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Community Networks - I (reply to sanjeevs mail)
Ladies & Gentlemen
(sounds too formal in an e-mail after years of typing out informal
e-mails)
Sanjeev it was encouraging enough for starters, that somebody is
willing to be persuaded. At the outset I need to clarify the word
"Network" in "Community Networks" - was not meant to be high speed
communications networks but linking grassroots workers in a cheap and
cost effective to speed up exchange of ideas and to co-ordinate
activities.
I have divided the idea into 2 mails, the first explains the concept,
the motivation and the wherewithalls. The second mail discusses how we
deploy a test bed to determine the efficacy of the idea.
>
>In this case, I see this idea as highly impractical. It is a costly
>idea. It is trying to provide a public good, ie., there is no
incentive
>for private citizens to build this network: e.g., providing computers
>and T3 lines to villages in India. etc. etc.
- What kind of a Virtual Community do I have in mind There are 100s
of Developmental Agencies/NGOs/Social-Workers working in far flung
areas of the country. They work with minimal resources at their
disposal and have an uphill task on their hands. These are the people
who working at grassroots. These are the people who have their ears
to the ground and know whats like to live in the reality thats India.
I have lived in cities and metros tobe specific all my life and have
no clue what life is like in 90% of India. We are talking of
formulating a policy for INDIA. What good is a policy which looks
great on paper and on web-sites frequented by urban academics and
intellectuals if it
- is not physically accessible to the millions that make up
India.
- cannot be communicated in lay man's terms in a language best
understood by them.
- finally if the policy doesnt reflect the reality thats India
its no good a policy. Its as wishful and impractical as a
"Network of T1 Lines" :) . (no offense meant).
The point that I am trying to make is that - the policy gains in
credibility, value and its content gets enriched not by endorsement
by Milton Friedman but if it receives the active feedback and
inputs of these millions of people who it intends to serve. Its
content gets enriched by their inputs and it reflects the ground
level reality.
After all whats the Policy for - its to be translated into action
someday, right. If its to be translated into action who is going to
do that - Government/Private Business/Political Parties. How are
they going to be convinced that this is the right agenda to be
taken up - They will be convinced of its worth IF AND ONLY IF IT
HAS GROUNDSWELL SUPPORT FROM THE PEOPLE IT INTENDS TO SERVE AND
IF IT REFLECTS THE GROUND LEVEL REALITIES.
Whats the best way to tap the pulse of the grassroots - the pulse
of the grassroots are these 1000s of development workers. It is
they who shall make up this virtual community to begin with.
What are the Information Needs of this Community ?
What do these agents of development need apart from material
support. We talk of illiteracy, poor health, mal-nutrition. These
agents need educational material, information booklets and
pamphlets. they may need to undergo training to guide on battling
some epidemic or calamity. They may need training to teach use
of Appropriate Technology like fuel from the land, Bio-gas etc.
most of which means long periods of waiting for
information/resources to arrive. Physical travelling which is
both costly and time consuming. Most IMPORTANT of all - long
periods of waiting before response to a INITIATIVE, TECHNOLOGY is
obtained. Which lowers the overall response time in - INITIATIVE
- ACTION - FEEDBACK - REFINED-INITIATIVE. This could be crucial
in the case of Epidemics and Natural Calamities. It could be time
saving and could improve efficieny in the case of any co-ordinated
grassroots movement.
What are the Communication Needs ?
- 1 to 1 correspondence between individuals at a personal level,
to facilitate exchange of ideas and to co-ordinate joint efforts
and initiatives.
- 1 to many transmittal of information/software at a community
level.
- Many to 1 connecitvity to a central repository of data/sofwtare/
developmental resources.
What Resources are required to fulfill these needs
- Computers
- Telephone Connections
- Software to facilitate the communication
- Software to present information
COMPUTERS
- It has started, agenices like AID have donated computers for use
in schools in backward areas. INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES where I work
in Bangalore has started a trust with a special focus on
disseminating the fruits of Information Technology to rural areas.
They have donated old computers.
- Here in the USA computers abound and are cheap. Lots of times
old used computers with reasonable configuration are just junked
If we can work out something with the government to facilitate
hassle free transport of used computers from the USA to India we
are in business. I believe AID ran into trouble transporting
old clothes with the Customs Deptt. There are visionary
politicians like Naidu, we need to tap their offices.
TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS
- Yes India is a far cry as far as penetration of telephones
goes. There is a silver lining though.
- The ISP Policy announced that DOT would treat Long Distance calls
to an ISP as local phone calls for billing purposes.
- INMARSAT has announced that it will be deploying Satellite
Telephones in remore areas where conventional telephones have not
penetrated and make the services available at the same cost as a
conventional phone.
- Private basic service providers are starting work. Yes its slow
but it will happen, if not this year, I am sure at least by 2000
private service operators would have reached out to large parts
of the country.
SOFTWARE TO COMMUNICATE
ERNET the country's first network did some pioneering work in setting up
an E-Mailing system based only on UUCP. "UUCP" well rather primitive,
yes, but well suited for a country that lives on low-bandwidth,
unreliable phone lines, high costs of communication. A similar low cost
solution can be built around Linux which performs well on computers with
limited resources. That could be the absolute skeleton to begin with.
How do we go about deploying such a network, I discuss in my next mail.
cheers
shashi
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