately suspicious of anything with a “foreign taint” on it. Therefore, after the initial contact, do the “lone language learner” a big favour, and stay away. Let them evolve on their own. Accept that some will succeed and move on; others will go nowhere, and fail.

It is hoped that after several years of quietly sharing CDs with a wide range of end-users, who do not and should not know each other, an organic groundswell of information will be passed on to a new generation of users. By then, you will be happily forgotten.

Conclusion: This article set out to discuss the effective dissemination of educational curriculum information, typically through the medium of CDs, in societies where “free information exchange” is difficult. Models already exist in certain informal / forbidden areas of society, and they are very effective. Dissemination of educational curriculum information was considered through the perspectives of (a) the means, (b) the tools, (c) the helper, (d) the keeper, and (e) the user. In the author’s own opinion, the best way to disseminate educational curriculum materials is by CD, to carefully chosen end-users. The “formal” means of disseminating information – the publishing houses, the Internet, and bookstores – have both their advantages (economy of scale), and their disadvantages (they are too “inter-connected”, and have a limitation of views and outlets). The author recommends both ways, with the end-users free to use whichever is best for them. However, many end-users in remote areas or “controlled” areas do not have good access to formally-supplied books and other educational curriculum; for them, a solitary CD is their only option, in a world bereft of language partners and language choices.

Good, well-written curriculum is of paramount importance. Along with a good teacher, a stable “affective and emotional condition”, a well-ordered classroom environment, and a safe and harmonious home environment, a good curriculum is necessary to ensure an effective learning process. This is true for all sorts of learners, including “Every-Person”, alone in a quiet room, with the curtains drawn. There is a large amount of second-rate curriculum floating around all parts of China, and all over Asia. The author hopes that all educators who disseminate educational curriculum by CD will only incorporate material that is of a high professional standard, easy to understand by the target audience, readily applicable to daily life, politically harmless, easy to copy (by photo-copier, or computer), and fun to use.

Good curriculum will “sell itself” automatically; bad curriculum will end up in the trash-barrel. It is hoped that “learning behind drawn curtains” will be a fun and enjoyable experience, and a memorable journey. “A good CD in every desk” will go a long way towards promoting the English-learning revolution!