Dear all The attached document has a few useful points for consideration. Warm wishes B. Shadrach Moderator, Tasknet Debate, Sep-Dec 2000 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tasknet Debate and Its Relevance to the G8-Dotforce Consultation: A Summary Report by B. Shadrach Department of Information Science Loughborough University Loughborough LE11 3TU United Kingdom Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax: 0044-1509-223053 Tel: 0044-1509-223079 __________________________________________________________________ Abstract: As a partnership initiative aimed at developing a knowledge society in South Asia, Tasknet was initiated in 1999 by a number of key organisations of the region. The aim of this coalition was to find best ways and means to turn the information revolution into a force for economic development, social cohesion and poverty alleviation in the developing countries of the region. As the first step towards a knowledge partnership and a forerunner to the GK-II conference, Tasknet organised a conference in Delhi in November 1999. As a follow-up to these events, the British Council and OneWorld International, to discuss a number of outstanding issues that emerged out of these conferences, initiated Tasknet Debate in September-December 2000. This paper summarises the Tasknet Debate's recommendations for the GKP dotforce that have direct relevance to the priorities identified in the Okinawa Charter ____________________________________________________________________ Tasknet - A South Asian Knowledge Movement What is Tasknet? Tasknet (Towards a South Asia Knowledge Network) is a partnership initiative aimed at developing a knowledge society in South Asia, initiated by a number of key organisations of the region. The aim of this coalition was to find best ways and means to turn the information revolution into a force for economic development, social cohesion and poverty alleviation in the developing countries of the region. With support from the British Council, South Asia Directorate and the National Informatic Centre, Tasknet was formed in September 1999. It was mooted and agreed that as the first step towards the partnership, a conference on the global knowledge themes should be held in Delhi. Tasknet'99 As the first step towards developing the knowledge society in the region, The British Council and the National Informatics Centre along with various national, regional and international partners working in South Asia organised TASKNET'99 on 23 and 24 November 1999 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. About 275 delegates attended this event organised by 20 national and international organisations from South Asia. The two-day session focused on issues to do with widening access, developing content, the overall enabling framework and how to move forward in the new millennium, from a South Asian perspective. Tasknet was recognised by the Global Knowledge Partnerships as a feeder event to the Global Knowledge II (GK-II) conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia held in March 2000. Tasknet at GK-II, Malaysia Dr N Vijayaditya of the National Informatics Centre, India and Dr Amrita Dass, rapportuer of Tasknet'99 presented the outcome of TASKNET conference and some key strategies at the Global Knowledge Action Summit Plenary on 8 March 2000. This led to a resolution passed at GK-II for a South Asia discussion list to take forward the initiative to the next step. About 55 delegates from South Asia attended the GK-II conference in Malaysia. Tasknet Debate - an e-conference on Global Knowledge themes As the next step towards facilitating an equitable and sustainable knowledge society in South Asia, the British Council in collaboration with OneWorld International Ltd organised an e-conference called Tasknet Debate in September-December 2000. Tasknet Debate invited Tasknet partners and individuals with an interest in South Asian to participate in a discussion on the following key themes: Tasknet Debate themes The debate centred around four significant themes namely, Access; Content; Technology; and Empowerment, identified by the Tasknet Focus Group members. The Focus Group carefully avoided themes such as Community Radio and Women's use of ICTs as these were debated in other lists. Access: Solutions to the multidimensional 'divides' such as monopolies, cost, infrastructure, urban Vs rural and gender that minimise access to information by communities Content: People-centred approach to knowledge sharing, creation of 'public spaces' and appropriate, needs-based indigenous content development Technology: Use of convergent technologies and open systems to ensure the appropriate use of ICTs in creation of knowledge societies Empowerment: The role of ICT in poverty alleviation, community work, rural development, gender and grassroots empowerment and social inclusion. Participants About 100 individuals from the civil society, donor world, academic and IT arena and private industries participated in the debate. Although most of the participants were from India, experts from all South Asian countries and from Europe and Canada contributed their valuable ideas to the conference. Summary of the Tasknet Debate and its relevance to the Dotforce Although the debate took place around the four themes mentioned in the previous section, the summary points have been presented in the following sections keeping in mind the themes outlined in the ongoing G8-Dotforce consultation and the Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society. Full details of the debate can however be found at the Tasknet debate site at http://www.tasknet.nic.in 1.1 General points - Tasknet debate was seen as a welcome initiative, not only for organisations in South Asia, but also for individuals and organisations interested in South Asia in the rest of the world. - Such debates should continue from time to time as an ongoing scientific process of consultation and as a platform that identifies critical problems and challenges in the region. - Tasknet secretariat should become an umbrella organisation for initiating joint-actions to the problems identified by partners and as a lobby that moves governments and private operators towards playing a more competitive, transparent and pro-active role in creating a greater enabling environment - Tasknet partners have the necessary capabilities to help governments assess their ICT capabilities against ground realities and grass-root level requirements. 1.2 Fostering policy, regulatory and network readiness - A few state governments in South Asia are increasingly introducing e-governance while the majority rest is not yet ready to do so. Lack of capacity, knowledge and understanding of technologies being the main reasons for this slow progress. Building capacity among national and state government machinery will result in more inclusive and pro-active IT policies in the region. - Although illiteracy and population related problems are seen as the agents of digital-divide, experts felt that strengthening ICT infrastructure with a social development agenda would result in narrowing the divide. Hence, members recommended that enough funding opportunities were made available for further research to determine the effects of ICTs on poverty alleviation. - Discussants strongly opposed the emerging dialogue that aims at protecting the intellectual property rights for IT-related technologies. They felt that the costs levied for IT products and services were the main factors of the digital divide. Hence, they called for joint-actions for developing open systems and platforms that encourage more effective and greater utilisation of IT in development efforts. - Support to developmental efforts by corporate bodies is just in slogans and mission statements. In addition to this plight, NGOs and development organisations do not have the necessary skills to attract corporate sponsorship. Building capacity among development organisations in order to attract corporate involvement in development projects will help greatly. - More and more donor help in encouraging private-public partnerships in ICT assessment projects is needed - Tax incentives to individuals buying PCs and employers buying home PCs for employees will help South Asia emerge as a knowledge-based economy 1.3 Improving connectivity, increasing access and lowering cost - Participants felt the need for mobilising resources to improve information and communications infrastructure in the region. Further, they agreed that efforts that create symbiotic spaces and innovative approaches to foster private, public and community partnerships should be encouraged. - Although the need for increasing community access points was widely felt, members argued that individual access only could help in life-long learning opportunities. - Recycling of computers discarded by corporate organisations will help a number of development organisations and schools in South Asia. Tasknet can facilitate such an initiative. - The main problems of digital divide are not illiteracy or over population, but the overwhelming access and connectivity costs. While citing a recent experiment of IT use among children living in slums in India , members welcomed the idea of strengthening initiatives such as Simputer and DSL Dishnet that provides access to women and children for a one-time payment of Rs. 250/- (US$ 6) for five years. - South Asian IT professionals are fast emerging as techno-coolies for the west. Even those who are involved in IT development activities within the region, are not developing applications that address the multi-faceted problems of the region. Initiative that develop locale-specific' content and applications in vernacular languages must be encouraged. - Participants further argued for the need for preserving cultural identity of the region in the light of globalisation. 1.4 Building human capacity - Technology exchange programmes aimed at NGOs involving corporate organisations, national governments and donor agencies will help. - Building capacity to determine the effects of ICTs on Poverty alleviation is the need of the hour. - IT students should be encouraged to undertake development oriented projects and should be motivated to become IT volunteers for developmental efforts. Initiatives such as NetAid should become more pro-active and aggressive in their approach to recruit IT volunteers from the region, and share their expertise with local volunteers. - Even in the west a number of disadvantaged groups are left out of the technology and the new media. Participants, hence felt the need for collaborative ICT solutions that may have application for the marginalised in the west and the rural population in South Asia - Training support for developing voice recognition software in South Asian languages in a large scale will help. Conclusions Although the Tasknet debate was not specifically set up as a dotforce consultation exercise, many of the issues raised have direct relevance to the priorities identified in the Okinawa Charter that Dotforce of the Global Knowledge Partnership may wish to take note of. In order to take full advantage of the expertise that exists in the South Asia network, it is recommended that similar debates are held time to time with the help of Tasknet partners. ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
