Successful Networking is possible only through collaborations involving two or more agencies that agree to share information and resources to achieve some common goals. And when such collaboration is achieved using the Internet, it is termed as an online collaboration. The key components of an online collaboration are sharing both information and resources as well as having a shared vision. Any barriers of real space and time are overwhelmingly minimised when a community goes into online collaborations.
In South Asia, information is readily available but is hard to find, and even the social sector has relatively limited resources to learn from its own experiences. Therefore, learning through sharing becomes an important way to become knowledgeable. Collaborations using the Internet open new communication channels that bring new knowledge and information resources to the social sector. Till date, traditional communication channels have been used but these have acted only as 'one-way traffic' and have not allowed much interaction among the users. Internet has the inherent added advantage of being easily adaptable and also has the potential to be interactive. Online collaborations through ICTs have the capacity to link hospitals, schools and libraries to the Internet. Such interactive collaborations help promote active participation in societies through online "town squares" where communities exchange relevant information. These also help in development of the local economy by providing an electronic link between local businesses and consumers. A few instances of such collaborations will help us understand the concept better. Collaborative ICT tools at Milk Collection Centres at Co-operative Dairies in Gujarat brings tangible benefits to more than 60,000 farmers daily. Using weighing machines with PC interface and online milk testers, this system has delivered results over many years. Jhabua Extension Education in tribal Madhya Pradesh documents the use of satellite communication for extension education in remote areas of the State. Using direct reception TV sets, with satellite-based talkback facility, the project successfully experimented developmental programs targeting village health workers, staff and government employees. The Kothmale Internet Community Radio in Sri Lanka combines the "old" technology of community radio with that of the Internet. The radio team browses the Internet for information requested by the audience, translates it into the local languages and then broadcasts it in a daily programme. South Asian experiences reveal that networking through the net is still in its infancy and its future holds extensive potentiality. Major regions of South Asia are already well connected by conventional networks such as telephone lines and cable-TVs. Satellite television has reached almost the remotest regions of South Asia. The traditional postal service networks, especially in India along with the signalling network used by the railways are the best examples of extensive telecommunication networks in the world. With so much infrastructure ready at hand - online collaboration should not be misconceived as a distant dream. Convergence of traditional communication networks with emerging technologies hold ample scope to catalyse the utility of online collaborations. The above-mentioned networks are well established and are quite efficiently serving the society. A classic example of Wide Area Networking (WAN) that is serving the Indian society for quite some time is the computerised railway-ticketing service. Similar initiatives integrated with the inherent interactive feature of the Internet is bound to bring online collaborations to the grassroots. Proper usage of available infrastructure is the need of the hour. Development initiatives through online collaborations ought to be our inevitable future. ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** 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.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
