[GKD] BytesForAll--South Asian IT for Dev. 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 AUG 2003 * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers -- ICTs and handicrafts -- In the Third World, artisans marketed their wares primarily through middlemen, who charge artificially low prices before marking up prices and shipping them to up-scale boutiques overseas. But with the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT), artisans have a competitive alternative. http://www.digitaldividend.org/pubs/pubs_06_overview_handicrafts.htm -- Traditional knowledge -- Traditional knowledge holders often stand outside the fold of intellectual property rights and are negatively affected by them. A new handbook makes intellectual property issues and protection options more understandable and readily available for traditional knowledge holders, human rights NGOs, and legal professionals. In addition to introducing intellectual property concepts, this handbook contains a series of exercises to help the user to identify and classify types of knowledge, cultural aspects, and community goals related to specific knowledge claims. Through a series of exercises, it is possible for traditional knowledge holders to identify whether or not specific intellectual property protection options are relevant or appropriate for their knowledge. An electronic version of the handbook in PDF format is now available for download at: http://shr.aaas.org/tek/handbook/ More details from Stephen A Hansen, Project Director, Science Intellectual Property in the Public Interest (SIPPI), American Association for the Advancement of Science 1200 New York Ave., NW Washington, DC 20005 USA Tel: (202) 326-6796 Fax: (202) 289-4950 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://shr.aaas.org WWW: http://sippi.aaas.org -- Info bank -- The Nayudamma Information Bank contains information about and easy access to technologies supported by IDRC - technologies from the South for the South. Providing contact names for all the technologies described, it is a way of sharing and updating information on technological advancements for international development. The information bank has been named in honour of the late Dr. Yelavarthy Nayudamma, a Sri Lankan who dedicated his life to demonstrating how science and technology can and should be used for human benefit. http://indev.nic.in/indev/profNewsItem.asp?id=649 -- Passing through -- Prof Ken Keniston [EMAIL PROTECTED], that thorough researcher of ICT-for-development themes in India, was back scouring the country recently. Said he: (M)y stay in India was productive and informative, not to mention enjoyableAs a result of the trip, and encouraged by Indian friends, I hope that an India-based project analyzing with some precision both the impact and the costs of the so-called 'ICT for the masses' projects could be undertaken over the course of the next two years. That could make for an interesting read. While we need not get pessimistic, it's long overdue that the hype be separated from the real projects with potential. See his site at www.kken.net --- FLOSS and development --- Free/Libre and Open Source Software practitioners from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America recently got together to produce a manifesto on the role of Open Source Software (OSS) in the development cooperation context. They asked all stake-holders to pay more attention to OSS, and argued it should be employed wherever possible. http://sarai.waag.org/display.php?id=28 -- Rural jobs -- Like anything related to rural sector, placement services for rural sector employees and employers are still very little organized, much less than in all other sectors. Millions of unemployed people grope in the dark, not knowing where to look for a job and this, despite the fact that innumerable vacancies remain unfilled, the employers also not knowing where to find the right people for them. So what's the way out? www.ruralnaukri.com sees the root cause of the problem as the absence of any organized meeting ground for employers and employees, according to
[GKD] BytesForAll - South Asian IT for Dev. 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 _/ APR 2003 * APR 2003 * APR 2003 * APR 2003 * APR 2003 * _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Software for the blind -- President Abdul Kalam has launched a software for the visually impaired, that can make information in Telugu and Hindi languages easy to access. Reading Aid for Blind, developed by the International Institute for Information Technology (IIIT), enhances the reading capability of the visually handicapped. With the help of this software, text on-screen can be transformed to speech. The computer then reads this out to the user. This project has been funded by Satyam Computers. Cheaper PCs closer? --- Business daily The Hindu Businessline reports that the promised 5KPC (priced at just Rs 5000) could be closer than thought. Two companies - Via Technologies and NetCore (promoted by Mr Rajesh Jain of the India World fame) are jointly making this possible by bringing down prices of hardware and software respectively. The 5KPC, as Mr Jain calls it, is expected to revolutionise the usage of computers. The Via machine is a thin client, with a motherboard and processor but no hard disk or floppy drives. Marketed with a full OS - Netcore's Emergic Freedom, based on Linux - it offers e-mail, browser, office suite, instant messenger and supports specialised Windows applications through add-on software. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/stories/2003031601420100.htm PDAs for infoaccess --- Rahul Nainwal [EMAIL PROTECTED] is doing a series of case studies on ICT initiatives in India. He is keen to know of any intiatives in India worth studying where PDAs or other access devices are being used to provide information access to communities. More details from Rahul Nainwal Director MITRA F-48,Ground floor, Lajpat Nagar-1 New Delhi-110024 Tele/Fax: 91-11-26911720 ICICI volunteers Check ICICIcommunities volunteering scheme online at http://www.ICICIcommunities.org/communities/volunteerindex.asp Bloodbank online This initiative could do with more volunteers... another bloodbank online, this time one from tiny Goa. http://bloodbank.goenkar.com Health initiative - Thanks to Shu [EMAIL PROTECTED] for alerting us to the news that IITs of Madras and Bombay are planning to link rural patients with the doctor through Internet. They are trying to use kiosk and Bluetooth technologies for rural healthcare. The TeNet group of IIT Madras in alliance with HP Labs India is planning a kiosk Internet link with a doctor for primary ailments. The plan is to equip the kiosk with certain basic devices like stethoscope, thermistor, blood pressure meter and ECG. The readings of these devices are transferred through Internet to the doctor at the district or taluk level. There will also be provision for video conferencing between the doctor and the patient. IIT Bombay is working on use of wireless technology for healthcare by application of Bluetooth and WLAN technologies for patient monitoring. http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=storyarticleId=NEa0306280.5iw vert icalID=223vertical=Technology Window to Bhutan From Bhutan, a private independent online newsmagazine featuring comprehensive web-based news, view, opinions and articles on Bhutan and includes a comprehensive set of links to other international and regional news sources. That's what it promises to be. It also includes links to Bhutan government's Ministries and Departments and features information on Bhutan's festival, people, weather and travel. It includes information on diplomatic missions based in Bhutan. Thanks to Partha and Alan G Alegre for sending this through. See http://www.bhutannewsonline.com/ Bhutanese refugees -- The Bhutanese refugees ( http://www.geocities.com/bhutaneserefugees ) website provides information on the origin, causes, and current situation about Bhutanese refugees and political situation in Bhutan. Looking at India's role --- A US National Science Foundation supported workshop on the Indian development experience in the context of ICTs was jointly organized by the School of Public Policy at George Mason University and the Department of Management Studies, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Indian Institute of Information Technology and held in Bangalore during March 3- 5, 2003. A CD containing the profile of participants and abstracts of papers have been released for limited private circulation, according to Sreekumar [EMAIL PROTECTED] of the Hong Kong University of Science Technology. http://mgmt.iisc.ernet.in/conf2/GMU-IISc%20Workshop.htm Localized browsers -- One of
