Hi all,
Maitrayee Ghosh, now at the Indian Institute of Technology, presented a paper at the <http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/Programme.htm%22%3EWorld>Library and Information Congress: 71st IFLA General Conference and Council "Libraries - A voyage of discovery"<http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/Programme.htm>on the role of information professionals, public libraries and how together they can employ E-learnig and new technologies to spread HIV/AIDS information to unprivileged population in India. Complete paper can be accessed at: Save the society from an AIDS epidemic: Indian Public libraries in the current perspective <http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/186e-Ghosh.pdf> Abstract: Today Indian society is at high risks. AIDS-the most devastating disease humankind has ever faced become a conflagration on the Indian sub continent and nearly six million people in the country are estimated to be HIV-positive. There is a felt need for providing health information services through public libraries to the illiterate rural population in India, who are increasingly making themselves vulnerable to HIV /AIDS. Today's challenge is to reinvent the public libraries to respond to community needs and explores the avenues created by ICT enabled networking processes in providing HIV/AIDS information to unprivileged population in India. It concludes with a number of recommendations that are intended to address the core problems and thereby improve the overall situation. Excerpt from the paper: ""Info-Thela" project of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur: A project called "Info-thela," or "info-cart" aims to use wireless technology to disseminate health information and improve health care in India's villages, where most of the country's 1.06 billion people live. It aims to improve public health by facilitating the flow of health information, using the Internet. The core elements of the project are content, Internet connectivity and capacity building. The Info-thela cart has a specially designed frame and cushioning to protect the computer and accessories from the bumpy ride. The mobile platform is necessary to reduce cost of ownership because the resources are shared by a larger population. It is also necessary to push information to women and elderly people who can't travel outside their village." Jay Jay Bhatt Information Services Consultant (Engineering) Hagerty Library, Drexel University TEL 215-895-1873 AOL IM jaybhatt59 YAHOO IM jay_bhatt_98 FAX 215-895-2070 EMAIL [EMAIL PROTECTED] Engineering Resources Blog: http://englibrary.blogspot.com Jay's Infornmation Initiaves in India community on the Digital Divide Network http://www.digitaldivide.net/community/InformationIndia Jay's blog on the Digital Divide Network http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/jaybhatt Jay's Journal on LISNews http://www.lisnews.com/%7EJay/journal _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
