B y t e s F o r A l l --- http://www.bytesforall.org Making Computing Relevant to the People of South Asia AUG 2003 * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ICTs and handicrafts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Third World, artisans marketed their wares primarily through middlemen, who charge artificially low prices before marking up prices and shipping them to up-scale boutiques overseas. But with the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT), artisans have a competitive alternative. http://www.digitaldividend.org/pubs/pubs_06_overview_handicrafts.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Traditional knowledge -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Traditional knowledge holders often stand outside the fold of intellectual property rights and are negatively affected by them. A new handbook makes intellectual property issues and protection options more understandable and readily available for traditional knowledge holders, human rights NGOs, and legal professionals. In addition to introducing intellectual property concepts, this handbook contains a series of exercises to help the user to identify and classify types of knowledge, cultural aspects, and community goals related to specific knowledge claims. Through a series of exercises, it is possible for traditional knowledge holders to identify whether or not specific intellectual property protection options are relevant or appropriate for their knowledge. An electronic version of the handbook in PDF format is now available for download at: http://shr.aaas.org/tek/handbook/ More details from Stephen A Hansen, Project Director, Science & Intellectual Property in the Public Interest (SIPPI), American Association for the Advancement of Science 1200 New York Ave., NW Washington, DC 20005 USA Tel: (202) 326-6796 Fax: (202) 289-4950 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://shr.aaas.org WWW: http://sippi.aaas.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Info bank -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nayudamma Information Bank contains information about and easy access to technologies supported by IDRC - technologies from the South for the South. Providing contact names for all the technologies described, it is a way of sharing and updating information on technological advancements for international development. The information bank has been named in honour of the late Dr. Yelavarthy Nayudamma, a Sri Lankan who dedicated his life to demonstrating how science and technology can and should be used for human benefit. http://indev.nic.in/indev/profNewsItem.asp?id=649 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Passing through -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Ken Keniston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, that thorough researcher of ICT-for-development themes in India, was back scouring the country recently. Said he: "(M)y stay in India was productive and informative, not to mention enjoyable....As a result of the trip, and encouraged by Indian friends, I hope that an India-based project analyzing with some precision both the impact and the costs of the so-called 'ICT for the masses' projects could be undertaken over the course of the next two years." That could make for an interesting read. While we need not get pessimistic, it's long overdue that the hype be separated from the real projects with potential. See his site at www.kken.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOSS and development --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free/Libre and Open Source Software practitioners from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America recently got together to produce a manifesto on the role of Open Source Software (OSS) in the development cooperation context. They asked all stake-holders to pay more attention to OSS, and argued it should be employed wherever possible. http://sarai.waag.org/display.php?id=28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rural jobs -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like anything related to rural sector, placement services for rural sector employees and employers are still very little organized, much less than in all other sectors. Millions of unemployed people grope in the dark, not knowing where to look for a job and this, despite the fact that innumerable vacancies remain unfilled, the employers also not knowing where to find the right people for them. So what's the way out? www.ruralnaukri.com sees the root cause of the problem as the absence of any organized meeting ground for employers and employees, according to Dr Ajay Gupta. Placement agencies are hesitant to venture into rural India, due to its widespread and poor road connectivity. Their answer is online! Based in Delhi, http:/www.ruralnaukri.com, offers job aspirants a free service. Employers pay "a nominal amount" for posting the job advertisement for one month period. The employers and employees can log on to the site from any part of the country and post jobs or apply online.The jobs available are classified based on education and work experience. http://www.ruralnaukri.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malayalam plan --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dileep M. Kumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> is one of those working to create a Malayalam desktop for GNU/Linux. Says he: "We are looking for volunteers to help us to translate more applications. As a first step we are concentrating on GNOME now." More details from Dileep M. Kumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Mallapuram -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Geeta, of the Kerala State IT Mission points to the "enthusiasm" of the people of Mallapuram in Kerala in connection with the Akshaya project. Contact the Director, Kerala State Information Technology Mission, ICT Campus, Vellayambalam Jn, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala State, India 695033. phone 471 - 272 6881, 232 4307. Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.keralaitmission.org or www.akshaya.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check this profile of Deepalaya, a chain of schools in India that helps train slum children how to use computers. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/fulltext/casestudies.shtml -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ICTs and India -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What makes India special in the field of ICTs? Dr Madanmohan Rao argues that it is "a content-rich country with a free press climate, an affluent tech-savvy diaspora population spread across the world from Silicon Valley to Sydney to Singapore and London, and with a huge pool of cutting-edge infotech and design skills". Thus, he argues, India has a lot to offer to the domestic and global Internet market. The "dark" side is: poor connectivity outside the major cities, low levels of B2B (business to business) activity online, and government policy foot-dragging in terms of creating a level playing field for infrastructure players. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EF18Df01.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Online land records -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The manual systems of maintaining land records in India are as diverse as the country itself. The traditional methods have been changing over the years in each state according to local practices and traditions. The procedure for recording transfer and ownership of lands, shares and inheritance is generally based on a particular Identity number for each plot of land. Revenue assessment and agricultural yield related data are also recorded against that specific identification number. Village revenue officers are entrusted with the maintenance of these records and updating these records every harvesting season and on transfer of ownership. However, such records are not updated for years. http://www.uneca.org/codi/Documents/PDF/Information%20Age%20Government.pdf -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Medi-soft -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some links for medical-related software: Care2002 http://care2x.com/ FreeMED http://www.freemedsoftware.org LinuxMedNews http://www.linuxmednews.com Meditux http://meditux.sourceforge.net/ Open Infrastructure for Outcomes http://www.txoutcome.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Simputerland.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just when you thought nothing was happening on the Simputer front... Encore has evolved a partnering framework to address the range of potential applications using the Simputer as a platform. Encore already has commitment from 42 partners from 13 different countries to promote the Simputer in their territories as also to develop mobile enterprise and community applications for last mile connectivity. Encore partners are building solutions and undertaking pilot implementations with businesses in several industry segments such as Hospitality, Healthcare, FMCG, Utilities, Security, Financial Service Industry, Transport and e-Government. Through the partner portal Simputerland.com, Encore aims to build a community resource for partners enabling partners and users to leverage on applications developed in other regions, to quickly implement solutions and derive benefits from the platform. The portal showcases partner solutions and addresses the requirement to disseminate information as required among partners and users. http://www.simputerland.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Asia, reducing poverty -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To be held in New Delhi in October 2003, this conference seeks to bring together positive experiences of technology development from across South Asia -- showing how communities who are normally excluded can benefit from technology. Its organizers hope to use these experiences to develop new technology agendas and the strategies to promote them. It will specifically address: irrigation & water management, food production technologies, housing technologies, and energy. http://203.115.20.238/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marathi FLOSS -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Venky Hariharan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> says Prof Jitendra Shah, G Nagarjuna and others have been working to create a Marathi computing infrastructure in the Free Software world. Information awaited! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOSS in Indian enterprise -------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From banks and hospitals to software houses and prestigious technological institutions, the charm of free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) is casting a spell in India that is pushing many here to venture into uncharted fields. http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6958 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEK Search -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stuck with poor connectivity? Can't surf the web? This is an MIT project that is developing a server that accepts queries by email, "searches the Web, locates some pages, selects which pages to send back, compresses them, and returns them back to the user. Because the search results are returned asynchronously, by email, the connectivity charges are lower. Post- processing the search results and selecting which pages to send back reduces the amount of information and addresses the bandwidth question." The project seeks to make Internet browsing more available to people in the Third World. An Alpha version of the TEK client was released recently. Code is free! http://cag.lcs.mit.edu/tek/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maavooru.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's the webportal "for villagers in Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh". It explains itself thus: "Maavooru means 'Our Village' in Telugu. This website is a story of seven villages in Mahbubnagar (Andhra Pradesh)." It is their expression about "their lives, needs, happiness and their tears". They seek information on markets, travel, health and a range of other issues that matter to them: buy and sell their produce and also participate actively in changing the website design from time to time based on their needs. Some of the pages in the Website are secured and are for only villagers' usage. They link villagers to the database systems in medical diagnosis, e.commerce systems for trade and also to other tools like dialect dictionary. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.maavooru.net/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Affordable? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's the promise: affordable Internet connectivity for the masses. It seeks to combine the unique low-cost, wireless, Internet-ready attributes of ETHERchip with the convenience of a small, portable device. This promising the combination of the unique low-cost, Internet-ready attributes of ETHERchip with the convenience of a small, portable device. VillagePDA says access to Internet-based communications and information need not be "limited to specialized communication and computing devices that are priced beyond the reach of most people". http://www.villagepda.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangladesh, Bangla -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A site with strong database, among the biggest search engine among engines and directories on Bangladesh. Search.com.bd is completely devoted to Bangladesh & Bangla on the net. http://Search.com.bd/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet under Surveillance -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a report from the Reporters without Borders, based in France. It says: "The Internet is the bane of all dictatorial regimes, but even in democracies, new anti-terrorism laws have tightened government control of it and undermined the principle of protecting journalistic sources. This report is about attitudes to the Internet by the powerful in 60 countries, between spring 2001 and spring 2003." Don't miss the chapters dealing with India and other South Asian countries. http://www.rsf.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=378 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gandhiana, from Dahanu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gandhiana is an online multilingual bookshop with a modest collection on books on India and South Asia. Attempting to promote smaller publishers, Gandhiana sources its publications of progressive from obscure corners of India, from resistance movements and local groups. http://www.gandhiana.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Studies WWW Monitor -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for some of the above links to Dr T Matthew Ciolek's The Asian Studies WWW Monitor ISSN 1329-9778 URL http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html This e-journal [est. Apr 1994], a pioneering and the only publication of this kind in the world, provides free weekly abstracts and reviews of new/updated online resources of significance to research, teaching and communications dealing with the Asian Studies. The email edition of this Journal has now over 3110 subscribers. Announce new/improved Asian Studies' Web sites via http://coombs.anu.edu.au/regasia.html Irfan Khan's <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> s-asia-it mailing list, from neighbouring Pakistan, as usual, continues to provide vital inputs. To post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can subscribe to the list at http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/s-asia-it -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Multimedia training -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The UNESCO/APC Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK) provides trainers in telecentres, community media organisations, and the development sector with a structured set of materials to help make that jump between new and traditional media or train in a new skill area. The materials cover a range of multimedia areas like "presenting on radio" and "writing for the web" as well as topics such as "cooperative problem solving". The MMTK is a growing collection, and new topics will be added in the months to come. CONTACT: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:/www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/mmtk/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prying, in reverse -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have unveiled the Government Information Awareness, or GIA, website. Using applications developed at the Media Lab, GIA collects and collates information about government programs, plans and politicians from the general public and numerous online sources. Currently the database contains information on more than 3,000 public figures. The premise of GIA is that if the government has a right to know personal details about citizens, then citizens have a right to similar information about the government. Perhaps India needs something like this too! http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59495,00.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maps4India -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interested in maps? Check this list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mapinfo4india -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Farm journalism, online -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Centre for Alternative Agricultural Media will start a diploma course in farm journalism. The correspondence diploma, first of its kind in Kannada, will commence from November, 2003. Topics like nature and importance of farmer-friendly farm journalism, types of farm writing, techniques of writing, photo journalism etc., will be covered during the course. Only ten students will be selected for the one-year diploma course. Contact: Director, Centre for Alternative Agricultural Media, Krishnalaya, 1st Main, 4th cross, Narayanpur, Dharwad 580 008, with a long envelope and Rs 10 stamps. More details from Centre for Alternative Agricultural Media (CAAM) Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.farmedia.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Swedish dilemma --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kerstin Lundell, a Swedish friend working on ICTs in development, says: "I am finally arriving at the end of my book. But what really lacks is the great vision that ties everything together. Why are so many people so enthusiastic about ICT? What's the vision behind it all? What will it cost, what will it give, how will it make people happier in RL? Where is the vision that can make move the millions, both people and dollars? Where are the roads, the bridges, the transport of information that will make a change?" Thought-provoking questions. Feedback to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daknet, for rural needs --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This initiative led by First Mile Solutions (FMS), a venture managed by a team of MIT graduates, developing and testing innovative connectivity approaches aiming at rural needs in developing countries. A pilot demonstration took place in Tikawali, a village near Faridabad in March 2002. The pilot solution enabled villagers to file complaints via email and send video messages from one village to another. The solution combines WiFi (IEEE 802.11b) equipment at 2.4Ghz with Mobile Access Points (MAPs) mounted on and powered by a public bus. The pilot proved able to wirelessly and automatically collect, transport and deliver data at high speeds to and from kiosk-based computers enabled with WiFi cards. http://www.daknet.net/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Urdu solution -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing at National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (www.nu.edu.pk) has announced the beta release of character-based Nafees Naskh Open Type Font for writing Urdu in Naskh script with full aerab support based on Unicode standard. This font is developed according to calligraphic rules, following the Lahori style of one of the finest calligraphers of the language. Nafees Naskh allows Urdu computing on Microsoft 2000, NT, XP, Java (JDK1.4), Unix and Linux platforms. This font enables desktop and internet publishing, and electronic communication in Urdu using existing software (without any plug-ins) supporting OTF specifications. Nafees Naskh is freely downloadable from www.crulp.org or www.nu.edu.pk. Comments welcome at [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainwater -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check a new rainwaterharvesting group at Yahoo! Groups. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rainwaterharvesting -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For dating too... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A new attempt at building an online dating and socializing forum, that comes from Goa's active-on-the-Net diaspora. http://www.goanconnect.org It explains itself: "Most people meet others through friends or through some form of community interaction. Ours is an interactive forum that allows you to interact with the other person. You can invite your own friends to join you and form your own online community .. and they can invite their friends. Perhaps one of them might be that special somone. What better way to meet such a person through someone you trust, while still maintaining your anonymity?" 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 bYtES For aLL is a voluntary, unfunded venture. CopyLeft, 2003. bYtES For aLL e-zine volunteers team includes: Frederick Noronha in Goa, Partha Sarkar in Dhaka, Zunaira Durrani in Karachi, Zubair Abbasi in Islamabad, Archana Nagvenkar in Goa, Arun-Kumar Tripathi in Darmstatd, Shivkumar in Mumbai, Sangeeta Pandey in Nepal, Rajkumar Buyya in Melbourne, Mahrukh Mohiuddin in Dhaka and Deepa Rai in Kathmandu, among others. If you'd like to volunteer in any way, please get in touch. BytesForAll's website www.bytesforall.org is maintained by Partha Sarkar, with inputs from other members of the volunteers' team and supporters. To subscribe to our main mailing list, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you've missed out recent debates, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** 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/>
