Thanks to S-Asia-IT@... mailing list for sending this through. FN
---------- Forwarded message ----------
September 22, 2001
'Poor-man's computer' to educate young Indians
By M M Paniyil
BANGALORE, India - The first assignment of a poor man's hand-held
computer, developed in Bangalore, is to bring basic education to
tribal children in central India.
At US$200 apiece, the Simputer, when first developed and launched
late last year by four professors at the prestigious Indian Institute
of Science (IISc), was hailed for its major price breakthrough and
touted as the answer to the digital divide that puts technology
beyond the access of poorer people.
At the request of the Paris-based charity South Asia Foundation
(SAF), the creators of the Simputer, together with digital
broadcaster World Space radio, are giving the device its first field
application - an interactive education program for rural children in
the remote Bastar district of central Chattisgarh state. PicoPeta
Simputers, a company launched by the coalition, will be funded by the
Rainbow Partnership Organization, an SAF initiative that promotes
cooperation among the seven members of the South Asian Association of
Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
SAF is the brainchild of the veteran Indian diplomat and adviser to
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), Madanjeet Singh. ''Our pilot project in Bastar is expected
to benefit about 2,000 students,''' said Professor Swami Manohar, the
acting chief executive officer PicoPeta Simputers. ''It will be
operational in six months.''
Already, the new company has tied up with public sector giant Bharat
Electronics Ltd (BEL) to produce about 100 Simputers that will be
used to receive digital data content broadcast by WorldSpace, which
has been broadcasting digital data along with its popular voice
broadcast of news and entertainment. At present, only commercial
organizations download World Space broadcast using personal
computers.
''Personal computers tend to use up a lot of disk space to store
voice files. But the text-to-voice capability of the Simputer makes
the process easy,'' notes Professor Ramesh Hariharan, the youngest of
the "IISc Fab Four", as the local media call them. ''It is
interactive and easy to operate, thus enhancing the effectiveness of
education programs.''
Fending off criticism that high-technology application was being
foisted on village schools that still lack blackboards and school
buildings, Hariharan argues that Simputer and WorldSpace can bridge
the digital divide in a creative way. Together, they can make
available professionally designed lessons to the most far-flung
villages that have the most basic services, he explains. Hundreds of
villages in southern Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the
capital can greatly benefit if the interactive education in Bastar
takes off.
Smart cards are used to personalize applications in a Simputer. These
detachable credit-card-like devices will function as blackboards,
notebooks and report cards in the Bastar education project. Each
student's own smart card will enable him or her, as well as teachers
and the course designer, to monitor the progress of lessons studied.
This will even enable students at non-formal education programs to
study at their own pace and according to their level of advancement.
''Once the Simputers are in place, the villagers can use them for
other purposes as well, such as microcredit facilities, storing and
accessing agricultural data and so on,'' said Professor Vijay
Chandru, director of PicoPeta Simputers. Simputers are adaptable to a
large range of rural applications. With a special smart card, they
can function as an effective aid to facilitate village census,
agricultural data collection and routine services such as railway
ticket reservations.
''What we envisage is a set of software tools adaptable for a wide
range of teaching applications,'' Chandru said. The professors will
also help to develop the content for the education project. ''First
and foremost we are teachers. Together we have 35 years of teaching
experience,'' Manohar said.
So far, a major hurdle for the Simputer, in spite of its many obvious
advantages, has been getting enough venture capital or corporate tie-
ups to start commercial production. Help from two "angel" funders
took the project through the prototype phase. One of the factors that
could discourage commercial tie-ups is the unique open-licensing
procedure of Simputer. It works on the public-licence Linux operating
system.
PicoPeta Simputers has another problem. Someone else has registered
the name Simputer in the United States and Germany. ''We have
requested the union (federal) IT Department to help us register our
name internationally,'' said the chief technology officer of PicoPeta
Simputers, Professor V Vinay.
The media coverage and the Simputer website (www.simputer.org) has
attracted a lot of e-mail messages from across the globe, which
Manohar finds encouraging. One message came from a US-based activist,
who saw in the Simputer a means to get to marginalized people who
live under the poverty line in her country. ''The educational project
with WorldSpace has tremendous scope for South Asia, Africa, Latin
America and the Caribbean,'' said Chandru.
(Inter Press Service)
http://atimes.com/media/CI22Ce01.html
INTERNET FOR ALL: INDIAN VILLAGERS TO GET ACCESS AT PRICES THEY CAN AFFORD
By Frederick Noronha
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 connection in India.
"We've not yet reached the figure of Rs 10,000 per phone line. But we've
brought down costs currently to Rs 18,000 per line," he says proudly.
Just because this technology is inexpensive, it's not poor quality.
"Look at this connection; it has been working continuously for 13 hours at a
stretch, and has transferred 1 gigabite of data", says a confident Dr
Jhunjhunwala, just before he snaps the link to the Internet. Besides, this
technology has gained acceptance in countries as remote and distinct at
Madagascar, Brazil, Fiji, Nigeria, Iran and elsewhere.
Says the professor: "These technologies have been developed by companies
that have been incubated by us. Like Midas Communication, Banyan Networks,
etc."
n-LOGUE EXPERIMENT
------------------
One of the interesting companies that this Chennai (formerly Madras)-based
professor helped recently spawn is called n-Logue. It is currently engrossed
in providing Internet and telephone services primarily to India's small
towns and rural areas.
"Existing operators are really not focussed on rural areas. They believe
rural areas can't generate money, and see rural areas as a burden," says Dr
Jhunjhunwala.
To this end, Prof Jhunjhunwala and n-Logue came out recently with an
innovative solution: a complete Internet kiosk for just Rs 40,000. It uses
the wireless-in-local-loop technology. At under the equivalet of US$800,
n-Logue is offering wireless equipment, with its antennaes and cables and
mast; the telephone instrument; an STD-PCO meter; a good personal computer
Pentium 700Mhz, with multimedia and a colour monitor and a batter backup for
at least four hours of PC usage; with Indian-language software to make
computing relevant to the millions here.
"We're providing all this at Rs 40,000. This was the most difficult thing.
And this was one of the key work we have done over the last several years,"
says Dr Jhunjhunwala.
"(Since we're talking about low investments) we can create an army of rural
entrepreneurs. They could avail of small loans, to set up their own rural
STD phone-cum-Internet centres," says Prof Jhunjhunwala.
He explains their plan of tying up with LSPs, or local service providers.
These small rural-businessmen will be 50% partners, and since they would be
from the local areas where they operate, they would have far better contact
with those whom they work with.
In a 25-km radius, they expect to find buyers for 500 to 700 connections.
These could be individuals, government offices, schools -- and most
importantly -- Internet kiosks that make access open to everyone. This level
of operation should make a LSP viable, feels Prof Jhunjhunwala. Even if the
numbers don't come in immediately, they would in a year's time when people
start realising how new communication technologies empower them.
Work towards this end is already underway at Cuddalore district, in India's
southernmost province of Tamil Nadu. In Madurai (also in Tamil Nadu) and
Dhar of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, this technology is also
being successfully implemented. Likewise, in Bagru of Rajasthan and Sangrur
in North India, the project is starting up.
"We could have a million subscribers in a three to four year time-frame.
It's possible. We are focussed only on small towns and rural areas. We will
not do large cities (as there are others who are currently rolling out
Internet and phone services there)," says Prof Jhunjhunwala.
Simultaneously, Prof Jhunjhunwala is inspiring youngsters to work on rural
Internet applications. For instance, one young team has worked on a
Tamil-Hindi-English spreadsheet. It currently works on the Windows operating
system, and will soon be ported to Linux.
Also on offer is word-processing in the local Tamil language, a mail-client
in Tamil, and also IRC (Internet relay chat) or voice-mail in the local
language. An agricultural-portal in the regional language is also in the
making. All this would help make the Internet something potentially very
useful in the lives of the average villager.
"We're adopting two key elements. Affordability, since everything is very
low cost, and involving a local person in providing the solutions," says
Prof Jhunjhunwala, explaining his model.
DREAMING, DELIVERING
--------------------
Over the past five to six months, the concept has been given shape. Says
Prof Jhunjhunwala, as n-Logue CEO P.G.Ponnapa looks on: "The challenge is to
make it happen to scale. That's his (Ponnapa's) job. Our job is to dream;
his job is to deliver."
But this is no mere dream. Prof Jhunjhunwala has proven the robustness of
his technology in the past. Today, the Cordect wireless-in-local-loop (WiLL)
technology he earlier worked on, has been accepted by mainstream companies
like the government giant BNSL, MTNL, Shyam Telelink and others.
Says Ponnapa: "Other than the sheer numbers (what is exciting) is the
ability to make a different in a guy's life. He should believe this kiosk is
a lifeline to a better life." He explains that rural dwellers suffer from a
low-access to goods and services, low credit and the lack of communication
facilities. "Our solution can solve a significant part of the second and
third problems," says he.
Perhaps what also needs to be noted is that this attempt tries to make the
technology commercially viable, and affordable even to those considered
'poor'. In other words, it will not be dependent on huge sums of government
subsidies or foreign aid being poured in, to prop it up.
Prof Jhunjhunwala says that they have received good support from the
government and non-profit development organisations. "All find it a
fantastic route (to solve the long-time problem of offering access to the
commonman at affordable rates)," says he.
"Look at this live video lecture," says a proud Prof Jhunjhunwala, pointing
to a personal computer by his side. To demonstrate its capabilities, he also
points to the fact that one can make a simultaneous telephone call, even
while accessing the Net, using the wireless-in-local-loop technology.
"If I put that up in any village, the people there can get an STD-PCO
(subscriber trunk dialling-public call office) and at the same time, access
the Internet in graphical mode," says Prof Jhunjunwala.
"It's possible to have a small-size face-and-shoulder lecture, and at the
same time to use the phone," says Prof Jhunjhunwala, pointing to the
two-channels that his Cordect wireless in local loop solution offers. "This
is the kind of thing that's possible with the technology today. (Internet
speeds of) 35kbps can offer a very significant kind of traffic," he points
out.
Says n-Logue's CEO Ponappa: "There are basically three reasons why these
people remain backward. Or why rural areas don't get enough development as
they should. (a) They don't get access to good quality goods (b) They don't
have access to good quality credit and (c) They don't have access to good
quality communication. What we believe is that by implementing this across
rural India, the second and third areas would be significantly addressed."
So far n-Logue has implemented this solution in four centres. "The first
level feedback has been extremely encouraging. We have kiosks running in the
middle of Madhya Pradesh, where the average revenue a kiosk-man makes if Rs
4500 per month. Net of expenses, he makes Rs 3000 per month; which makes him
a rich man in that village. This guy is typically someone 21 to 25 years
old," says Ponappa.
DEPEND ON OURSELVES
-------------------
Dr Jhunjhunwala strongly argues that the Third World has to depend on itself
to locate its own telecom solutions.
Technology solutions from the West won't really help make telecom affordable
here, he argues. "It's not because of any other reason. But at the current
cost of Rs 30,000 ($700-800) you need 40 to 45% return, which is
$300 roughly a year. This is about $30 per month, a figure which is
affordable to almost every family in the West."
So really, 15 years back, in the West they got everyone connected. Now,
lowering the basic cost of telephony is no longer a priority. "Because their
market does not depend on creating new market. Their market is a replacement
market. They essentially have to work to work to provide more features and
services, keeping the costs constant."
Therefore Western technology has been focussing on mobility, on higher
bit-rate services. "They've been working on all those things, rather than
bringing down the cost of telecom. That's the reason that for the last 15
years, the cost has remained at US$800 to 1000. It has not come down," says
Dr Jhunjhunwala.
"(Firms in the West) don't have any incentive to bring down prices. It is
our problem, and we who have to take that up," says he.
Someone made the mistake of asking Prof Jhunjhunwala who was funding the
'experimental projects' he was currently carrying on. An angry professor
shot back, "We're not doing experimental projects. We are doing
revenue-generating projects. What is there to experiment about? We've used
this technology in 11 countries. The time is over for experiments now."
As we finishing our discussion, Prof Jhunjhunwala left the spartan buildings
of the IIT, one of India's prestigious technology education institutions,
kick-started his scooter, and rode off with an air of determination over
what he's doing... and what he hopes to achieve. (ENDS)
Contact details: Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Professor and Head, Department of
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras,
Chennai. Email ashok@... or ashok@...
Tel (44) 235 2120 (OF) or 235 3202 / 445 9355 (R)
PG Ponnapa, Chief Executive Officer n-Logue Communications Private
Limited, Adyar Chennai. Email ponnapa@... Ph 445 5210/12/21/23
Dear Bytes for All readers,
((Forwarded the below article with thanks and courtesy to Dr. Ashok
Jhunjhunwala, Professor and Head, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology-Madras. Great job Fred!-Arun))
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 16:02:47 +0530 (IST)
From: Frederick Noronha <fred@...>
{--}
INTERNET FOR ALL: INDIAN VILLAGERS TO GET ACCESS AT PRICES THEY CAN AFFORD
By Frederick Noronha
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 connection in India.
"We've not yet reached the figure of Rs 10,000 per phone line. But we've
brought down costs currently to Rs 18,000 per line," he says proudly.
Just because this technology is inexpensive, it's not poor quality.
"Look at this connection; it has been working continuously for 13 hours at a
stretch, and has transferred 1 gigabite of data", says a confident Dr
Jhunjhunwala, just before he snaps the link to the Internet. Besides, this
technology has gained acceptance in countries as remote and distinct at
Madagascar, Brazil, Fiji, Nigeria, Iran and elsewhere.
Says the professor: "These technologies have been developed by companies
that have been incubated by us. Like Midas Communication, Banyan Networks,
etc."
n-LOGUE EXPERIMENT
------------------
One of the interesting companies that this Chennai (formerly Madras)-based
professor helped recently spawn is called n-Logue. It is currently engrossed
in providing Internet and telephone services primarily to India's small
towns and rural areas.
"Existing operators are really not focussed on rural areas. They believe
rural areas can't generate money, and see rural areas as a burden," says Dr
Jhunjhunwala.
To this end, Prof Jhunjhunwala and n-Logue came out recently with an
innovative solution: a complete Internet kiosk for just Rs 40,000. It uses
the wireless-in-local-loop technology. At under the equivalet of US$800,
n-Logue is offering wireless equipment, with its antennaes and cables and
mast; the telephone instrument; an STD-PCO meter; a good personal computer
Pentium 700Mhz, with multimedia and a colour monitor and a batter backup for
at least four hours of PC usage; with Indian-language software to make
computing relevant to the millions here.
"We're providing all this at Rs 40,000. This was the most difficult thing.
And this was one of the key work we have done over the last several years,"
says Dr Jhunjhunwala.
"(Since we're talking about low investments) we can create an army of rural
entrepreneurs. They could avail of small loans, to set up their own rural
STD phone-cum-Internet centres," says Prof Jhunjhunwala.
He explains their plan of tying up with LSPs, or local service providers.
These small rural-businessmen will be 50% partners, and since they would be
from the local areas where they operate, they would have far better contact
with those whom they work with.
In a 25-km radius, they expect to find buyers for 500 to 700 connections.
These could be individuals, government offices, schools -- and most
importantly -- Internet kiosks that make access open to everyone. This level
of operation should make a LSP viable, feels Prof Jhunjhunwala. Even if the
numbers don't come in immediately, they would in a year's time when people
start realising how new communication technologies empower them.
Work towards this end is already underway at Cuddalore district, in India's
southernmost province of Tamil Nadu. In Madurai (also in Tamil Nadu) and
Dhar of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, this technology is also
being successfully implemented. Likewise, in Bagru of Rajasthan and Sangrur
in North India, the project is starting up.
"We could have a million subscribers in a three to four year time-frame.
It's possible. We are focussed only on small towns and rural areas. We will
not do large cities (as there are others who are currently rolling out
Internet and phone services there)," says Prof Jhunjhunwala.
Simultaneously, Prof Jhunjhunwala is inspiring youngsters to work on rural
Internet applications. For instance, one young team has worked on a
Tamil-Hindi-English spreadsheet. It currently works on the Windows operating
system, and will soon be ported to Linux.
Also on offer is word-processing in the local Tamil language, a mail-client
in Tamil, and also IRC (Internet relay chat) or voice-mail in the local
language. An agricultural-portal in the regional language is also in the
making. All this would help make the Internet something potentially very
useful in the lives of the average villager.
"We're adopting two key elements. Affordability, since everything is very
low cost, and involving a local person in providing the solutions," says
Prof Jhunjhunwala, explaining his model.
DREAMING, DELIVERING
--------------------
Over the past five to six months, the concept has been given shape. Says
Prof Jhunjhunwala, as n-Logue CEO P.G.Ponnapa looks on: "The challenge is to
make it happen to scale. That's his (Ponnapa's) job. Our job is to dream;
his job is to deliver."
But this is no mere dream. Prof Jhunjhunwala has proven the robustness of
his technology in the past. Today, the Cordect wireless-in-local-loop (WiLL)
technology he earlier worked on, has been accepted by mainstream companies
like the government giant BNSL, MTNL, Shyam Telelink and others.
Says Ponnapa: "Other than the sheer numbers (what is exciting) is the
ability to make a different in a guy's life. He should believe this kiosk is
a lifeline to a better life." He explains that rural dwellers suffer from a
low-access to goods and services, low credit and the lack of communication
facilities. "Our solution can solve a significant part of the second and
third problems," says he.
Perhaps what also needs to be noted is that this attempt tries to make the
technology commercially viable, and affordable even to those considered
'poor'. In other words, it will not be dependent on huge sums of government
subsidies or foreign aid being poured in, to prop it up.
Prof Jhunjhunwala says that they have received good support from the
government and non-profit development organisations. "All find it a
fantastic route (to solve the long-time problem of offering access to the
commonman at affordable rates)," says he.
"Look at this live video lecture," says a proud Prof Jhunjhunwala, pointing
to a personal computer by his side. To demonstrate its capabilities, he also
points to the fact that one can make a simultaneous telephone call, even
while accessing the Net, using the wireless-in-local-loop technology.
"If I put that up in any village, the people there can get an STD-PCO
(subscriber trunk dialling-public call office) and at the same time, access
the Internet in graphical mode," says Prof Jhunjunwala.
"It's possible to have a small-size face-and-shoulder lecture, and at the
same time to use the phone," says Prof Jhunjhunwala, pointing to the
two-channels that his Cordect wireless in local loop solution offers. "This
is the kind of thing that's possible with the technology today. (Internet
speeds of) 35kbps can offer a very significant kind of traffic," he points
out.
Says n-Logue's CEO Ponappa: "There are basically three reasons why these
people remain backward. Or why rural areas don't get enough development as
they should. (a) They don't get access to good quality goods (b) They don't
have access to good quality credit and (c) They don't have access to good
quality communication. What we believe is that by implementing this across
rural India, the second and third areas would be significantly addressed."
So far n-Logue has implemented this solution in four centres. "The first
level feedback has been extremely encouraging. We have kiosks running in the
middle of Madhya Pradesh, where the average revenue a kiosk-man makes if Rs
4500 per month. Net of expenses, he makes Rs 3000 per month; which makes him
a rich man in that village. This guy is typically someone 21 to 25 years
old," says Ponappa.
DEPEND ON OURSELVES
-------------------
Dr Jhunjhunwala strongly argues that the Third World has to depend on itself
to locate its own telecom solutions.
Technology solutions from the West won't really help make telecom affordable
here, he argues. "It's not because of any other reason. But at the current
cost of Rs 30,000 ($700-800) you need 40 to 45% return, which is
$300 roughly a year. This is about $30 per month, a figure which is
affordable to almost every family in the West."
So really, 15 years back, in the West they got everyone connected. Now,
lowering the basic cost of telephony is no longer a priority. "Because their
market does not depend on creating new market. Their market is a replacement
market. They essentially have to work to work to provide more features and
services, keeping the costs constant."
Therefore Western technology has been focussing on mobility, on higher
bit-rate services. "They've been working on all those things, rather than
bringing down the cost of telecom. That's the reason that for the last 15
years, the cost has remained at US$800 to 1000. It has not come down," says
Dr Jhunjhunwala.
"(Firms in the West) don't have any incentive to bring down prices. It is
our problem, and we who have to take that up," says he.
Someone made the mistake of asking Prof Jhunjhunwala who was funding the
'experimental projects' he was currently carrying on. An angry professor
shot back, "We're not doing experimental projects. We are doing
revenue-generating projects. What is there to experiment about? We've used
this technology in 11 countries. The time is over for experiments now."
As we finishing our discussion, Prof Jhunjhunwala left the spartan buildings
of the IIT, one of India's prestigious technology education institutions,
kick-started his scooter, and rode off with an air of determination over
what he's doing... and what he hopes to achieve. (ENDS)
Contact details: Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Professor and Head, Department of
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras,
Chennai. Email ashok@... or ashok@...
Tel (44) 235 2120 (OF) or 235 3202 / 445 9355 (R)
PG Ponnapa, Chief Executive Officer n-Logue Communications Private
Limited, Adyar Chennai. Email ponnapa@... Ph 445 5210/12/21/23
--
WOMEN SURFING THE NET: SPACE FOR GROWTH OR SIMPLY LEFT OUT?
There's an air of optimism about the role that IT and the Internet can play.
It could help the rural-dweller, the non-affluent even the commonman. But
what about the often neglected woman-on-the-street? How do ICTs (information
and communication technologies) help or hinder the average woman?
This issue is not tackled often, specially in an Asian context. In the
Philippines, however, the Quezon City-based Women's Networking Support
Programme is doing some interesting work. And raising interesting questions
while doing so.
Meet Concepcion 'Chat' Garcia Ramilo. Why 'Chat'? Because Filipinos (and
Filipinas) usually have such short names!
Chat has been specialising in gender, ICTs and women's electronic networking
for the last five years. She has also coordinated the Asian Women's Resource
Exchange (AWORC), a regional Internet-based women's information service and
network, since 1998. In addition, she works as the Project Manager for the
Association for Progressive Communications' Women's Networking Support
Programme. In addition, she coordinates a new organisation that provides
ICT-related services for Filipino women, called 'womenshub'.
Chat says this is a field in which she is not 'formally trained'. Says she:
"And I think it's a good story to tell, because hopefully it encourages a
lot of other women to take it up. My background is psychology, and working
with women's organisation. Apart from this, I'm also involved in working
with women in migration." Her prayer is that her five-year-old boy will be a
gender-sensitive man when he grows up....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Chat, tell us about how you first got involved...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It started by helping women to use Information Technologies for empowerment.
I myself got involved by using the technology myself in the work that I do.
Incidentally, the first time I used email was at the World Conference on
Women (at Beijing, in the mid-nineties).
The first email I sent was from this email centre set up by women
themselves, which is the Women's Programme of the Association for
Progressive Communications (APC). They set it up was to make sure was to
make sure that what was happening in Beijing was shared globally. So that's
how I got into it, used email much more, and realised the power that these
technologies can give in enhancing one's work.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Okay, now how exactly are you'll using the technology?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Take the case of one network which we are involved in. It is called the
Asian Women's Resource Exchange, and was set up about four years ago. We
call it an Internet-based women's network, because we do a lot of our work
using the technology.
We have 11 members from about 9 countries, and we have several activities.
One is a training programme, called the Women's Electronic Network Training
(WENT). We train women in empowering them to use technology, in a way that
is appropriate to what they're doing.
We've trained about 90 women in the last three years. We have one training
per year. We get together the women in one space, at a university in (South)
Korea. And we actually have training in different skills -- web information,
database, using ITCs for campaigning, for advocacy, for policy work.
But the more important idea around it is to gather women together, and also
share their experiences. And also to talk about technology in a secure and
safe place. That's because usually women find it hard (to otherwise do so).
They tell us that, from experience in their work places, technology is not
something they're very comfortable with. So, it's a way of mentoring among
women. So that all their fears can surface and be addressed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Increasingly, it seems that the technologies available on the Net are not
as gender-neutral as they once seemed. If you would agree with me -- and I
see you nodding -- why would you say it's so?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Laughs.) I think, as you say, it's very historical. It's really about
women's position, and the subordination of women in a lot of ways.
Women have been marginalised from technology for a long time. Made invisible
in terms of technology. Feminists looking at how women have been
marginalised from technology (say) it's really got to do with the way in
which technology is defined.
Technology is defined in very male, masculine terms. So technology has to do
with hard science. Technology has to do with machines. And it's usually a
male-domain. Technology, for instance, is not seen as weaving. You know,
weaving is a very complicated process. And women are involved in it. But
it's not considered technology, because it's not considered hard-science.
So, I think it has to do with defining what technology is.
The other thing is also the invisibility of the women's role in technology.
For example there's been research that says that women have been the first
operators of computers. Actually there are researchers that say that women
were the ones who invented the first computers! All this is not common
knowledge.
In education generally, women then do not go in for Science and Technology
in general. This is not only in Information Technology.
Perhaps in IT there are more women (than in general Science), because this
has to do with an area where women are more traditionally seen. Like in
terms of being content providers, holders of knowledge, etc.
Which is a positive thing; but at the same time, it leaves them in an area
which only has to do with content. And not in relation to, let's say, being
systems administrators. Or looking at machines, taking them apart, and
putting them together again. That's I think where the differences are....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: So, would you feel that access in itself -- and training -- would help
women get an entry point? Or is something more required in the whole field
of the IT and the Internet?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh definitely. I think access is the first step. Because in a lot of
experiences of women, it's the first thing. Access is the one that opens up,
when women touch the computer and they're on the Internet, it opens up a lot
of possibilities for them.
We do believe it's your experience, your personal experience, with the
technology that addresses fears. Then they see it as something which is not
complicated; as something they can handle.
The other bit about training, it's very important. It empowers them.
Specially at a time, when there's a lot of hype over the use of IT. There
are so many products out there. Commercial products. It's very
corporate-driven, so it's really a question of being informed and empowered
enough. So as to make choices that will be appropriate to your conditions.
There are a lot of choices there, I think, that a lot of women are not
really aware of.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Which are the experiences of women using the Net or IT, from different
parts of the globe, which have inspired your group?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Many experiences! In Africa, for example, women are using technologies in
poor villages, setting up information networks about health. Looking at
the health problems of women. There's one experience of two women who
actually set up the first non-commercial ISP in Africa.
In our region, there's one woman a trainee, who's 51. She was our oldest
trainee this year. She is the co-ordinator of a voluntary group called
Mothers For Mothers. She's Malaysian. And she a single mum.
What inspired her in using the technology, is that she's a local newspaper
columnist. She got a lot of letters from local women. From there, they were
able to set up a network, to help each other as single parents. And she set
up a network, and she uses IT. She came to the training because she wants to
learn more to expand the work that she's doing.
A lot of it is individual experiences of women, in using the technology and
making it their own. I think it's the practice that really makes a
difference. There's a lot of software, applications and hardware available.
It's the way you shape the technology that matters, and you use it in a way
that will empower individuals, organisations and communities.
In the end, I think it's that that matters.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: When you train your participants, what do you'll focus on, and how do
they respond to it?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We undertake a sort of advocacy ourselves. We talk about information
technologies. We talk about netizenship. We talk about ICTs for social
change and gender equality.
That's the first thing. Then, women then have a choice of three different
tracks, as we call them. One is how do you manage, develop and sustain
web-information services. That has to do with a lot of things.
It's not teaching basic HTML. But it is actually looking at how do you plan,
and use it. How do you empower yourself, because if you talk to a
web-designer as you can't really afford to have a web-manager, then you're
able to tell this person that 'This is exactly what I want'.
And if he tells you -- usually it's a man (laughs) -- 'Oh, no no. We have to
have animated graphics and blinking lights.' Then you can turn round and
say you don't need that because the women we work with have very limited
bandwidth.
That's the first thing. The other area is using IT for your advocacy, for
campaigning and for policy work. It's an area we are developing. Specially
policy work. Because we feel we need to be able to be part of
decision-making.
There's a lot of policy-making happening around ICTs now. Policy issues. We
feel we need to be part of that as well, so that we can then influence the
direction ICTs are taking. In relation to access, in relation to what
technologies should be developed, etc.
And the last bit there is database. Database because there are a lot of very
small women's data and information centres that have information that
they've collected over years.
For instance, women's groups like Jagori and Akshara from India, came to our
training. They're not fully computerised, but they have a lot of
information. And they found it very useful. Immediately after the training
they set up databases. Jagori now has theirs and Akshara is starting their
database.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Very few countries in Asia seem to be focussing on the issue of women and
ICTs. Would I be right in believing this?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah. I think it's not seen as an area (of concern) yet, where we need to do
a lot of work. Specially policy work.
I think it's because women are in a lot of different areas. But in the last
five years, that also has to do with Beijing, the momentum has started since
the world conference. From there, there have been a lot of women's
organisations who use e-mail, though not in a very planned way.
We recently had done a research in AWORK of the use of ICTs in 20 different
countries of the Asia-Pacific. The results are actually telling.
On the one hand, there has been a lot of growth. It's quite common now.
E-mail is a sort of a standard. Except for organisations like in the
Pacific, where you don't have enough access. But in the way that it's still
being used is mostly in terms of communication -- regular correspondence.
It's not being yet widely used for campaigning, for advocacy, and definitely
not yet that common for websites.
Though it is growing. And the reason we get so much interest in the training
-- this year we had over 90 applications and we had only 30 places -- is
because there is a need there. There's a demand for training.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Lastly, could you tell us something about APC's women's programme?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's a global network of women. We're individuals, representatives of
organisations. It's a combined network, and also of staff of APC.
APC is a communications organisation that is now 10 years old. It has
members in different countries, and usually the members are non-profit ISP
nodes. It has staff, individual women as well as representatives of
organisation. It is really involved in empowering women in using and
designing ways of empowering ways for the use of technology.
We are in about 26 countries across the world.
ENDS
SIMPUTERS ARE NOW UNIVERSALISING IT
The Asian Age, Oct 4, 2001
BY SUDHA PASSI
New Delhi, Oct 3: Tipped as the Third World's answer to universalising
the
education and reach of information technology, without compromising on
quality and money, Simputers are poised for their first big test with
the
users.
Within six months of their demos taking the IT world by storm, these
pocket-sized computing devices are set to be integrated in IT-deprived
societies, which will be using them for distance education as also
gaining
access to information held back due to infrastructural impediments.
The crucial test for Simputers, courtesy a tie-up for a social project
in
South Asia, envisages their use as access devices to download digital
broadcasts on education through a satellite to remote areas that
otherwise
may not be connected by telephones and conventional powerlines.
The Simputer has already demonstrated its capability to download content
through the radio receivers of the satellite.
Once the content is downloaded, the Simputer is disconnected fromthe
receiver and taken around for use by various people, explains Prof Vijay
Chandru, one of the four scientists of the Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore, who developed the Simputer.
Giving the Simputers a chance is an NGO, the South Asia Foundation,
which is
aiming to provide it access to remote societies in the region. The
satellite
input will be from Asiastar of Worldspace Foundation, while the
Simputers
will be given the access tools, or 'gateways of information', for the
target
communities.
But it is not just low battery consumption that makes Simputers the
natural
choice for IT-deprived societies where people could be illiterate or at
best
semi-literate.
Features that give it an advantage over others is its ability to be
handled
by a completely illiterate person, its ability to translate text into
voice
for the user in his native language, and its ability to access the
Internet.
(PTI)
LINK: Website http://www.simputer.org
Mailing list: simputer-subscribe@egroups.com
I am trying to contact literature and/or visual arts organisations in
Vietnam that may be interested in 'hosting' an Australian writer/artist
residency project in Vietnam.
I have contacted the Vietnam Writers Association but if anyone has details
of any organisations that I could approcach I would be grateful if you
could provide them to me.
Thanks
Ross Duncan
Dear Colleagues,
I am sure this email would be of interest to people working in ICT for
Development sector. We have started a new section for ICT in Development
Jobs in our new look DevNetJobs site at http://www.devnetjobs.org
Hopefully this section would cater to a niche and an emerging area.
Users can subscribe to free updates by sending a blank email at
developmentjobs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or writing to jobs@...
Regards,
Vikas Nath
Inlaks Fellow, LSE, UK
DevNetJobs.org
Thanks to BytesForAll associate Deepa Rai in Kathmandu for forwarding
this. FN
---------- Forwarded message ----------
dear fred,
this is what the nepali times- our weekly english newspaper has published in
this issue. or you can even visit the site at- www.nepalitimes.com
Poor man's computer
India scientists may have found a way to bridge the digital divide.
MM Paniyil
BANGALORE - The first assignment of a poor man’s hand-held computer,
developed in this global IT hub, is to bring basic education to tribal
children in central India.
At $200 apiece, the Simputer, when first developed and launched late last
year by four professors at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science
(IISc) here, was hailed for its major price breakthrough and touted as the
answer to the digital divide that puts technology beyond the access of
poorer people.
The Paris-based charity South Asia Foundation (SAF) has roped in the
creators of the Simputer and digital broadcaster, World Space radio, for the
device's first field application—an interactive education programme for
rural children in the remote Bastar district of central Chattisgarh state.
PicoPeta Simputers, a company launched by the coalition, will be funded by
the Rainbow Partnership Organisation, an SAF initiative that promotes
cooperation among the seven members of the South Asian Association of
Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
SAF is the brainchild of veteran Indian diplomat and adviser to the UNESCO,
Madanjeet Singh. "Our pilot project in Bastar is expected to benefit about
2,000 students," says Professor Swami Manohar, the acting chief executive
officer PicoPeta Simputers. "It will be operational in six months."
Already, the new company has tied up with public sector giant Bharat
Electronics Ltd to produce about 100 Simputers that will be used to receive
digital content broadcast by WorldSpace, which has been broadcasting digital
data along with its popular voice broadcast of news and entertainment. At
present, only commercial organisations download World Space broadcasts using
personal computers.
"Personal computers tend to use up a lot of disk space to store voice
files. But the text-to-voice capability of the Simputer makes the process
easy," notes Professor Ramesh Hariharan, the youngest of the IISc Fab
Four, as the local media calls them. "It is interactive and easy to
operate, thus enhancing the effectiveness of education programmes," says
Hariharan.
Fending off criticism that high-technology was being foisted on schools that
still lack blackboards and buildings, Hariharan argues that the Simputer can
bridge the digital divide in a creative way. Together, they can make
available professionally designed lessons to the most far-flung village that
have no telephone or electricity, he explains.
Hundreds of villages in southern Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the
capital, lack electricity or telephone connections and can greatly benefit
if the interactive education in Bastar takes off. Smart cards are used to
personalise applications in a Simputer. These detachable credit-card-like
devices will function as blackboards, notebooks and report cards in the
Bastar education project. Each student’s smart card will enable her, her
teachers and the course designer to monitor the progress of lessons studied.
This will even enable students at non-formal education programmes to study
at their own pace and according to their ability.
"Once the Simputers are in place, the villagers can use them for other
purposes such as microcredit facilities, storing and accessing agricultural
data and so on," says Professor Vijay Chandru, director of PicoPeta
Simputers. Simputers are adaptable to a large range of rural applications.
With the smart card, they can function as an effective aid to facilitate
village census, agricultural data collection, and even routine services such
as railway ticket reservations.
The professors will also help to develop the content for the education
project. "First and foremost we are teachers. Together we have 35 years of
teaching experience," Manohar says. "What we envisage is a set of software
tools adaptable for a wide range of teaching applications," explains
Chandru.
A major hurdle for the Simputer has been getting enough venture capital or
corporate tie-ups to start commercial production. Help from two 'angel'
funders took the project through the prototype phase.
One of the factors that could discourage commercial tie-ups is the unique
open-licensing procedure of Simputer. It works on the public-licence Linux
operating system. PicoPeta Simputers has another problem. (IPS)
Thanks to the Simputer /access-India groups for this posting... FN
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Linux desktop push could benefit disabled
The Technology Network
Linux desktop push could benefit disabled
By Terry Costlow, EE Times
Oct 10, 2001 (2:01 PM)
URL:
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011010S0069
If the push to extend Linux to the desktop is successful, the disabled will
be big beneficiaries. The Gnome Accessibility Framework is finalizing a
release that incorporates support for accessible applications programs, a
move that will make it far simpler for developers to link peripherals such
as screen readers to systems running the open-source Linux operating
system.
The project to develop the hooks needed for accessibility hardware and
software was begun by Sun Microsystems Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.), but has now
gained the help of a number of companies within and without the small
industry that focuses on accessibility for handicapped people. Among them
are IBM, HP-Compaq and Linux proponents Red Hat, Eazel and TurboLinux.
"Gnome 2.0 has been completely redesigned; we're building full support for
disabilities into it," said Peter Korn, accessibility manager at Sun,
referring to the GNU project's Gnome platform for home and office desktop
PCs. "It's no longer just a Sun effort. We have gotten lots of help from
the open community."
"Those of us on the receiving end of this haven't seen anything to base a
firm reaction on, but in theory what they're doing will be very beneficial,"
said Bud Rizer, director of the Center on Disabilities at California State
University, Northridge (CSUN). "I'm sure this will come to market soon;
they've put too much into it not to get it out."
The Gnome Accessibility Framework is expected to ship late his year, and
those involved in simplifying computer access for disabled people are
anxious to see it in action. (The word, an acronym for GNU Network Object
Model Environment, is pronounced guh-nome.)
Moreover, the timing for the framework's arrival is propitious. Earlier this
year, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted, directing federal
agencies to provide computer and Internet access to people with disabilities
or face being sued.
Some observers contend that 54 million Americans, about one in five, have
some form of disability, from carpal-tunnel syndrome to more severe
impairments. Proponents of accessibility technology also contend that many
of the developments which make products useful for disabled people benefit
other citizens as well. Sidewalk cutouts, for example, are an aid not only
to people in wheelchairs but also to bicyclists and skateboarders.
Whether or not the Gnome Accessibility Framework sees widespread usage, of
course, hinges on the overall acceptance of Gnome itself on the desktop. Sun
has pledged to adopt Gnome for its own desktop environment, and a number of
major companies also support it.
Gnome is up against stiff competition, however, since it hopes to vie with
Microsoft Office for desktop preeminence. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp. too is
putting a strong emphasis on accessibility software. The Redmond, Wash.,
company has mustered a 40-member team that has contact with all in-house
development groups, advising them on accessibility issues. Microsoft last
year won an award for 12 years of effort in computer accessibility.
Hooks for accessibility have been built right into the Gnome framework,
making it far simpler to integrate hardware and software that meets the
needs of handicapped people. Screen readers, voice-recognition programs
and speech-synthesis systems are among the types of gear that can help the
disabled operate computers. "Products can work with the full operations of
the operating system they're running on instead of being bolted on and
working just with some things," said Sun's Korn.
Java has these hooks, and its developers at Sun have garnered much praise
for including them in that OS. "A few months ago, the American Foundation
for the Blind [gave an award to] Java for building the hooks in. Java was
a predecessor to Gnome," Korn said.
Many of the companies that serve the disabilities marketplace are looking
forward to the availability of Gnome because it will simplify their
development cycles. The open-source Linux environment is expected to go
through fewer changes than other operating systems, so the time and
expense of upgrading to new OS versions will be vastly diminished. That's
a big concern in the accessibility world, since many of the companies in
the field have just a handful of employees and limited resources.
"Compared with the mainstream computer companies, companies in the disabled
marketplace are very, very small," said Rizer of CSUN. "Each time there's a
change in the desktop environment, going back to the time of DOS, they have
had to do a total redesign of their products. If Sun does this [Gnome
framework] as planned, those types of changes won't be necessary anymore,
and they can focus on developing better products."
Korn added that Sun's experience in making Java accessible to designers of
equipment for handicapped people has helped in the creation of the Gnome
Accessibility Framework. "When people go from Windows 95 to 98 to ME,
companies need to create new versions of screen readers, or whatever
product they make," Korn said.
"They have not had to do that with Java, and they will not have to do that
with Gnome. We've said this is the responsibility of the platform. It's like
building a house with Legos: People usually use stock windows and doors. In
software, if there are stock pieces available for free, people will use
them, so that's what we've done in Gnome."
Affordable systems
Korn and others believe that as more accessibility components become widely
available, the cost of equipment will decline, making computing far more
affordable for the handicapped and the agencies that serve them, both of
which often are on tight budgets.
"There are tremendous implications for supports and maintenance costs as
well as for the initial costs," Korn said. "If it doesn't take an
engineering team a year to write a screen reader, a screen reader might
not cost $1,200."
In addition to the Accessibility Framework, Sun has released version 1.4 of
its Java 2 software development kit. The kit contains core support for
accessibility and the Swing user interface libraries, which support the
Java accessibility API (also included in the kit). Other elements include
the Java Runtime environment and plug-ins for browsers. Sun is also
shipping version 0.4 of the Java Accessibility Helper, a test tool for
Java accessibility.
EE Times
www.cmpnet.com
The Technology Network
Copyright 1998
CMP Media Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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India-IT-Award (321 words)
Indian IT project bags Stockholm Challenge award
>From Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) An Indian information technology (IT) enabled
project that helps connect villages and provides education and business
opportunities has bagged the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award for the
current year.
TARAhaat, a private initiative to tap the potential of IT for developmental
schemes, was awarded a memento and citation in Stockholm for "innovative
applications of IT in the global village," a company statement said Friday.
"It gives us independent confirmation and reassurance that we are on an
original and unique track to bring cutting edge technology to villages and
communities that are unconnected to the mainstream economy," said Ashok
Khosla, chairman and CEO of TARAhaat.
"Equally important, the award recognises the potential of the TARAhaat
business model as an effective basis for scaling up and sustaining a
nationwide Internet service catering to the needs of the poor," he said in a
statement.
The project has been launched at Bhatinda in Punjab and Bundelkhand region
in Madhya Pradesh. "The results from these areas are encouraging enough for
us to serve other parts of the country in near future," Khosla said.
A record number of 742 projects from 90 countries were nominated for the top
slots in seven categories for the Stockholm Challenge award this year.
Last year, Gyandoot, an IT enabled community project launched in Madhya
Pradesh, bagged the award that has been running for the last three years.
"Project TARAhaat is an outstanding embodiment of the spirit of the
Stockholm Challenge to promote inclusion through the use of information and
communication technologies," the citation said.
"The bold and challenging objective of becoming commercially sustainable
while serving the needs of less fortunate members of society is critical to
bring closer the promise of an information society for all.
"And that is TARAhaat is pursuing through its wonderful efforts," it added.
--Indo-Asian News Service
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Dear Partho,
The royalty of $25,000 is applicable for hardware licensing and not
for developing any software application for the Simputer.
Regards,
Pavanaja
Dear Christine<FontFamily><param>Times New Roman</param><bigger>
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thefinancial implications of the project. Let us assume an inventor
does have an application that will help the Simputer achieve its full
potential; <underline>how does one pay <bold>$25,000</bold> to obtain the
licence?</underline>
Mercenary approach to bring the benefits of technology to the
masses is the kind of hypocrisy, the whole of IT industry practices
the worldover.<FontFamily><param>Times New Roman</param><bigger>
<FontFamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>Regards<FontFamily><param>Times New
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Dr. U.B. Pavanaja
Editor, Vishva Kannada
World's first Internet magazine in Kannada
http://www.vishvakannada.com/
Note: I don't worry about pselling mixtakes
Thanks to Irfan Khan and s-asia-it@... for this posting. FN
---------- Forwarded message ----------
India Slates $2Bil Plan For In-School Internet
By Staff, Computers Today
NEW DELHI, INDIA,
10 Oct 2001, 8:14 AM CST
India's government plans to invest $2 billion to improve Internet access
in schools across the country. While $1 billion will be spent on
providing Net connectivity, another $833 million has been proposed for
upgrading Education and Research Network (Ernet).
The blueprint drawn up by the Ministry of Information Technology shows
that multilateral funding agencies like the World Bank would be
recruited as a partner. The $1 billion project called "Schoolnet"
proposes to provide 128 kilobits per second connections in 60,000
schools in the first phase. In its second phase, the government proposes
to add another 40,000 schools, taking the total number to 100,000.
On Ernet - the network that interconnects the universities and research
and development institutions in the country - the government is also
looking at the possibility of private-sector participation.
The Ernet upgrade would involve increasing the available bandwidth and
upgrading the computer infrastructure as also providing value-added
services like educational content, setting up an educational portal,
networking for engineering institutions and implementation of UGC net.
"Considering the magnitude of the projects, the IT ministry is of the
opinion that it will be difficult to implement the project on its own,"
an official said.
The IT ministry, along with the Ministry of Communications and
Educational Institutes had already signed an agreement with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology to set up Sankhya Vahini, which
was to provide high-speed data link between educational and research
institutes. That project has, however, been put on the backburner.
At present, Ernet provides ISP services to universities and research
institutions and also conducts research and development activities in
the area of computer networking. The satellite network of Ernet is
operating on one-fourth transponder space in the C-band of Insat-II DT
since December 1998. At present 750 institutions are connected through
Ernet.
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com
(C) 2001 The Washington Post Company
source:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170989.html
From Akhtar Badshah:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Digital Partners is pleased to announce that this years SEL application
process yielded close to 40 innovative proposals for the use of IT in
service to the world's poor. (For more on our Social Enterprise
Laboratory please click here.) Ranging from Children's Health
Information SmartCards in India to Wireless Communications Kiosks in
Brazil to Computer Training for Rural Youths in Ghana-to name just
three-we have been very pleased with both the diversity and caliber of
this year's applications.
SEL applications are now being reviewed by our selection committee and
we plan to announce those proposals selected to move on to the mentoring
phase by the end of October.
If you missed the deadline for inclusion in this year's SEL competition,
we encourage you to submit your proposal next year. We will begin
accepting applications for the 2002 competition beginning in the Fall,
2002. Please refer to our description of the SEL process for guidance
and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Akhtar Badshah
Executive Director
Digital Partners
2200 Alaskan Way, Suite 455
Seattle, WA 98121
V. 425-898-9739
F. 425-898-9649
email: abadshah@...
abadshah@...
www.digitalpartners.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ZDNET INDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH
The top picks of the week
Saturday, July 28, 2001
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{ http://www.zdnetindia.com/ }
EDITORIAL | (DIGITALLY) DIVIDED WE FALL
I recently read about how Kolhapuri footwear (chappals) had found a global
home on the Internet (www.toeholdindia.com). The site says it's a "dream
project of catapulting the artisans from the shadows to the thresholds of
global footwear fashion." This Web site helps the artisans attract orders
from the world over.
Then there's the case of the tribals of a remote hamlet in Raichur (Madhya
Pradesh) who benefitted from a kiosk with a computer (surprising that there
was electricity) put up by an entrepreneur. The kioks owner started
displaying the neighbouring market's wholesale prices of potatoes daily and,
for just Rs 5, began giving the tribals access to this information. What
followed is history: The tribals, with access to current prices, were no
longer willing to be cheated by the brokers. They demanded higher prices.
They got them.
Extend the logic: The tribals (adivasis) and villagers (how can one forget
that about 70% of our population lives in villages) can be provided with
computerised land records, birth and death certificates, weather reports,
drought and flood warnings, earthquake alerts, information on how to improve
the crop yield and information on their basic (constitutional rights).
Many villagers double up as labourers at construction sites or building
flyovers during the lean seasons. Data on the job opportunities in the
nearby villages and the minimum wages provided can go a long way in
preventing exploitation of labour. This is obviously not an exhaustive list.
Further, with an Internet connection, they can have access to e-mail
(available in Indian languages) to connect with their near and dear ones who
have gone to work in other states. They can also have access to happenings
in their talukas and state which have a direct bearing on them, failing
which the politicians of that area can take them for a major ride.
Then again, fishermen in Kerala using cellphones to do better businesses. In
Bangladesh, farmers use cellular phones to call several villages and cities
before deciding where to sell their produce. All these cases point out to
one thing -- the use of information technology to better conditions.
Klaus Schwab, founder and President of the World Economic Forum, asserts
that if we fail to provide access to digital technology to countries in the
developing world we are, essentially, denying them an opportunity to
participate in the new economy of the 21st century.
Does such an opportunity exist in this country? Yes and No. YES, since many
government agencies and NGOs are making efforts in this direction. Here are
a few cases. Development Alternatives, a Delhi-based NGO launched TaraHaat,
an initiative to bring the Internet to rural India. The intranet in the Dhar
district of Madhya Pradesh called Gyandoot, connects 21 rural cybercafes
called Soochanalayas. These provide services to about 10 to 15 Gram
Panchayats and around 20 to 30 villages, located at Block headquarters,
bazaars, bus depot centers and on the roadside of central villages where
people normally travel.
The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Pondicherry is currently funding
Internet, voice, and database access to rural areas. ikisan.com
conceptualized and developed by the Nagarjuna Group, offers weather
forecasts, commodity news, product availability, online loan facilities,
chat rooms and discussion forums.
NO, since a stark reality faces us: India (with a one billion population)
has only about 7 million Internet users, around 5 million PCs, around 35
million telephone lines, around 3.8 million cellular phones. NO, since a
majority of our 6 lakh villages lack basic roads and electricity, leave
alone telephone lines. NO, since our country is facing a major power
shortage and illiteracy and corruption galore.
Even the Human Development Report 2001, commissioned by UNDP, while terming
India a 'technology adopter', has qualified its statement by pointing out
that having a world-class technology hub is not sufficient to ensure the
diffusion of technology across an entire country. India, it explained, ranks
only 63rd in the TAI mainly because Bangalore, where much of the country's
new technology is concentrated, is a small enclave in the country where the
average adult receives only about five years of education.
We can do a lot more: Reliance and other companies are laying down cables
which will connect the country. Internet can expand through the extended
reach of cable television (which currently reaches around 35 million homes).
Cheaper non-PC devices can extend the reach of the Net.
India has access to the latest technologies. Our country has sufficient
brains to devise ways of using information technology for social good.
However, it's mostly when a Chandrababu Naidu talks about IT, that the
powers-that-be listen and the funding happens. This suggests that political
will is a sine qua non for information technology to make a meaningful
contribution to polity and social good.
This need not be the situation. We need to think of more sustainable ways.
I'd love your thoughts on this subject.
Leslie D'Monte
Editor (leslie_dmonte@...)
............................................................
ITC to expand e-infrastructure to 11 more states
by Lola Nayar, Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) ITC Limited, one of the top-rung private sector
companies in India, is planning to replicate the success of using technology
to facilitate a direct marketing channel for farmers in 11 more states.
The click and mortar initiative titled e-Choupal (village meeting ground)
has "already become one of rural India's largest internet-based
interventions, reaching out to some 250,000 farmers in 2,000 villages
through 460 choupals in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh," said
Y.C. Deveshwar, chairman and managing director of ITC Ltd.
The e-Choupal initiative has met with great success as the content has been
customised to local requirements and language to make it farmer friendly,
said Deveshwar, presenting a corporate blueprint for harnessing technology
for rural India at a summit here Tuesday.
With a market capitalisation of around $4 billion and a turnover of over
$1.8 billion, ITC is a market leader in India in cigarettes and tobacco,
hotels, packaging, speciality papers and paperboards. The company has
recently entered the lifestyle retailing business with the launch of the
'Wills Sport' range of relaxed wear.
A major exporter of agro-commodities, ITC has also spun off its Information
Technology business into a wholly owned subsidiary to more aggressively
pursue emerging opportunities.
The internet technology, which can be employed to all aspects of agriculture
right from floriculture to sericulture, horticulture, aqua farming, poultry
farming and animal husbandry, allowed the farmers to access market
information in real time, brought in better income and enlarged capacity for
risk management.
"The initiative is based on the understanding that Indian agro-based exports
would sustainably create value only if the entire value chain from farm to
consumers is internationally competitive," said Deveshwar. "This model has
met with enthusiastic response from farmers and has thus encouraged us to
plan for the extension to another eleven states."
The hurdles in the implementation remained the infrastructural inadequacies
including power supply, telecom connectivity and bandwidth, apart from the
challenge of imparting IT skills to people in rural areas.
The challenges are worth in as the investments start paying back in three to
five years, said Deveshwar.
Following up on another key to rural growth, ITC in association with select
non-governmental organisations has embarked on a social farm forestry
programme in Andhra Pradesh, which while benefiting marginal farmers also
"dovetails into raw material requirements of our paperboard undertaking," he
said.
According to Deveshwar, no Indian enterprise using agro-raw materials can
attain international competitiveness in isolation. "This competitiveness is
inextricably intertwined with that of the farm sector and the entire value
chain from the farm to the consumer, both domestic and international.
In the globalising environment, he mooted improving farm economics through
consolidation of land and contract farming.
Both these have raised strong opposition from farmers fearing large-scale
displacement of labour and exploitation by corporate entities.
-Indo-Asian News Service
ndia-Health-IT (196 words)
Dr Reddy's Laboratories launch unique health portal
from Indo-Asian News Service
Hyderabad, Oct 21 (IANS) Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited, an emerging global
pharmaceutical company, has launched a unique portal livizi.com to "help
people lead healthier lives."
The portal offers a host of features to cater to the health needs of every
individual online. This unique portal seeks to demystify complex issues
related to health and offers tips on healthy living.
According to Satish Reddy, MD of Dr Reddy's, with a view to reach out to the
maximum number of consumers, the portal is making the contents available in
10 Indian languages besides English.
"Through the portal we are harnessing the power of Internet to create
awareness about health and promote holistic approach to health," he said. He
clarified the portal was not launched to promote the formulations of the
company.
Dr Reddy's has so far invested Rs. 4 million on the project and plans to
spend another Rs. 30 million in the next two years. He said livizi.com,
developed by Satyam Infoway Ltd, was the first portal of its kind launched
by a drug company in India.
--Indo-Asian News Service
> The Office of Women in Development of the United States Agency for
> International Development (USAID) invites you to read the newly released
> report, "Gender, Information Technology, and Developing Countries: An
> Analytic Study," by Nancy Hafkin and Nancy Taggart. The report and
> 16-page summary are available to download from USAID's web site,
> www.usaid.gov/wid, or you may request a hard copy by e-mailing
> genderreach@....
>
> Summary:
>
> Information and communication technology (IT) has become a potent force
> for transforming social, economic and political life globally. Yet, the
> uneven distribution of IT within societies and across the globe is
> resulting in a digital divide between those who have access to
> technology and those who do not. Most women in developing countries are
> in the deepest part of the divide.
>
> This report identifies some of the key barriers to women's access to
> information technology, as well as instances where women are
> participating in and benefiting from the use of information technology.
>
> Read or download the report at:
> http://www.usaid.gov/wid/pubs/it01.htm
>
>
> ------------
> ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership***
> To post a message, send it to: <gkd@...>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to:
> <majordomo@...>. In the 1st line of the message type:
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> Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at:
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>
India to launch IT project to connect educational institutions
>From Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) An ambitious project to provide Internet
connectivity to a large number of secondary schools, engineering and medical
colleges in India is on the anvil.
"We are preparing a scheme called Vidhya Vahini (education)," Minister for
Information Technology and Communications Pramod Mahajan told an economic
editors' conference here.
"Under the scheme we have decided to provide 128 kbps bandwidth link to
60,000 schools in next two years," he added.
The government scheme will cover only those schools out of total 160,000
secondary schools in the country that have building, electricity and
teachers for information technology.
The government has also decided to give minimum 2 mbps bandwidth
connectivity to another 257 universities, 800 engineering colleges and 250
medical colleges by end of the next year through the state-run Education and
Research Net (Earnet).
"In a way these initiatives will take information technology to the
education sector all across the country.
"If we can complete these projects in the next two to three years then we
would have connected a large part of education institutions in the country
through Internet," Mahajan said.
The minister also announced the launch of "e-post" facility in 840 district
headquarters in the country.
The "e-post" service, which was launched as a pilot project in the states of
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat and Goa couple of weeks back,
allows users to send or receive e-mail messages through the vast network of
post offices.
"The post offices will charge Rs.10 per message for sending or receiving
e-mails. The messages will also be delivered at home at a nominal charge.
Depending on Internet connectivity, we will also take this service to block
level," Mahajan said.
The minister said the merger of information technology and communications
ministry would be completed within a week to facilitate the faster and
hassle free roll out of technology enabled services in the convergence era.
"The file has been sent by the cabinet secretariat to the president and I
think the process would be completed within a week from now," Mahajan said.
The new ministry will be christened as ministry for communications and
information technology, he added.
According to the minister, the merged ministry will have three separate
departments - department of information technology, department of
communications and department of post.
Mahajan said the government would go ahead with its project to connect all
villages in the country by end of next calendar year. "That commitment
stands. We will ensure that in no case this deadline is extended."
On the impact of the last month's terrorist attacks in U.S. on the domestic
IT industry, he said the attacks would not have any adverse impact in the
long term.
"The top IT companies such as Infosys Technologies and Wipro have in a way
defeated the pessimism by announcing robust second quarter results. And they
have told me the coming months would not be very difficult either," he said.
The U.S. accounts for over 60 percent of India's software solutions and
services exports that is expected to grow from $6.2 billion in the fiscal
year ended March to $8.5 billion in the current financial year.
"At the cost of sounding perverse, I can say the last month's unfortunate
events may open up many avenues for Indian IT companies."
--Indo-Asian News Service
This sixth bi-annual conference will bring together leading
figures in the field of "ICTs and Development". In 2002, the
conference will be held in Bangalore, and will focus on the
new opportunities, new perspectives and new challenges
arising from the growth of ICT applications in developing
countries.
We welcome papers from researchers, analysts and
practitioners focusing on key issues in ICTs and development;
particularly relating to 2002 conference sub-themes
(participation in global economic activity; local governance
and socio-economic development; emergence of new
organisational types).
Papers (of not more than 5000 words main text) should be sent
in electronic format by November 15th 2001 to the conference
chairs: S. Krishna (skrishna@...), Indian Institute of
Management, Bangalore; Shirin Madon (s.madon@...),
London School of Economics, UK
Papers should give all author details plus an abstract of less
than 500 words on the title page. Notification of acceptance of
papers will be given by December 31st 2001. Papers may
relate to research findings, research-in-progress reports, case
studies, or tutorial/panel discussion proposals.
The conference is organised by IFIP Working Group 9.4. Past
conferences have produced the key reference texts on
information systems and development. Details of the
conference, and of WG9.4 activities can be found at:
http://is.lse.ac.uk/ifipwg94/
NOTE: This article comes from the Malaysia-based
Third World Network (TWN) Features....
************************************************
THE REAL COST OF YOUR VISITS TO THE WORLD WIDE WEB...
DO you know that every time you pay your Internet service provider (ISP)
bill you may also be helping to pay for American Internet users to surf
Asian websites? (This article is accompanied with a box).
Third World Network Features
This bit of high-tech madness was revealed during the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference held in December last year.
Information Minister Wu Jichuan of China told journalists in a crowded press
conference held during the conference that ISPs in Asia-Pacific pay for all
the cost of cables connecting the large, powerful computers operating the
Internet in USA to the computers in the Asia-Pacific region.
The cost for all these connections totals about US$500 million a year. This
staggering amount eventually gets passed on to Asian Internet users such as
you and I who use the services of one of the ISPs in the region. Analysts
say that when "market impact" is factored in, the total cost to Asian
economies is nearer US$5 billion a year!
Minister Wu Jichuan described this phenomenon of the Internet as
"irrational". He is not the only senior Asian policy-maker to think so.
Singaporean Minister of Communication and Information George Yeo made a very
similar point when he addressed an APEC ministerial meeting about the
telecommunication sector in Cancun, Mexico several months prior to the ITU
conference. In his speech, Yeo referred to a recently concluded 18-month
study about the Internet which proved conclusively that Asians bore all the
costs of connecting USA to the region.
Gregory Rohde, US Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and
Information, who was present at the same conference which Minister Wu
Jichuan had spoken at, explained the situation by likening it to the Wild
West.
"Whoever gets to the Internet first rules." By doing so he not only
articulated the US position on the issue, but also effectively exploded the
much recited myth that the Internet offered a 'level playing-field' to all
its users.
The US found licence to rule because the Internet was invented there. It
was born during the Cold War era as research for the military to develop a
sturdy communication system which could survive the disruptive effects of
war.
The US imperial sway over the Internet extends well beyond the connecting
cables now at the centre of contention. Virtually all the popular hardware,
software, and on-line businesses associated with the Internet are dominated
by US-controlled companies. The rapid diffusion of the Internet over the
past five or six years fueled such an exceptional demand for the goods and
services of these companies that it helped trigger, and then sustain, one of
the longest booms ever enjoyed by the US economy.
The Internet runs on more than the personal computer, software and modem
you have in the house. At the other end of the line are expensive servers,
routers, data storage systems, and a host of telecommunications hardware and
software; nearly all of which are also provided by US-based companies.
The reason why all our ISPs have to connect to the computer in the US is
historic. Because the first Internet servers were established in that
country, the US computers evolved over time to become a kind of world
'telephone exchange' for the network to the rest of the world. It just
snowballed. The more countries connected to the US, the greater the demand
for other countries to connect there as well.
The focal point role in the network which the rest of the world had evolved
for the US, eventually empowered it with a 'take it, or leave it' stance. In
the counter arguments offered by US policy-makers, one can almost hear the
retort that, 'You don?t have to connect to the US if you don't want to'.
The rocky terrain of the uneven playing field, which the Internet has
become, is a constant source of inspiration to Internet groups outside the
US to establish an alternative Internet that is run more democratically, an
alternative network which is not vulnerable to the dominance of any country
or interest group.
Two considerations have prevented this from becoming a reality. Cost is the
first. The second, graver consideration is the fragmentation of a hitherto
unified global communications network.
Asian countries have, in the meanwhile, undertaken a number of regional
initiatives to ensure that they can link their Internet connections
directly to each other. In the early years this was done via the circuitous,
and expensive routing through the US.
But this has not been sufficient in arresting the growing digital divide
which is the newest of fractures separating the rich from the developing
countries.
Dotforce is a brand new working group setup by the G7 countries to address
the inequities caused by the new information technologies. The task force
has just started its work and looking for ways of addressing the divide.
A good place to begin is restoring a sense of fair-play to the Wild West
that the Internet has become, so that the strong does not take all, and the
poor has a fair chance of succeeding. Third World Network Features.
-ends-
This article first appeared in Utusan Konsumer June 2001.
When reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network Features
and (if applicable) the cooperating magazine or agency involved in the
article, and give the byline. Please send us cuttings.
Box
A brief history of the Internet
The idea for the Internet can be traced back to August 1962 in a series of
memos written by J.C.R. Licklider working at the MIT. He had the idea then
for a 'Galactic Network' comprising globally connected computers which would
allow people to share information quickly and across vast distances.
The idea was given a practical boost in 1972 when the US Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started a research programme to develop
techniques and technologies for interlinking computers.
The aim of this project was to develop communication protocols, or
standardised ways of running computers, which would permit them to talk to
each other and to exchange data. ARPANET was the result.
This became known as the internetting project. And the protocol which was
eventually developed was given the name 'TCP/IP Protocol Suite'. This was
derived from: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol
(IP), the two initial protocols which were merged to form the suite.
In 1986, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) began developing NSFNET
which has grown into the main hub and brains of the Internet we have today.
Specialists in the US Defense Department and academics in US universities
were the first users of the Internet. The academics used the network to
exchange research information and to communicate with each other via
e-mail.
The network was in the beginning strongly grounded on altruistic principles
of the academy, and users would hesitate to even promote the sale of books
they had authored on the Internet fearing censure from the other users who
expected the Internet to stay completely free of commercial interests.
Businesses soon discovered the power of the Internet, and in a short period
of less than 10 years changed the Internet from one serving mainly the
research community, to one dominated by big businesses with wares to sell.
ENDS
SURF THE NET, VIA YOUR SATELLITE RADIO
by Frederick Noronha
BANGALORE, Oct 31 -- Download a website via your radio? Unbelievable but
true. Yet this is soon to become possible across India too when a
satellite-radio broadcaster enables its receivers with data-downloading
capabilities.
Shortly, systems of the WorldSpace satellite-radio broadcester will be
enabled in India to offers not only audio broadcasting but also data
broadcasting capabilities. This would enable Internet data-downloads at
128
Kbps directly to a computer (approximately 1 MB of data per second)
without
even having a telephone line.
To do this, the 'listener' has to connect his specially-built receiver
to a
computer using a Digital Data Adaptor that is expected to cost around Rs
1750 to the end customer in India.
WorldSpace India head Mathewkutty Sebastian told IANS: "This also means
that
if someone is interested in sending educational or infotainment data --
that
could be an internet site, a Powerpoint presentation or any data, the
same
can be simultaneously broadcast to any number of users spread across a
continent".
This service is to be launched in Bangalore sometime in November.
"When we launch this service, an Indian consumer would be able to
receive 25
channels of crystal clear audio plus around 50 web sites," said
Sebastian.
This would possibly include informational sites like the Encyclopedia
Britannica, howstuffworks.com, nationalgeographic.com and some Indian
sites
too, including Bollywood filmi sites.
"What anyone would need is just a WorldSpace receiver and a digital data
adapter. No telephone line, no ISP (Internet Service Provider), no
geographical limitations and complete portability," said Sebastian.
Ethiopian-born WorldSpace chairman Noah A. Samara (44) who recently
visited
India, founded WorldSpace in 1990. He has argued that the company's
mission
is to create information affluence by using new audio technology to
deliver
programming to three-quarters of the world's population that today lacks
adequate radio reception and program choice and that wants news,
knowledge
and entertainment of the highest quality at an affordable cost.
WorldSpace also has a sister concern called WorldSpace Foundation that
is a
non-profit organization focussing on socio-economic development oriented
activities. "We could even look at the possibilities of having some
support
from WS Foundation," said Sebastian.
"We are at a stage (where we can be confident about our plans)," said
Sebastian.
WorldSpace says it is working on reducing the price of its
satellite-radio
receivers. This is a product which have been widely appreciated for
providing some two dozen near CD-quality music and information, but with
a
limited appeal because the relatively high prices of their imported
receivers.
Each receiver still costs roughly between Rs 5,000 to 12,000 currently,
meaning many Indian listeners can't afford these even though WorldSpace
provides some fascinating Indian music on its 24-hour channels in Hindi,
Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.
"Today we are ready with the second generation receivers. Locally
manufactured receivers from BPL have already been launched on September
6,"
says Sebastian.
Indian electronic major BPL's model comes with WorldSpace, and the
traditional radio channels -- AM, FM and shortwave -- besides a cassette
recorder. It offers a 60 watt output, and costs just below Rs 7000.
Says Sebastian: "The second model for the mass market is planned to be
launched in November where the price of the product to the end customer
is
expected to be Rs 4500 or less."
He said this would include a 16 per cent excise, Central sales tax of 4
per
cent, and local sales taxes of 12 to 17 per cent. In addition, the first
satellite-radio company's operations in India also had to cope with
turnover
tax, distributor and dealer margins, and other logistic costs.
Sebastian argues that if someone is interested in picking up these
products
at factory level, the price can be less than Rs 3000. "Moreover, this
model
will also have WorldSpace and AM/FM capabilities with a sound output of
70
watt," he said.
WorldSpace's business plan is to launch a total of three satellites
hovering
over the information-poor Third World. To receive broadcasts, anyone in
the
region (currently much of Africa and Asia) would need a special
WorldSpace
portable receivers, with attached four-inch dish antennas. These L-band
receivers have so far been designed and mass-produced specially for
WorldSpace by electronic giants Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita (Panasonic) and
Sanyo.
ENDS
The Development Laboratory is pleased to announce that the Honorable
Minister for Information Technology, Dr. B. K. Chandrashekar will be
inaugurating The Development Laboratory Pavilion at BangaloreIT.com. The
Ribbon Cutting ceremony will take place at 11.30 am on November 1st, 2001,
inside Exhibition Hall 'B.'
The Development Laboratory is a common platform created by Madhyam,
Voices, Mahiti.Org, and the Center for Knowledge Societies -
Bangalore. Together they aim to create, test and develop new applications
and services that benefit non-elite communities in both urban and rural
environments across South Asia.
In addition to showcasing work done by the four organizations, the
pavilion also represents other non-profit and commercial
initiatives. Represented NGOs include the Azim Premji Foundation, the
Kannada Ganaka Parishath, and ASCENT. Commercial enterprises include
N-Logue Communications based in Chennai, Mithi.Com from Pune, and
Bangalore's own Spinfosoft.com. VXL is providing a server and thin
clients for use on site. Interns from the Indian Institute of Journalism
and New Media and Mount Carmel College are also participating at the venue.
The pavilion is reminiscent of a folk setting, including gunny, thatch,
and other natural fibers with folk art in contrasting earthen tones. It
has been designed by Mr. Suresh, director of Srujana, an NGO working with
artists and artisanal communities. Regional language software products
created by many of the above groups will be demonstrated using 7 computer
terminals and two LCD projectors.
After the Inauguration, the four founding fellows of The Development
Laboratory, Munira Sen (Madhyam), Ashish Sen (Voices), Sunil Abraham
(Mahiti.Org) and Aditya Dev Sood (CKS-B) will release a joint statement
on the use of Information Technology for Rural Development.
We would be honored if a representative from your organization could join
us for the inauguration ceremony and participate in the proceedings. As
this pavilion was specially created for the Development Laboratory by the
organizers of the BangaloreIT.com, it does not have a number. However, it
is located opposite the Bosch stall in Exhibition Hall 'B.'
Aditya Dev Sood Ashish Sen
Center for Knowledge Societies - Bangalore Voices
+91.98440.87663 +91.80.521.3902
Sunil Abraham Munira Sen
Mahiti.Org Madhyam
+91.80.535.2003 +91.80.228.1983
World Wide Web is 'creation of volunteers': Berners-Lee
GENEVA, 30 October 2001 -- The World Wide Web is a collaborative venture and
a "creation of volunteers", said Tim Berners-Lee, the British scientist
credited for inventing the Web in 1989.
"In developing the Web as a volunteer, I was not alone," he told a webcast
at a UN open doors event late Sunday in Geneva via video conference link
from Boston, where he directs the World Wide Web Consortium at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Web, he said, was "developed by volunteers all over the world." He said
he started out the idea by putting out some software on the Internet. "It
was picked up by people, who just like me, were really doing it on the
side...The Web is a grassroots thing. I was not the only person at all, by a
very long way, to put in volunteer time."
Mr. Berners-Lee was answering email questions and addressing comments from a
live audience at the UN offices in Geneva during the UN Open Days, which
were held under the theme of the UN International Year of Volunteers 2001.
Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations
Volunteers programme (UNV), referred to Mr. Berners-Lee as the "number one
volunteer in cyberspace, because of the enormous gift he gave the world in
the World Wide Web".
In response to an email question from UNV Online Volunteering Specialist
Jayne Cravens, Mr. Berners-Lee said he was pleased to hear that people were
volunteering from their homes to assist development efforts around the
world. "It is music to my ears to hear that this is happening," he said,
adding that in the area of Web technology, volunteers translate
specifications into different languages in efforts to extend the reach of
technology.
Also participating in Sunday's webcast via remote link was Sean Osner, a UNV
Programme Officer with the Jordan Information Technology Community Centre
project. Mr. Berners-Lee told him he "would not be one to say that Internet
access should be promoted above health care, clean water, contraception and
so forth around the world". However, it was important to ensure low
bandwidth connectivity "to more places, into every village rather than to
get (Web) video in some cities".
This webcast and another moderated by Jayne Cravens on Saturday on the role
of volunteers to address the Digital Divide, were sponsored by CERN, the
European Partical Physics Laboratory in cooperation with UNV and the
International Telecommunication Union.
View the webcasts at:
http://unv.web.cern.ch/UNV/programme.htm
Webcasts can be viewed one at a time with RealPlayer (see the web site for
technical requirements). When viewing, please be aware that:
For Saturday, you can fast forward to about 2.55 to get right to the essence
of the broadcast. The Saturday webcast is mostly in English and some in
French. The Sunday webcast features a sign language interpreter. Each
broadcast is 40 - 50 minutes long. Written transcriptions of the Sunday web
cast is now in the works, and will be posted to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/undayoctober2001/.
Saturday's live web cast features:
-- Comments from Sean Osner and Jinan Shafeq El Nakshabandy, of UN
Volunteers and the UNITeS initiative (http://www.unites.org) in Jordan
-- Comments from Nicolas Fleury, veteran UN Volunteer, in Geneva
-- Jayne Cravens, Online Volunteering Specialist at UN Volunteers in Bonn,
Germany
-- a six minute video about UN Volunteers
Sunday's live web cast features:
-- Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
-- Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of UN Volunteers
-- the first three minutes of the video about UN Volunteers (see Saturday
for complete broadcast)
-- three minute video regarding CERN
-- a live performance of the song "Surfing on the Web", interpreted by "Les
Horribles Cernettes"
This discussion group created in conjunction with this live webast is
continuing. Anyone with questions or comments relating to the Internet and
how it's being used to "help humanity", particularly in relation to the
Global Digital Divide, can visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/undayoctober2001
Three online volunteers from San Francisco Women of the Web
[http://www.sfwow.org] continue to moderate this group.
UNV is the volunteer arm of the UN system. It extends hands-on assistance
for peace and development in nearly 150 countries. Created by the UN General
Assembly in 1970 and administered by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), UNV works through UNDP country offices to send
volunteers--two-thirds of them from developing countries--and promote the
ideals of volunteerism around the world.
###
For more information about this news release, contact:
Richard Nyberg, (49 228) 815 2223; email: richard.nyberg@...
Partha,
Sounds great for donwloading but what about the return path? Are
these devices bi-directional? In order to surf you need some minimal
upload capability, e.g. through a phone line.
Regards,
Larry
> BANGALORE, Oct 31 -- Download a website via your radio?
Unbelievable but
>
> true. Yet this is soon to become possible across India too when a
> satellite-radio broadcaster enables its receivers with data-
downloading
> capabilities.
>
> Shortly, systems of the WorldSpace satellite-radio broadcester will
be
> enabled in India to offers not only audio broadcasting but also data
> broadcasting capabilities. This would enable Internet data-
downloads at
> 128
> Kbps directly to a computer (approximately 1 MB of data per second)
> without
> even having a telephone line.
Dear Partha & lary,
We would be very interested in discussing this technology, offocurse we
would be interested to know about this reverse and the bidirectional device
that could be used for actually making this happen. I wish to be in loop on
this. This seems to be the technology that we had been looking at.
Regards
vijay
Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya
KnowNet-Grin
Indian Institute of Management
Ahmedabad - 380015
Gujarat, India
Ph. +91 79 6324713
Direct +91 79 6307857
Fax: +91 79 6307341
emailto: vijayp@...
Pl. Visit: www.sristi.org/knownetgrin.html
----- Original Message -----
From: <mail@...>
To: <bytesforall_readers@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 6:20 PM
Subject: [bytesforall_readers] Re: SURF THE NET, VIA YOUR SATELLITE RADIO
> Partha,
>
> Sounds great for donwloading but what about the return path? Are
> these devices bi-directional? In order to surf you need some minimal
> upload capability, e.g. through a phone line.
>
> Regards,
>
> Larry
>
>
> > BANGALORE, Oct 31 -- Download a website via your radio?
> Unbelievable but
> >
> > true. Yet this is soon to become possible across India too when a
> > satellite-radio broadcaster enables its receivers with data-
> downloading
> > capabilities.
> >
> > Shortly, systems of the WorldSpace satellite-radio broadcester will
> be
> > enabled in India to offers not only audio broadcasting but also data
> > broadcasting capabilities. This would enable Internet data-
> downloads at
> > 128
> > Kbps directly to a computer (approximately 1 MB of data per second)
> > without
> > even having a telephone line.
>
>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> bytesforall_readers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
From : SDNP NIT Observatory <nitobserver@...>
Date : Fri, 2 Nov 2001 08:05:01 -0500
*************************
DIGITAL DIVIDE
*************************
---- Japan and UNDP launch trust fund to narrow digital divide
The trust fund focuses on six areas: design of national e-development
strategies; support for democratic governance, poverty reduction and other
development imperatives; building human and technical capacity; assistance
in
implementing ICT projects; and activities promoting the technology's
potential.
(Source: UNDP Newsfront)
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=3709&do=gpage
Regards,
Zubair Faisal Abbasi.
http://www.espots.org
Islamabad, Pakistan.
Ph: ++92-51-2263481
Cell: ++92-303-6512182
Dear Bytest for All readers,
This is an interesting research project on "Digitalizing the human body"
in the Cultural and institutional contexts of computer based image
processing in medical practice is in progress at History of Technology
Institute at ETH Zuerich, thought might interest to Humanist scholars. The
case of MRI in Switzerland! The project leaders are Professor David
Gugerli, Dr. Barbara Orland, & Dr. Regula Burri.
EXCERPT from description of the Project:
------------------------------------------
During the last quarter of this century, medical practice has undergone a
profound technological change. The physicians technical means to visualize
the structure, the functions, and the deficiencies of the human body have
seen a development whose weight is only comparable to the emergence of the
anatomic theater in early modern times and the introduction of x-ray
techniques at the end of the 19th century. Computer based imaging
technologies such as ultrasound, computer assisted tomography, positrone
emission tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging have dramatically
amplified the possibilities of medical diagnosis and intervention.
Full text can be found at:
<http://www.tg.ethz.ch/forschung/projektbeschreib/MRI/MRIAbstract.htm>
Here is another project on "Cyborg Guidelines" is in progress at History
of Technology Institute, ETH Zuerich. It is about Project Visions and R&D
Strategies in Computer Engineering. The project leaders are Prof. David
Gugerli and Dr. Carmen Baumeler.
EXCERPT from Description:
--------------------------
"Cybernetic organisms" are inhabiting our concepts of a future man-machine
relationship ever since Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline published
their "Cyborgs and Space" article in 1960. From a conceptual point of
view, Clynes and Kline had a very clear approach: Instead of carrying a
small, artificial environment in order to survive in an unfriendly natural
environment (e.g. wearing a special space suit during extra vehicular
activities), they rather proposed to change the homeostatic conditions and
cybernetic controls of the organism itself: "If man in space, in addition
to flying his vehicle, must continuously be checking on things and making
adjustments merely in order to keep himself alive, he becomes a slave to
the machine. The purpose of the Cyborg, as well as his own homeostatic
systems, is to provide an organizational system in which such robot-like
problems are taken care of automatically and unconsciously, leaving man
free to explore, to create, to think, and to feel." (Clynes and Kline
1960, see also Driscoll 1963). In 1984, William Gibson published his
influential novel Neuromancer where he created a similar vision of the
future relationship between humans and technology (Gibson 1984). From
Neuromancer we got the now ubiquitous term "cyberspace", which describes a
new class of cybernetically controlled spaces.
Complete details about the project can be found here:
<http://www.tg.ethz.ch/forschung/projektbeschreib/Wearable%20Computing/CyborgGui\
delines.htm>
<http://www.wearable.ethz.ch/>
Feebcak is appreciated!!
Thank you!
Sincerely yours
Arun Tripathi
Dear list members,
Hope this is of interest to you.
===================
Gyan Vani (Gyan = Knowledge, Vani = aerial broadcasting) is Educational FM
Radio Channel of India, a unique decentralised concept of extending mass
media for education and empowerment, suited to the educational needs of
the local community. Gyan Vani is not only for the conventional
educational system but also a main tool in making available the dream of
education for all come true. Gyan Vani's main intention is to take
education to the doorsteps of the people. Gyan Vani, in addition to giving
the hardcore education will also deal with awareness programmes including
the ones for Panchayati Raj Functionaries, Women Empowerment, Consumer
Rights, Human Rights, the Rights of the Child, Health Education, Science
Education, Continuing Education, Extension Education, Vocational
Education, Teacher Education, Non-formal Education, Adult Education,
Education for the handicapped, Education for the down trodden, education
for the tribals and so on. Gyan Vani is available through commercial FM
radio set. The Gyan Vani will also have phone-in-radio-counselling.
regards,
Ramesh C sharma
----- Original Message -----
From: "r sreedher" <rsreedher@...>
Subject: inauguration of Gyan Vani
We are happy to inform you that the Test transmissions of Gyan Vani -
Educational FM Channel of India will take place simultaneously at
Allahabad and Bangalore on 7th Novemeber 2001.
Hon'ble Minister for HRD Dr Murli Manohar Joshi will inauagurate it at
Allahabad and few Governors and more than 50 Vice chancellors are
attending the function. The function will be from 10.20 am.
At Bangalore Shri S.M. Krishna, Chief Minister of Karnataka will
inaugurate the same at 11 a.m. The education minister of Karnataka and the
VC of Karnataka State open University will also participate.
At Allahabad the Gyan Vani studios will be situated at the Indian
Insititue for Information Technology, Allahabad who are our main partners.
At Bangalore the studio will be constructed at the Regional Centre
complex. Till such time the broadcasts will be from AIR Bangalore.
Initially both the stations will broadcast 8 hours a day. 6 a.m. to 1o
a.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The tentative schedule for test transmission is
as follows: 6 - 7 a.m. Music teaching 7-8 a.m. Local programme and career
couselling 8-9 a.m. IGNOU programmes and 9-10 a.,m. Interactive radio
counselling to be shared by the distance education insitutions in the
area. IGNOU is likely to get at least 3 days a week. Care will be taken in
selection of the topics and counsellors and the concerned RDs are being
requested to send the detials of the topics and counsellors to
headquarters for getting clearance.
The broadcasts will be extended to 16 hours by 26th January 2002.
Presently these stations will function using a temporary antenna. The
transmitters are colocated with AIR stations.
Local steering committees have been formed and each station will be manned
by three contract staff one will be a station manager who is a
superananuated broadcaster. He is responsible for ensuring Broadcast code.
Attempts are being made to acquire local software as well as encourage
other educational institutions to use either the 'live' or recording
facility to develop contents.
We will post you with further developments as and when it happens
Regards
R Sreedher
Director, EMPC
--------------------
Dear Bytes for All readers,
Abstract - TIS 17(2) Kaushalesh Lal on "Institutional Environment and the
Development of Information and Communication Technology in India", The
Information Society, 17(2)
The paper examines the impact of institutional environment on the growth
of the Indian information technology (IT) industry. The study reveals that
before the first generation of reforms, that is, 1991, the government was
pursuing a structuralist approach toward economic development. After
liberalization in 1991, the government embarked on pro-active economic
policies for the diffusion and production of IT. Consequently, the IT
industry experienced an unprecedented growth rate in domestic as well as
export markets. However, foreign direct investment (FDI) policies have not
been successful in attracting the desired level of foreign investment,
which is very important for a high-tech sector such as IT hardware
manufacturing. The study suggests that immediate corrective measures need
to be taken to augment the IT manufacturing industry, which can
significantly contribute to national economic development and employment
generation.
ABOUT The Information Society:
-------------------------------
The Information Society (TIS) journal, published since 1981, is a key
critical forum for leading edge analysis of the impacts, policies, system
concepts, and methodologies related to information technologies and
changes in society and culture. Some of the key information technologies
include computers and telecommunications; the sites of social change
include homelife, workplaces, schools, communities and diverse
organizations, as well as new social forms in cyberspace.
See details at
http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS/
Kind regards,
Arun
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