[GKD] Wireless-for-Development Portal Launched (Venezuela)
Campaigners in Venezuela have launched a wireless-for-development portal, and the English-language details are below. See http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=582985 and also http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=526407 for EsLaRed's eighth Latin American workshop on networking technology... which looks like a rather interesting gathering of people and topics, when viewed from half way around the globe ;-) FN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Wireless talks development, that too in Spanish: www.wilac.net MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- The Latin American School of Networks Foundation (ESLARED) and the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) has launched a portal. WiLAC is the new information portal about Wireless Technologies for Development, designed to support individuals, organisations, municipalities and businesses currently implementing community wireless connectivity projects, or those about to launch on this road. The launch took place during the 'Experiences from Wireless Project Implementation event, on July 27, 2005, in Merida (Venezuela), during the WALC 2005, an event about networking and content. WiLAC's portal was launched during a Panel of experiences in implementation of wireless technologies, that was showcased during workshops underway at the event. This panel began at 7 p.m. in the Faculty of Engineering Auditorium of Los Andes University (ULA). In a crowded auditorium, Edmundo Vitale moderated the panel. It was kicked off with initial interventions from Jorge Phillips and Ermanno Pietrosemoli. Both emphasized the importance of having a reference point in the region, to address information needs about wireless technologies, specially in Spanish, the third most-widely spoken language in the world. Jaime Torres and Am©rico Sanchez, experts of the Area of Engineering at CEPES (Peru), presented their experience with the Agrarian Information System of Huaral Valley. They not only shared what they encountered in the implementation of the wireless network, but also about the community development, costs estimates and the impact in the community. CVG Telecom (Venezuela) president Julio Dur°n presented the National Network of Social Connectivity plan, which includes the deployment of technologies that go from fibre across the country to experimentation with WiMAX technologies. But the starting point will be communities that are otherwise much more isolated. [WiMAX is an acronym that stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. The WiMAX protocol is a way of networking computing devices together; for example to provide internet access, in a similar way to Wi-Fi. WiMAX is both faster and has a longer range than Wi-Fi. However, WiMAX does not necessarily conflict with Wi-Fi, but is designed to interoperate with it and may indeed complement it.] Sylvia Cadena presented the model used by the Institute for the Connectivity in Am©ricas (ICA), to support the implementation of projects pilot about fixed and itinerant Wi-Fi technologies through all the region. Finally, the WiLAC portal structure was briefly explored to check its performance as well as the possibilities it could offer. Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the WiLAC portal will promote information about design, implementation, development, replication, and the use of necessary components for a successful community wireless project that serves the community. More specifically, the information, available in Spanish, has been structured to offer the user relevant information regarding: research (case studies, impact analysis); implementation (articles and reports about current projects); technical reviews and news about technical standards development; regulatory frameworks (links and descriptions of the conditions in each country to develop community wireless networks); training resources (materials, courses and workshops); regional expertise; support funds available; news about wireless projects in other parts of the world; and related events. WiLAC promotes direct cooperation and exchange among community initiatives using wireless technologies under development in the region (and also in other regions). It also promotes the building up of relationships and support from those initiatives with more experience to those just starting up. This portal was fully developed using free and open source software (FOSS). ESLARED is a non-profit institution dedicated to promoting information technologies in Latin America and the Caribbean, working since 1992, and legally constituted in Venezuela. It has worked to promote the building of human resources and research in telecommunications, computer networks and information technologies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its focus also includes research and development on technology transfer and appropriate technology, to foster scientific, technical and social progress in the region. It is a member of the Association
[GKD] The $100 Computer is Key to India's Technology Fortunes
GKD members may be interested in the following article detailing recent progress towards the design of a $100 computer in India. -FN ** http://news.com.com/Indias+renaissance+The+100+computer/2009-1041_3-575205 4.html India's Tech Renaissance The $100 computer is key to India's tech fortunes By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com June 29, 2005 MUMBAI, India--One of the critical ingredients for the $100 computer is probably in your garage. In about three months, a little-known company called Novatium plans to offer a stripped-down home computer for about $70 or $75. That is about half the price of the standard thin clients of this kind now sold in India, made possible in part by some novel engineering choices. Adding a monitor doubles the price to $150, but the company will offer used displays to keep the cost down. If you want to reach the $100 to $120 price point, you need to use old monitors, said Novatium founder and board member Rajesh Jain, a local entrepreneur who sold the IndiaWorld portal for $115 million in cash in 2000 and has started a host of companies since. Monitors have a lifetime of seven to eight years. It is this kind of entrepreneurial thinking that has made Jain the latest visionary to seek out today's Holy Grail of home computing: a desktop that will start to bring the Internet to the more than 5 billion people around the world who aren't on it yet. The first $100 computer is a fitting icon for a country undergoing major changes in the development of its technology, economy and society. As Indian companies increasingly break away from the limitations of handling outsourced services for Western corporations, innovations are likely to multiply and inspire the rising number of independently minded engineers and executives who are leading the country's technology industry to new frontiers. Because of thriving exports and low PC penetration, India has become the epicenter for projects on the cutting edge of computing hardware. Advanced Micro Devices has started to sell its Personal Internet Communicator for $235, including monitor, through a broadband partner here. It says a fully equipped $100 personal computer in three years isn't out of the question. The innovative spirit that pervades the industry is producing a variety of new approaches toward affordable computing. Tata Consultancy Services is tinkering with domain computers that reduce costs by just handling fixed functions such as bill payment or word processing, said Nagaraj Ijari, a senior executive in the company's operations in Bangalore. About 200 miles away in high-tech center Chennai, formerly known as Madras, Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the Indian Institute of Technology has developed a $1,000 automatic teller machine that can also serve as an Internet kiosk for villages. He has also built a wireless data system that has been exported to Brazil, Iran, Fiji and Nigeria. Creating a product that cuts costs without reducing functions isn't easy, as exemplified by the Simputer, a handheld computer designed for the masses. And many products face formidable logistical and infrastructural obstacles. Professor Jitendra Shah, from the Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing, is examining ways to reduce electricity usage by setting up solar-powered computing terminals that tap into battery-powered PCs acting as servers. We are looking at ways to take advantage of unconventional sources of power. Practically in every village you will find a truck or car battery that you can use when the regular power grid fails you, said Ketan Sampat, president of Intel India. You also want to design something that is more tolerant of dust. Living in a material world The key to success for the $100 computer lies in the sum of its parts. Even though the industry has seen continuous price declines for components--including metal, plastic and other raw materials--many executives believe that manufacturing a full-fledged PC for even less than $200 is probably still impractical. We are not able to fix the monitor and hard-drive problem, said P.R. Lakshamanan, senior vice president of Zenith Computers, one of India's largest local PC makers. With these realities in mind, some companies are adjusting their price goals. Xenitis, for example, has come out with PCs that cost just under $250, equipped with an older 1GHz processor from Via Technologies, 128MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, Linux software and a 15-inch screen. Via will join in with its own Terra PC in the fall. The Terra comes with the same basic configuration as its Xenitis competitor, but the operating system and the basic applications are loaded on a flash memory chip, not the drive--making the computer less susceptible to viruses and other problems. Via, however, admits that it will need to select battle-hardened software. There is no way I am going to take care of all of the problems, said Ravi
[GKD] Free and Open Source Software Tools for NGOs
community could be connected they could act as a review and recommendation group, sharing experiences and knowledge on using and developing the boxes and providing each other with relevant NGO case studies. The key to achieving this would be in developing and maintaining a well established network of locally based partners. Some questions which remain are, would the draw for this community be enough for sustained involvement? And how could the box develop in the future to become more NGO specific, providing solutions for activities such as security monitoring, advocacy, organising and campaigning. For more information or in order to obtain a copy of NGO-in-a-box, please contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tactical Technology Collective © 2004 | Site by Floatleft Frederick Noronha (FN)Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com http://goabooks.swiki.net * Reviews of books on Goa... and more ***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/
[GKD] NGOs and Free Software
Volunteering and Free Software Below is a list of ten reasons why volunteering organisations -- called non-government organisations (NGOs) in some countries -- need to take a close look and deploy Free Software: * If NGOs don't subscribe to the principles of sharing freely, reuse and waste-minimisation, then who will? * If NGOs take the easy way out and end up on the side of a global monopoly, then words and deeds don't match. * 'Freedom' is something NGOs always talk about, in whatever form. In the software world, this is already a reality. The possibility exists; are we ready to take a little extra trouble (the initial learning curve) in opting for it? * Because NGOs need quality, stable software. * Because NGOs are even more talent-rich, resource-poor than most in the Third World. * Because Free Software works out reasonably priced both in the short and long term. * Because Free Software creates local jobs and multiplies local skills. * Because Free Software is transparent enough for you to (i) learn it, if you have the technical background (ii) make custom changes in the manner you wish to, or pay others to do this for you (iii) enable both you and your staff to learn at a much more deeper, rather than superficial level. * Because Free Software is an ethical choice -- not one of convenience. * NGOs receive and disseminate much information. It helps to be able to access info (in digital format) without having to (i) break the law (ii) spend money to purchase applications to 'read' the information. Use of swatantra software enables that, as South India-based lawyer Mahesh Pai [EMAIL PROTECTED] points out. * Because free software empowers computer users and encourages them to cooperate, as Richard M Stallman notes. Copyleft 2004, Frederick Noronha --- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 Goa India Freelance JournalistP: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks http://fn.swiki.net http://www.ryze.com/go/fredericknoronha http://fn-floss.notlong.com --- Difficulties to send email across? Write to fredericknoronha at vsnl.net === Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html ***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/
[GKD] India's March Towards Open Access
) publishers in other countries, suggests that the government should have an interest in ensuring its success. India's University Grants Commission, for example, should insist that major universities with a large output of science and technology papers set up institutional archives. Other funding agencies -- such as the Department of Science Technology, Department of Scientific Industrial Research, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Indian Council of Medical Research -- should also insist that research papers resulting from work supported by their funds be made available through open-access archives and toll-free journals. India is not the only country being drawn towards open access. In China - for example, among officials of the National Natural Science Foundation and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information in China, as well as researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences -- there is already significant interest in its benefits to the country's scientists. Reflecting this interest, in mid-June 2004 China will hold a major national conference on open access in cooperation with the US National Academy of Sciences. And in the last week of June, the Eighth International Conference on Electronic Publishing will take place in Brasilia. The first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, held last December, has given a considerable boost to these efforts: the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action include strong statements in favour of open access to scientific literature. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has also offered his support. NURTURING THE NETWORK International action is one thing, but genuine free access is another. It will need a champion (or champions) in every institution to promote the creation of institutional archives, and persuade scientists to place their papers in them. Free access also requires adequate hardware and connectivity. Many universities and research institutions in the developing world lack both computers and high bandwidth Internet connectivity, so part of the strategy of open-access proponents must include campaigning for improved ICT facilities. Luckily, costs of both hardware and Internet bandwidth are coming down all over the world. Another important hurdle to overcome is the fact that many scientists labour under the impression that journal editors may not accept archived papers, claiming that this represents an unacceptable form of 'pre-publication'. These scientists worry that it will be difficult to assess the impact of their research if it isn't published in conventional journals. After all, they argue, promotions and awards are often determined by the impact factor of the journals in which one's work is published. Many are also unaware of the advantages of gaining greater visibility and are reluctant to make the effort to post their articles on archives. Just over a year ago, for example, the National Centre for Science Information (NCSI) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the country's best-known higher education institution in science and technology, set up an institutional archive. The institute publishes about 1,800 papers a year, of which about 900 are indexed in the Web of Science, which gives access to the world's most prestigious, high impact research journals. Yet so far, the archive has attracted less than 70 papers. This experience emphasises an important point: it is not enough just to create an open-access archive. Filling it is far more important (and difficult). After all, an empty archive is worse than having no archive at all. But attitudes of the journals are changing, making institutional archiving a more attractive proposition. It is important for champions of open access to let scientists know that many journals, including high-impact titles such as Nature and the British Medical Journal, already permit authors to archive both preprints and postprints. The emphasis should therefore be on setting up open archives rather than on persuading journal publishers to make their journals open access. If scientists and scientific establishments in China, India and Brazil can be persuaded to adopt open access quickly, then it is likely that the rest of the developing world will follow. This article is courtesy Scidev.net. Check out the new South Asia section of this website, focussing on science and development issues. -FN FORWARDED VIA: Frederick Noronha (FN)Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks http://fn.swiki.net http://www.ryze.com/go/fredericknoronha http://fn-floss.notlong.com
[GKD] India's PM Launches Village Resource Centre
Manmohan Singh launches village resource centre By Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Oct 18 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday launched the Village Resource Centre (VRC) that aims at providing a host of intelligent services to make India's 600,000 villages prosperous. Conceived by the Chennai-based M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and shaped by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the satellite-based VRC is more than just bridging the urban-rural divide through information technology. The centre will be used to provide information about agricultural, health, education and also government services to the villagers. Launching the centre here, Manmohan Singh said: Unless we take the benefits of modern science and technology to our villages, we cannot get rid of mass poverty which has afflicted millions and millions of our people. He described the mission as yet another saga of adventure and enterprise to bring the benefit of modern technology for the development of India's villages. A satellite link provided by ISRO would provide villages with local specific information. The VRCs would use communication and remote sensing satellites to provide information on a range of subjects like natural resources, sites for drinking water and ground water recharging, water harvesting and wasteland reclaiming. Initially, the VRC will be set up in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Wayanad and Palakkad areas of Kerala and in some parts of the northeast. ISRO and the Department of Space plan to set up more such VRCs in regions such as islands, mountainous terrains and tribal-dominated areas, before extending the service to all 600,000 villages. Frederick Noronha (FN)Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks http://fn.swiki.net http://www.ryze.com/go/fredericknoronha http://fn-floss.notlong.com Difficulties to send email across? Write to fredericknoronha at vsnl.net ***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/
[GKD] BytesForAll: South Asian ICT4D Newsletter
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ B y t e s F o r A l l --- http://www.bytesforall.org _/ Making Computing Relevant to the People of South Asia _/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers 062004 _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Open Access Workshop MSSRF ( http://www.mssrf.org ), the MS Swaminathan Research Fundation, held an interesting event in early May. Sunil Abraham [EMAIL PROTECTED] reports that the focus of this workshop is GNU EPrints, a 'Mukt' and 'Muft' software. The GNU EPrints has been developed at the Electronics and Computer Science Department of the University of Southampton. See http://software.eprints.org/. Today there are 132 known archives running EPrints software worldwide. And the total number of records in these archives is 45894. Dr Leslie Carr demonstrated the installation of E-Prints software on Red Hat 7.3. E-Prints requires Apache Web Server, MySQL Relational Database Server and Perl Programming Language. After that Prof. Leslie Chan demonstrated OAIster [http://www.oaister.org This is a meta-crawler for Open Archives. Today it has 3,163,129 records from 282 institutions. Says Abraham: This is really a *must see* for all researchers, documentalists, archivists and information scientists. OAIster is based on an Open Archives Initiative - Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. See more at http://www.openarchives.org/ In short OAI provides standards, technologies and tools to Open Archive projects that wish to publish data in a uniform manner and thus leverage the collective strength of the network. This is similar to the Dublin Core http://dublincore.org/ initiative. Other presentations included one by Dr D K Sahu on Open File Formats and design of Meta Data. He is making a detailed comparison of PDF, HTML, XML and SGML. Low or no Net access Jude Griffin [EMAIL PROTECTED] of the Electronic Products Group Management Sciences for Health Boston http://www.msh.org has been visiting India to look at the state of innovation for those with low or no Internet access, and who is doing innovative work in ICTs in India. Says he: I work for Management Sciences for Health -- an international health nonprofit whose audience is health professionals in the developing world. This audience spans health workers in Bangladesh to ministry officials in Latin America. Their products and courses use a mix of delivery methodologies including Web, email, CD rom, print and face-to-face. Says Griffin: We are looking for possible collaboration partners for a variety of ICT initiatives from courses to communities of practice which would utilize a range of ICTs. Open publishing --- The Journal of Orthopaedics is applying the principles of Free Software and Open Source to the publishing world. Open Access has already become the buzzword in scholarly discussions and publishing circles. The scholar community, which was denied barrier-free access to vital research, has already begun dreaming of the free world where exchange of vital research is seamless. The Open Access Movements are gaining momentum and public acceptance worldwide. Open Access can change the scenario by a multi-pronged approach. Firstly by releasing the content in an open access license, which inherently includes reuse permissions, will make it available in different forms and different avenues free of cost. This significantly improves access. For example, a recent editorial published in Calicut Medical Journal[ www.calicutmedicaljournal.org] was translated to vernacular language and republished in a popular health magazine, which made the article accessible to a community which had no access to the primary literature. Dr.P.V Ramachandran Professor of Radiodiagnosis Medical College Aleppey E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.pvramachandran.com and Dr.Vinod Scaria of Kozhikode in Kerala E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.drvinod.com made this point very aptly recently. Digilibraries - Check out the mailing list for digital libraries, Digilib_India. To subscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] It brings across useful informational nuggets, like the recent one about USEMARCON Plus v1.41. USEMARCON is a software application that allows users to convert bibliographic records from one MAchine-Readable Cataloguing (MARC) format to another. To download the software please visit the the British Library web site at http://www.bl.uk/services/bibliographic/usemarcon.html Database globally - A recent advert pointed to the work of Nexus Information Services Company Private Limited (affiliated to National Information Services Corporation, Baltimore, Maryland, USA). It is one of the foremost database access, production and publishing companies in the world. Nexus Information Services Co. Pvt. Ltd is located at Hyderabad, and can be contacted via
[GKD] First Community Radio in South Africa Celebrates 10th
Anniversary Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Precedence: bulk Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Success Rewards Bush Courage By Michello Cho [Radio World * July 2003] CAPE TOWN, South Africa: The Bush Radio story exemplifies the power of positive thinking. The first community radio initiative in South Africa -- dubbled the Little Radio Station That Could ... and Did -- proudly celebrated its 10th anniversary in May (2003). The celebrations kicked off on 1 May with a 10 Years/10 Days/10 Bucks campaign. The award-winning station asked listeners and newcomers to support its decade of low-budget, high-quality programming with a donation of 10 rand or more during 10 days of festivities in which Bush Radio re-aired broadcasts from 1993 to the present. Since its humble beginnings during the Apartheid era, Bush Radio has always striven to serve as the voice of the people. It was started by the Cassette Education Trust (CASET), a small group interested in developing an alternative audio communications system. They recorded information in radio format to cassettes, made duplicates and distributed them in townships in and around Cape Town. Aiming to inform and educate the poor, the tapes covered literacy, hygiene, health and, of course, political issues. CASET had one underlying philosophy, Information is Power, and the initiators knew that the airwaves would be integral to its long-term educational and empowerment objectives. CASET eventually proposed establishing a community radio facility at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), just outside Cape Town. Because the university was located far from the city and surrounded by dense bush, it was known as Bush College. After much deliberation, it became clear that the UWC campus would not be a suitably accessible location and operations moved to Salt River, Cape Town. In 1992, CASET dissolved as an organisation and relaunched as a community radio initiative. Keeping the original campus name, Bush Radio was born. For the first time in South African history, black people would have the opportunity to be broadcasters. Money was needed and Bush Radio approached numerous international donors for support. Fredrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), a German nongovernmental organisation with a keen interest in training potential broadcasters, provided crucial help. Once Bush Radio secured the support of FES, it never looked back and word spread quickly. Job applications started to flood in and Bush Radio soon established itself as a key trainer and lobbyist for community radio in South Africa. Pressuring the government to grant it a broadcast license, training fledging stations across the country, and building a strong reputation internationally, Bush Radio slowly rooted itself and the concept of community radio. After having a number of its license applications denied, Bush Radio decided to broadcast illegally. In May 1993, a group of about 20 volunteer activists took a 16-channel mixing desk, CDs, tapes and an illegally obtained transmitter to a room, set up and prepared to switch it on. They circulated a press release, designed a short program schedule and composed a song. After a few test runs, Bush Radio went on the air. The first broadcast lasted four hours and, just as quickly as Bush Radio went on air, the authorities raided the premises, shut it down and seized all the equipment. Two key members were charged with illegal broadcasting, illegal possession of broadcast apparatus and obstructing the course of justice. The case dragged on but, following tremendous pressure from individuals and organisations worldwide, the state dropped the charges eight months later. Today the station operates from a three-story building and boasts digital studio tools, sharing its facilities and resources with the Broadcast Training Institute -- a center for the training of producers, journalists and media-makers. The award-winning Bush Radio program YAA 2000 (Youth Against AIDS) earned a silver medal for Best Radio Program at the New York Radio Festival in 2001. The previous year, the station won the prestigious Prince Claus Award for development and, most recently, station director Zane Ibrahim received a honourable token of appreciation from the eight Association Mondiale des Radiodiffuseurs Communautaires (AMARC) conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. These achievements, together with the quality programming, convinced the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to grant the station a four-year broadcast license in June 2002 -- just reward for an extraordinary example of bravery and determination. * * * Michelle Cho is a producer/coordinator at Bush Radio in Cape Town, South Africa. ***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
Re: [GKD] RFI: Low-Bandwidth Long Distance Wireless E-mail
Roberto Verzola wrote: Speaking of low-cost access (to the Web, via email), the www4mail services have been one of the most appreciated. I considered it my lifeline when I stayed offline (but kept email) for more than a year, and would still use it for most of my Web access if it remained available. Unfortunately, the www4mail services I know have become flaky and unreliable, sometimes responding sometimes not. A pity. We keep talking of low-cost access, yet when one becomes available that is truly useful and appreciated, few want to maintain it. Roberto Verzola is right. I just can't seem to get through to the www4mail services these days. The services were very helpful for us in the bandwidth poor parts of the globe. FN -- - Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa, India f r e d @ b y t e s f o r a l l . o r g Ph 832.2409490 / 832.2409783 Cell 9822 122436 Phone calls: preferably from 1300 to 0500 (IST) Try landlines if mobile is temporarily unavailable JUST OUT: Goa photos http://www.goa-world.com/fotofolio - ***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/
[GKD] Sustainable Agriculture Magazine on CD
A world of agri info... on a CD --- LEISA arrived today with a bit of a bulge, and my guess was not wrong... it was a CD. One of the mags which I find rather interesting in the field of agriculture gave me a pleasant surprise. It included the entire archives of its articles, covering a period of virtually two decades -- from 1984 to 2003. What's more, I found the note on the back of the CD encouraging: ILEIA encourages readers to copy and circulate articles. Please acknowledge LEISA Magazine and send us a copy of your publication. Just goes to show what an attitude favouring the free-sharing of knowledge and information can achieve. But let's get to basics first. LEISA isn't just *any* magazine on agriculture. It's focus is specifically on *low external input and sustainable agriculture*. Hence its name. Whatever funding organisations and the Western development mind-set might be critiqued for, this magazine's approach seems relevant to large parts of the planet. So, naturally, one waits for it whenever it shows up in the post. Inspite of the fact that this writer has no specialist knowledge in agriculture The CD itself covers vast ground. In an easy-to-browse format, which can be accessed by (m)any web-browsers, this CD includes a volume index, author index and topic index. Clicking on the 'topic index' takes you to scores of articles related to themes like agro-biodiversity, agroforestry, animal husbandry, biotechnology, communication and learning, crop management, farming systems, food security, gender, indigenous knowledge, pest management, policy and advocacy, resources, soil-fertility, sustainability, trade and marketing and water management. Interesting stuff. The next question: how does one replicate copies of this CD and share it among those who could benefit from the knowledge it contains? If you have any ideas, do get in touch... TO GET TO KNOW more about LEISA, visit its website at http://www.ileia.org Email ileia at ileia.nl LEISA India: amebang at giasbg01.vsnl.net.in (AME, Bangalore). Local organisations and individuals in the South (Third World) can receive the magazine free of charge on request. Write to subscriptions at ileia.nl -- - April 2004 | Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa| Goa India 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 1 2 3| 4 5 6 7 8 9 10| Email fred at bytesforall.org 11 12 13 14 15 16 17| Writing with a difference 18 19 20 21 22 23 24| ... on what makes *the* difference 25 26 27 28 29 30 | http://www.bytesforall.org --- CHECK OUT USENET http://www.algebra.com/~scig/approved/threads.html --- Urgent email to fredericknoronha at vsnl.net Mobile 9822 122436 ***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/
[GKD] Video Volunteers: Using Video to Fight Poverty (India)
I would like to appeal to those on this list to join-in a debate currently underway for the legalisation of community-radio in India. This campaign has been on since the mid-nineties, when the Supreme Court of India gave its landmark judgement saying that the airwaves are public property and should be listening to a diversity of voices. If interested in knowing more, kindly check up the archives below, or join the mailing list at the URL alongside: ___ cr-india mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india -- --- | Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist | Goa India 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 | | Email fred at bytesforall.org | Writing with a difference | ... on what makes *the* difference | http://www.bytesforall.org --- CHECK OUT USENET http://www.algebra.com/~scig/approved/threads.html --- Regards from Goa, FN http://www.creativevisions.org/videovols.htm#uptotop Video Volunteers Putting video into the hands of grassroots activists who are leading the fight against poverty. VIDEO VOLUNTEERS is a new program dedicated to spreading the use of video as a tool to alleviate poverty in the developing world. Volunteer filmmakers join non-governmental organizations (NGOs), initially in India, for two months to write, shoot and edit one short film for the NGO. They also train the NGO staff to make their own small videos and to use video to give a voice to the poor. Through the Video Volunteers Program, NGOs have a powerful tool for promoting their work and spreading their messages. THE TIME IS RIGHT In the 1990's, a World Bank survey asked thousands of the poorest of the poor to identify the biggest hurdle to their advancement. Above even food and shelter, the number one problem cited was access to a voice. The Video Volunteers project is about giving a voice to the voiceless, and to the people who fight for them. Thanks to inexpensive video cameras and computer editing, the cost of producing videos is finally within the reach of the grassroots. For NGOs, videos can be a great addition to an education program and are an effective tool for policy action and awareness raising in the media. NGOs can also now start incorporating the video camera into their daily work. We teach them to use video for effective long-term project documentation. In addition to our documentary training, we will also teach them to edit simple sequences together quickly for promotional material, for example, or to stream personal testimonials from the community on the web. EMPOWERING PEOPLE Thanks to new digital technologies, anyone can make a film--you may not be able to write, but you can see and you can talk, and that means you can make your own video. In group brainstorming sessions, members of the community decide what messages the film will deliver, who the main characters should be and how the film will develop. Participants in the program are encouraged to get involved in all aspects of the filmmaking process, from the shooting to the interviewing to the editing. Why? Because if it's a film to educate the community in health issues, the community knows best what will resonate with its own people. If the intended audience is TV viewers a world away, the poor have a right to tell their own stories, and not be spoken for. DISTRIBUTION The goal of Video Volunteers is to help NGOs communicate better, and also to share vital information both within and beyond their local communities. The videos will be streamed on One World TV, the leading internet television station, which will become a hub for those using video in poverty alleviation. If the NGO desires, we will help distribute VHS copies of the videos to other organizations along with educational or other support materials. CURRENT VIDEO VOLUNTEER PROJECTS In autumn 2003, Video Volunteers successfully piloted the program at the NGOs of two Indian Ashoka Fellows (see www.ashoka.org .) VV made one promotional film for Akanksha, the Bombay slum children's supplementary education program. They also made an advocacy film for I-CARD, an Assamese NGO working to strengthen the cultural identity of the Mising tribe who live along the banks of the Brahmaputra. I-CARD was given video training and is now working on its own productions. CORE MEMBERS: Jessica Mayberry (Program Coordinator) - Jessica Mayberry was awarded a Fellowship by the American India Foundation in 2002 and spent nine months making films and conducting video trainings at the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in Ahmedabad. She completed a 30-minute film on women-led initiatives to combat drought, and shot and wrote a second film about
[GKD] Community Radio Gives India's Villagers a Voice
INTERESTING STORY from South India. Sorry for the delay in posting it. As someone involved with the community-radio debate, I'd urge anyone who sees potential in this form of communication to add their voice to the demand for freeing India's airwaves. The world's largest democracy needs to prove its commitment to free speech. Interestingly, while Deputy PM L K Advani was recently praising the potential of community radio (while launching the educational radio station at Anna University in Chennai) officials of the government are quoted below as expressing their reservations. Fear is the key! The potential is lost. If you would like to join a mailing-list devoted to spreading awareness about community radio and its potential, sign on below... FN ___ cr-india mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india ___ Community Radio Gives India's Villagers a Voice Officials Worry Local Stations May Foment Unrest By Rama Lakshmi Special to The Washington Post Wednesday, September 17, 2003; BOODIKOTE, India -- Crushed under the weight of three years of drought, the villagers lost their patience when the public water pipes dried up last June. For eight days, there was no water for cooking, cleaning or washing. There were murmurs of protest everywhere. Women came out of their homes with empty pots demanding that the old pipes be fixed and new wells dug. Men stood at street corners and debated angrily. The village chief made promises, but nothing happened. Then, a young man ran over to the village radio station and picked up a recorder. Women complained and shouted into the mike and vented their anger at the village chief's indifference. There was chaos everywhere. But I recorded everything, said Nagaraj Govindappa, 22, a jobless villager. He played the tape that evening on the small community radio station called Namma Dhwani, or Our Voices. The embarrassed village chief ordered the pipes repaired. Within days, water was gushing again. India's first independent community radio initiative is in this millet- and tomato-growing village in the southern state of Karnataka. It is a cable radio service because India forbids communities to use the airwaves. A media advocacy group, with the help of U.N. funds, laid cables, sold subsidized radios with cable jacks to villagers and trained young people to run the station. The power of community radio as a tool of social change is enormous in a country that is poor, illiterate and has a daunting diversity of languages and cultures, said Ashish Sen, director of Voices, the advocacy group. Emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling in 1995 declaring airwaves to be public property, citizens groups and activists began pushing for legislation that would free the airwaves from government control. Two years ago, India auctioned its FM stations to private businesses to air entertainment programs. And late last year, India allowed some elite colleges to set up and run campus radio stations. By keeping the airwaves restricted, activists complain, the Indian government lags behind such South Asian neighbors as Nepal and Sri Lanka. Nepal launched South Asia's first community radio station in 1995 and today has at least five independent stations across the country that address people's complaints and act as hubs of information in times of strife. In Sri Lanka, Kothmale Radio has been an integral part of the Kothmale community for 14 years. Last December, Sri Lanka issued a broadcasting license to the formerly clandestine radio station run by the Tamil Tiger rebels, Voice of Tigers. The decision was made to strengthen the peace process underway after nearly two decades of war and to bring the radio transmissions under Sri Lankan law. Radiophony, an Indian lobby group for community radio, claims that villagers can set up a low-powered, do-it-yourself radio station -- with a half-watt transmitter, a microphone, antenna and a cassette player -- for approximately $25. The group says such a station can reach about a third of a mile and cover a small village. Last year, the group supplied a low-wattage transmitter to a World Bank-supported women's group in Oravakal, a village in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Mana Radio, or Our Radio, ran for five months before officials from the communications ministry seized the equipment and shut down the broadcast in February. We have to tread very cautiously when it comes to community radio, said Pavan Chopra, secretary of India's ministry of information and broadcasting. As of today we don't think that villagers are equipped to run radio stations. People are unprepared, and it could become a platform to air provocative, political content that doesn't serve any purpose except to divide people. It is fraught with danger. The ministry runs the All India Radio service that covers the country and has more than 200 stations.
[GKD] Tackling India's Literacy Problem
This reply was sent out to one specific query. Guess it applies for others interested too. FN ** It is always good to be sharing information with like minded individuals and organisations. As you may have learned from my friend, Fred Noronha, and perhaps a perusal of the website, www.tataliteracy.com, Tata Consultancy Services has been working in this field since May 2000. As of now our computer based functional literacy programme has offerings in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu. More than 30,000 persons have become functionally literate in Andhra, Tamil Nadu and other smaller locations in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It requires the use of a sound enabled computer, Pentium 1 will suffice and we encourage the use of primers of the State Resource Centres of NLM which are inexpensive to procure. We provide the software on free-for-non-commercial-use basis on a CD-ROM. I am sending a few items of interest. In case you would like to have a CD, do let us know something of your initiatives for literacy by radio, and send your postal address and telephone number. Best wishes, Anthony Lobo Tata Consultancy Services Air India Building 10th Flr # 71 Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 Tel 56689378 (d) 5668 (bd) [EMAIL PROTECTED] corp soc responsibility : adult literacy prog WWW.TATALITERACY.COM * * * THE 300-MILLION QUESTION: HOW TO SPREAD LITERACY IN INDIA... AND FAST From Frederick Noronha WHAT DO you do with a population of close to 300 million iliterates, who can speak their native languages, but cannot read or write in them? Do we see them merely as empty stomachs, and a burden on the nation? Or, is this an untapped potential, which can be converted into 600 million useful hands? If a project by premier Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) can find the right partners, and hit critical mass, then this large section could be converted into productive individuals who can read signboards. Maybe even the simple text of a newspaper in under 40 hours of learning-time. Retired Major General B G Shively's recent mission to the Goa port town of Vasco da Gama saw him take on an unusual enemy -- illiteracy. It also took to India's smallest state an innovative campaign that brings enticingly near the dream of making India literate. Says Pune-based Shively: Every adult has inborn qualities (and intelligence). You only have to activate it. This military-man now consulting advisor to the Tata Consultancy Services' literacy plan suggests that the computer can turn into a magic wand of sorts, to spread reading skills without the need for a huge army of teachers. Quite some work has already been done by TCS in Andhra Pradesh, with Telugu. Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Bengali are the other languages worked on. Gujarati is shaping up. What's more, there's an added bonus: India could become functionally literate in just three to four years time, if -- and this is a big if -- this method is vigorously implemented. How does it work? Simple. The software giant TCS is using low-end computers to take out the monotony from teaching, piggy-backing on the initiatives already undertaken by the National Literacy Mission, and treating adults very differently from children when it comes to teaching them. Some rules: don't make an adult sit for tests. Don't get caught up with writing, as the difficulties involved acts as a major disincentive. Reading skills are most important. Adults can't be made to study alphabets the same way children unquestioningly take to it. One-third of our population -- old, young and adults -- are illiterate. Some 150-200 million are adult illiterates between 15-50 years. Illiteracy is a major social concern, says Shively. Growing at 1.3% per annum roughly, literacy is creeping in just too slowly to make a difference for India's efficiency. That's where, says TCS, computers come in. Software generated by TCS, which is given to volunteer groups free-of-cost, tries to teach adults to learn to read a language by words, rather than the traditional method of learning by alphabets. In the Goa Shipyard Limited, one of India's military-run building centres, the concept recently drew interest. Sixty workers signed-up to learn the most important of the 3 Rs. Andhra is however the state where this project has made the most progress. There's almost nothing the teacher has to speak. Everything is in the software. So teachers can run 5-6 classes (one-hour) classes in a day, without getting tired. You don't need a trained teacher (because of the software), says Shively. In 40-hours flat, an illiterate could be turned into a 'functional literate', claims the major-general. This would enable one to read simple newspaper headlines, check out bus directions, read signboards and the like. Hopefully, such skills could be deepened over time. Their ideas are put out on the site www.tataliteracy.com, and the TCS is claiming a good response even from a few
[GKD] Will Computers Help Goa's Children?
Will computers help Goa's children? By Daryl Martyris dmartyris at hotmail.com For the last five years a silent revolution has been happening in Goa's village schools. Overseas Goans have been sending money and used computers to village schools. The government has been distributing PCs (personal computers) to schools. These are merely symptoms of a wider trend -- the growing awareness of the need to be computer literate, and to meet the demand computer training classes are mushrooming. But why this strongly felt need? Ask parents and teachers and they'll tell you that their kids need to know computers to get a good job. No doubt the Indian software and BPO boom have something to do with this calculation. Ask school-kids and you get the same response. But, with few exceptions, kids also say that they don't want to be computer programmers. I know this because in my five years of being involved with the Goa Schools Computers Projects (GSCP), I have asked dozens of kids the same question. The question then, is whether getting a computer diploma from NIIT or learning computer skills in school will help, say, 14 year old Geeta be a fashion designer, or 15 year old Elroy be mechanic... or help any of the other thousands of kids in one of Goa's approximately 450 secondary and higher secondary schools which have PCs become what they want to be? One would hope so. The crores of rupees being poured into computers for schools by the government are seen by the authorities as an investment in the future of Goa's children -- an admirable goal indeed, and one pursued with much greater efficiency by the Goa Department of Education than perhaps any other state in India. The reality, however, just might be different. In May this year, Gaspar D'Souza wrote a series of well-researched articles in the Navhind Times on how basic computer skills or even an intermediate diploma from the private companies no longer commands a wage premium in Goa. In short, for the handful of students who get into the post higher-secondary institutions offering computer programming skills, the future beckons brightly in Bangalore or Mumbai -- but for the B.As, B.Coms and BScs, acquiring a basic computer skills diploma is just another line their Curriculum Vitae's that is rapidly becoming standard. Now, this doesn't mean that kids don't need to acquire computer skills in school. It means that they don't need three years to learn how to use a word-processing and spreadsheet application, as the present syllabus prescribed. They can learn the same thing in a month's time by themselves, without any help from a teacher. I've seen it with my own eyes -- barely literate slum kids teaching themselves how to use the computer. Computers in schools can be use in a much more effective manner to improve cognitive skills in students, giving them a boost in learning math and other subjects, thereby increasing the probability that students from humble village schools can compete for admission to professional colleges on par with elite city schools. The Internet can also compensate (though not fully) or the lack of good libraries in schools. Internet can give children from village schools a window on the world that normally only city schools have. For example, kids from the little village school of St. Bartholomeu's, Chorao, under the strict supervision of their computer teacher, email their cyber-buddies in a Boston school and learn about each other's lives. They use the Internet to make learning more interesting. Without computers in their school, few of them would have these opportunities. Personally, I'm not so sure that computers are the most important thing for school kids. For example, I'd rate a clean latrine in the school much higher, or good ventilation, or a well trained teacher who doesn't spend his entire class making kids mindlessly copy from the blackboard into their notebooks. Ten years after the Clinton administration's The Internet in every classroom became a reality in the US, there is no still firm link between computer usage and improved academic performance. Recent studies in Israeli schools and closer home, in municipal schools in Mumbai, have shown that unstructured learning exercises with educational software do not help children perform better in language studies and math. In fact, at lower standards, using computers on a regular basis actually caused them to regress. Conversely, a study by Michigan State University shows that low-income children who spent more than 30 minutes a day on the Internet saw improvements in their grade point average and their scores in standardized reading tests. There is a lesson to be learnt here. Firstly, unlike the US where every student has his or her own computer to use in schools, few schools in Goa have more than four computers and often barely enough room to fit a whole class into a lab. So kids are divided into batches and called after school for computer subject practicals. However a
[GKD] Using ICT to Improve Education (India)
IN A WORLD WHERE THOSE WHO CAN'T TEACH, I.T. CAN by Frederick Noronha CAN IT AND THE INTERNET help teacher's teach better, design courses better, build improved learning environments, and support the learner more adequately? Yes, say the experiences of technologists working in various parts of India on issues such as these. Online content is leading to flexible learning, web-based course-ware is being worked on, as are novel authoring tools for course-ware design. There's even attempts to design a digitally-enabled self-learning course for adults. These are other initiatives came up in a little-noticed international conference on online learning, held some months back at Mumbai, called Vidyakash. Let's look at some of them: Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services points to it's authoring tool called eVOLv, as a possible means of promoting e-learning. Madhuri Sawant of TCS says this is a world with a learn, unlearn and re-learn mantra, and the need for updating knowledge is very strongly felt in a changing world. eVOLVe has a video window which displays a movie. It gives audio too. Synchronised information appears in an adjacent window. Thumb-nails allow the learner to navigate through the course. There's an inbuilt quiz tool -- to test the learner's knowledge. Streaming video technology shortens download time, and helps cope with bandwidth constraint. You get the transcript of the script, in sync with the video. There are also other functionalities that you can avail of while learning -- links, email, help and note-pad. IIM-Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Management from the garden city, has also been working on its own model of e-learning. Say T R Madanmohan and Jai Ganesh of IIMB: The Internet has enormous power to improve the educational process. By using the Internet, education can be personalised to each user, so that each student is given a targeted set of materials based on his or her specific educational goals and previous achievements. At the same time, the Internet allows material to be updated dynamically, which creates an up-to-the minute resource for students. IIMB, a 30-year-old institution considered to be one of India's best business schools, keeps in touch with its alumni through e-mail and other forms of feedback. They've been trying to address concerns of alumni for the need for upgradation of skills. So, their customised model offers tailor-made material, study guides, activities and discussions formed around existing material -- textbooks, CD-ROM resources, or tutorials. Online interactions and discussions occupy about half the students' time, with predetermined content filling the other half. There are other solutions, like eCollege (an e-learning software and services provider). Suggests the IIMB team: Technology has created a powerful set of tools for us to use in the educational world... Based on the experience, technology is not the limiting factor, but making inroads into the habit of learning (is). Most of us are habituated to lecture-based and other direct methods, and most of the assignments are group-based. IIMB's researchers also point out that some academics and educators are, and will, continue to be opposed to e-learning in principle. Academics and educators have expressed concerns regarding the perceived loss of control over the education process that can result from the out-sourcing of e-learning campuses and courses, and the possibility for lower-quality learning outcomes. Some of the concerns may be genuine and need to be addressed at an institutional level. Meanwhile, Acharya is an intelligent tutoring system for teaching SQL. Acharya provides an intelligent problem-solving environment where students can try out solutions to SQL problems posed by the system, and get qualitative feedback. This has been focussed on by Sandhya Bhagat, Latesh Bhagat, Jojumon Kavalan and M Sasikumar of NCST at Navi Mumbai. Says this team: The essential differences of an intelligent-tutoring system and a computer-based tutoring system are in the level and detail with which the subject is represented and the use of a student model. Intelligent-tutoring systems were a dormant subject during the last decade, after a long period of significant interest among the artificial intelligence community. In their paper, they describe the architecture of Acharya -- using Java servlet technology and a web-based front-end and POSTgreSQL at the back-end. They argue: Acharya is based on guided discovery. A student should be given opportunities to discover things themselves, rather than being told about them. From Rajasthan, we are told of Prabodh, a distributed online Hindi grammar teaching-learning system. Prabodh is an intelligent tutoring system, which tries to teach elementary level Hindi grammar following the principles of pedagogy. It allows geographically-scattered expert tutors to create lessons and exercises, based on Hindi grammar concepts, through GUIs (graphical-user
[GKD] Using Computers to Battle Illiteracy (India)
On Thursday, I finally met with Anthony Lobo and Maj Gen B G Shively (Retd) of the Tata Consultancy Services. I've been following their work in the field of using computers to battle illiteracy for some time now, actually since June 2000 when the story first emerged in the technical press. In brief, they use a software product of theirs to help just about anyone teach adult illiterates to get access to 'functional literacy'. The focus is on reading skills (so that anyone can read a few basic words, maybe even simple newspaper headlines and signboards... rather than just being able to sign one's name). What is interesting is that TCS claims this program is 90% successful, and can convert an adult into 'functionally literate' in just about 40 hours of teach. What's more, anyone can teach -- since the computer does most of the work, one doesn't need to be a skilled teacher. Each teacher can take a number of classes without getting tired. TCS is a commercial firm. But this is a free-of-cost software, which is available to anyone without charge willing to implement it for community benefit. There are no hidden costs. The lessons tie up with the programs and books of the National Literacy Mission, and Indian attempt to fight illiteracy nationwide. NLM's books are inexpensively priced, each costing around five rupees or so... As far as Goa goes, this is a 'high-literacy' state. But, we really cannot afford to be complacent. Goa is ranked fourth highest nationwide in terms of its literacy achievements. But even regions like Lakshadweep and parts of the North East, and of course, Kerala too, have done better than Goa. We here have not been able to touch the target of 100% literacy, despite trying for some time. When one checked the National Literacy Mission website (http://nlm.nic.in) it was surprising to see that Goa has no 'state resource centre' listed against its name. Goa also needs to fight illiteracy. Every individual in the state has the right to be able to live life more fully. It only helps Goa if everyone here is a productive individual, rather than an underperforming person condemned to a life of poverty and lack of opportunity. We also owe a responsibility to migrant workers drawn into the state, and regardless of origins, they deserve a chance to function at higher efficiency. This helps them; and, of course, this helps Goa too. In the context of the TCS software, we here have a number of tasks which deserve to be undertaken. Goa Shipyard Ltd at Vasco is undertaking a program on this front, thanks to a push from Sumita Pillai [EMAIL PROTECTED]. Of tangential interest, the GSL had also undertaken a campaign to fight alcoholism, when it was released that workers from that unit were dying at alarming rates of upto one worker a week from alcohol-related complications! But apart from GSL, few others in Goa seem to be aware of the potential of this software. In addition, because of obvious constraints over resources, TCS currently has only the software program in five languages -- Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Bengali. Gujarati is being worked on. Kannada remains a huge gap. Konkani, along with other uncovered languages, too deserves a program of its own. The many protagonists of this language could surely come forward to undertake some initiative (as also, another initiative for making computing in Konkani a reality). Could institutions like TSKK get involved to make this a reality? Does anyone know where the Konkani primers brought out by the National Literacy Mission are available? Can we call ourselves really independent till we have fought and conquered illiteracy, poverty, malnutrition, bigotry and similar enemies? If you know of anyone with an interest in education, please pass this on to her/him. If you want a copy of the software, check out the contacts below, or contact me. Some links you might find useful: Anthony Lobo, TCS, Air India Bldg, 10th Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021 Tel 56689378 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Maj Gen B G Shively, AVSM (Retd) Consulting Advisor, Tata Consultancy Services, Pune [EMAIL PROTECTED] National Literacy Mission (India) site http://nlm.nic.in http://www.tataliteracy.com Site explaining the TCS idea of promoting functional literacy through low-end computers. If you have any ideas or suggestions on how such initiatives could be further spread, do get back. FN - Frederick Noronha (FN)| http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks - T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436
[GKD] Information Societies and the Gender Divide (India)
Building Information Societies: Grappling with Gendered fault-lines Reshmi Sarkar, IT for Change, Bangalore Information technology (IT) is viewed as a potent force in transforming social, economic, and political life across the globe. Today, without being plugged into the information age, there is little chance for countries or regions to develop. Of course all is not hunky dory about the IT revolution; the celebrated potential of IT is remote from the realities of many. And, even among information have-nots, a significant majority are women from developing countries. Says Swasti Mitter, Deputy Director of the United Nations University Institute for New Technologies, Technological innovations become commercially successful if and when the creator of the innovation could make use of political, economic and legal networks. Thus the dominant group in a society determines the shape and direction of a society's techno-economic order - and the image of an inventor has almost always been male. Lack of access to relevant networks in the public domain explains the historical marginalization of women's contribution to technological innovations. Gender concerns in the diffusion of IT have assumed global significance today. A valuable addition to the body of work on gender and information technology is a document by Nancy Hafkin and Nancy Taggart, titled 'Gender, Information Technology, and Developing Countries: An Analytic Study'. The authors remark, Most women within developing countries are in the deepest part of the divide - further removed from the information age than the men whose poverty they share. If access to and use of these technologies is directly linked to social and economic development, then it is imperative to ensure that women in developing countries understand the significance of these technologies and use them. If not, they will become further marginalized from the mainstream of their countries and of the world. So what prevents women from having a share in the pie? While poverty is a gender neutral attribute affecting the access of men and women equally to the gains from technology, several gender-specific antecedents impede women's access of IT: apart from literacy and education, social and cultural norms that constrain women's mobility and access to resources as well as women's are huge obstacles. Science and technology education is necessary for women to work in IT at the level of computer programmers, engineers, systems analysts, and designers. Women's low enrolment in science impedes this globally. In developing countries, there is a great deal of variation in the percentages of women in natural sciences, computer science, and engineers. For example, women comprise between 30 and 50 percent of students in computer science and other natural sciences in a number of developing countries. Africa remains the area of greatest concern, however, as African women have the lowest participation rates in the world in science and technology education at all levels. The masculine image attributed to science and technology in curriculum and media is a universal phenomenon. Few women are producers of information technology, whether as Internet content providers, programmers, designers, inventors, or fixers of computers. In addition, women are also conspicuously absent from decision-making structures in information technology in developing countries. That women Internet users in developing countries are not representative of women in the country as a whole, but are restricted to part of a small, urban educated elite, is illustrative of the layered character of the digital divide -- in this sense there are many divides and poor women are at the lowest rung of the technology ladder. According to UN statistics, in many developing countries, less than one percent of the population, male or female, has Internet access. By regions, women are 22 percent of all Internet users in Asia, 38 percent of those in Latin America, and 6 percent of Middle Eastern users. No regional figures by sex are available for Africa. Women in the New Economy The new economy offers many possibilities for IT-enabled businesses that women can establish or in which they can work. Most numerous are the service jobs outsourced by major corporations in the U.S. and Europe. At the low end of the skill level and largest in number are jobs in data entry and data capture. Software programming, GIS, and systems analysis jobs require much higher skills and education, but women are moving into these jobs in several developing countries. Research by women scholars like Nancy Hafkin, cited earlier, suggest that while the business-to-consumer e-commerce area has generated a great deal of excitement, it can be a difficult field to enter. Women's handicrafts can find niche markets, but marketing and management skills are needed, and supply and delivery problems must be addressed. Some successful developing country e-businesses have targeted
[GKD] Flaws in India's Model e-Governance Project
Flaws in Bhoomi, India's model e-governance project By Keya Acharya Karnataka's Bhoomi project, which computerised 20 million rural land records, was designed as an instrument of equity. But is IT also reinforcing inequality, with men benefiting more than women and the rich benefiting more than the poor? India has rushed headlong into a romance with electronic governance but, in a country struggling to emerge from centuries of entrenched inequalities and poverty, its outcome is baffling observers. Electronic governance, or e-governance, is pushing buttons around the world. It's the latest buzzword for governments trying to cut poverty, address corruption in their bureaucracies and make themselves more responsive to their citizens. It is part of a whole swathe of so-called 'digital solutions' that many hold can help developing countries leapfrog, or bypass, certain stages in their development processes. And the Indian experiment is being keenly watched as experts try to gauge the efficacy of the budding relationship between the government, the computer and the citizen. So far only a handful of state governments have tried to go on-line with any seriousness. The southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala pioneered the move to digitise the vast and complex workings of government. Now, with no standardised format to follow, some of India's other 29 states and 6 union territories are having a go. We are the best, Karnataka's Information Technology Secretary Vivek Kulkarni told Panos Features proudly, revealing an underlying rivalry. Karnataka's capital Bangalore was chosen by the World Bank to be the first developing country host for its annual Conference on Development Economics held in May, in recognition of its IT achievements. The task is huge: less than 1% of the mammoth administration in India is computerised, and most has been done in a piecemeal fashion. The results are mixed, as a visit to various rural areas of Karnataka revealed. Karnataka is home to one of India's most prominent e-governance projects, launched in 2001. The Bhoomi (or 'land') project has seen the revenue department computerise the state's 20 million rural land records, involving some 6.7 million farmers. It's a project the federal government now wants all states to emulate, as strong data on land holdings is needed to implement development programmes. I have no complaints [about Bhoomi], says farmer Basavenappa Angadi, president of about 40 farmer self-help groups in the cotton-growing Dharwad district of Karnataka, 440 kilometres from Bangalore. Central to the Bhoomi project is the computerised system of producing a farmer's Record of Rights Tenancy Crops (RTC) - an all-important identity paper needed by the farmer to obtain bank loans (for diverse activities ranging from children's education to buying seeds), settle land disputes and even use as collateral for bail. It is no less than a social ID. In Kengeri, a satellite town near Bangalore, farmer Byregowda too likes his new RTC: This is now pukka [genuine]. The Village Accountant cannot change names anymore. Under the old system, some 9,000 Village Accountants (VA) were employed by the state revenue department. They lived in the village, had three or four villages under their jurisdiction and were responsible for maintaining land records, including 'mutations' which recorded changes in ownership. It was mainly through these 'mutations' that the poor suffered. Mutations became an instrument for rural corruption, exploitation and oppression. Landowners simply bribed the VA to change the titles of poor farmer's lands to their own name. Small farmers, mostly illiterate, could do little to change this state of affairs, either because they did not know of it or because they could not afford the VA's bribes. Now mutations can only be approved by the head of a taluka (a sub-district-level administrative unit) in the revenue department, and the farmer has to be present for their record to be changed - only the taluka head or computer clerk's thumbprint can open the file. The system is simple - at least in theory. The main town in each taluka has an 'e-kiosk' with two computers, a printer and a modem. The software, designed by the National Informatics Centre, stores all kinds of information for each villager, including the name of the landowner, history of previous ownership, and minute details of the land, including what other lands it borders, and how many trees and what type of soil it has. In order to access either an RTC or a mutation record, a farmer only has to turn up at the kiosk and hand in an application to the clerk, who keys in the request and gives the print-out to the farmer after checking their identity. The problems that arise have to do with the vast inequities that cut across the social, economic and cultural spectrum of India - although e-governance has gone some way to addressing corruption. Mallaiah Prabhakar, director of Karnataka's
[GKD] Results of a Survey of Computers in a School in Goa, India
URL: http://gscp.org/components/survey3.htm Results of survey conducted at Vasant Vidyalaya HS Respondents Profile 30 students 9 males, 21 females from grade 9 9 were 16-18 year range, 21 were 13-15 years range Background - Vasant Vidyalaya is a secondary school with a total enrollment of about 200 students from middle and lower class located in Siolim, a town of about 10,000 people. The school has a computer lab of 7 PCs, 2 (Windows) provided by Government and 4 (Linux) provided by GSCP in 2002, and 1 PC (Windows) additionally provided by the government in 2003. In the last semester of 2002-2003 academic year, 2 subject teachers were trained, and the social sciences teacher taught 3 Geography lesson in the computer lab using prepared lesson plans. In the same semester, children were permitted to use the computer lab after school hours on payment of a Rs. 10 per month fee. Internet use was demonstrated but not permitted on a regular basis because of phone cost considerations. Results - Respondents indicated that * English is their favorite subject (50%), followed by Art, Math and Science (30% each) (100% of students responded to this question) * They had been using PCs for less than a year (7%), 1-2 years (63%), 2-4 years (30%). This is consistent with Vasant Vidyalaya aquiring PCs 2 years ago Students who have used PCs for more than 2 years mostly have one at home or at a relative/friends home (100% of students responded) * Only 16% of students claim to have taught themselves to use computers, the rest said that their computer Teacher taught them (100% of students responded) * Software used by students at school other than spreadsheets, word-processor and paint tool Games (60%) and educational software (only 50%) (85% of students responded) * Favorite activity By far, Games (70%) and Paint (90%) were students favorite activites (85% of students responded) * Major challenges Using keyboard and mouse Technical problems Too many students, not enough time (74 % of students responded) * Accessibility of computers after school hours 30% of students said the computers were always accessible, 10% said they were sometimes accessible, 55% said they were never accessible 43% said they use computers after school hours (97% responded) This implies that the benefits of After hours school access were not reaching all students (did this mean the Rs. 10 per student was too much?) * Students opinion on the importance of computers Computers very Important for Learning computer skills For Job in future To learn new things Help with schoolwork Computers somewhat important for To find or access information To communicate with others (97% responded) This indicates that students are aware of the relationship between computer skills and future employment. The lower perceived importance for accessing information and communication reflects the fact that internet is not used appreciably yet. * How useful are the following to help you learn Teachers 70% Textbooks 40% Your parents 60% Your friends 60% Computers 73% CD-Rom 30% (100% responded) This would seem to suggest that teachers and computers are the most helpful for students learning experience. However, given that only 30% thought educational CD-ROMs were useful, the concept of learning experience was probably not clear enough. The interpretation of the following section on student opinions should be treated with care as students had difficulty understanding the question format. Neutral implies that the student did not have an opinion. * 12% think that do not like school (20% neutral) (83% of students responded) * 50% think that computers have made them like school more (33% neutral) (80% of students responded) * 33% think that they know more about computers than my teachers (70% of students responded) * 71% think that computers have made them better students (14% neutral) (70% of students responded) * 42% think that most teachers seem afraid to use computers in the classroom (33% neutral) (70% of students responded) * 57% say that their parents have never used computers (63% of students responded) * 57% think that their parents are very interested in their use of computers (63% of students responded) * 52 % would prefer to use computers alone when using computers in school (11% neutral) (60% of students responded) * Based on their experience with computers so far 50% want to use computers in your future profession (% neutral) (66 % of students responded) What did we learn from this survey * Identifying students least favorite subject opens the possibility of targeting the use of computer assisted teaching to make that subject more interesting * Students indicating that Paint and Games as favorite activities combined with the fact that they do not have frequent access to educational software raises the possibility that computers are becoming purely an entertainment tool *
[GKD] BytesForAll--South Asian IT for Dev. Newsletter
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/
[GKD] i4d ezine - Can ICTs Change Rural Lives?
venture from South Asia, that looks at how IT and the Internet can be used for development in the region. Frederick Noronha, the cofounder of the initiative, shares his experiences about the project. What's on Events, conferences and exhibitions related to the field. Etcetera ...putting legal software on a million odd Indian computers will result in the total value of software imports far exceeding software exports. Or put more bluntly, India's software business is profitable only because it pirates software. The net effect of the global intellectual property regime is that it impoverishes developing countries like India. These articles and more can be read for free by logging in to the i4d website http://www.i4donline.net/. Registration is free and easy. ***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/
[GKD] Computers to Africa Scheme Criticised
IT MIGHT HELP if we had to look at what made computers obsolete so speedily, rather than just concentrating on shifting the older computers from the First to the Third World. I think bloatware-producing proprietorial software companies are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Free Software distros also need to ensure that their software doesn't turn into 'bloatware', requiring higher-power computers and forgetting that many of us still use old generation PCs. FN -- URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2989567.stm Computers to Africa scheme criticised Warehouse of computers Thousands of computers head for Africa each year The practice of supplying second-hand computers to Africa can prove to be an expensive mistake, according to a UK report. The UK Centre of International Education has said that Western organisations trying to bridge the digital divide are having some unfortunate consequences for teaching. It says that software compatibility problems are leading to chaos in some classrooms as teachers battle to make the machines work - claims backed up by some organisations in Africa themselves It has been a very very costly mistake, Bildad Kagai from the Open Source Foundation for Africa told the BBC World Service's Outlook programme. The issue is that we did not consider the consequent costs that come with the donation of computers. Software problems Mr Kagai added that the main problem was the inconsistency of the software supplied which could often frustrate teaching plans. The computers that are donated vary. They come with different applications, he said. It's difficult for a teacher to tell where he's going to start teaching computer lessons. The digital divide is too important not to get bogged down in the debate over software. Garry Hodgkinson, Microsoft Indeed, teachers in Africa are well aware that not all donations are worthwhile. You have maintenance problems, you have to constantly upgrade your systems, Theo d'Souza, of the Dar es Salaam headteacher's conference, told Outlook. You might be donated a system in 2003 that might not be very helpful in 2004. Teacher training To solve such problems some organisations that supply second-hand computers have begun teacher training schemes. We work very closely with beneficiary organisations in Africa, said Sonja Sinanan, operations director for Computer Aid International. She highlighted the example of the Computer Education Trust in Swaziland, which takes delivery of computers and makes sure the technicians who install them can network and ensures they are used productively. Computer being recycled Checking computers before they are sent out is becoming more important Garry Hodgkinson, Microsoft's Regional Director for Community Affairs for Africa and the Middle East, said his company was also doing everything it could to tackle the problems. We've been working with organisations similar to Computer Aid, Mr Hodgkinson said. We're currently sitting on a situation where we have commitments from UK companies to provide 25 PCs to every single school in South Africa with electricity over the next three years. That's quite a tremendous donation. Useless dumping And he insisted that regardless of the supplier, the important thing was to ensure computer access for schools in Africa. The digital divide is too important not to get bogged down in the debate over software, Mr Hodgkinson stated. One of the deputy generals of teacher training in South Africa went into a classroom and saw a teacher standing on a PC to reach the blackboard. That sort of dumping is really useless to anybody. ***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/
[GKD] BytesForAll Clippings
Telecom celebration --- The Center for Knowledge Societies in Bangalore thought of an interesting way to celebrate World Telecom Day. It was an exhibition of photographs by Sridala Sawmi. The theme: voice and data in India. CKS is led by research scholar Aditya Dev Sood [EMAIL PROTECTED] and is based at B-014, Natasha GolfView, Bangalore 71. Phone: +91.80.535.3455 The Center for Knowledge Societies affords insight into the use of Information and Communications Technologies in non-traditional and emerging market environments. It also offers research, design and strategy consultancy services to technology houses, international agencies, and governments. Through usability research, sectoral intelligence and quantitative analysis, it drives the development and deployment of emerging technologies for the benefit of rural, non-elite and mass users, says the Centre. Given the spread and reach that telecom has achieved over the past decade or two, India does have something to celebrate... the price hikes apart! TEK project --- US-based Bill Thies is one of the lead developers on the TEK project at MIT. The goal of the TEK project is to build a low-connectivity search engine for use by people at the far side of a bad telephone connection. See http://cag.lcs.mit.edu/tek Says he: In fact, we just released a new version of the software... If you're currently using www4mail (a means of downloading webpages via simple email), I think TEK will provide some advantages -- e.g., a browser interface with full color and formatting, an intelligent server that remembers what you've downloaded, and a local search engine that indexes downloaded pages. This may not *come* from India, but it could sure have a lot of utility here. Despite the advances in telecom, the reality is that hundreds of millions still know terrible a bad telephone connection can be. Back in India - That well-informed friend of India, Prof Kenneth (Ken) Keniston, the Andrew Mellon Professor of Human Development and the director of MIT's India Program, will be back touring various ICT4D projects sometime around June. If you have an interesting project to point him to, send in your mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] (more links on www.kken.net). Don't forget to send in a copy also to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Simputer plans -- From Bangalore, reports in early May say the Simputer, India's most innovative technological product in recent times, is poised for mass use in the country and abroad with one of the license holders set to sign a 100,000-units deal with an Indian company. Encore Software, the reports said, which is one of the two license holders for the Simputer launched two years ago, is also in talks with two firms from Japan and one from Singapore for the supply of a similar number of the cost-effective handheld devices that promises to bridge the digital divide. See their mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simputer People's notebook - Thailand is to get it, but India will have to wait. HP is offering that country a 'people's notebook' that runs on Linux. Reports from the Far East say HP's budget laptop will retail for 19,500 Baht (UKP 285). It features an 800 MHz Intel Celeron processor, 128MB of RAM and a 20GB harddisk. There is no CD-ROM or floppy drive. Meanwhile, a desktop, made by local computer makers Belta, SVOA and Computec, costs 10,900 Baht (UKP 159). It sports an Intel Celeron 1GHz processor, 128MB of RAM, a 52x CD-ROM drive, 20GB of hard disk space and comes with a 15-inch monitor, speakers and a keyboard. Said one friend: Fantastic rates for the desktop and the sub-notebook man... when do such comps come to India? Any chance of replication in India? A senior executive at HP said in an off-the-record comment: I asked the same question to my colleagues. Will keep you posted. Using Wi-fi --- From The Hindu we learn that Wi-fi, the technology that wirelessly connects to the Internet, is being used by many rural centres across India to access important information and facilities In the Loni-Shirdi area of western Maharashtra, over 200 villages have formed a cooperative and raised Rs 2 crore to leverage information technology for their benefit. They have set up nearly 50 wireless 'hotspots' to harness the latest wi-fi systems so that villagers can get agricultural access systems right at their doorsteps. The technology to wirelessly connect to the Internet has recently been legalised by the government, said the report. It's hard to sift the claims from the reality sometimes... http://infochangeindia.org/ItanddItop.jsp?section_idv=9#2168 -- - Frederick Noronha (FN)| http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http
[GKD] Taking Communities Online (India)
Taking communities online... Bangalore offers cyber tools to manage knowledge By Frederick Noronha Everybody on the Net seems to be focussing on technology and tools to get their job done, but an Indian-incubated initiative is focussing on how people can make the real difference in tapping the potential of cyberspace. Pantoto, launched by the US-educated but Bangalore-based Dr. T. B. Dinesh and expat Dr. Suzan Uskudarli, who worked out of Bangalore till recently, sees itself as a simple but effective 'community building' tool that just about anybody can use. This 'online community builder' aims to support existing 'real world' communities, by giving them the cyber tools that could make their networking and knowledge-sharing more effective and meaningful. It uses information architecture tools to allow communities to manage and nurture a repository of community knowledge, explains Dinesh. It's goals are clear: providing an 'online' (Internet-based) platform where people who are part of any 'community' (or extended network sharing similar interests) can interact and come together for their common cause. Pantoto seeks to promote 'information-centric communication', as its developers call it, between members of a 'community'. To keep the software simple, it is small and 'light' in size, and works in any browser -- the software widely used to trawl the Internet. To make the knowledge-sharing among any 'community' more effective, this tool offers a well-organized information repository. It says the communication of the group can be customised to suit the needs of any community and this also helps the group to build a cost-effective presence on the Net. This makes people -- rather than technology -- the key towards leveraging the pwoer of the Net. Pantoto says it can help groups build an 'online community', and also put up their treasure-chest of useful and relevant knowledge out there for everyone to share. With these three basic outputs (a community, knowledge-repository and web-presence) a community can create any out-put. The out-put would depend on the information needs of the community and how they choose to structure and manage information, says Dinesh. But managing information and sharing it effectively out there on the Internet might not be as simple as it sounds. To make it easier, the Pantoto solution depends on providing apt online tools, creating multiple 'personas' for oneself which help a person 'manage relationships' within a community, and encourage people to contribute to an info repository through Pagelets. Pagelets are structured web-pages that can be published as easily as filling out a form. Pantoto also tries to help collaboration to enhance creation and dissemination of community knowledge. To be able to run this, anyone would need just the technical skills of knowing how to use a web-browser, claim its promoters. Web-browsers are very simple tools, used sometimes without even being aware of it, by anyone browsing the Internet. Dinesh, who did his PhD in computer science from the University of Iowa and post-doctoral research at Amsterdam, says: Shri Shakti Alternative Energies has been our beta users for a while. They use it for intranet and dealer network needs. Pantoto might soon be used for project listing by indic-computing community and CharityFocus India chapters. But our main work lateley has been to work with local NGOs to help them build information management solutions, themselves, for their varied needs, says he. There are many tools out there for web-communities to grab and use. But many are either expensive or need IT/Computer-programming help to tune it for an specific information-community need. Pantoto is an attempt to first bring information architecturing to the end-user, where by we hope that organizations (like a typical NGO) can be empowered to be independent of IT consultants for much of their everyday needs and next to provide flexibility with look and feel, says Dinesh. Dr Susan stresses the importance of structuring information to make information accessible and usable in the long term. Structuring provides meaning to the information. Thus, intelligent searching, filtering, and other processing such as analysis becomes possible, she adds. She says 'pagelets' are the information pieces that are meaningful to the community. The big deal about this is to distinguish the concept of pagelets from common web pages. A typical web page has no structure. It is free in form and free in content. On the contrary, with a pile of 'pagelets', from a series of surveys of slums, these structured pages can answer questions like -- show me the incidence of AIDS and the number of 'arak' (traditional liquor) shops in April 1999 in Mysore district, she says. Over the past three months, some NGOs (non-government organisations) have begun using Pantoto with a little bit of hand-holding and initial training. These include Sakti, a Bangalore-based NGO that has
[GKD] BytesForAll - South Asian IT for Dev. Newsletter
input (also referred to as dictionary mode) for mobile phones in Hindi. The Devnagari script is complex unlike the English alphabet. Hindi alone has 33 consonants and 11 vowels. Add ligature - combinations of letters to form new letters of new shape, to these 44 characters and you have a horrid experience of creating text; even with a keyboard equipped with more than one hundred keys. http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/features/stories/77297.html See also http://www.zicorp.com Thanks to Ashish Kotamkar (ashish at mithi.com) for this piece of information. Communicate in your own language. Log onto www.mailjol.com. English-Bangla translator source Hasin Hayder [EMAIL PROTECTED] has announced the uploading of English to Bangla translator source code to a Bangla Open Source Community Site at : www.banglaosc.tk Check out the mirror : www.banglaosc.cjb.net Download. The translator is easy for simple sentence conversion, says Hasin Hayder, the administrator of www.evelindev.tk and www.banglaosc.tk. You can send in comments at [EMAIL PROTECTED] National Workshop on Library Automation in Hindi [EMAIL PROTECTED] announces plans by INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad to hold such a workshop from April 7-11, 2003. Information and Library network (INFLIBNET) Centre, is an IUC of the Indian University Grants Commission (UGC), in Ahmedabad. This workshop will provide an opportunity to the working Library professional to understand and learn different aspects of Library Automation in Hindi medium. The workshop will cover topics related to library automation, networking, standards related to library automation, software for library automation etc. Special focus will be given on hands on practice. The entire lecture as well as practical sessions will be in Hindi. http://web.inflibnet.ac.in/info/NWLAH.pdf or contact Dr TAV Murthy, Director [EMAIL PROTECTED], Shivpal Singh Kushwah, Sci/Tech Officer-I [EMAIL PROTECTED] or H G Hosamani Scientist-B [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://web.inflibnet.ac.in Info via PDAs - Allsoft Technologies [EMAIL PROTECTED] is into into handheld PDA applications for storing and sending information and monitoring remote data. They say they've been one of the few companies who have been into applications for pocket-based handhelds wherein one can carry, capture and transfer data from remote places with the help of just a telephone line with or without access to the Internet. They offer expertise to government departments such as education, healthcare, agriculture, tourism, rural development, power, social welfare, rural/tribal development, watershed, police, healthcare, taxes, panchayati raj, etc. Besides to private segments such as pharma, insurance and logistics. More details from Rajeeb Ghosh Vice President Allsoft Technologies T-3, Priya Apartments, Somajiguda, Hyderabad 50008 India. Phone 91-40-5566-6868/6869 Fax 91-40-5566-6870 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.allsoftindia.com 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 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 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o -- Frederick Noronha: http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : free software we Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : refer to freedom, : not price. ***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/
[GKD] Free Software's Importance to India
WHY INDIA LOOKS TO GNU/LINUX WITH HOPE AND ANTICIPATION By Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan venky1 at vsnl dot com www.indlinux.org Today, I am going to talk about why GNU/Linux is god's gift to India. To my mind, GNU/Linux represents one of the finest opportunities for taking the benefits of this wonderful technology to the masses. From the standpoint of cultural, political and economic freedom, there are enormous reasons why the GNU/Linux operating system is relevant to India's future in the digital age. That's the reason why my friend Prakash Advani and I started IndLinux.org to localize GNU/Linux to Indian languages. I am therefore happy to announce that we are launching the first release of IndLinux Hindi, called Milan at this event. Milan represents the culmination of three years of work and we plan to localize GNU/Linux in Marathi, Gujarathi and other Indian languages soon to spark off a revolution in computing in Indian languages. This talk is divided into two parts. In the first part, I aim to visualize the future of computing in India and in the second part, I talk about what free software can do for the future of India. From a research standpoint, my interest is in the history of technology and in the impact of technology on society. Based on past history of technology, I predict that there will be a hundred million computers in India. To work backwords from this number, let me draw an analogy with a technology that is fairly recent so that you can relate to what I am saying. The domestic software industry today reminds me of the TV industry around 6-7 years ago. Around six years ago, most of the TV channels were either in English or in Hindi. How does that compare to the domestic IT scenario in India? Today, almost all applications and operating systems are in English, a language spoken by a mere five percent of India. Even if you run Indian langauge software, it is usually within an environment that is predominanatly in English. Compare this with the situation around six years ago when regional languages were broadcast in two-hour slots on channels that were mostly in English or Hindi. How things have changed! In the last six years, the explosion of regional channels has been absolutely incredible. Today, each of India's regional languages has at least two TV channels. At one point in time one could never have imagined an elitist channel like Star TV broadcasting in Hindi. Now, they are looking beyond Hindi to other Indian languages. Who had heard of channels like Zee or Asianet or Lashkara six-ten years ago? Who could have vizualised 60 million TV sets in India? This reminds me of an old saying in the technology industry. Old hands in this industry say that in the near term we always overestimate its impact and in the long term, we always underestimate it. The reason for the explosion in TV channels is simply because that's where the markets lay and a similar thing is going to happen to the computing industry in India. Many countries for example, do not have populations that add up to a single language in India. A few years ago, when I was in Hungary, I saw that most operating systems were in the Magyar script. Think about it! A mere 14 million people speak the Magyar language, yet they have an operating system of their own. Yet the third largest spoken language in the world-Hindi, which is spoken by 402 million people-has no operating system! How can we call India an IT superpower when we do not even have an operating system in our largest language? When Prakash and I looked at the situation, we thought it was absolutely crazy. If you look deep into the computer, the only language it understands is the binary language that consists of zeroes and ones. It is India that developed the concept of the zero and gave it to the world. And we cannot even develop an operating system of our own! We wanted to create an operating system for India and when we looked around, there was only one choice-GNU/Linux because we could not modify proprietary operating systems. If I wanted to translate file into the Hindi equivalent, I had no freedom to do that. The GNU/Linux operating system was a natural choice because it gave us the freedom to add interfaces in any language we chose. Now, take a look at the top twelve Indian languages Language Spoken by Hindi 402 Bengali 83 Telugu 78.7 Marathi 74.5 Tamil 63.2 Urdu 51.8 Gujarati 48.5 Kannada 39 Malayalam 36.2 Oriya 33.5 Punjabi 27.9 Assamese 15.6 Each of these languages are spoken by populations larger than the population of Hungary! The first freedom I mentioned was cultural freedom. From a cultural standpoint, GNU/Linux was an attractive alternative because when lingusitic groups come together to localize GNU/Linux in a transparent manner, localization can be done in a manner that is far more culturally sensitive than any centrally controlled process. For example, should file be called a file in Hindi because the word is now part of the popular
[GKD] Can ICT Be India's Growth Engine?
http://www.business-standard.com/archives/2003/mar/50120303.075.asp Value For Money : Subir Roy Can ICT be India's growth engine? Business Standard, March 12, 2003 ICT has already started improving infrastructure and there is enormous potential for future development Can information and communication technology (ICT), or more specifically software, deliver for India when all other models have failed? Is India witnessing, or about to witness, ICT or IT or software led growth the same way as the Asian Tigers rode on export led growth? This was the subject of an Indo-US workshop organised by the department of management studies of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Of all the papers, one of the most esoteric was one by Govindan Parayil (National University of Singapore) who saw two contradictions of ICT-led development, digital divide and increasing returns. The digital divide is not an accessibility issue but an equity issue. There is an asymmetric relation between traditional modes of production (manufacturing, etc) and innovation and knowledge-based production. There is now a dual economy, primary and industrial on one side and information-based on the other. It is constant/decreasing returns versus increasing returns. The divide between these two modes is the digital divide. Under informational or digital capitalism increasing returns are not an anomaly. But they create an instability. They have been marked by the most unequal distributions of income and wealth in human history. His conclusion: development theories of the industrial age are inadequate to explain the ground realities of the information age. K J Joseph (Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum) feels there is an adverse impact of the strategy of excessive export orientation. The contribution of the ICT sector can be viewed at two levels, direct and indirect effect. The direct effect is in employment, income and export earnings from ICT. The indirect effect is in enhanced productivity, competitiveness and growth of other sectors on account of IT diffusion, emergence of altogether new services enabled by ICT and spillovers. He argues that the direct benefits are laudable. The ICT sector itself has shown remarkable vibrancy in terms of output and export growth as well as technological dynamism. These are often cited as the outcome of the export oriented growth strategy that was followed. But the economy as a whole seems not to have benefited because of high regional concentration of ICT activity and low diffusion of ICT to other sectors of the economy. Because of the ICT boom, other sectors of the economy which compete with it for skilled manpower would have been adversely affected. There are also adverse implications on other services like teaching, training, research and development. These are bound to have long-term implications on the overall growth of the economy and as well as in sustaining the current competitive advantage of ICT. Joseph calls for a national policy on ICT diffusion which could mitigate the adverse effect of excessive export orientation. Tojo Thatchenkery et al (George Mason University) address some very basic questions. Does ICT lead to economic development? Has it led to investment in infrastructure, institutions and individuals? What are some of the shortcomings of ICT as a development tool and what policy implication does this have? ICT reduces barriers to knowledge and information asymmetry. It has a large potential for infrastructure, institutional and human development. It increases transparency in institutions, promotes efficient market outcomes and can create jobs and generate incomes. The paper notes several examples of developmental use of ICT. Eye care is delivered in Mettur district in Tamil Nadu through web cameras and the Net. The National Dairy Development Board in Gujarat is digitising milk collection and thereby helping farmers. Under the Gyandoot scheme in Madhya Pradesh, 20 villages have been wired to the central database for access to both government and agricultural information. SEWA provides women in Gujarat with basic computer education to help them manage micro enterprises. What are the problems? Uneven regional development leading to greater inequality between states and also greater rich-poor, urban-rural inequalities; and lack of absorptive capacity standing in the way of knowledge filtering to other sectors of the economy. Importantly, there is poor domestic demand for ICT as it remains outward looking. The paper concludes that ICT can be the answer to unmet demands and needs of Indians. It has already started to improve infrastructure, education, health, gender, private enterprise, governance, rural development and public services. And there is enormous potential for future development. W e can turn to T T Srikumaran (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) for some hard evidence on the ground. He examines the Gyandoot in Madhya Pradesh, village
[GKD] Opening Up of Educational Radio in India
Dear friends: The Indian government is opening up campus radio (which it calls 'community radio' though it's not quite the same thing). The crying need at the moment is for greater awareness to be built up about how to go about setting up micro-powered radio stations. It appears that most people simply don't have the know-how -- and naturally, how would they? Radio has been such a closed medium all these years. There are legitimate questions about costs, technology and techniques. Organisations like Arun Mehta and Vickram Crishna's www.radiophony.com have the technology. There surely must be others too. But this probably won't reach the people who need it unless there is some mechanism to deliver it. Do you know of any international organisations -- UNDP, Unesco or other suitable supporters -- who could help build structures that would make the dissemination of training possible? Let's not give the government a chance to say that they offered but very few came forward. PS: In Goa itself, some educational institutions I broached the issue with are eager to go in for this. But getting started in a situation where so little information/training is available is a tough task indeed. Maybe even a training session could be thought off for a start, open to all interested in applying for an educational broadcast license. -- Frederick Noronha: http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price. ***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/
[GKD] Community Radio Fights for Widows' Rights (Nepal)
Radio broadcasters raise voices for a better world By Sudeshna Sarkar, Indo-Asian News Service Kathmandu, Feb 20 (IANS) When her husband died in an accident Amala Pradhan's in-laws made sure that her life ended as well by dictating what she could wear or eat and where she could go. There are reportedly hundreds of women like Amala (name changed) across South Asia who are deprived of the right to lead normal lives once their spouses die. To raise a voice against widows' oppression and other inequalities, community radio broadcasters will convene in Kathmandu from February 21 to March 2. Radio Sagarmatha Nepal, partnered by the Montreal-based AMARC International (the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters), will host the conference. Five participants from Kerala will attend the eighth world conference of community broadcasters that will also focus on media portrayals of conflict. Broadcasters from the Arab countries, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and North America are also expected for the event. In Nepal, community radio has played an important role in helping widows like Amala come out of their shells and fight for their rights to lead normal lives. Amala lost her husband at 24, after which she said: I had no freedom. I was forced to undergo all kinds of deprivations in the name of rituals by my in-laws. They stopped me from attending family ceremonies under the logic that I had brought bad luck to them by killing my husband and would bring bad luck to others too. The harsh treatment of widows is a social phenomenon in both India and Nepal, said Raghu Mainali, coordinator of the Community Radio Support Centre set up in Nepal in 2000 to promote community radio in rural areas across the country. To dispel the prevailing superstitions about widowhood, Radio Sagarmatha started a battery of programmes, including talks and debates. We invited community leaders to our studio who emphasised that the taboos inflicted on the women were not dictated by the epics or scriptures, which govern so much of traditional ways in Nepal, but erroneous interpretations. We feel the broadcasts helped improve the condition of widows in Nepal. Radio Sagarmatha, brainchild of veteran journalist Bharat Dutta Koirala that started broadcasting in 1999, last year fetched him the Magsaysay award for his involvement in development journalism. It was Nepal's first private radio channel. Nepal today has five other community broadcasting channels. The inaccessible terrain of Nepal, the rampant illiteracy and the lack of electricity in rural areas makes it difficult for the print media and television to generate awareness, said Koirala. Community radio is the only answer. Mainali adds that even during the height of insurgency, when Maoist guerrillas attacked infrastructure, the community radio stations were never harmed. The Maoists recognise that we are a non-political body and they themselves are a part of community. In fact, at times when our programmes are disrupted due to technical reasons, we've had them calling up to ask what happened. AMARC, a network of over 2,000 community radios, feels citizens, women and migrants should have access to communications technologies. So the conference in Kathmandu will highlight the need to place human rights and social justice at the heart of the global communications policy agenda for the World Summit on the Information Society, to build a grassroot South-centred platform for participation in global strategies for the information society and to reinforce community radio development in Nepal as a model for South Asia. --Indo-Asian News Service ***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/
[GKD] Making Computers, Software, Bandwidth Affordable (India)
Low cost computers, affordable software, bandwidth = India 3.0? By Frederick Noronha Rajesh Jain hit the headlines when he sold his IndiaWorld site for a few thousand million rupees. Today, his focus has shifted -- to taking computing to the commonman. Most technology has been priced in dollars, putting it beyond the reach of a large number of businesses and consumers in emerging markets like India. The computer, which is the lynch-pin of an economy, is still seen as a luxury by many, he argues. But, Jain believes his lateral thinking and innovative solutions could battle the stumbling blocks. We're working on something that could really make a difference, Jain told this correspondent. Currently, he argues that India needs computers for Rs 5,000 (rpt five thousand) so that there can be one in every home and office; ubiquitous and cheap high-speed wireless communication; and software as a service for Rs 250 per month so that it is affordable. This, says Jain, would create a mass-market for the adoption of technology in India. No, these are not pipe-dreams for the managing director of Netcore Solutions who earlier founded IndiaWorld Communications, that grew into one of the largest collection of India-centric websites (comprising Samachar.com, Khel.com, Khoj.com and Bawarchi.com -- portals dealing with news, sports, Indian search-engines and food). Jain, who made history in Indian cyberspace when his earlier firm was acquired by Satyam Infoway in November 1999, says his goals are entirely feasible. Fulfilling the list (of what Indian needs) may seem like a tall order. But the interesting thing is that the building blocks to put the solutions together already exist, argues Jain. Netcore, his current firm, is working to lower the cost to make computing affordable. To reduce computer prices, Jain suggests we go away from the treadmill of enforced obsolence. New software is driving hardware upgrades every 3-4 years, he says. Thin Client-Thick Server Computing. That's Jain's new mantra. The solution, he believes, lies in making the computers discarded by the developed markets into thin clients. These clients don't need a hard disk or CD-ROM drive, they just need the bare minimum processing power and memory to run a windowing server (like the X Server). Essentially, the recycled PCs become graphical terminals, which connect to thick servers. All computing and storage happens on these servers. The 'thick server' can actually be the latest desktop system, with enhanced memory and processing power. While the Indian market is pushing out slightly older models of computers, Jain suggests the large-scale use of recycled computers from developed markets. The US itself is disposing -- read, upgrading -- computers at the rate of more than 25 million each year. Netcore is working on a thin client-thick server solution. This means older, lower-configuration PCs would work off more powerful new computers. The Rs 5000 computer can provide all the functionalities that users are accustomed to seeing on a computer in the corporate environment The next 500 million users across the digital divde are just as hungry as we (in universities) were a decade ago, he argues. Says Jain: Technology is essential to bridge the digital divide. Yet, most technology has been priced in dollars, putting it beyond the reach of a large number of businesses and consumers in emerging markets like India. The computer which is the lynch-pin of an economy, is still seen as a luxury by many. What can be done to create mass-market adoption of technology? What can be done to ensure that there is affordable and ubiquitous access to Internet-connected computers in developing countries like India? The first India, argues Jain, built on its Independence to become agriculturally self-sufficient and feed its own people. The second India produces more software engineers than any other country and is a force to reckon with in the world of outsourced technology services. And yet, the technology revolution has touched but a handful. Yet much of India still remains frozen in time. For India to progress, Indians have to progress. For Indians to progress, technology has to become a utility for the masses. Jain points to some interesting figures: The installed base of computers is 7 million for a population of 1 billion. Annual computer sales are stagnating at between 1.5-2 million since 2000. New computers still cost more than Rs 25,000, with the basic additional software (MS-Windows, MS-Office and anti-virus) costing an additional Rs 25,000. There are only about 6 million Internet connections in India, even as an hour of connectivity could still cost more than Rs 30. In a word: India is a great concept, but with poor execution. Interestingly, Jain is suggesting a switch-over to the Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) solutions based on GNU/Linux. Says he: The total cost of these applications: zero. At a conservative estimate
[GKD] Need URLs of Useful Free Software to Download
My friends have fat pipes to the Internet. They have offered to download useful distributions / collections of Free Software. My own plan is to encourage the building up of 'CD Repositories' in Indian cities and towns, that can then help to efficiently share such CDs among those who don't have speedy connections to the Internet. What I badly need from you is: a set of URLs from where my friends could download the distributions / software collections. Do send in a brief, one-paragraph description of what the site contains, why it is a good distribution, etc. We are also looking out specifically for educational software, Free Software for kids, tools for professionals (e.g. doctors, scientists), Free Software for the Windows platform (to convince those more reluctant to shift over), and also user-friendly distributions. Thank you very much in advance. Let's make Free Software into what it really should be -- an effective mechanism for the transfer of knowledge to the Third World! Your help is needed... FN -- Frederick Noronha: http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price. ***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/
[GKD] Online Publishing for Developing Countries
Thanks to Daryl D'Monte, former editor, for sending this to the India-EJ
mailing list for environmental journalists. Of course, one is not
particularly enamoured by the term 'developing countries' (it suggests
that these countries are actually catching up... the gap is widening and
things get worse with every devaluation of Southern currencies; it also
implies that we all have to aspire to be like the North, but is that the
desirable or sustainable goal?). Maybe the unnecessarily-critiqued and
deliberately-misunderstood term of Third World (the left-out like the
Tiers Etat) is more apt. Anyway, some of the points below are
interesting. -FN
PS: Copyright-versus-copyleft too could be a crucial debate, if the bulk
of the planet is to get access to the information they so badly need! To
liken those copying books illegally with men who attacked ships for loot
in high seas and killed innocents centuries ago means skewing the debate
with our terms ('piracy').
-- Forwarded message --
ONLINE PUBLISHING COULD REVOLUTIONIZE INFORMATION PRODUCTION AND
DISTRIBUTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Online newspapers, publications and books... are the developing
countries in a position to get anything out of the digital revolution?
Will the drop in production and distribution costs afforded by the new
technology allow them to catch up with the developed-country firms that
are monopolizing the market? The E-commerce and Development Report
2002, released today by UNCTAD, surveys current trends and suggests
future strategies.
On the plus side, digital publishing technology offers fresh
opportunities for developing countries, many of which produce little in
the way of artistic and literary output due to lack of resources. New
technology could transform the situation. Online publishing gives small
businesses the opportunity to establish a presence in a market dominated
by the developed-country giants of the culture industry. By lowering
production costs and cutting out middlemen, it generates new markets and
enables authors who would not otherwise be well known to expand their
readerships. A Jamaican company, Overdrive, has set up a virtual
publishing centre allowing over 200 publishers to produce and distribute
their books electronically.
In press and university publishing, a quick glance at websites listing
online libraries and media shows that even the poorest -- the least
developed -- countries have been won over to electronic distribution,
which radically alters relations between publishers, the media and
consumers. And although the volume and quality of content, the level of
sophistication and the functions available through search tools vary
considerably from one newspaper to the next, an online presence now
appears essential.
For the time being, the important thing is to stake out a claim and
respond to growing user demand, as it is far from certain whether online
newspapers will prove profitable.
Growing awareness of the potential of online publishing is driving a
number of new initiatives, both national and international. They range
from the promotion of African publications in the United States to the
establishment of a digital scientific library in Brazil, which is now a
beacon for the whole of Latin America. UNCTAD believes that
developing-country governments should make more use of this form of
distributing information, encourage educational institutions to provide
education online and support libraries financially so that they can
computerize their publications and enable the entire world to benefit.
On the down side, the same inequalities to be found in the publishing
world between developed and developing countries are reflected in online
publishing. Then there are technical and practical obstacles, such as
the paucity and high cost of Internet connections and the lack of
training among potential users.
Since the new technology allows virtually anything to be copied to
perfection, copyright is threatened by digital piracy. Such piracy is
becoming exorbitantly expensive, both for the developed countries that
produce most intellectual property and for developing countries as well.
Commercial losses in the United States in 2001 due to book piracy are
estimated by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) at
over $650 million. Profits from the informal book industry in Peru are
higher than those from publishing.
The international agreements governing intellectual property rights were
extended in 1995 and 1996 to encompass digital technology. In order to
comply with them, developing countries have to pass legislation and find
the means to enforce it. But they have a lot to gain from the process,
as developing and protecting their creations is very much in their
interest. Thanks to copyright, publishing in the United States was a $4
billion industry in 2001. In Brazil, one of the world's largest markets
for intellectual property, 70% of pirated music is locally produced -
[GKD] Free Linux for Education CD Available (India)
Thanks to Ajith Kumar of Delhi for sharing his work so generously, not just in India, but also elsewhere in the globe. We need such solutions! FN On Fri, 20 Dec 2002, Ajith Kumar wrote: Hello, I am happy to inform you that the GNU Linux Utilities for Education CD is now hosted at ftp.seul.org, thanks to the SEUL people. It is a bootable CD that will install a GNU/Linux system with OpenOffice, several educational software packages and the Terminal Server Software within 10 minutes. Any help in testing is welcome. You can download the ISO image from ftp://ftp.seul.org/pub/glue/ Bowse the contents of it at ftp://ftp.seul.org/pub/glue/GLUE/index.html regards Ajith ***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/
[GKD] The OpenCD: Free/Libre and Open Source Software for Windows
GKD members may be interested in the following project to promote Open Source Software. -- Forwarded message -- From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Dec 11 22:40:25 2002 Hello, My name is Henrik Nilsen Omma, and I am one of the project leaders of a new Open Source Project called TheOpenCD. Our aim is to create a simple to use CD distribution of Open Source software for Windows, and in that way spread the OSS message. I'm writing to various LUGs to announce the launch of our first edition, and hope that you might find it a useful tool in promoting Linux and OSS to a wider public. The disc allows new users can try out Open Source software (OSS) in the comfort of their own, familiar operating system, rather than having to take the drastic step of reformatting their hard drive to install Linux or BSD. The collection, which includes OpenOffice.org, AbiWord and Beonex is primarily intended for non-technical computer users. However, we expect that the disc will appeal first to experienced OSS users, who will hopefully find it a useful vehicle by which to introduce OSS to their less computer-savvy friends. We invite all OSS enthusiasts to download the ISO, burn CDs and distribute them widely to friends, local schools, universities, and companies. We further encourage you all to stop by our website to comment, discuss and contribute! http://www.theopencd.org/ Best wishes, Henrik Nilsen Omma TheOpenCD Team -- Henrik Nilsen Omma Theoretical Physics, Oxford 35 Frenchay Road 1 Keble Road Oxford OX2 6TG Oxford OX1 3NP [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***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/
[GKD] BytesForAll: SE Asian ICT for Dev. Journal
-- ###BytesForAll Ezine Nov2002## -- Bharateeya-OpenOffice - Should Indian languages be left behind in the world of computing? No, argues the NCST, whose team in Bangalore recently came out with its localization solutions for Open Office (the free/libre and open source software option to proprietorial office tools). NCST's team has been working to localize and internationalize OpenOffice.org in Indian Languages. They have localized OpenOffice.org in Hindi on Windows and Linux, and in Tamil on Windows. This team has also enabled Complex Text Layout support for all main Indian languages as well as other Internationalization features like Indian currency and calendar translations in Hindi and Tamil, on Windows. Localization work in Tamil on Linux, as well as Complex Text Layout support and other Internationalization aspects on Linux OO.o is going on. Their work has been recognised by OpenOffice.org and has been copyright approved. On their site, some screenshots of the localized applications have been uploaded, and there are also localized binaries for Hindi and Tamil for free download. Bhupesh Koli [EMAIL PROTECTED], Shikha G Pillai [EMAIL PROTECTED] and Velmani N [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- of the team who worked on this -- say they need open type fonts in Tamil and other languages for localization work in GNU/Linux. Would anyone help us in this direction? they ask. Ravikant [EMAIL PROTECTED], a Delhi-based former academic and historian, has some critical feedback. Says he: I did download the Hindi version on my Windows desktop. It seems somebody has translated from the German version. And it is still partial, only a beginning. A lot of work is yet to be done. Ravikant add that he has himself been trying to work on translation of OO (Open Office). Why is the translation team following a Sanskritized vocabulary? It sounds more difficult than the original English. Let us put our heads together and come up with more creative translations. This is after having conceded that it is by no means easy, says he. See http://www.ncb.ernet.in/bharateeyaoo Simputer maker -- From Picopeta Simputers and Nagarjun K [EMAIL PROTECTED] comes news that Bharat Electronics Limited and PicoPeta Simputers Private Limited have forged an alliance to manufacture and market a new range of Simputers. These devices will be marketed as BEL-PicoPeta Simputers and will cover a spectrum of applications and price points. Please see below or http://www.picopeta.com/press/bel-picopeta.php for the full details, said Nagarjun. As an enthusiastic supporter of the Simputer platform, I am sure you are pleased with this significant new development. Consequently, we at PicoPeta Simputers hope you will report this with the importance it deserves. More information at: PicoPeta website: http://www.picopeta.com Simputer: http://www.picopeta.com/simputer http://www.simputer.org BEL, in its facility in its Bangalore Complex, has manufactured more than 400 Simputers for PicoPeta in a pilot production phase. The BEL-PicoPeta Simputers are a radical improvement over the earlier Simputer prototypes along several fronts. The production of the first batch of 1,000 BEL-PicoPeta Simputers will be completed in November 2002, said Picopeta, who are one of the groups fighting a valiant battle -- against economics and unhelpful policies -- to put out this commonman's computing device. The current price of the BEL-PicoPeta Simputer will be Rs. 13,000, with duties and taxes as applicable. BEL and PicoPeta are determined to reduce the price closer to Rs. 10,000 in the next six months, promised the firm. The BEL-PicoPeta Simputers are powered by Linux and Malacca. Malacca, described as a revolutionary new interface for the Simputer developed by PicoPeta, makes the combination a powerful, customer-friendly and full-featured machine. Ironically while the Government of India seems quick to claim credit -- if any -- for the work on the Simputer, it has not even put in a rupee into the project. The IT minister had promised to remove Excise duty on the under-10,000 rupee priced Simputers. But nothing has happened on this front yet. Incidentally, the Karnataka IT secretary had also made public announcements last year that sales tax exemption will be given to Simputers. But this is a chicken and egg situation. The duty waiver can happen only after the Simputers get into production. But to get into production, and catch public imagination, they need to be priced attractively. Duty sops would help. Inspite of all the praise it has earned, nobody has dared to invest significantly in the Simputer venture. Both PicoPet and Encore -- the firms incubated out of the teams that initially conceived and worked on this -- are striving to stay alive and get the Simputers somehow produced. Volume production
Re: [GKD] World Computer Exchange Article
Well, I received half a dozen copies of Tim Anderson's posting on the World Computer Exchange. [***Moderator's Note: Due to a server problem, multiple copies of this message were posted to the List. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.***] I have nothing against Timothy in person, and have in the past written positively about this project. But maybe it's time for some critical questions to be asked. This approach kind of encourages us to think along business-as-usual lines. The West can go on 'consuming' computers in an irresponsible manner, at unsustainable levels, and one man's junk is going to become another man's treasure. A nice thought What is really needed is a radical review not just of how we compute, but how we consume the world's resources, and what solutions are offered to whom. Some questions: 1. Has any study been done as to the impact of how long such computers actually serve in Third World locations? Are these being used effectively? Given the way hardware is made incompatible with that produced just two to three years back, aren't we fighting an uphill battle? How do we ensure computers are kept in a state of fair maintenance? 2. What is the impact of software going the bloatware way, which makes perfectly usable computers turn to junk due to the market-driven planned-obsolence model? This is surely true of Windows, and this is also getting to be increasingly true of the major distros of GNU/Linux (Red Hat/Mandrake), where we are getting big and bigger packages, in the name of keeping up in the race. Is someone thinking about this? Apart from the RULE project in Italy, one has not heard of building, say a KDE-Lite, for us poor cousins out here. (For that matter, it would serve everyone, and make fewer computers turn to 'junk' in the first place.) 3. What is the impact on recipients in the Third World? Is there no better and more sustainable way of getting access to PCs? Are such gift-horses appreciated well, or simply abused and misused by recipients, who feel they've got the PCs in an easy way anyway? 4. Is this only a question of hardware, or are other issues like software and syllabi equally important? In India, quite some schools have Microsoft-only syllabi. What are the long-term implications of this? 5. Finally, are we willing to ask inconvenient questions, or just take the easy way out and swim with the tide? No offence meant... Just that we could go ahead if we asked the tough questions. FN ***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/
[GKD] African Civil Society Building an Inclusive Information Society
PRESS RELEASE 13 November 2002 Viva African Civil Society Building an Inclusive Information Society! Viva! JOHANNESBURG - These were the words that began one of the most vibrant and challenging discussions about civil society's engagement in ICT policy-making in Africa to date. Organised by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with the support of Article 19, the workshop on ICT Policy and Civil Society sparked the formation of a network of ICT policy mobilizers dedicated to building an inclusive information society in Africa. The workshop took place over three days starting November 6 at the UNECA headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Over 80 representatives from non-governmental organizations, human rights organisations, media groups, women's organizations, development groups and researchers from 24 countries throughout Africa gathered to discuss the role of African civil society in ICT policy-making and to outline a plan of action to move forward in mobilizing other organisations on these issues. Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane of the ECA opened the workshop by expressing the need for civil society organizations to become more engaged in ICT policy processes on the continent. She challenged the organisations present to organise and unite so that civil society can have a greater voice in the formation of policy. APC Communications and Information Policy Coordinator Peter Benjamin outlined the plan for the week, impressing on participants the need to take action on the issues and tasks that had to be completed by the end of the three days. The aims of the workshop were, firstly, for civil society actors to share their experience and build on the knowledge that already existed, secondly, to identify the needs of those organisations in developing ICT policy at both national and international levels, and lastly, to identify the strategies required to meet those needs. Participants at the workshop came from diverse fields in the civil society sector and from countries throughout Africa. The debates, especially those around issues such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), were intense and challenging, as participants critically analysed the role of civil society in governance and policy development. This workshop is one of the milestone events in ICT policy-making in Africa from a civil society perspective, said participant, Ewan McPhie, Policy Director at Bridges.org. It is difficult to estimate the value of providing a venue where civil society organisations from Africa could meet, share views and experiences and get to know each other better. Smaller working groups formed around four main areas of ICT policy-making including the right to communicate, freedom of expression and information exchange, diversity of content, language, ownership and control and global, regional and national governance of the information society. These discussions led to the formulation of action plans and a statement on African civil society's engagement in ICT policy development from participants. The statement begins with the recognition of the importance of civil society in ICT policy-making: Given the centrality of civil society to the development of an inclusive information society, and the proximity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to the needs of people and society at large, CSOs need to play a central role in developing and implementing ICT policy. The statement goes on to assert recommendations on the themes of 'freedom of expression', 'policy and enabling environment', 'governance', 'content creation and overcoming barriers', 'open source' and 'brain drain'. The Action Plan sets out a clear course of action for participants to engage in information sharing, lobbying at national and international levels (especially at the World Summit on the Information Society), a free/open source software task force, and the development of a cross-regional information exchange for community radio organisations. The Civil Society and ICT Policy Workshop was funded by Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA), the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA) and the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD). This workshop was organised as part of the APC's Africa ICT Policy Monitor project, supported by HIVOS and the International Development Research Centre. ABOUT APC The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of civil society organisations dedicated to empowering and supporting groups and individuals through the strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially Internet-related technologies. APC and its members pioneer practical and relevant uses of ICTs for civil society, especially in developing countries. APC is an international facilitator of civil society's engagement with ICTs and related concerns, in both policy and
[GKD] Educational Radio in India
Educational radio opening up in India... but only slowly From Frederick Noronha Indian universities and deemed-universities have come up with proposals to launch 'educational radio' stations from their campus. But the current government policy is to allow only India's national open university to transmit such broadcasts. For the present, the Government of India has allowed the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to run FM radio stations for educational programmes, India's federal minister for information and broadcasting Sushma Swaraj said in parliament. IGNOU stations have been commissioned at Allahabad, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Lucknow and Mumbai (formerly called Bombay). IGNOU is the country's most important national-level open university, that conducts distance education programmes, mostly via post. It has recently been expanding into using the radio as a medium for education. Its seventh station at Bhopal is likely to be commissioned shortly. Besides, another 23 more IGNOU-run stations are expected to be commissioned before March-end 2003, the minister added. Rs 151 million has been kept aside during the year 2001-02 for this purpose. For over five decades, radio has been internationally seen as a powerful tool for communication and development. Proponents of radio in India have long argued that its potential has been unfairly eclipsed by the advent of television. Over the past few years, India has gone about 'liberalising' its air-waves, allowing commercial FM radio stations to be set up, on payment of multi-millioin rupee licence fees. So far, ten commercial FM radio stations have been commissioned in six Indian cities -- Bangalore, Indore, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai (five stations). Three more companies have paid licence fees for broadcasting in six cities -- Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jabalpur, Coimbatore, Tirunelvi, Visakhapatnam -- but are yet to launch operations. Earlier, nine more broadcasting companies were given time till August 29, 2002 to launch their operations. But campaigners for 'community radio' -- non-profit low-powered radio stations run primarily for development purposes -- have argued that the airwaves should be freed also for the commonman, since this medium could be a powerful means of getting across developmental or educational information. RETHINK POSSIBLE? In mid-August, some official statements coming out from the Indian government also indicated a possible re-think on opening up of radio, to the non-state and non-commercial sector. There were hints that the educational sector could be opened up first. Indian Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj was quoted in the mainstream 'The Times of India' newspaper that she is giving final touches to a proposal permitting schools, colleges and other educational institutions to set up their own radio stations to cater to a variety of activities. Some higher-educational institutions, including deemed universities, are known to have applied for permission to launch educational radio networks. But it is not clear what exactly the minister meant by talk about permitting schools to launch the same. The proposal will be placed before the Union Cabinet next month. We will target IIMs, IITs and residential schools to start off with. But my dream is that every school in India should eventually have its own radio, the minister was quoted saying. (The IIMs and IITs are prestigious, top-level management and technological training institutions. Elite Indian students gain admission to these centres via competitive exams.) Swaraj added that the idea behind the proposal came from the concept of community radio, popular in many foreign countries. But in our proposal, we want schools to start off with this, because there is a lot of scope, and we want to improve the quality of education. Class lessons, lectures, extra information, educative programmes and programmes created by students can all be aired within a limited radius of access. There is immense potential for interactive radio with phone-ins, she was quoted saying. It was not immediately clear whether schools would be given slots on existing stations, or allowed to explore options of setting up their own. Soon after the Cabinet approval, the Department of Telecommunications would be approached to allot frequencies to interested institutions, the minister said, sounding optimistic. The radius will be limited to about 5 km, she said. Swaraj said she was encouraged by the enthusiastic response to the idea. Whenever I broached this subject with the IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) or IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), the idea was welcomed, and they told me to do it quickly. So it is not a pipe dream, she said. The ministry will have some amount of control, especially where content is concerned, but it will be very minimal. But these will be decided only later, she added, giving hints of a persistent concern
[GKD] Using TV to Improve Literacy (India)
Independence from Illiteracy through TV: Putting an old ICT to new ends On the eve on India's Independence Day, 2002, an experiment is being launched by Doordarshan and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad to contribute to making every Indian independently literate. This most ambitious of goals is being approached with the simplest of ideas, under a grant won in Development Marketplace 2002 (World Bank's global innovation competition).* What is this all about? Watch DD-1's Chitrahaar** Wednesday, August 14, 2002 (or later episodes on Wed) 7:30pm to 8:00pm The longest running film-based programme in the history of television, especially popular in the villages, is being transformed from staple entertainment to edutainment that is 'more' entertaining. The potentially major by-product is improvement in the literacy skill levels of millions of people. Same Language Subtitling (SLS) Can music-videos on TV herald a revolution in literacy? Yes, if you simply subtitled the lyrics of the existing songs-based programming on TV in the same language as the audio! In SLS the lyrics of Hindi songs appear in Hindi, Tamil songs in Tamil, and so on in any language. The synchronisation of audio and text is created through colour changes in the subtitles, identifying every word as it is being sung. Thus, SLS strengthens grapheme-phoneme associations which are weak in early literate people. Research with SLS The use of SLS for literacy was first proposed six years ago and on-going research since then, conducted in three separate experiments at the level of the classroom, village (on local cable) and state (in Gujarat on DDK Ahmedabad) have been consistent in finding that reading ability improves steadily as a result of viewing film and folk song based content with the addition of SLS. What is perhaps more relevant to network acceptance of the idea is that surveys have found that over 99% of viewers, semi-literate and literate alike, actually prefer song programming with SLS than without. Why people like SLS? Viewers have been video-taped in villages and slums trying to sing along through lip-synching. SLS enables viewers to know the song lyrics, 'hear' the words better (useful not just for the hearing but also the hearing challenged or deaf), and write down the lyrics. The cost of SLS? SLS integrates everyday reading/writing transactions into the lives of 500 million TV viewers in India at a cost of 3 paise (US$0.0065) per person per year. *** See SLS in action at: http://sls4literacy.tripod.com SLS was awarded the Best Social Innovation for the year 2000 in the Education category for the project, 'Subtitling TV Songs for Mass Literacy', awarded by The Institute for Social Inventions, London (U.K.). *** * For information on Development Marketplace: http://www.developmentmarketplace.org **Chitrahaar's production team: Research Script: Manav Kaushik Creative Consultant: Sandhya Anchor: Tarana Editor: Nishikant Sathe Cameraman: Narsing Pothkanti Technical Expert: R. Sekhar Producer/Director: Mohan Middha [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** CONTACTS (SLS project) Brij Kothari Associate Professor Wing 14, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380015 Gujarat, India Tel: 91-79-632 4938 Fax: 91-79-630 6896 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Mukesh Sharma Director, DDK, Mumbai 91-22-493 8444; 493 8788 Sudhir Tandon Controller of Films, Doordarshan, New Delhi Telefax: 91-11-338 2981 *** Shankar Narayanan, Social Development Specialist South Asia Sector for Environment Social Development The World Bank, 70, Lodi Estate, New Delhi- 110 003 INDIA Phone: +91 11 461 7241-4 Extn. 128 Fax: +91 11 461 9393 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * ***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/
[GKD] Digital Partners' Social Enterprise Laboratory
Digital Partners' Social Enterprise Laboratory (SEL) Call for Applications Please forward the following opportunity to anyone that you think may be interested in applying or any appropriate listserves you may be aware of. We have attached a copy of the announcement as well. Digital Partners, a United States-based non-profit organization, invites for-profit and non-profit social entrepreneurs and organizations serving disenfranchised communities in developing countries to submit a proposal for entry into this year's Social Enterprise Laboratory (SEL). Entries are due by midnight, September 1, 2002. SEL is a new model of collaborative social-problem solving. The entries selected as the ìMost Promising Social Enterprisesî will be matched with a team of Digital Partners Brain Trust members and graduate students to help the social entrepreneurs maximize the potential of the idea. The Brain Trust is composed of IT professionals, business leaders, venture capitalists, and other professionals in their fields. The students are selected from prestigious graduate schools in business, public policy, and IT. After an assessment of the projectís needs for success, the team works with the leadership to identify funding sources, make strategic introductions, effectively incorporate information and communication technologies and market mechanisms into the enterprise, develop implementation strategies, and transform proposals into sustainable business plans. The most promising projects are eligible for up to $100,000 in grants, loans, or equity investments from Digital Partners. SEL is a year-long collaboration to support the design, development, and deployment of projects or businesses that incorporate the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to address the needs of disenfranchised communities. Supported projects can be undertaken by any combination of businesses, non-profits, governments, or individuals seeking to develop sustainable, ICT-enhanced mechanisms to serve markets at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Preference is given to projects that are grass-roots/bottom-up, market-based forsustainability, collaborative for community building, scalable, replicable, and catalytic in terms of systemic social and/or market change. If you intend to apply for SEL, please send an email message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with Applying for SEL as the subject. You need not include anything in the body of the email. This will allow us to keep you updated on new developments. For more details please refer to http://www.digitalpartners.org/sel.html. Applications are available on the website. ***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/
[GKD] India Learns from South Africa (Community Radio)
INDIA LEARNS FROM SOUTH AFRICA'S EXPERIMENT WITH COMMUNITY RADIO By Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall dot org UDUPI, South India: This country which prides itself as the 'second largest democracy in the world' is learning a lesson or two on deploying radio from the young nation of South Africa. This distant nation, that emerged from Apartheid barely a decade back, has useful lessons on how community radio could be a powerful tool in countries where poverty and illiteracy are still un-vanquished enemies. Community radio is definitely more accessible than public or commercial radio. People at the grassroots can go to the station and say, 'This is what we want', says Johannesburg-based Institute for the Advancement of Journalism radio department head Jacob Ntshangase. Ntshangase was visiting India, where he helped in a camp meant to promote community radio, in this small educational town on the country's west coast. Campaigners in this country have been campaigning, so far unsucessfully, for the past half-decade and more to legalize community radio. Ntshangase's IAJ works to partner the University of the Witwatersrand, primarily to enhance journalists skills. They also support training in neighbouring countries like Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. Ntshangase believes that if South Africa could make community radio work in a decade, so could India. Possibly more easily. Community radio came out of efforts of media activists, and part of the gust of the liberalisation of the airwaves, around 1994, with the installation of a democratically-elected government, says he. There were prophets of doom who said 'Give them a month and they (community-run radio stations) are going to collapse.' But they were made to eat their hat, says he. Ntshangase offers insights into how community radio manages to retain its independence while still being critical of the powers that be, and about the functioning of the broadcasting authority. Citing case studies of successful and not-so-successful community stations in his part of the globe, he passes on a message -- during a Ford Foundation-supported workshop -- that the same is possible here too. Radio Maritzburg in Kwazulu-Natal, the first licensed station in 1995, is fading away, he believes. Bush radio, started illegally, has proven to be very successful, he says. Others like Radio 786 in Cape Town are religous stations. (Bush Radio's logo shows a broadcaster carrying a transmitter and literally running -- a hint of its not-so-legal origins, which later compelled the reluctant authorities to issue it a licence!) Ntshangase told a surprised audience, in this country of 1000+ million, that South Africa itself -- which has less than one-twentieth the population -- itself has about 120+ radio stations. India itself has long been fairly closed over radio broadcasting, and only in the past couple of years has been opening up to commercial FM, while there are plans for building up educational radio in this country. Hoping for an eventual opening-up, campaigners like Ntshangase and local lobbyists discussed issues like frequency plans, regulation of licences, allotting limited frequencies to different claimants, and the like. What is making community radio powerful in South Africa is that it is accessible to the people. It's closeness to the people is making it more strong, says Ntshangase. Ntshangase had a few tips for campaigners here. Community radio had to take into account the dialects of the local communities. South Africa has 11 official languages... it's a crazy country, he pointed out. If that's so, India might rate higher, having 18 officially-recognised national languages and some 1652 mother tongues (of which 33 are spoken by over a 100,000 people). He suggested that campaigners need to be united and speak with one voice before they could get governments to realise the relevance and importance of legalizing community radio. And he spent time focussing on the economics, and need for sound-management training, for community radio. Some radio stations in South Africa have been studied internationally for different reasons. These include Soul City focussing on health and women's rights, Radio Zibonele run out of an old container truck, Bush Radio which is sometimes called the mother of community radio in Africa, the Rural Women's Movement-founded Moutse Community Radio, among others. All these were recently featured in 'Making Waves', a report to the Rockefeller Foundation, on using communication for social change (published 2001). Recent reports from South Africa point out that for decades, during the apartheid era, South African radio stations were divided along racial lines and the media industry was used as a tool of propaganda. But now, the airwaves are undergoing a dramatic transformation. Racial divisions are fading as wealth changes hands in South Africa. (ENDS) NOTE: Jacob Ntshangase can be contacted via email [EMAIL PROTECTED
[GKD] Simputer Handheld Expands Its Options
From the website of PC World (US edition) ___ Simputer Handheld Expands Its Options Linux-based device, designed to tackle the digital divide, soon will be available in higher-end configurations. John Ribeiro, IDG News Service Friday, July 19, 2002 BANGALORE, INDIA -- Sales of the Simputer, a Linux-based handheld computer designed by Indian engineers, have languished at about 150 units since the prototype of the product was ready in April last year. But Encore Software of Bangalore aims to change that with upgraded versions of the product to be launched next month. Encore is introducing at least four versions of the Simputer, according to its chairman, Vinay Deshpande. It has become clear that one-size-fits-all does not work even with the Simputer, Deshpande says. We need different versions of the Simputer at different price points with different features. With a target price of $200, the Simputer was initially positioned as a low-cost Internet device for rural applications that would help narrow the digital divide. New Uses Encore is now targeting new markets such as electronic government, utilities, health care, education, banking, financial services, and the manufacturing sector. It has tied up with about 10 independent software vendors who have developed applications around the Simputer for these market segments. We still see bridging the digital divide as an opportunity for us, but we are also looking at new market opportunities where the sales cycles are typically shorter, Deshpande says. Encore is shipping 200 Simputers this month, with another 1000 units scheduled for next month. Some of these shipments are against trial orders. We were naive to expect orders just on the description of the device, says Deshpande. We realize now that customers both in India and abroad want to get their hands on the product, and try it out in a limited way in their organizations before placing large orders. Besides getting the devices to customers, Encore will also take them to about 400 ISVs who have downloaded the software development kit from Encore's web site, but have not had an opportunity yet to test their software on the hardware. The products are being manufactured by Bangalore contract manufacturer Peninsula Electronics, though Encore is close to signing up a contract manufacturer in Singapore and another in India, in order to handle large orders. Simputer's Story The Simputer, for SIMple comPUTER, was designed by engineers at Encore and students and academics from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The intellectual property of the device was transferred to a nonprofit organization, The Simputer Trust, and both the hardware and software were put under the open-source General Public License. Both Encore and Bangalore startup PicoPeta Simputers have licensed the design from The Simputer Trust, and have added new features and enhancements to the product. Under the licensing agreement, the licensees have to turn in their innovation to the Simputer Trust for open-source distribution only after one year of commercial production. Built around a StrongArm processor from Intel in Santa Clara, the first version of the Simputer had 16MB of flash memory; 32MB of dynamic RAM; a monochrome LCD with a touch-panel overlay; and text-to-speech support. The Simputer also included a modem, and IrDA, or Infrared Data Association, and USB interfaces. The feedback we got from some customers is that they would be paying for features they would never use for their applications, says Deshpande. On the other hand, there were those who wanted new features such as more memory, color display, and other connectivity options. Additional Options The new Simputer range from Encore thus attempts to meet the requirements of various market segments. The entry-level Simputer will, at production volumes, be priced at about $210, and has a monochrome LCD, 16MB of DRAM and 8MB of flash memory, IrDA and USB interfaces and audio connectors, but no modem. Some of the enhancements include a built-in battery charger, a real-time clock, and support for J2ME. The top-end Simputer, priced at about $480, has a color display, 32MB of flash memory and 64MB of DRAM, a built-in modem, and a pocket-sized cradle with a CompactFlash expansion slot for memory cards and wireless connectivity. In addition to the cradle which ships with the high-end model, Encore is also designing specialized cradles with built-in functions such as a micro printer, keyboard, and support for GSM and 802.11 wireless connectivity. The company is opening up to designers the interface between the Simputer and the cradle to encourage others to design their own specialty cradles. In the deployment of the Simputer, getting orders was a greater issue than funding, according to Deshpande. Our focus was more on ensuring customer expectations were met, before trying to get into volume production, he says. Behind the Scenes Encore is a listed
[GKD] On-line Learning in India
ON-LINE LEARNING: THE SKY IS THE LIMIT, AND INDIA WANTS TO AIM HIGH... What is India's share of the potentially huge on-line learning pie? Still just crumbs compared to what is obviously possible in this resource-hungry but imagination-rich country of 1000-million plus. India's National Centre for Software Technology (NCST), an autonomous centre working in research and development, has announced plans to host a global conference on online learning called 'Vidyakash-2002' (loosely, Horizons of Knowledge). It will be held from December 15-17 at Mumbai, the Indian commercial capital formerly known as Bombay. Says NCST: Vidyakash-2002 is being conceived of as a forum to bring together the various groups interested in online learning. In the past few weeks, it issued a call for papers dealing with learning environments, on-line teaching methodology, learner support, instruction delivery, learner modelling, faculty development for on-line learning, virtual universities, course-ware engineering and other related issues. Organisers hope this event will be the first of many. Papers are being invited from across the globe. One goal is to set up a national resource centre -- possibly at the NCST -- for online learning. This project was founded in late 2000, and has been doing considerable work behind the scenes since then. Apart from several development projects, there have also been some collaborative efforts to bring together people working in this field from across the country. Last June, a workshop was held on online learning, and they've also been working with India's prestigious engineering-education centres called the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) on a distance education programme. M Sasikumar [EMAIL PROTECTED], head of the Educational Technology Unit at NCST, explains to journalist Frederick Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] of BytesForAll.org, some of the issues and plans that could flow out of this meet. Excerpts: - How many participants are expected for this meet? - About 200-300. The potential audience would include companies into e-learning (software developers, distributors, service providers, etc), educational institutions interested in e-learning, content developers, faculty, and others. - What's the level of online-education in India currently? - India's non-formal sector, particularly in the IT discipline, have ventured in offering e-learning. But the response, as far as I know, has been low. Other institutions are also making available a lot of content on the Web; but not enough for online learning. These are largely notes and slides. Use of discussion board, e-mail, and chat are picking up for technical communication -- but we have a long way to go. Much of the work in e-learning is focused on superficial content hosting -- largely textbook and slides online. A student in an online learning environment is in a very different frame of mind compared to a classroom environment. He lacks eye contact with the instructor, the peer pressure and interaction, or the campus environment. There is very little effort to provide a comfortable and practical learning environment, or to exploit the capabilities provided by a Web-based environment (use of interactive simulations, animations, etc) in the approach most people take to e-learning. This is true, not only in India, but across the globe. It is necessary to view e-learning in its entirety as a educational problem (and not as as software technology or communication technology problem), for e-learning to make a significant impact on the educational scenario. - What are the exciting experiments you'll hope to share with others? - This is a forum where a number of researchers and practitioners from a number of institutions will be sharing their ideas and experiences. It is not an NCST show. Topics of interest spans from communication and collaboration in online learning context, to content development and delivery. One can look forward to developments in effective content design models, delivery methodologies, software tools and environments, learning models, etc. - Are any other international organisations involved in the event? - There is no direct involvement of any other specific organization. But authors and delegates will be representing work from a number of organizations across the world including India
[GKD] Microfinance to Get the IT Edge (India)
MIRROR, MIRROR... WHAT'S THE SUM I OWE YOU TODAY? By Frederick Noronha He's a young researcher still in his twenties of Indian origin. Parikh has been spending time in India even as we start seeing signs of a reverse brain-drain with skills and talent showing up from among expatriates keen not just to understand their roots, and work to improve things here. Micro-finance, one attempt to get the poor to help themselves by collecting small sums of money and loaning it between themselves, is to get a leg-up from IT if Parikh and his team have their way. Their new software is getting finalised to make it easy for simple villagers to undertake more complex financial transactions. It's called Hisaab (meaning, 'accounts'). Interestingly, what it does is not just to make the account-keeping process simpler, but also to make sure that people with low-literacy skills can use this new package. This software has a different kind of user-interface. It has been designed with low-literacy groups in mind, explains Parikh. Instead of names and text, it has more numbers involved. It's obvious, but we often forget that it's easier for the poor to read numbers. Users could replace someone's name with a code-number. Numbers are also easier to remember, says Parikh. It's easier to type in a number too. Behind micro-credit, the idea is to ensure that money goes round the village, and that it gets productively used. This simple idea could help the poor, if given that vital IT-edge, feels Parikh. How the software works seems simple enough, at least in theory: Each month, the group of women meets and puts together Rs 50, 70 or 100 or some other predetermined figure. Over time, this generates into a collection of money that can be used for income generation, tackling sickness, or the loss of a job. Because the group works collectively in saving and loaning out their resources, repayments tend to be high due to peer pressure against defaulting. Money is put back, and over time, it grows. This allows larger loans to be taken. The core-goal is to rotate money as much as possible, so it supports productive activity. So, a one rupee (a little over two cents, but not pittance in a rural Indian setting) put in gets used not two or three times in a year, but revolves around 10-11 times if possible, says Parikh. He says such groups expect to link up with banks, NGOs who are working on micro-finance, and NABARD (the Indian bank for agriculture and rural development) also offers loans to such self-help groups. Due to their collective liability, they have shown better repayment rates. Because if one person doesn't pay, everyone would be less likely to get a loan. Peer pressure being high, repayment rates are as high as 90-95% while individual repayments elsewhere could be 40%, argues Parikh. This is not just theory. It works in practise too. It depends on how strong the groups are, and how well managed. You need to build capacity in accounting, management and discipline, says he. To make the software user-friendly to the poor, it's being built up textually-light, with a greater number of images and graphics. Currently, it is being built up by teams of the Media Lab Asia and the Human Factors International. HFI is a Fairfield-Iowa headquartered group which says we make software usable. It has its India office in Andheri in the Indian commercial capital of Mumbai. Recently, the team putting together this software went and gave a demo to potential users in Tamil Nadu. Feedback was positive. Its demo version has been done in Flash, while actual development would be done in Java -- meaning that the software could be run on either the popular Windows platform, or the stable GNU/Linux operating system. We want this to be an empowering tool (for the villager and micro-credit groups). By being able to manage their own finances in a more sophisticated way, they will now be able to undertake more complex transactions, says Parikh. For instance, withdrawals and deposits could be more 'arbitrary' and need-based than would otherwise be possible in a more traditional form of account-keeping. You don't have to save fixed sums of money just because it makes account-keeping easier. More complex financial transactions are possible without accounting hassles, says Parikh. We want it to become part of a very local system: locally managed, locally mobilised and locally distributed. We want to minimise external interventions, and plan to have a lot of partnerships with NGOs, says Parikh. Bangladesh's Grameen Bank is about the best known model of micro-finance in the Third World. That has come in for some criticism though. Perhaps over time it has got centralised and institutionalised. But we want to ensure that contact remains with the local people, and to focus on minimum external intervention, says Parikh. This demo interface design is primarily the work of Kaushik Ghosh, an Interface Designer from the prestigious National Institute
[GKD] Website to Help Farmers Bargain Better (India)
Thanks to Ashish Kotamkar for sending this across from Pune. FN -- Forwarded message -- From: Ashish Kotamkar [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Website to help farmers bargain better Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 12:11:24 +0530 Website to help farmers bargain better http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=11502961 TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2002 3:39:44 AM ] IT'S a well-known fact that Indian farmers rarely know the actual price and stock level of his produce at the mandis where they come to sell it. A long chain, vested interests and sheer spread of the markets not only makes it difficult for them to take decisions regarding produce mix, but also deprives them of whatever little bargaining power they may have had. In a recent initiative to correct this anomaly, various state agricultural marketing boards (APMCs) have come together to form an Agricultural marketing information network (Agmarknet), hosting a portal called agmarknet.nic.in. This project has a budget of Rs 10 crore. The website has links to various APMCs and mandis across the country, as well as a few live links to major mandis like the Navi Mumbai APMC. Itís possible to check out at this site the delivery positions and prices of various commodities and vegetables at practically every mandi in India. Commodities are divided into seven groups here ó cereals, pulses, fibres, spices, fruits, vegetables and oilseeds. Surfers can search mandi-wise for commodity, or commodity-wise in each mandi. Presently, Agmarknet reports information from 73 markets across India. The Agmarknet venture is a heartening initiative from the much criticised and slow-to-react government, especially on the issue of easing the infrastructural constraints on agriculture. Till now, the government has only been regular in its support price policy for farmersí benefit (that too, only a small section), while any form of meaningful support in the shape of credit, research, extension or capital formation has been absent. Seen in this light, the Agmarknetís proposed aim to create a ënationwide network for speedy collection and dissemination of market informationí, could potentially reduce prices paid to intermediaries and bring benefits to a wide cross section of farmers and consumers. Secondly, Agmarknet also aims to computerise data about market fees and charges, arrivals, dispatches, sales transport, losses and wastage and various issues like APMC infrastructure and taxes. It envisages connecting, eventually, 670 mandis and 40 agricultural boards across India. At 75, Maharashtra has the maximum number of wholesale markets, or nodes connected, followed by Andhra Pradesh (65) and Uttar Pradesh (64). Perhaps a bee in the bonnet that has to be dealt with is the connectivity problem -- all attempts to log on to Mumbai APMC's website called falbazar.com, proved futile for three consecutive days. It is obvious then, that for such an ambitious and urgently needed network to really work, the project has to be backed up by back end systems and training. The National Informatics Centre of the Government of India said that it will procure, maintain and install the hardware and software for the sites and train the operators to upload and uplink. Each wholesale market or node that is connected to Agmarknet will pay Rs 2,750 per year as internet access charges. On first look, Agmarknet appears to be filling a huge gap by providing access to information at reasonable cost. The challenge, if the full potential of such ventures have utilised, is to take IT to rural India in a big way. [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Ashish ***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/
[GKD] Simputer's Commercial Rollout Pushed to July
Simputer's commercial rollout pushed to July By Imran Qureshi, Indo-Asian News Service Bangalore, May 22 (IANS) The commercial rollout of India's most promising IT product, the common man's low-cost PC called simputer, is now expected in the second week of July. The simputer was originally planned to hit the markets in August last year. Its release was rescheduled for November and then May this year. The postponement of the commercial rollout after successful field trials has not dampened the interest of prospective buyers, with requests coming in from North America, Africa, South America and the Far East. It is taking long because it is a typical chicken and egg situation. But we have received orders for a couple of thousand units already and we have tied up for its manufacture abroad as well because the volume from abroad will explode soon, Vinay Deshpande, CEO of Encore Software, told IANS. We had to entirely depend on internal resources to fund the pilots for field trials. That roughly comes to Rs.15 million. But the good news is that we have begun commercial production of the new version that is more stylish. Deshpande, three of his colleagues from privately held Encore and four scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) joined hands to produce the simputer in 1998. The scientists have set up a separate company, PicoPeta Simputers, whose products are being tested in Chhattisgarh for an education project in association with World Space Radio. PicoPeta's simputers are manufactured at the state-owned Bharat Electronics while Encore's products are produced at its sister company, Peninsula. Producing 500 units for, say, 10 or 15 parties would cost Rs.10,000 a unit. And we had already invested quite a lot in developing the product, says Deshpande. But the delay has been, to a large extent, fruitful. Encore's improved version is now aimed at all sections of society. Apart from the common man's version, it has other versions priced at Rs.15,000 and a high-end version that costs Rs.24,000. The low-end product has a black and white LCD screen and 16 MB RAM with MB flash while the high-end one has a colour screen with 64MB RAM and 32 MB Flash. The high-end version can be attached to a GSM, GPRS cell network, wired LAN, a micro printer or even a bar code reader. The Rs.15,000 product is inclusive of all taxes. Taxes alone account for Rs.4,500. But the original target of reaching the common man is still achievable. If the government exempts taxes for the simputer, then the cost would fall to Rs.6,500 from Rs.9,000 for the low-end product, says Deshpande. Encore has received orders and enquiries from countries like Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Canada, Mexico and Argentina. We would have two high volume manufacturing units to meet the demand from abroad and within India. Both would be capable of scaling up operations, says Deshpande. --Indo-Asian News Service ***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/
[GKD] Free/Open-Source Software for Engineering Students (India)
THE PENGUIN AS ENGINEER: TAKING GNU/LINUX TO THE PORTALS OF HIGHER EDUCATION By Frederick Noronha IT MAY BE taking its time to get done, but this is one simple idea that could have a wide-ranging impact for thousand of young engineers-in-the-making across India. Put briefly, the idea is simply to compile a whole range of useful and 'free' software that engineering students from this 'talent-rich, resource-poor' country of a thousand million-plus can effectively use in their studies and work. It calls for quite a bit of scouring around -- and matching the needs of students with what's available out there, in the wide world of cyberspace. But since the software to be used is from the Free Software/Open Source world of GNU/Linux, it means that once compiled, this useful collection could be freely distributed without copyright or unreasonably-high cost restrictions. (GNU/Linux is a computer operating system that runs on many different computers. It has been built up largely by volunteers worldwide, and comes with along with its freely-copyable 'source-code' and thus offers you the freedom to its users and programmers in many more senses than just coming across at affordable costs.) First to initiate this Nagarjuna G, a scientist and keen Free Software proponent at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. This centre is located at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in the Indian commercial capital of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Incidentally Nagarjuna is also the founder of the Linux-in-Education (LIFE) mailing list. See details at http://mm.hbcse.tifr.res.in/mailman/listinfo/life Prof Nagarjuna irst broached the subject thus, via one of the many GNU/Linux-related mailing lists active in India: I am presently planning a single CD distribution containing the applications and goodies required for a regular engineering college student. I would like to keep in mind the syllabus and projects students do. Can some of you tell us what kind of applications are used/needed by students? He argues that volunteers can build the list and sit on one Sunday and put together the 'distro' (or distribution, referring to the collection of software required). It sounds easy. But this is a task which calls for considerable thought, coordination and planning. Nagarjuna admits that this project has been on the cards for some time now. Inspite of being such an interesting idea -- a whole generation of engineering students could get access to the power of GNU/Linux software -- it has not been easy to push through. Not surprising in the world of volunteer work, where real-life jobs and earning a living mean one can't always do what one wanted to. But the efforts are on. (This is) another thing which needs to be done but could not do it because no volunteers. But this is also on the agendas of the FSF-India (the Indian-branch of the Free Software Foundation). We will soon identify a team for this and get it going, says he, determinedly. Mumbai-based Trevor Warren agrees. He recently noted that working to build up such a forum would be suitable for like-minded GNUers like us to spread and nurture the idea of Free Software. This is increasingly seen as an important job in a country like India, rich in software talent but poor in terms of the code it actually has access to when it comes to meeting its own requirements. There has been a lot of debate over what software would be best squeezed into the space available on the CD. Electronic students, for instance, would have their own requirements. For instance Spice, the analog circuit simulation software or Varkon (which plays the role of a computer-aided design software). BruseY20 is a VHDL generator. VGUI is a block-diagram to VHDL. SAVANT is a VHDL simulator while Alliance offers a complete set of VLSI tools. (VLSI stands for very large scale integration, and relates to the important field of chip design.) Other suggestions that have come up include something for CAM/gerber post-processing, a FPGA design package and a VLSI design package. Besides, GNU/Linux also offers such suitable tools like RDBMS with its front-ends and admin tools; PostGreSQL; MySQL; PgAccess; Tcl/Tk; Perl5; PHP; PHP MyAdmin and PHPPgAdmin (administrative interfaces for MySQL and Postgres in PHP). For chemical engineers-in-the-making, GNULinux also offers a chance of finding suitable molecular manipulation software. There were many other names of free software products that could be included. GNULinux is a great operating system for the Net, since it was itself born in an Internet generation, though collaborative cooperation among thousands of volunteers worldwide. This means it has a number of useful web tools -- including Apache, PHP, Perl5, Webmin and CGI scripting. Zope and Python, Tomcat and jservers are the other useful tools. For civil engineers, Free Software offers a whole list of useful tools to engineers-in-the-making. These include Varkon (CAD), Grass5 (GIS), and some
Re: [GKD] Open-Source Software for Development
Don Cameron [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Paul Swider wrote: neither I in Washington, DC, nor someone in a village in Africa has to merely take what is given in terms of software function, we can make what we need. This not only translates into better IT, it can also translate into real jobs This would be wonderful, but I do wonder how the person located in this African village, with everything involved in terms of literacy, economy etc., would determine exactly what is needed from the latest version of Red Hat or Debian, let alone build it? - To begin with, who is compiling these systems into African village dialects? Also, it's perhaps a sad reality, but reality nonetheless that commercial software is that which creates jobs - business culture drives commercial purchases, which in Dear Don, Where are you writing this from? I myself live in a village, Saligao, which I welcome you to visit anytime to see what is possible from there. Please also check out http://linuxinindia.pitas.com to see what others are doing from a country like India. It's not implausible to think that, if India can do it today, other areas of the Third World can do it tomorrow. Anyway, I feel we should not get too much caught up in the villages or urban areas debate. The question is whether at all software can play a role in a way that makes it accessible and affordable to the Third World (or the Two-Thirds World), call it what you choose. GNU/Linux, Open Source and Free Software definitely has immense potential. Lastly, should we be unduly concerned if companies and corporations show a disinclination to enter the GNU/Linux-FreeSoftware-OpenSource world? Is it our assumption that all change, development and growth will flow from what corporations do? In any case, the whole of GNU/Linux was built almost wholly with volunteer support and involvement. It would appear that we who are talking of development have a useful lesson to learn from this approach. In fact, our bytesforall.org project has been inspired in large measure by the GNU/Linux approach. Two years old, 15 volunteers from six South Asian countries, an ezine sent out via listservs that reaches decisionmakers/IT professionals and the commonman, a whole lot of enthusiasm generated about the potential of IT-for-development (including a monthly column in one of India's most prestigious and mainstream IT magazines)... all done without a single rupee or taka or dollar spent, but through volunteer work. A lot is possible... if only there's an open mind. FN -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783 BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * SMS [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Saligao Goa India ***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/
[GKD] Cisco Establishes 'Networking Academies' in India
Cisco for faster roll-out of networking academies in India By Frederick Noronha A networked world would be a far happier place for the student. So believes global networking giant Cisco Systems, as it pushes on with the ambitious roll out its 'networking academies' which it hopes could make a big difference to IT education in an 'Internet age'. But, in India, bureaucratic delays are affecting the plan, says Cisco International Partnership Programme Manager for Worldwide Education Elli Takagaki. The pace of setting up these crucial training centres could be speeded up, she suggested while speaking to this correspondent. Ms Takagaki noted that Cisco CEO John Chamber had offered to establish academies in some 34 states and union territories across in India, during his visit to the country in January 2000. We reached about the half-way stage. But we're still in Phase I. We plan to work with universities (and local training centres too). Even NGOs (non-governmental and volunteer organisations) can set up centres if they have a 56 kbps dedicated line to the Internet and 20 computers, she said. Cisco, a giant in the global computer networking industry, says its programme -- a highly successful alliance between the corporation, education, business, government and community -- offers a practical solution to promoting greater IT literacy and advanced skills. The 'networking academy' teaching students to design, build and maintain computer networks. The academy curriculum covers a broad range of topics, from basic networking skills such as pulling cable to more complex concepts such as applying advanced troubleshooting tools. It is a highly successful alliance between Cisco Systems, education, business, government and community organisations around the world. It offers a practical solution to address the need for greater IT literacy and advanced skills, adds Cisco. Over the past year, Cisco says it has already implemented the programme across 66 institutions in 14 states in India. This includes, says Cisco Education Project Manager for the SAARC region Lokesh Mehra, even remote locations like Andaman and Nicobar (Port Blair) and Himachal Pradesh (Hamirpur). Delhi-based Mehra, who looks after the SAARC region, says that academies have also been started in Bhutan (1), Bangladesh (1) , Nepal (5) and Sri Lanka (1). This resource-poor, talent-rich centre of computing skills hopes to see some 100 academies by the end of August 2002, Mehra told this correspondent. For administrative purposes of the Cisco network academy project, Pakistan comes under Europe and Middle East region and not under Asia Pacific. It comes under my counterpart based in Dubai. We have 22 academies there, comprising three regional and 19 local academies, says Mr Mehra. He informed that the UNDP, particularly its Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) lead in Asia by a South Asian, Shahid Akhtar, has been working with Cisco to ensure that other LDC countries in SAARC (Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka) benefit from the implementation of the Cisco Networking Academy Program. This program is being expanded, and UN Volunteers are being provided in some areas, to support the same. Besides this Cisco says it is also focussing specially on gender-focussed academies so that girl students too can avail the benefit of networking education, which is otherwise considered to be mainly a male dominated area. Some of Cisco's exclusive women academies include Banasthali Vidyapeeth (Rajasthan), SNDT (Mumbai), and PMC Tech (Tamil Nadu). In Karnataka, the Bangalore-based IIIT(B) is the Regional Academy under the aegis of Dr.Sadagopan. Local Cisco Academies have been set up or are build put in place out of engineering colleges such as BVB Hubli, KVGCE Sulia, MP Birla Institute (Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan) of Bangalore, M.S.Ramaiah Institute (Bangalore), Sir MVIT (Bangalore), NIE of Mysore and the Vijaynagar Engineering College. Another four to five colleges will be added soon (in Karnataka), informed Mehra. Yes, there are loads of bureaucratic hassles (in setting up these centres in India). Inspite of Cisco providing the curriculum and administrative tools free of cost, the respective state governments feel that there is some hidden agenda that Cisco has, Mehra said. It seems quite odd that 136 countries world wide have seen value in this non-profit program but Indian bureaucracy loves to create hurdles in such ventures, he added. Citing one example, he said, in the small western coastal state of Goa, despite repeated talk about promoting the IT industry, the state government at Panaji has been working at a snail's pace. Said Mehra: The Goa University wants Cisco to donate even the equipment free of cost though one does provide that at a 50% subsidized cost. Globally, some 136 countries are participating in this project, with 8615 networking academies set up catering for some 246,000 students. There are some 26,350 instructors
[GKD] Simputer Team Wins Award for IT Innovation
Simputer project bags Dewang Mehta award for innovation in IT from Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Apr 12 (IANS) The team that developed the Simputer, a hand-held device aimed at taking the Internet to the rural masses in India, has been conferred the first Dewang Mehta award for innovation in IT, it was announced Friday. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 500,000. The award, instituted by the department of IT in memory of India's tech evangelist Dewang Mehta who died April 12 last year, recognises innovations that have the potential to make a significant impact on national development. The Simputer as a concept has the potential to put computing power in the hands of the masses in the true sense of the word. The Simputer is one innovation that can break barriers that prevent the common man from using computing devices which are not only high priced but also exotic, a statement from the department said. The Simputer -- short for Simple, Inexpensive, Multilingual Computer -- was designed by the not for profit Simputer Trust. It uses the free Linux software operating system. The trust licenses the design to manufacturers. Seven trustees drawn from the faculty of computer science and automation of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Encore Software Ltd. conceived the project. The Simputer is expected to help farmers access commodity prices and other information and will also provide speech recognition in regional languages to help the unlettered use the device. Priced at a little over Rs. 12,000, the Simputer will be three times cheaper than a personal computer and cost about the same as a colour television set - a price level which is expected to help improve computer penetration in India. Ninety-two nominations were received for the first Dewang Mehta award. A committee of eminent persons was constituted to evaluate the nominations and give its recommendations, the statement added. Mehta, who was president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) for the last 10 years, died of a massive heart attack in Sydney in April last year. He was attending an IT meet in the city. The dynamic 38-year-old Mehta's name was synonymous with India's booming software industry. He led the industry's global push as the country's software exports zoomed to $6.2 billion in 2000-01 from $734 million in 1995-96. The Geneva-based World Economic Forum identified Mehta as one of the 100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow. The basic thrust (of the award) was to identify a concept that was not only innovative but whose application would have had an impact on the lives of the common man. The committee observed that the development of Simputer stands out significantly higher than others and meets the criteria set out, the statement said. --Indo-Asian News Service ***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/
[GKD] Pakistan's Virtual University
OF UNIVERSITIES... REAL AND VIRTUAL Pakistan places its hopes for speeding up IT education in a new 'Virtual University'. Advisor to Islamabad's Ministry of Science and Technology Salman Ansari, who met Frederick Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] at a UNDP/Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme, explains what the concept involves. IT SIMPLY MEANS this: about two-and-half years ago, we assessed that we were producing about 10,000 graduates in IT (each year). If we were to distil from this, I don't think more than 1000 or 1500 were of very high quality, explains Ansari. Other calculations were revealing too. For Pakistan's own internal needs and software exports, particularly if the latter wanted to touch the ambitious billion-dollar target, the country needed about 40,000 top-of-the-line people. Each could generate export earnings of around 35-40,000 dolalrs, says Ansari. This served as an impetus for revamping higher education, specially that related to IT. Pakistan put in about three billion rupees into existing government-run universities. This money went for building faculty and labs and was primarily focussed on the IT front. The more we put in, the more we discovered that the weakest link there is the faculty. So we tried to get a number of people. We advertised heavily in (international publications like) the Economist, New York Times and anything would get across the message to (overseas) Pakistanis, says the IT advisor to the Pakistan government. Ansari believes that after 9/11 -- and the response of the US to religious minorities after the World Trade Centre attacks -- expats in the West have started returning home in a flood, and want to re-invest in Pakistan as they feel very insecure in the US. But this, still, hardly suffices to cope with current needs. One way to do so would be to create a very strong distance-learning programme, where we could use common resources -- basically the faculty. We went through the whole exercise of analysis, of meeting people, visiting institutions like the Open University in the UK, and centres of excellence in New Jersey, the University of Illinois (UIUC), says he. But there were stumbling blocks to implementing this concent. Number One was cost. Our students would have to pay Rs 70-80,000 per month. This defeats the very purpose. Besides, the course material would not be adequate. It assumes pre-requisites which students in Pakistan simply don't have. For instance, it raises issues of language, pronounciation, the quality of production (most were classroom recordings), and the like, adds Ansari. But one of the most important issues was copyright. We wanted to use the material in classrooms, host it on the web, broadcast through TV. So the only way we found we could get around this was to generate content ourselves, says Ansari. Thus came the Virtual University. It will involve an initial cost of Rs 200 million (US$1=60 Pakistani rupees). Later, several add-on features will come about. This will include an education Intranet, and a TV educational channel... all costing as much as Rs 1.5 billion. Also planned are studios in different cities, plans to convert content into digital format, creating indexes to allow for asynchornous learning (students can opt for any time when they wish to study), and even digital post-processing to improving the presentation of the material to suitable standards. Today as we talk (March-end), the first Bachelor of Computer Science programme is being conducted, said Ansari. Initially, only 1000 students are being formally enrolled as part of the pilot project. Once it goes on-line fully, anyone in any part of Pakistan will be able to sign-up for classes. There will be some 28 tutoring centres, all being physical brick-and-motar classes. Teachers will be physically present -- even if not of the same caliber as those working at the apex -- to guide students personally. Students would also be able to 'talk back' to the lecturers via the Internet, possibly getting an instant response too. By September this year, the target is to have some 5000 students. By end 2003, we should have 25,000 students enrolled in exactly the same format, says Ansari. Behind this plan, there are also other initiatives to open up the Internet in Pakistan. So far, it has reached some 570 locations, and the country has reduced the price of Internet bandwidth, by as much as 75% recently, says Ansari. Multi-metering of phone-calls to the Internet will also be a thing of the past, he is hopeful. So, theoretically, one could sit 500 miles from the main city and pay Rs 2 for a phone call, and Rs 5 per hour of Internet time. For five hours of lectures, one would pay just Rs 27 (in Internet and connectivity charges), says Ansari. By December this year, Pakistan hopes that Internet access could reach as many as a thousand sites in the country. Some are of very small capacity, some are larger Class I areas with 2000+ lines, says Ansari. Later
[GKD] BYTESFORALL: South Asian ICT Newsletter
Systems and Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals. IAS is running on its own steam now and is probably the only effort which generates Dailies(Hindi and Englis), Weeklies and Monthly for ther farm sector. http://www.agriwatch.com 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o bYtES For aLL is a voluntary, unfunded venture. CopyLeft, 2001. 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, Daryl Martyis in Chicago, Gihan Fernando in Sri Lanka, Rajkumar Buyya in Melbourne, Mahrukh Mohiuddin in Dhaka and Deepa Rai in Kathmandu. To contact them mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Two years on, BytesForAll thanks all those who have volunteered their time, energy and motivation in taking this experiment forward, since its launch in July 1999. If you'd like to volunteer too, contact the above address. BytesForAll's website www.bytesforall.org is maintained by Partha Sarkar, with inputs from other members of the volunteers' team and supporters. To join or leave this mailing-list simply send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with SUB B4ALL or UNSUB B4ALL as the subject. 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o ***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/
[GKD] Free Software Movement Grows in India
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/national/stories/52264.html?slink=nsl Free software Guru -- Richard Stallman -- on India mission Bangalore, India March 14, 2002 While the concept of using free software for back-end requirements is catching on, the desktop is yet to be liberated from the hold of the largest proprietary operating system (OS) corporations. So, as the free software movement guru Richard M Stallman sets out to spread the wings of the Free Software Foundation in India, helping build applications for the desktop that will reach the common man a daunting agenda lies ahead. Besides gearing up to popularise free software, both at the back end and especially the desktop, empowering developers to make applications ubiquitous, working with state governments to promote free software use in e-governance and using it as an effective tool to work towards bridging the digital divide is the core of Stallman's India agenda. 'Apprenticeship by tinkering' is clearly set to be the name of the game. Richard Stallman is the man behind GNU/Linux (GNU developed by Stallman and a Linux kernel developed by Linus Torwalds) open source operating system, which is believed to have more than 17 million installations worldwide. Interestingly, Stallman says, 'free' software is not about the price (and says companies are free to charge a sum to offer the operating system and services to users), but is all about the freedom and openness of use. The Free Software Foundation itself makes most of its revenues by selling copies of the software and training manuals while some funds come in by way of donations. The foundation is also looking at a business model where it will function as the certifying agency and will certify compliance of free software users with the licensing rules. Countries can avoid paying gigantic amounts of money towards licensing of proprietary software. Specific to India, free software can be used to support computer science education at all levels. This also allows for anyone to use and learn, he said. Interestingly, the free software movement with GNU/Linux has already made inroads in India. To cite examples the Andhra Pradesh government is already set to execute projects on the free OS, while the well-known Simputer Trust has showcased this OS in its low-cost computing appliance - Simputer and some of the new technology start-ups like CDC Linux are already developing high-end clustering and parallel supercomputing solutions on the GNU/Linux operating system. Source: The Financial Express ***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/
[GKD] Query on Simputer (India)
Dear GKD Members: I am working on an article on the Simputer, and would be very grateful if you could spare a few moments to give me your views on the same. Could you kindly let me know: 1. What is your view of the utility of the Simputer? 2. Is its potential getting eroded by falling palmtop prices? Or is the comparison with a low-cost palmtop unfair to the Simputer? 3. Should a country like India go in for greater hardware innovation? 4. What would you view to the be the main contribution of the Simputer? (i) Low cost (ii) Open-design (iii) Fact that it comes from a Third World country? (iv) Attempt to be friendly to the rural villager? (v) Anything else? 5. We in India have been falling short of the promise of a number of IT-for-development projects? Why do you feel this is so? 6. If you had a say in designing the Simputer differently, what would it be? 7. Simputer has received a whole lot of favourable press coverage. Do you feel this was (i) deserved (ii) undeserved (iii) lesser than deserved? 8. How do projects like the Simputer rate on scalability, software, interface, userability? What is your understanding of the problems and obstacles in taking this from the lab to manufacturing? Why haven't computer companies or other industrialists coming forward to support this? 9. Will the Simputer be able to sell at the sub-$200 price? 10. Any other comments. Thanks a lot. If you could send in the comments by March 12, I'd be very grateful. Frederick. PS: Please visit the http://linuxinindia.pitas.com site below... -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783 BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * SMS [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Saligao Goa India Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference ***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/
[GKD] Donated Computers to be Distributed in Goa (India)
for virtually anyone. If only they got a chance There has been debate over whether sending in once-used computer hardware to the Third World is the best way of doing the job. One could have mixed feelings about this. But, in the bargain, it seems to have planted a crucial idea: that the computer can, and is, well within reach. Not just for those who have the money for it. -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783 BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * SMS [EMAIL PROTECTED] * 784 Saligao Goa India Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference ***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/
[GKD] Linux to Debut in Goa Classrooms (India)
THE PENGUIN GOES TO SCHOOL: LINUX TO DEBUT IN GOA CLASSROOMS By Frederick Noronha GOA, India. Jan 10 -- After struggling for years to get access to non-pirated software to run their computer labs, schools in the western coastal state of Goa have hit a bonanza that seems too good to be true. Red Hat India, part of a prominent global corporation dealing in 'open source' or 'free' software, has come up with an innovative plan, which was promptly seized by volunteers pushing for the speedy computerisation of schools here. Under this, schools will get access to not just all the software they need, but also to free training for teachers and volunteers. What makes this project innovatively different is that it's based on Linux, or GNU/Linux, an operating system (OS) which seeks to make the software industry 'open'. 'Free software' means it is freely distributable and free of restrictions on seeing, using, copying, modifying and re-distributing the original source code or software based on it. This, in turn, makes the software moderately or affordably priced, even in countries like India, and legally copyable. In a few weeks time, volunteers are to get training in a project that could sustainably meet schools' software needs. Young Linux enthusiasts and volunteers -- including some engineering college students -- will be trained in installing the software. Later, Red Hat and their training partners are to train teachers in using this decade-old operating system which is now making a dent across the globe. Red Hat Indian training manager Shankar Iyer told this correspondent that his firm would provide Linux as a standard operating system (OS) for schools in Goa. In this process, Red Hat and an NGO (Goa Computers in Schools Project) have come together for a social cause, said Iyer. The Goa Computers in Schools Project is a coalition of educationists, concerned citizens and expat Goans who feel the need to speeding up the pace of computer education in this small state. It was launched in the mid-nineties, and has been both inspiring and helping schools to get computer infrastructure faster. It has also raised funds among expat communities towards this goal. By this understanding, the Goa Computers in Schools Project will work to implement the project here, while Red Hat India will provide training to teachers and volunteers at its own cost. Red Hat's approach is to 'catch them young', and agrees that introducing students to 'free' computer operating systems like its own at the school level itself could help build an edge over proprietorial software like Windows which currently dominates the desktop segment worldwide. Currently, a project of this type is unique for India, where schools have been struggling with un-affordable software prices. Red Hat is willing to extend it across the country (without any financial implications for the schools), said Iyer. The concept of open source and its advantages of having the source code in hand, will be of great advantage for children. Schools and parents will not be burdened with high investments, on regular intervals. School also need not keep spending on upgrading its machines on a regular basis, Red Hat's Iyer contended. Daryl Martyris, a US-based expat management consultant with PriceWaterHouseCoopers and key GCSP campaigner, told this correspondent: We have been trying very hard over the last two years to persuade Microsoft to donate OS software and MS Office or sell it at concessional rates. But this didn't work. Since the (once-used US) computers we ship are wiped of their OS by the donors for liability reasons, and do not want to encourage piracy of MS products, we have started to ship Linux OS installation kits with the computers, said Martyris. So, the Red Hat India offer to provide free training came as a bonanza. Training for our volunteers and support to the schools is very tempting, since it complements our efforts in this direction, said Martyris. Red Hat India told this correspondent that it has drawn up a complete schedule to train the volunteers, starting from January 2002. The cost of the training would be estimated to about Rs 150,000, according to Red Hat India's Shankar Iyer. But this figure hides another reality -- non-pirated proprietorial software needed to run on just the 360 computers that are being shipped into Goa would cost millions. This is a very good initiative, commented Dr Gurunandan Bhat, till recently head of Goa University's computer science department. The spread of (useful open source technologies like) Linux depends on how quickly we take it across to schools, he added. But Bhat cautioned that the effort's project would hinge on building up a stable group of volunteers and this is where NGOs could play an important role in making things possible. ~ Red Hat India suggested that if this project took off well in Goa, it could be replicated in other places across India, considered by some as a software-superpower
[GKD] Directory of Rural Technologies
TECHNOLOGY FOR THE RURAL MILLIONS... IF ONLY IT CAN GET TO THEM By Frederick Noronha This is a story of the ingenuity of the common man and woman. From across the fields and villages of the India, and scientific labs, a whole range of technologies have emerged to make rural life a little less difficult. But can this vital information reach out to those who actually need it? NIRD, the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Rural Development, has recently released a 'Directory of Rural Technologies'. It offers dozens of useful solutions -- from technologies for the blacksmith, to brick-making ideas, ferro cement roofing channels, pollution control systems for lime kilns, indigo dye extraction methods, bio-fertilisers and vermicomposting, crop improvement schemes, energy-harnessing ideas, farm machinery and many others. There are ideas aplenty. It's part of NIRD's task, and the institute has the job of training, research, action research and consultancy for rural development. If such information reaches the right quarters -- and with communication roadblocks of all sorts, this is a big 'if' -- then the NIRD could come closer to its goal of improving the economic and social well-being of people in rural areas on a sustainable basis. This directory's editors say it was a herculean task to collect data on available technologies in a limited period of time. Its pages contain information relevant to artisans (a technology package for blacksmiths), for those in building and construction (brick-skeletons, flooring tiles from waste gypsum, improved storage systems for onions), ceramic products, chemicals, compost and fertiliser, crop improvement, mushroom cultivation, energy, food products, machinery, pesticides, tissue culture and even what is called knowledge technology. For rural artisans, there's a 'technology package' for blacksmiths. It seeks to help a rural artisan to produce standard raw material of the desired carbon level, and to standards. To do so, he has to follow apt forging and heat treatment schedules. This technology has flow out of the work of the National Metallurgical Laboratory in Jamshedpur, the Science and Society Division of the Department of Science and Technology in New Delhi, and the Centre for Technology and Development, from that city. For those into building and construction, there are construction techniques in brick masonry. No special equipment is required, and the technology is being done free of cost. This is suitable for building single-storey low-cost buildings in rural areas. There are other solutions too. Black soils have an inherent 'expansive nature, which leads to poor quality building bricks. But such clay can be processed to yield good quality common bricks. Nodules are wet-seived from the clay mass, and fine-grained siliceous material is added in optimum proportions, to tackle the situation. This technology comes from the Central Building Research Institute, at Roorkee in Uttar Pradesh. For an investment of Rs 200,000, it is possible to set up a unit to make 1200 compressed-earth blocks a day. Likewise, there is also technology available for a 'concrete block maker'. This costs a million rupees for someone wanting to go into production of these block-makers, while the cost of each block-maker would be around Rs 75,000. It uses a stationary block-maker, working on the pressure vibration technique for the consolidation of concrete. Ferro cement roofing channels, flooring tiles made from waste gypsum, grouted reinforced brick masonry, gravitational settling-chamber for pollution control in fixed chimney brick kilns, improved ventilated storage structure for onions, and construction techniques for 'instant shelters' in case of natural disasters are some other solutions. For instance, instant shelters can be put up in 5-20 minutes, and are constructed of triangular frames of pipes, joined with special joints for a component that can be folded as one triangular bundle. Low-cost latrines from India have been commercialised, and are being adopted by the United Nations Development Programme. To contact the Roorkee institute, check out its website at www.cbri.org or write to the Central Building Research Institute via [EMAIL PROTECTED] Micro-concrete roofing tiles come in a variety of designs for farm and country houses, bungalows, verandas and pavillions. These are durable, low-cost and cooler than asbestos-cement sheets in a tropical country like India. Rural technologies worked on in India also offer solutions for ceramic products -- low-cost stoneware and glazed terracotta products, for instance. Chemical solutions range from carboxy methyl starch (used as domestic laundry starch, thickener in textile printing pasters, etc), cold-water soluble starch, low-cost disposable diapers and sanitary napkins (from waste industrial fibres and flexible polythelene sheets), eco-friendly handmade paper, faster indigo dye extraction, processes to clean silver articles
[GKD]: Centuries-old Poetry Gets A Leg-up From IT
GHAZALS ONLINE: CENTURIES-OLD POETRY GETS A LEG-UP FROM I.T. by Frederick Noronha MUMBAI, Aug 23: Modern-day powers of IT is teaming up with the age-old charm of the 'ghazal' to breathe new life and interest in these captivating poems set to music, that are widely popular in the South Asian language of Urdu. A new website just launched from the central Indian city of Nagpur called aaina-e-ghazal.com offers a trilingual dictionary of commonly used words in 'ghazals'. It is also accessible via the nagpurcity.net site. To enhance the popularity of this site and help the 'ghazals' get a wider reach, the Urdu text is written in Devnagri, the widely-used script of Hindi and other North Indian languages. Urdu is spoken by an estimated 104 million worldwide, and like Hindi have proceeded from the same Khariboli speech source from the areas sorrounding Delhi. Ghazals -- like other Indian hymns called 'Thumris' or 'Bhajans' are also -- addressed to God in terms of human love. Some trace their origins to 10th century Iran. The meanings of the words used in the Ghazals are given in English, Hindi and the regional language Marathi. Together with this, the site offers an illustrative Urdu couplet or two-lined poem (which is known as 'Sher'), according to Dr Tarique Sani. Dr Sani, a pediatrician by training who shifted over to the world of software and runs a firm called Sanisoft, is the founder of the site. Sani told IANS in an interview: The book (of ghazals) was authored by my late parents and Dr Vinay Waikar and was in the fourth print edition when my father passed away. I designed this site as a tribute to the memory of my parents. This site is an online version of the same book but, he said, includes a lots of enhancements, like dynamic cross-referenceing, site personalization, an ability to Romanize the Devnagri-script part and vice versa, etc. Incidentally, while undertaking this work, Dr Sani also build up a English-to-Hindi transliterator, that could give a further push to Indian language computing solutions. To render the 'ghazals' into Hindi, he was looking around for suitable software. Says he: I was quoted Rs 250,000 for the software. I strongly felt such a basic-necessity software in a country like India should be free. So I just went ahead and designed my own and saved myself a quarter million rupees. Today, he freely distributes this software. This software Dr Sani wrote -- egged on by the peculiar needs of the site -- is a Roman-script to Devnagri transliterator. It allows you to type using English alphabets and they are converted to Devnagri equivalent. In a country like India where local-language computing is a pressing need, such products could act as a useful bridge to a solution. This product is available at the site for free download from http://www.sanisoft.com/rtod/index.php3 Other Indian sites -- like rediffmail.com, webduniya.com and mailjol.com -- also offer similar products. But unlike these products, Dr Sani's software follows the new and innovative trend of putting out 'free' software. So, he offers his own 'source-code' to anyone wanting to adapt or improve the product, encouraging a cycle of further improvements. I am soliciting developers to modify the software for other Indian languages. Particularly Urdu, as this is the most challenging task, said Dr Sani. He says the framework is fairly modular and for someone who knows other language mapping it will be an easy job. More needs to be done (to promote Indian-language computing), says Dr Sani. He believes that the low-cost computing device, the Simputer being put together by scientists in Bangalore, could be an ideal device on this front. More websites are also required in Indian languages, with greater co-operation among them, rather than an urge to grab-my-share-of-the-pie, as he puts it. India is a vast country the market is big enough for everyone but to exploit this market we need co-operation, he says. This software is available for free download from http://www.sanisoft.com/rtod/index.php3 . It is provided under LGPL, or the Lesser GNU Public License. A user is free to use the software even in his commercial products. But if any modifications are made to the original code, then the new code also has to be made public under LGPL. Sani says it took two months for him to create this software from conceptualization to end-product. This is one in a small-but-growing trend of 'Open Source' and 'free' software products now beginning to come up in a country like India which is known to have vast software skills, but is only now beginning to see more collaborative working thanks to a recent spurt in growth of the Internet. LINK: Contact Dr Sani at [EMAIL PROTECTED] *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Frederick Noronha | Freelance Journalist | 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India Ph [0091] 832.409490 or 832.409783 Cell 9822 12.24.36 [EMAIL PROTECTED
[GKD]: Kerala To Protect Tribal Intellectual Property Rights
Kerala to protect tribal intellectual property rights by Liz Mathew, Indo Asian News Service New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) The Kerala government has decided to introduce legislation to protect the intellectual property rights of its tribespeople who have been practising traditional nature-based medicine for centuries. The Kerala government will soon pass legislation to protect tribal intellectual property rights. With the new legislation, the government would be able to get patent rights for the traditional tribal medicines, M.A. Kuttappan, the Minister for Welfare of Backward and Scheduled Communities and Youth Affairs, told IANS. The bill, according to its preamble, is to provide for the determination, preservation, protection and improvement of the tribal traditional system related to medicine, agricultural practices and knowledge of wild flora and fauna used for food as well as shelter. The Kerala government has identified 35 scheduled tribal communities and 13 other tribal communities with a number of traditional medicines and other agricultural practices. Many more are to identified, said M. Viswanathan Nair of the Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (KIRTADS). KIRTADS is setting up a new Web site with details of the varieties of tribal medicine practised in the state. The institute has also been documenting the unique medicinal practices on the state government's Web site. The new Web site would be a landmark as tribal medicine, or ethnomedicine, has become a treasure hunting ground for other medical systems and multinational drug firms, Kuttappan said, adding that registering it on the Web site would prevent others from wresting the patent rights. The bill is also meant to safeguard the tribals' right over their knowledge on medicinal herbs, he said. The new bill would provide economic and social benefits to the state in general and tribal communities in particular as well as protecting the intellectual properties from piracy. With the bill, there would be adequate legal mechanism to plough back the revenue earned from such ventures, Nair told IANS. Kuttappan said the federal government had agreed to establish an institute for tribal medicine education and research in a joint venture with the state. On other projects for tribal welfare, Kuttappan said the federal government has agreed in principle to set up an archery academy to train tribal boys and girls in the modern variation of the sport. The academy will be set up to honour the memory of Talakkal Chandu, a tribal chieftain of Kerala. The project, funded by the sports and youth affairs ministry, will be implemented at the cost of Rs. 63.5 million. This will be a residential school to train in modern archery, he said. The federal government has also sanctioned three more projects for tribespeople in Kerala. The first, costing Rs. 700 million, would rehabilitate tribal families while the second, costing Rs. 100 million, would improve sanitation and drinking water facilities in Kerala's northern tribal-populated districts of Wayanad and Attappadi. The third, a Rs. 100 million project, would build English-medium residential schools for tribal children. --Indo-Asian News Service ***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
[GKD] Making Access Affordable (India)
INTERNET FOR ALL: INDIAN VILLAGERS TO GET ACCESS AT PRICES THEY CAN AFFORD By Frederick Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] India's hundreds of millions of rural dwellers are given a cold-shoulder by businessmen, and lack the access to goods, services and information they so badly require. From Chennai in Southern India comes a unique technological solution -- a Internet kiosk that will sell for just Rs 40,000 (around US$830) and could link up hundreds of thousands of villages. What's best is that no subsidies or handouts are involved in this ambitious project. It will be run on business lines, and early field-implementations are already showing this to be both scaleable and practical for implementation across rural India. To every man (and woman) a Net connection. And a phoneline to everyone wanting it. These goals are what electrical engineering prof Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala dreams about consistently. They're not just dreams; he's also getting there, as recent experience shows. Could this professor and head of the Indian Institute of Technology's electrical engineering department in Chennai, do to the Internet what Satyen 'Sam' Pitroda did to Indian telephones in the 1980s? Vastly open up access, to make it a tool for the commonman? US-based Indian expat Pitroda was a keen observer of the telecommunication problems in the Third World. Telecom technology came from the West, and didn't suit the dusty, humid and unreliable electrical connections in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He was convinced that India must develop an indigenous telecommunications industry. In 1981, he launched plans to set up India's Centre for the Development of Telematics (C-DoT). Not only did this design indigenous telecom switching systems, to make rural exchanges that could work under tougher conditions, but equipped ordinary telephones with small meters. This equipment was sold to local entrepreneurs, who set up manned public call offices (PCOs) on makeshift tables in bazaars, at streetcorners, or in shops. They did work! By the year 2000, some 650,000 of these PCOs were set up across India, instantly making a world of a difference to the potential of the average Indian to access a telephone. (See 'India's Communication Revolution - From Bullock Carts to Cyber Marts', Singhal and Rogers, 2001, p194-198). But India, with its 1000+ million population, still badly needs some 200 million more Internet and telephone connections. This is essential if the commonman is to get access to the wonders of new information and communication technologies, and if his productive potential is to be developed better, instead of getting wasted. But at current costs of the technology, India simply can't reach anywhere near that figure. So, how does one go about making the Internet and telephones simply a little more affordable? Ask Prof Jhunjhunwala His arguments are simple. We've learnt important lessons from the whole experiment of expanding STD (subscriber trunk-dialling) access within India. What has made a world of a difference was the policy of sharing revenue with the small operator. Instead of one per cent of the Indian population today getting access to STD phones, now nearly 30% of the population has it, he adds. Sitting in his unostentatious and spartan office, Prof Jhunjhunwala says India also has lessons to learn from the growth of cable-TV in the country. Today, millions of Indians across the country get low-cost access to cable-TV, provided through local networks run mostly by the unorganised sector. At a very affordable rate of about Rs 100 per month, a family gets connected to three dozen or more cable channels. This affordable package evolved simply because the informal sector and the small-entrepreneur has been involved in giving out this service. So, there is a tremendous amount of accountability. Even a difficult technology can be handled. Its costs can be lowered, by involvement of the informal sector, and the benefits thus passed on to the consumer, says Dr Jhunjhunwala. So what do we learn from this, if we are to spread telecom at affordable rates to the hundreds of millions of India? Costs must be pushed down; and local microbusinessmen must be involved in the mammoth task of expanding the service. It currently costs (an investment of) Rs 30,000 to install a single telephone line. To cover this investment, you need a revenue of at least Rs 1000 per phone line per month. These rates are affordable to just 2-3% of the Indian population. But if you bring down the investment needed for a phone line to Rs 10,000, then affordability of telephones could immediately go up to 30 per cent or more of our population, points out Dr Jhunjhunwala. For much of the 'nineties, Dr Jhunjhunwala has been working with missionary zeal towards this goal. His focus has been to 'incubate' companies of his former students and entrepreneurs -- often those inspired by his infectious optimism -- to work to lowering the cost of a telephone
[GKD]: UN's first 'country pilot' for Health InterNetwork (India)
India home to UN's first 'country pilot' for Health InterNetwork by Frederick Noronha CHENNAI, Sept 26 -- India is being built up as the first 'country pilot' for an ambitious United Nations-led international project, seeking to strengthen public health services by making use of the powerful potential of the Internet. The Health InterNetwork (HIN) seeks to bridge the digital divide, as it affects health. Initially we're planning some pilots, and the first pilot is to be done in India, Health InterNetwork India project manager Ranjan Dwivedi told IANS here. This ambitious project is an initiative of the United Nations' Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who announced it as part of his Millennium Initiative. It is one of the four initiatives that the UN is to take up over the next 15 years. Its goal is to build existing capabilities using the power of the Internet and new ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) to empower those working in the field of health, and make their initiatives more effective. Once in place, the Health InterNetwork would seek to disseminate authentic and relevant information in the Third World, where access to information can still be costly or difficult. It aims to build up a web-based portal for facilitation of the dissemination of information. In addition, it will create access points by providing hardware, software and connectivity in some 130 countries. Currently, the plan is for creating 13,000 access points over a seven year period. Apart from this, one major task will be creating and garnering authentic health-related information. We'll do so not by necessarily creating content ourselves, but locating and facilitating the creation of content in a digitised form which can be easily shared and facilitated over the web, Dwivedi told this correspondent. In addition, there will also be an initiative in capacity-building and training. This will help the target segment -- health service providers, policy-makers and researchers -- to access biomedical databases. The WHO is just the lead agency to bring everybody together. This Health InterNetwork is seen as a big partnership -- between governments, civil society, corporate sector, NGOs and so on, Dwivedi said. Three-four pilot projects are currently being planned globally. But the first country-pilot is the one in India, says Dwivedi. There are other research pilots, where four countries in Africa, and four in Eastern Europe have combined. The endeavour there would be to provide international journals at equity-pricing to researchers in these eight countries. If this ambitious plan could be effectively implemented, its impact could be felt all over. Because once you put it on the web, it's web-based facilitation, and it's accessible from anywhere in the whole world, says Dwivedi. Initially, in terms of creating access points to the Health InterNetwork however, work is to be done in two parts of India -- Orissa and rural Bangalore district. There's a whole lot beyond there because we're also networking medical libraries, and creating a research network through the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research). But all these initiatives are basically based and housed in institutions, to ensure the sustainability after the pilot is over, Dwivedi informed. In keeping with attempts to relate this work to an ongoing programme which is important priority in the country, early attempts will be linked to existing efforts in battling tuberculosis in India. TB is the largest killer disease in the country. We've got the second-largest TB population in the world. It's a high-priority programme for the government. And it's 100% curable. So there are tremendous gains to be obtained in TB. TB is also a global priority for the WHO too, said Dwivedi, who is based at WHO's Delhi office. He explained that the pilot would be undertaken in India for a year, and results measured. On the basis of the learning gained from the pilot, it's scaled up here and replicated in other countries. One key aspect is that the perceived importance of this initiative will dictate its growth. The money has to be raised. The money will come only if people see its relevance, he added. (ENDS) Contact details: Ranjan Dwivedi Project Manager Health InterNetwork -India Project WHO, Room No 530 A Wing Nirman Bhawan New Delhi 110011 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mobile 98105 05068 ***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
[GKD] Indian Company Develops Cheap Technology for Communication
N-LOGUE DEVELOPS CHEAP TECHNOLOGY FOR COMMUNICATION BANGALORE (UNI): A technology company incubated by the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, has come out with a cheap Internet and telecom network which could revolutionise communication penetration in rural areas. Based on the Cordect Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) developed by the Institute, an Internet and telephone kiosk could be set up in a village with a meagre investment of Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 and the cost per line could be brought down further from the current Rs 18,000. The infrastructure for the network was being provided by N-Logue, the company incubated by the Institute. Prof Ashok Jhunjunwala, the man behind the development of the technology and head of the Tenet Group of IIT Chennai told newmen here that the pilot project taken up at Kuppam, the constitutency of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, had been successful. It was being set up in other parts of the country with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and other private operators showing the initiative. The project was also taken up in Nellikuppam and Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu and Sikar and Dhar in Rajasthan. In Sikar, as many as 1500 villages would be provided with kiosks with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development providing the necessary loan to local service providers and the entire network had been franchised to Shyam Telelink, the private operator... Prof Jhunjunwala said negotiations were also on to set up 1600 links in schools in Durg district of Chattisgarh. Negotiations were on with the local service providers with telephone franchisees being either BSNL or Bharati. Prof Jhunjunwala said the access network would be provided to all parts of the country, other than the top 150 cities, where connectivity was already available. ** CONTACTS: Prof Ashok Jhunjunwala [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** ***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
[GKD] Does the computer have a heart?
DOES THE COMPUTER HAVE A HEART? Programs that put people and development before profits... By Frederick Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] Here comes the big surprise: IT and computers are showing their other face. No longer are these potent forces merely tools for profit, but in varying experiments across India they're proving to be useful allies in seeking to give the commonman a better life. Work in the city of Pune is showing how computers can effectively be used for Indian language computing. Plans are in an advanced stage to make computing devices (like the Simputer) which cost below $200. These could make computing accessible to the rural millions. From the eastern city of Hyderabad, machine-translation systems will help Indian languages translate into each other. Wireless-in-Local-Loop is a technology from Chennai city's IIT-Madras that can take telephones across to the distant, rural millions at a cheaper rate. In the former French colony of Pondicherry, initiatives show how the commonman can really benefit from accessing relevant information. Fishermen get weather details from a de-commissioned US spy satellite, over loudspeakers. Digging up all these details is an idealistic, Bangalore-based research scholar who traces his roots to North India but has studied in the University of Chicago. Without building unnecessary hype, Aditya Dev Sood points to the rich potential of such efforts. In the long term, social investment in rural ICT (information and communications technology) could prove to be one of th most effective means of driving change, believes this author of a recent 'Guide to ICTs for Development'. Sood points to the potential of these technologies to ensure equal access to dispriviledged groups. They could also have a strong economic impact, by creating new kinds of work and financial transactions, he argues. In addition, politically too, such technologies could improve the quality, speed and sensitivity of the state apparatus to the needs of local citizen-consumers. Over the past year-and-half, Sood has carefully documented such initiatives across the country. By pointing to their potential, he has helped build snowballing interest in this field. The computer, as he points out, can indeed play a key contributing role in development. Sood studied architecture at his graduate level and sociology for his post-graduation. My work currently lies in between sociology and design. I'm doing it by looking at the impact IT is having on society, says he, with a smile. It was only in early 2000 -- roughly a year-and-half ago -- that he began his work on this front seriously. Bangalore's environment has stimulated me to work in this area. Looking at things from a predominantly IT and ICT (information and communication technology) environment is the effect of being in Bangalore, he says. So, he's going ahead in marrying the priorities of this Silicon Valley of India, with those of a city also known as the NGO-capital of the country. Computing and developmental-concerns can mix. Over the past months, Sood has been closely studying the successful and inspiring projects from across India on the ICT front. iStation is another tool that could take e-mail access to the masses who otherwise couldn't afford it. The Warana Wired Village Project in Maharashtra, and the Gyandoot Project in Dhar are creating new levels of service to the rural citizen-consumer. SARI in Madurai hopes to wire up all 1000 villages in the district using low-cost WiLL technology, developed in India. Meanwhile, Tarahaat.com is a company seeking to build branded computer kiosks in relatively prosperous rural areas. Recently making it to the headlines, experiments undertaken by computer training institute NIIT's Dr Sugata Mitra from Delhi have shown how simple slum-children can learn basic computing themselves, if given the opportunity. Computing can also enter micro-finance. In this field, computer-based records could save time and effort, and offer better account-keeping. The Swayam Krishi Sangam records information on optical ID cards for micro-finance. Nearby in South Asia, Dr Mohammed Yunus of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh has launched the Gremeen Telecom, to provide mobile telephones to rural consumers. In Karnataka, the Asian Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives is trying to introduce CAD/CAM technologies to rural artisans making leather footwear near the city of Belgaum. In Tamil Nadu, the George Foundation is experimenting with an expert diagnostic software. Other efforts aim at promoting education through IT. What is amazing is the diversity of the projects being reported from across India. In his own way, Sood is helping to put the magic of IT together, by giving a comprehensive picture of the developments happening on various fronts. And the big-picture is indeed heart-warming. Sood is pleasantly surprised with the results of his work. Originally, my interest was far more academic. But then one got
[GKD] From software to microcomputers - new tools for teaching
FROM SOFTWARE TO MICROCOMPUTERS... FINDING NEW TOOLS FOR TEACHING By Frederick Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] INNOVATION is helping educators from across the globe to try out new solutions to old problems. ICTs (information and communication technologies) are helping to make classrooms more interesting, and concepts easier to convey. From the UK to India, from software to microcomputers... many experiments are underway in the classroom. This was reported in a recent international conference held in Goa, called ICSTME 2001. It focussed on harnessing science, technology and mathematics education for human development. Science Across the World is one innovative example. It is being called an 'international education programme' that encourages communication and 'shared learning'. It links up different societies to look at crucial environmental and social science issues. In this project, students use a unique series of resource topics -- like Keeping Healthy, Drinking Water, biodiversity, and Chemistry in Our Lives -- in upto 18 languages. Students collect data, facts and opinions locally. Some 6000 schools have been registered with Science Across the World over the past three years. It can be contacted via www.scienceacross.org On average, 1500 schools with over 2000 teachers and 74000 students aged 12 to 16 in some 45 countries work with its material at any given time, according to Marianne Cutler of the Hatfield-UK based Association for Science Education. On the other hand, computer-based lessons, or CBL, can help to centre education on learner-activity, argues S.S.Kalbag of the Pune-based Vigyan Ashram. Kalbag says other advantages of computer-based lessons include savings in time and money, eliminating differences between formal and non-formal, rich and poor, and urban and rural in matters of quality of education. India needs to rapidly expand our education network to cover nearly 25% of the population. We shall need a minimum of 1.5 million computers. And these will have to be financed by the community, on the basis of minimum results assured. The drop-out rate must reduce. The consequent savings will make the scheme self-propelled, argues Kalbag. Researchers Shakila Thakurpersad and Reshma Sookrajh from South African's University of Durban-Westville, point to the role of education in learning. They quote scholars who note that the World Wide Web is one of the most effective information and communication technology (ICT) to provide an integrated open system of learning. There is a growing trend to use WWW technologies in education. Mumbai-based Sangeeta Deokattey, of the Indian Women Scientists' Association, has undertaken an effort to select Internet sites and find out their potential usefulness in an Indian context. She points to her findings for searches on three subject areas -- primary health, primary education and appropriate technology. As Deokattey points out: Educational resources -- in the form of textbooks, tool kits, posters, audio-visual presentations, etc -- are in constant demand by adult education and health workers. Tapping the web potential to supplement existing resources will be a viable alternative. Of all the subjects taught at schools and college level, mathematics offers probably the most scope for using technology, says Douglas Butler of the ICT Training Centre in Peterborough, UK. He explains how new software and hardware can combine to give teachers a wonderful new medium with which to visualise the basic principles and to improve their personal productivity. Butler says there is a rich source of software types in mathematics -- including spreadsheets, symbolic algebra and dynamic geometry packages. Autograph is a new dynamic coordinate geometry and statistics package. Butler also points out that teachers can use the Internet at two levels. Firstly, using the Net to provide high quality teaching resources, graphics, text and data which can be copied off the Net. But take care: doing this well can be tricky sometimes! Then, using Web sites in the classroom... there are a growing number of web resources that provide good interactive visualisations. Technology is also entering the Indian classroom, even if only at the elite level. For several years, first year Mathematics students of the IIT B.Tech course in Mumbai were taught using traditional chalk-board methods. Each class had 80 students in a division. But, now larger divisions take in about 250 students. This means, the chalkboard is no longer useful. Instead, instructional material is being created beforehand, converted into HTML (webpage) format, and put out on the Web, explains Sudhir Ghorpade of IIT-Mumbai. In class, the instructor uses projections onto a large screen from the relevant webpage. He teaches with a remote mouse in his hand instead of chalk. This brings up the question: should modern technology alter the approach and content in teaching 'classical' subjects like Algebra and Calculus? Pratibha
[GKD] BytesForAll completes two years
BYTESFORALL: A BRIDGE OF PEACE AND INFORMATION FOR SOUTH ASIA DATED IN CYBERSPACE, July 23: Despite all the hostilities in the political border, South Asia can indeed work together, as a small, unusual experiment undertaken by some 14+ volunteers from across five countries in the region has shown that successfully. Bytes for All (http://www.bytesforall.org) is an online initiative that tries to focus on people oriented IT practices in South Asia and links up to share useful ideas in the field of `IT for Development Social Changes' issue among the countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As a purely voluntary and non-funded initiative Bytes for All completes its second year of operation in July, 2001. Bytes for All maintains a web site (www.bytesforall.org), a monthly electronic-magazine ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and a popular e-mail based mailing list ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), and hopes to update interested readers about new and interesting ventures from this part of the world. It works as an one stop information center where people involved into these initiatives can find their collaborators, can discuss issues pertaining to their interests, can know more about the developments and can be aware of other initiatives. It also organizes different campaigns with regard to ICT developments in the third world countries. Bytes for All brought out online issues on Public Health, Disaster Mitigation, Non-English Computing, Mass Education etc. and has managed to highlight countless success stories from a region where access to computers is still a class privilege. Few examples of such initiatives are: Slum kids experiment with computers, development of SIMPUTER for the Masses, IIT to introduce Linux in different regional languages, Learn Foundation's experience in laying knowledge pipeline in rural Bangladesh, PraDeshta's idea of deploying Broadband Communication Network in Bangladesh, SDNP Pakistan's success in developing knowledge network within the country, Kothmale's successful implementation of community radio services in rural Sri Lanka etc. In the last two years, Bytes for All's efforts have also met with a fair degree of recognition in the international prestigious media like International Hereald Tribune (8th of June, 2000), SUNDAY AGE Newspaper Australia (7 November 1999), Yahoo Internet Life (May, 2001), Volunteering Worldwide Publication of Netherlands Institute of Care and Welfare (2001), ANAIS Network in Geneva CD ROM etc. Spider Magazine, a sister concern of Dawn Newspaper in Pakistan regularly reprints articles from Bytes for All as a part of an agreement. Bytes for All experiment has been showcased in different major global IT and network conferences like BAMAKO 2000 (held in BAMAKO, Mali), International Conference on Affordable Telecom and IT Solutions for Developing Countries (held in Chennai, India), World Cultural Summit(held in Versailles, France), Global Dialogue Sessions at Hanover Expo 2000 (held in Germany) etc. Bytes for All has been Recognized as one of the Leading Websites for Social Entrepreneurs by Changemakers.net (www.changemakers.net ) and has been rewarded an `Honorary Mention' by Prix Ars Electronica (http://prixars.orf.at ) More significantly, the Bytes for All initiative has been run by volunteers of diverse backgrounds and nationalities, yet without spending anything, and based entirely on the support of committed contributors. Apart from the co-founders, Partha Pratim Sarker (Bangladesh) and Frederick Noronha (India), current contributors to this initiative are, Zunaira Durrani in Karachi, Zubair Faisal Abbasi in Islamabad, Archana Nagvekar in Goa, Arun-Kumar Tripathi in Darmstatd, Shivkumar in Mumbai, Sangeeta Pandey in Nepal, Mahrukh Mohiuddin in Dhaka, Daryl in Chicago, Gihan Fernando in Sri Lanka, Rajkumar Buyya in Melbourne, Farhad Nizam in Dhaka and Deepa Rai in Kathmundu. And the circle is still growing. Recently, we are also inviting participation from prominent individuals directly involved in the South Asian IT, Development Media paradigm and are requesting their contribution as Key Initiative Advisors (KIA) to our initiative. A list of KIAs will soon be published at Bytes for All website. For further details please visit our website at: http://www.bytesforall.org Or our mailing list postings at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall/messages To get regular updates via email, and our ezine, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject-line saying 'Subscribe B4A'. ***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
[GKD] Community Radio and South Asia
COMMUNITY RADIO HAS THE POWER... BUT IS SOUTH ASIA TUNED IN? By Frederick Noronha Nepal has moved far ahead of its other South Asian neighbours in its attempts to open-up its air-waves, and Sri Lanka has the longest history of promoting 'community radio' initiatives. So what's the fate of this powerful medium in this populous part of the planet? Ask Ian Pringle... Bangladesh may soon see some interesting developments on this front. India could be a most interesting place in many respects... Once the reluctance of the government (to open up community radio stations) is overcome (much could happen here), says Pringle. In his early thirties, this Canadian volunteer has been closely connected with attempts to promote community radio in South Asia. Pringle fell in love with alternative radio broadcasting even while still a college student back in Canada. Later on, he spent months in Kathmandu, helping to prop up the first community radio station in South Asia -- a unique experiment called Radio Sagarmatha. Currently, he is an 'international cooperant' with the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation, one of the largest Canadian networks in humanitarian development. Recently in Bangalore, Pringle points to Nepal's opening up of its airwaves. There are three community radio stations in Nepal, and a license has been given for the fourth. Besides, there are (other) stations airing more community radio-style programmes. There is also a station put up by the municipal government of Kathmandu, he says. After overcoming reluctance over granting licenses to radio stations in the mid-nineties, Nepal has come a long way. In the Kathmandu Valley, there are five commercial broadcasters, and six more outside the Valley. Some 15 more parties have applied for licenses, according to Pringle. In contrast, India has made little headway. In the mid-1990s, there was much expectation that this country would give its citizens a voice on the air-waves. The Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that the air-waves cannot be monopolised by the government, and belonged to the public. The National Front governments at the Centre went ahead with almost approving plans to allow community radio stations. But then all this drastically came to a halt. So abrupt was the change, that UNESCO-funded radio station facilities have even come up in places like Medak, Andhra Pradesh. These centres are left high and dry with all the technology and skills, but no permission to broadcast their programmes! Perhaps the basic question is: why radio? For over 50 years, radio has been seen as a key tool globally for participatory communication and development. Radio clearly has its advantages. It is cost-efficient, both for the station and for listeners. Secondly, it is ideal for a population that includes many illiterates and poor, as in South Asia. Thirdly, it is relevant to local practices, traditions and culture. Fourth, once initial investment is made in equipment, sustainability is feasible. Fifth, in terms of geographical coverage too, radio scores. Lastly, the convergence between radio and Internet is providing new strengths to community radio. But in South Asia, things have been different. India, for instance, shifted from having government-dominated air-waves to a commercialised scenario where licenses to broadcast cost millions of rupees. Besides, the satellite TV boom has led elites here to believe that radio is a dead medium which hardly deserves much attention. Pringle also points to the long community radio tradition of countries like Canada. Quebec has a very strong tradition of this, he says. AMARC, the world association of community radio broadcasters, also has its international secretariat in Canada, as Pringle points out. Canada's first community radio stations came up in the 1970s, after a broad based movement on this. Earlier too, in the 1950s, Canada had a very well known programme in farm radio broadcasting. Other experiments were done in interactive two-way communication, and the use of radio to mobilise people. Over the years, he says, community radio stations have done well in Canada. There have been very few closures of stations. On the other hand, a lot of innovation has gone into making such stations sustainable, he points out. One way is by linking up such radio stations with higher education institutions, thus giving them a strong financial base and a sustainable number of eager volunteers. Currently, Canada has about a couple of hundred community radio stations, Pringle estimates. Even if Nepal has gone ahead, he suggests that there is some reluctance in promoting radio stations there. For instance, a license feel to set up a small 100watt transmitter costs about Nepali Rs 50-55,000 (about Indian Rs 30,000) per year. In Nepal, sanctioning community-radio licenses is a funding source for the government. This is perhaps the greatest impediment to sustainable community radio stations. Upto one-third
[GKD] Does the computer have a heart... (case studies from India)
DOES THE COMPUTER HAVE A HEART? Programs that put people and development before profits... By Frederick Noronha Here comes the big surprise: IT and computers are showing their other face. No longer are these potent forces merely tools for profit, but in varying experiments across India they're proving to be useful allies in seeking to give the commonman a better life. Work in the city of Pune is showing how computers can effectively be used for Indian language computing. Plans are in an advanced stage to make computing devices (like the Simputer) which cost below $200. These could make computing accessible to the rural millions. From the eastern city of Hyderabad, machine-translation systems will help Indian languages translate into each other. Wireless-in-Local-Loop is a technology from Chennai city's IIT-Madras that can take telephones across to the distant, rural millions at a cheaper rate. In the former French colony of Pondicherry, initiatives show how the commonman can really benefit from accessing relevant information. Fishermen get weather details from a de-commissioned US spy satellite, over loudspeakers. Digging up all these details is an idealistic, Bangalore-based research scholar who traces his roots to North India but has studied in the University of Chicago. Without building unnecessary hype, Aditya Dev Sood points to the rich potential of such efforts. In the long term, social investment in rural ICT (information and communications technology) could prove to be one of th most effective means of driving change, believes this author of a recent 'Guide to ICTs for Development'. Sood points to the potential of these technologies to ensure equal access to dispriviledged groups. They could also have a strong economic impact, by creating new kinds of work and financial transactions, he argues. In addition, politically too, such technologies could improve the quality, speed and sensitivity of the state apparatus to the needs of local citizen-consumers. Over the past year-and-half, Sood has carefully documented such initiatives across the country. By pointing to their potential, he has helped build snowballing interest in this field. The computer, as he points out, can indeed play a key contributing role in development. Sood studied architecture at his graduate level and sociology for his post-graduation. My work currently lies in between sociology and design. I'm doing it by looking at the impact IT is having on society, says he, with a smile. It was only in early 2000 -- roughly a year-and-half ago -- that he began his work on this front seriously. Bangalore's environment has stimulated me to work in this area. Looking at things from a predominantly IT and ICT (information and communication technology) environment is the effect of being in Bangalore, he says. So, he's going ahead in marrying the priorities of this Silicon Valley of India, with those of a city also known as the NGO-capital of the country. Computing and developmental-concerns can mix. Over the past months, Sood has been closely studying the successful and inspiring projects from across India on the ICT front. iStation is another tool that could take e-mail access to the masses who otherwise couldn't afford it. The Warana Wired Village Project in Maharashtra, and the Gyandoot Project in Dhar are creating new levels of service to the rural citizen-consumer. SARI in Madurai hopes to wire up all 1000 villages in the district using low-cost WiLL technology, developed in India. Meanwhile, Tarahaat.com is a company seeking to build branded computer kiosks in relatively prosperous rural areas. Recently making it to the headlines, experiments undertaken by computer training institute NIIT's Dr Sugata Mitra from Delhi have shown how simple slum-children can learn basic computing themselves, if given the opportunity. Computing can also enter micro-finance. In this field, computer-based records could save time and effort, and offer better account-keeping. The Swayam Krishi Sangam records information on optical ID cards for micro-finance. Nearby in South Asia, Dr Mohammed Yunus of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh has launched the Gremeen Telecom, to provide mobile telephones to rural consumers. In Karnataka, the Asian Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives is trying to introduce CAD/CAM technologies to rural artisans making leather footwear near the city of Belgaum. In Tamil Nadu, the George Foundation is experimenting with an expert diagnostic software. Other efforts aim at promoting education through IT. What is amazing is the diversity of the projects being reported from across India. In his own way, Sood is helping to put the magic of IT together, by giving a comprehensive picture of the developments happening on various fronts. And the big-picture is indeed heart-warming. Sood is pleasantly surprised with the results of his work. Originally, my ~interest was far more academic. But then one got opportunities to study how
[GKD] In a software 'super-power', rural kids lack the code to learn
IN A SOFTWARE 'SUPER-POWER', RURAL KIDS LACK THE CODE TO LEARN... By Frederick Noronha WHY IS it easier for Indian school students to use the computer to study the geography of the United States, rather than know the states of their own country better? What is the fate of students in non-English schools who want to learn how to use computers optimally? In a word, are we producing suitable software to cope with the needs of our own schools? These issues come up regularly to haunt educationists keen to give school-children better access to computers. More so, when the students come from underprivileged or poor backgrounds, are familiar only with regional languages, and study in resource-poor government schools. Availability of suitable (educational software) material in the Kannada language is next to nil, complains engineer S. Jayaraman. He is a consultant to the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), a philanthropic network started by Bangalore's prominent IT house. The APF has plans to computerise around a thousand rural schools, attended mainly by children of the poor. So far it has managed around three dozen. This too has not been problem-free. Plans to set up these 'community learning centres' which could be used in the evenings by general villagers have, among other things, been hit by a lack of relevant software. Some of the (commercial software producers) are offering syllabus-based learning, says Jayaram. Much of the 'educational software' available is in English, and better suited to foreign students rather than Indian needs. Others firms have simply taken textbooks and dumped it onto a CD. Some of the other problems the Azim Premji Foundation has to struggle with include finding sufficiently motivated teachers close-by, difficult infrastructure (high and ultra low-voltage power), reluctance of school authorities to open access to villagers outside school hours, and the like. But the Foundation is already reporting that putting computers in rural schools has boosted attendance, and that admissions to otherwise-ignored government schools has also improved. APF has been able to make use of two specific software -- one a Karnataka-based treasure hunt, giving information on the state's various districts; and the other called 'Brainstorm' that helps students practise simple Arithmetic concepts. C.V.Madhukar of the APF stresses that the foundation has taken up primary education as our target, not so much as philanthropy but more as problem-solving. He said the possible agenda on this front could revolve around computer-based content creation (either teacher-centered or child-centered content); TV-based content; setting up Community Learning Centres; and facilitate the donation of used PCs from companies to schools. Tia Sircar of the Bangalore-based TeLC (The e-Learning Consortium) also stresses the need to look at the 'content needs' of the Indian rural masses. She points to the success of some experiments like the Pratham initiative of computer training in Mumbai, which Sircar says has been a vast success. Sircar concedes that students across the country feel the need to study English. But without regional language software, the aim of making India a computer-literate nation would simply not happen, as educationists agree. Others wanting to promote computers in schools have also faced similar problems. From the west coast, the Goa Computers-in-Schools Project (GCSP) is an Internet-based alliance between overseas Goans and those here to help spur on attempts to give schools in the state access to more computers. Recently, the GCSP managed to finally get the Central government to allow Customs-free import of once-used computers from abroad to non-elitist, non-commercial privately run schools. This is particularly relevant in Goa, a state where much of school education is privately managed. Such measures could allow overseas expats to send in donated and once-used computers by the containerful, on just paying the freight charges. But software questions remain. In the past too, some linked to this network have raised questions about the ethics of using pirated proprietorial software in schools, where students are supposed to be taught to follow a principled approach to life. Other approaches are being tried out. Aware of this acute lack of educational software, the small but active network across India that promotes Open Source and 'free' software is also beginning to pay some attention to the issue. Prof Nagarjuna G [EMAIL PROTECTED] of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai has set up a Internet based mailing-list to study the potential in school education of GNU-Linux, the Open Source and 'free' software. Life can be contacted via [EMAIL PROTECTED] while the website is at http://hbcse.tifr.res.in/mailman/listinfo/life There are other global websites like linuxforkids.com which offer megabytes for education software on a CD for prices ranges between three to six dollars
[GKD] Bytes For All - July 2001
simply submit their spare ideas or help themselves. ** * * This Prix Arts Electronica is based in Germany. * (http://prixars.orf.at/) It has chosen BytesForAll for a *honorary * additional faith in the work we do... which, we are proud to say, * is done entirely by an unpaid, voluntary team scattered across * South Asia. Bytesforall.org has been designated by the Changemakers.net Library as one of the top Web sites for social entrepreneurs. Changemakers focuses on the rapidly growing world of social entrepreneurship, and is an initiative of Ashoka - Innovators for the Public. Its mission is to provide inspiration, resources, and opportunities for those interested in social change throughout the world. Thank you Changemakers for the honour! 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 bYtES For aLL is a voluntary, unfunded venture. CopyLeft, 2001. 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, Daryl Martyis in Chicago, Gihan Fernando in Sri Lanka, Rajkumar Buyya in Melbourne, Mahrukh Mohiuddin in Dhaka and Deepa Rai in Kathmandu. To contact them mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Two years on, BytesForAll thanks all those who have volunteered their time, energy and motivation in taking this experiment forward, since its launch in July 1999. BytesForAll's website www.bytesforall.org is maintained by Partha Sarkar, with inputs from other members of the volunteers' team and supporters. To join or leave this mailing-list simply send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with s u b s b4all or u n s u b b4all as the subject. 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 ***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
[GKD]: India's Bank of Ideas
Thanks to Irfan Khan for drawing this to our attention... FN From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Jul 6 01:40:49 2001 [Sristi's website address: http://www.sristi.org/ ] 13 May, 2001 India's bank of ideas By Peter Day in Ahmedabad ... I go to Ahmedabad to have lunch with a tableful of some of the most ingenious people I have ever met - inventors and gadgeteers from the fields and villages of rural India where 700 million of its one billion people still live. Over rice and dhal and vegetables eaten with the hand, they talk excitedly about their inventions and ideas. Innovations Thakershibhai is a farmer who had only a primary school education. A small man, his body tenses as he tells the story of how after one of the region's frequent droughts, his son spotted a rogue variety of groundnut flourishing while other breeds failed. Thakershibhai nursed the seed - and bred a new variety of tastier, hardier nut which he now sells to his fellow farmers, who have honoured him by naming it Thakershi. From another village in Gujarat has come Amrutbhai Agrewat, a stocky serial inventor who has taken the traditional bullock cart and rebuilt it with a tilting device so that composting need no longer be done by hand - arduous work traditionally reserved for women. Another boon for village women is the simple device Mr Agrewat devised for the well. By adding a locking mechanism to the rope and pulley mechanism used for centuries, women can rest their load while hauling up the bucket, making the job much less strenuous than it has ever been before. A bespectacled retired schoolteacher Khimjibhai Kanadia has come up with a stream of inventions in recent years. Simplest of all is the device for filling plastic bags with soil in which to plant seedlings. Mr Kanadia took a plastic drainpipe seven or eight inches long, and cut it off at an angle at the bottom. Placed in the plastic bag, the women on piecework can fill one sack in one scoop, increasing their productivity - and their pay - fourfold. This is pure joy, a simple invention of genius. And there are hundreds, if not thousands more of them, all gathered together under the auspices of an organisation called the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Innovation; Sristi for short, the Sanskrit for creation. Ideas database Sristi is the brainchild of the man who brought together all these village inventors to meet me. Anil Gupta is a professor from the Institute of Management with an engaging manner and a bushy beard who 10 years ago was troubled by the fact that the people he wrote about in his published papers could not read them because they were only in English. To communicate the excellence of the ideas he was encountering in village India, he started something called the Honey Bee Network, based around a magazine describing these sort of innovations in eight different languages. The organisation now has 10,000 ideas on a computer database - local lore and the inventions of dozens of village boffins available to inquirers, and to companies who want to licence the ideas and pay for them. Why should intellectual property merely benefit big corporations? asks Professor Gupta, as he encourages businesses to pay the equivalent of hundreds of pounds to make things such as the tilting bullock cart. There is a new venture capital fund to back good ideas. The Sristi organisation also has a laboratory to test thousands of village remedies culled from plants such as the fragrant neam tree. Three phials hold herbal extracts used by villagers to treat foot-and-mouth disease. We don't slaughter our animals, we treat them, observes the professor, referring to the mass culling of cattle in the UK. Unlike the rest of the Indian Institute of Management, the Honey Bee Network will create few billionaires. But its flood of ideas (and the money they generate) have the potential to help millions of people all over the globe who remain little touched by what we call the modern world. Link: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/index.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/from_our_own_correspondent/newsid_132 4000/1324892.stm ***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
[GKD] Congested cities? Computer code comes to the rescue
Congested cities? Computer code comes to the rescue... by Frederick Noronha, Indo-Asian News Service PANAJI (Goa), July 4 -- Can computer code make your ride less smoother as you traverse the congested roads of urban India? Goa-based Anupam Saraph is currently working on a tool he hopes would make traffic management smoother in 300+ of the country's larger cities (called Class I cities). Nobody really is looking at traffic as a whole. Police look after law and order. RTOs (regional transport offices) licences people and vehicles. Municipalities see to constructing and widening of roads. Town planners decide where to put up 'attractors' of traffic like markets. But no one is ensuring what the traffic scenario will look like for you and me, says he. To overcome this disjointed approach with an IT approach, Saraph (39) is working on a traffic simulator -- a software program written in the programming language Python -- that would give urban planners an idea beforehand of the likely impact of any traffic-management changes they envisage. On the computer screen, road maps of specific city roads come-up. Using this, urban planners can 'simulate' what impact planned changes in road-design would have for a specific area. We've got ready some initial algorithms for stimulating traffic. We have also created prototypes for demonstration, says this former molecular biologist. He stresses that complex problems like traffic management need to be looked at from the 'holistic' perspective. So far, simulations have been worked on for some road networks in Pune, for the purpose of demonstrations. These include exercises on Pune's Mahatma Gandhi Road, East Street (in the Cantonment area), J.M.Road, Apte Road, and Ferguesson College Road. What this software plans to do is to study the impact of any planned change, before it is actually carried out. You study the impact of changes on a computer, rather than on the road itself. So people can take a rational choice on what would be the best option, says Saraph. Data needed would be a road-map for each city being studied. Each change in the road-map would then simulate its impacts. You would get an idea of under what conditions it works, or which of the different traffic improvement options works best, says Saraph. Dr Saraph notes that fly-overs -- even though these have become an attractive option for decision-makers in a number of Indian cities of late -- hardly solve the problem. Fly-overs simply expand the carrying capacity of the roads (temporarily), so push the entire city to have more and more traffic flowing through it, he says. India's population grew 3.5 times from 1901 to 1991. But, in the same period, the urban population has grown a phenomenal nine times. In 1951, for instance, there were only 51 urban agglomeration with a population of 100,000 or more. Today the figure has crossed 301. Yet, urban areas remain critical to the economy. Urban areas in India contribute an estimated 55 per cent of the country GDP (gross domestic product). Saraph, who has set up the Institute for Change Research in Panaji's Alto Porvorim suburb, says his aim is to get his tool across to the over-300 Class I cities in India. This software will be free for use by the commonman. For the authorities, a slightly different version costing a nominal Rs 1000 to 5000 will be charged, based on the funding we receive, says Saraph. He says the MOIT (Ministry of Information Technology) has responded favourably, but the project got bogged down due to lack of recognition as a scientific and industrial research organisation. By traffic simulators, people understand software which gives you an idea of how the scene looks as you drive past. The goal of this one is to study, in advance, how to improve traffic flows in any city, says he. (ENDS) Contact Dr Anupam Saraph by email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact the writer: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- | Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist | | 784, Near Lourdes Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa | | Tel 0091.832.409490/ 409783 Pager 9628.312112 | | E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] | /) URL-http://www.bytesforall.org | /URL-http://www.goacom.com/news/ \\ _( (+-+) ) /| (((\ \) /_) /^) / /))/ ( \_/ / \ \_ / / // \ /\ / \ __/ \__ / | || | /***\/***\ ***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
[GKD] Technological Innovation in Rural India
THOUSANDS OF IDEAS BLOOM FROM THE MIDST OF IGNORED, RURAL INDIA From Frederick Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] IN A COUNTRY of over a thousand million, there surely must be tens of thousands of bright minds churning out innovative ideas by the dozen. This is just the case, as is clear from the first national-level exercise for scouting 'grassroots technological innovations'. Some 96 persons were awarded a total of just over Rs 1.4 million (rpt Rs 14 lakh). The first three prizes given were of Rs 100,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 and nearly one thousand entries poured in from across the country. Organisers of this event said there were a total of 1637 innovations and outstanding examples of traditional knowledge which they received. This exercise was adjudged in June 2001. New cardamon plant varieties, arecanut de-husking machines, power-saving pumps, energy-conserving kerosene stoves, highly efficient low-wattage electric water heaters... these and an amazing number of ideas came forth in this competition. It was organised by the National Foundation of India. The mission of the NIF is to recognise, respect and reward unsung heroes of our society. NIF will not rest with only giving prizes. It will also protect their intellectual property, help in upgrading their technology, develop business plans and eventually help them (the innovators) to either license their technologies or become entrepreneurs themselves, said NIF executive vice chairperson Prof Anil K. Gupta of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. The NIF was set up in March 2000 by the Indian government. Its chairperson is India's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research director general Dr Raghunath A. Mashelkar. But the efforts also come out from the campaigning over long of people like Dr Gupta, who has been promoting the idea that even the humble villager can be very innovative. Dr Gupta has been coming out with a journal called 'HoneyBee' that looks at innovation from the village. In this contest, some 998 entries were received from 24 states and union territories. These, in all, comprised 1637 innovations and outstanding examples of traditional knowledge. The western Indian state of Gujarat topped with 496 entries. This is not surprising perhaps since this region has been at the forefront of trying to dig-up innovative among the common-man (and woman) through initiatives of various individuals and institutions based at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. Many of the ideas that came up could have a lasting impact on the lives of rural dwellers. One was to create an arecanut dehusking machine. Arecanut currently requires labourous work in its dehusking process. A North Indian farmer, Ram Naresh Yadav, came up with a power-saving technical pump. Yet another rural dweller had a pulley with a stopper -- thus making it easier for millions of women drawing water from their local wells. Other prizes went to a 'rain gun' called the Chandraprabah Water Gun by Annasaheb Udgavi. Sudarshana from South India emerged as the first 'Idea Man'. He had over two-and-half dozen ideas or innovations to his credit. These included a small computer keyboard, hot-and-cold engine, transparent letter box, and even an idea for chopping onions without tears! Sudarshana's other ideas comprised an automatic gear for a bicycle, distilling water from the sea, and ideas to reduce the cost of gobar gas plants. He had a new design for a bullock-cart, and an easy-to-fill bucket. Steam can also be used as a weedicide, and Sudarshana's ideas demonstrate how. A.I. Nadakattan had ten innovations to his credit. Among these was tamarind cultivation under dry-land cultivation. Likewise, he also had special ideas on water harvesting techniques, energy-saving irrigation, a tamarind harvestor, tamarind slicer, seed-cum-fertilizer drill and a range of other innovations in the pre-harvest and post-harvest fields. To locate such innovation in a vast country such as India, the competition made use of 'scouters'. These persons or institutions scoured the country to find out bright ideas that could make a difference in the years ahead... specially for the commonman. Others who won consolation awards included a tamper-proof locking device. In the field of farm-implements, one Indian farmer came out with a special cart. Another found ways to create an edible perennial brinjal variety. On the front of crop-protection, something called the Mukkadaka decoction -- which is used to control hopper pests in paddy crop -- was among those gaining notice. So did another farmer's methods of controlling brown plant hopper in paddy and cotton crops. The Innovation Foundation says it is working on a 'national register' of grassroots green technological innovation. It also wants to build linkages among those excelling in the 'formal' and 'informal' science and technological systems. Ultimately, it hopes its efforts would help India become a global leader in sustainable
[GKD] Water management software (India)
* SOFTWARE... TO THE RESCUE OF PARCHED INDIAN VILLAGERS * Just think of the potential of a software that allows users to create an interactive water-map of the village. This means, villagers would be better equipped to cope with drought. Thanks to IT (information technology). Called Jal-Chitra, this software has been developed by Jaipur's Ajit Foundation, in close collaboration with the Barefoot College of Tilonia. Says Ajit Foundation's Vikram Vyas: The advent of Personal Computer together with the development and expansion of Internet has provided us with a unique opportunity to bring the tools of scientific modelling and computation to rural development. One immediate area where such tools can make a tangible contribution, he argues, is in the process of draught-proofing the villages lying in the arid and semi-arid regions of the developing world. How is this done? An estimate of the monthly water demand and the monthly water availability from various sources is the starting point. Then comes the question of allocation of available water. Likewise, a water-budget can be created. Solutions can range from water conservation, to the development of new water sources or water storage systems, where possible. Or even getting in water from external sources. Villagers need to balance between underground water and rainwater harvesting systems. Once done, Jal-Chitra software aims at helping villagers to take advantage of information and communication technologies to exercise their right to manage their own water sources. Jal-Chitra basically creates an interactive water-map of the village, enables the community to keep records of the amount of water available from each water source,can record water quality testing, lists maintenance work done and required, estimates water demand, generates future monthly water budgets (based on past records), and shows the amount of community need met through rainwater harvesting systems. FREDERICK NORONHA [EMAIL PROTECTED] recently interviewed Vikram Vyas of The Ajit Foundation, who created the software. Excerpts from the interview: * QUESTION: What has been the response to the software so far? * The response form the organisation which are familiar with ICT (information and communication technologies) has been very positive. Particular heartening was the number of inquires and messages of encouragement that I have received from the voluntary organisations working in Pakistan. * QUESTION: Has it been implemented in the field? If so, where? * Hopefully Jal-Chitra will be implemented in number of villages where the Barefoot College of Tilonia in North India works. We are in the process of translating the users manual into Hindi. That is the bottleneck right now. * QUESTION: What about regionalising the software, in other Indian (or other) languages? * I think that is a very important and urgent need. I am trying to at least have a Hindi version based on Susha fonts (one of the popular fonts used for the Hindi language). * QUESTION: What potential do you see for it? Could it be applicable to other regions of the globe? * I think Jal-Chitra can be used in any village which is in the arid or semi arid region of developing world. The greatest potential is that it will enable local democratic institutions, like panchyats (local village councils in India), to make more informed decisions regarding their own water sources. I think of it as a small tool helping realise Mahatma Gandhi's dream of Swaraj (independence or self-rule at the rural level). * QUESTION: What are the further areas of development you plan? * Jal-Chitra has potentialities of many further developments including use of satellite photographs and more sophisticated in-build models, perhaps based on neural-nets. I am looking for other people, software developers, to help me with this. I have been away from physics for too long and would like to return to it and spend most of my professional time teaching and doing research in physics. So further development of Jal-Chitra has to become a collaborative effort. Also
[GKD] The Simputer... from India
THE SIMPUTER, A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO TAKE COMPUTING TO THE MASSES FROM INDIA by Frederick Noronha, BANGALORE, March 8: If this works as planned, the Simputer could go a long way in taking computing within the reach of the reach of the commonman... not just in India but across the Third World. Slated to cost below $200, this device is now weeks away from its prototypes being made. Response has been phenomenal so far. We've got some 30 to 40 mega-bytes of e-mail just discussing this project, says Professor Vijay Chandru, an MIT-educated computer scientist who is one of those slaving away at this project in the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science. From the Philippines to Cuba and beyond, this device has drawn attention, from surprised specialists, who watch India's efforts at gingerly putting together a computing device that could create a revolution for the commonman. It's not only its below-US$200 (approx Rs 9000) price that's interesting, but what the Simputer will be able to do. This Internet device will have the potential to help even non-literate users to check the Web, and get access to useful information that can make a difference to their lives. It was put together by several academics and engineers, in their spare time. Once commercialised and put into the market -- its designs will be freely released to companies that go into producing it -- the Simputer could be used not just as a device for individuals to access the Net, but also by communities through kiosks. A smart-card interface is being worked on to facilitate micro-banking. Its text-to-speech capabilities mean that it could also be used by the hundreds of millions of illiterates in the country and beyond. Proving skeptics wrong so far, the Simputer team put together a working model of the device, which was showcased this week at the Banglinux conference, held in this software capital of India in early-March. This could change the way how IT proliferates in a country like India. The Simputer -- or Simple Inexpensive Multilingual People's Computer -- is built around Intel's StrongARM CPU, and is based on the Linux operating system, with 16MB of flash memory, a monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD), and a touch-panel for pen-based computing. You needn't know English to access the Simputer, and it will give you both Internet access and e-mail. What's more interesting is the manner in which the product is being released, through what is called Open Hardware Licensing. To promote hardware innovation in India -- a country which doesn't have a reputation in this field, unlike in software -- its design will be provided at a nominal license fee to manufacturers. Manufacturers can modify and extend the Simputer specifications. Companies can go ahead and create an improved Simputer. But, after a one-year 'window of opportunity', the hardware they create will then come back into the public domain. This will avoid the creation of monopolies, but will also give people an incentive to innovate, said Prof Swami Manohar, another key person involved with this project based at the IISc. Our model tries to complete the circle of innovation. What we are saying is, 'Take this product, innovate on it, and then pass it on back'. We don't want to create monopolies for anyone, said Manohar, who is part of the newly-set up Simputer Trust. For what would this keyboardless computing device be used? We don't expect someone to browse the Net with this for two hours. But a villager could quickly log onto the Net, get the information he wants -- like the latest prices being offered for commodities in nearby markets -- and switch off, says Prof Manohar. He also clarified that it would be simple to operate so that people wouldn't need two hundred rupees per week training to use it. Since Open Source software based on Linux was being used, a whole host of people would be able to create suitable software for it, he said. One problem still remaining was that nobody was prepared to give them the technology to create Smart Card readers, which would be openly available to future developers. We cater to four languages as of now. If this device could speak to you in your own language, it would be really nice, says Manohar, who says that further information is available on the site www.simputer.org Prof Chandru told IANS in an exclusive interview that in some four weeks time about 400 to 500 prototypes would be developed and then employed for field trials. There would be a need for developing large number of applications that work on the Simputer's specifications, he said. Partly, the cost of it was kept low simply because the development team was just not claiming any recompense, he said. Devices with somewhat similar potential were being sold at prices of US$400+. Then, you have to keep in mind that there's nothing really comparable, he said. He disagreed with the suggestion that the Simputer would be difficult to maintain in rural India
