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Subject: [bytesforall] Bytes for All E-zine October 2001
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_/ B y t e s F o r A l l --- http://www.bytesforall.org
_/ Making Computing Relevant to the People of South Asia
_/
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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. -- Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala, pioneer in affordable
telecom solutions, IIT-Madras, Chennai, South India.
OCTOBER 2001 ISSUE
------------------
In this month's issue:
* Digital Partners receives proposals
* Yahoo to speak to India in local tongues
* Poor man's computer to teach young
* Netaid to promote learning
* Open Source -- tech for sustainable learning
* Villagers access markets through the Net
* Papers on IT-in-development
* Multilingualism and UNESCO
* S-Asia-It, a mailing list on IT
* Info-systems in the Third World
* Women and IT, some concerns
* ICT and development, Manchester conference
* MITRA, leveraging ICTs
* Health with wireless
* Unesco and free software
* Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
* Dr Jhunjhunwala's plans excite young engineers
* GNU/Linux group in Bangalore
* ICT international conference in Nepal
* HealthInterNetwork for India too
* IndLinux plans
* Current language situation in India
* Indianisation of Linux
* Software for water-levels in villages
* Free health information...
* Media, Internet and accountability
* Linux... in education
* Literature from South India
* Site on Syhlleti
* Ideas about projects that should be done
* Nepal supreme court to become cybersavvy
* South Indian language fonts mapped
* Educational content for computers in India
needed
* Brazil's work on low-cost computers
* Computers to bypass the bureaucracy
* The Palung story, from Nepal
* Red Hat in India
* ICTs in Pakistan
* Discussion forum for BytesForAll
* eLetters in Pakistan
* What is Project Gutenberg?
* IT for Change -- site from Bangalore
* New mailing-list on education
* SOS -- another view of software
* Bhutan launches first Internet daily
* Volunteerism in IT
* Akashganga -- IT builds strams of milk
* India's social and dvpt sector online
* World Technology Net award
* Free software in India
* Linux documentation for India
* Youhelpindia.org
* Telecom issues -- India
* World Computer Exchange...
**********************************************************************
DIGITAL PARTNERS' GETS PROPOSALS ON IT-FOR-THE-POOR: Digital
Partners' this year's SEL application process yielded close to 40
innovative proposals for the use of IT in service to the world's
poor. (Visit the website http://www.digitalpartners.org For more on
the Social Enterprise Laboratory.) Proposals range from Children's
Health Information SmartCards in India to Wireless Communications
Kiosks in Brazil to Computer Training for Rural Youths in Ghana.
Proposals selected, to move on to the mentoring phase, will be
announced by end-October. Those who missed this year's SEL
competition can submit proposals next year. Applications for the 2002
competition will be accepted from Fall 2002. Conceived at Digital
Partners' conference Achieving Connectivity for the Rural Poor in
India in Baramati, India (May 31 - June 3, 2001,) the nine-month
Laboratory process will culminate with awards of up to $250,000 to be
shared among several finalists at the next Baramati conference in
June of 2002. Further details Akhtar Badshah Executive Director
Digital Partners 2200 Alaskan Way, Suite 455 Seattle, WA 98121 V. 425-
898-9739 F. 425-898-9649 email: [log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
http://www.digitalpartners.org
**********************************************************************
YAHOO.COM TO SPEAK TO INDIANS IN LOCAL TONGUE: Keeping in mind the
wide linguistic variations in the country, Yahoo.co.in, the India-
specific Web
site of Yahoo.com, is planning to localize and host content in the
nation's
vernacular languages. Yahoo Web Services India Pvt. Ltd has also
drawn up
plans wherein messages using Yahoo messenger and e-mail can be sent
in
Indian languages. Hotmail already has jumped into the fray to launch
e-mail
services in Hindi, which will later be extended to other Indian
languages.
Yahoo is the second Web site after Hotmail to bet on Indian
languages.
Source: http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170773.html Thanks to
[log in to unmask] for pointing to this and other stories in this
issue of
BytesForAll...
**********************************************************************
'POOR-MAN'S COMPUTER' TO EDUCATE YOUNG INDIANS: 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 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. Expected to be operational in six months.
http://atimes.com/media/CI22Ce01.html
**********************************************************************
NETAID TO PROMOTE LEARNING: NetAid and its partners are more
determined than
ever to promote learning, and through it, global understanding. It
has just
announced a major new initiative -- the NetAid Global Schoolhouse --
designed to make education a reality for thousands of children living
in
extreme poverty around the world. Check latest projects in Ghana,
Togo,
Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Somalia, Peru and India
http://www.netaid.org.
**********************************************************************
OPEN SOURCE -- TECHNOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE LEARNING: The debates about
harnessing the benefits of information technology (IT) in the public
interest have centred on issues such as Internet connectivity and
computing
hardware. To date minimal attention has been paid to the central role
of
software. Open source software is being seen as a way of providing
tailor-made software to help civil society organizations achieve
their
goals and to contribute to meeting the needs of developing countries
(From Alliance / Allavida).
For further information about open source software:
http://www.opensource.org http://www.communitytechnology.org/asp-
oss/
http://www.oneworld.net/thinktank/iktools/
http://www.techsoup.org
**********************************************************************
ACCESS TO VILLAGERS OF MARKET-BASED OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH THE NET:
TARAhaatIndia will provide access for villagers to a variety of
information
resources and market-based opportunities through the Internet. The
pilot
phase concentrates on the villages of Madhya Pradesh and the rural
belt of
Uttar Pradesh. A house-to-house survey, covering 20,000 households
in 131
villages, is providing information on rural life and livelihood
practices.
E-mail, on-line connection and chat rooms will be the major
components,
connecting local users to each other, and to their friends and family
in the
cities. TARAhaat will provide access to low income users by setting
up local
TARAdhabas (TARAkiosks - the rural version of cybercafes) where they
can get
connected to the Internet for a small fee.
http://www.comminit.com/pds5-2001/sld-1893.html
http://www.tarahaat.com/
**********************************************************************
PAPERS ON ROLE OF IT IN DEVELOPMENT: Some papers on the website of
the
Institute of Information Scientists (IIS)/ Information for
Development Forum
(IDF) Joint Seminar entitled Impact Evaluation of Services and
Projects
(held at London Voluntary Sector Resource Centre on 6 June 2001) are
available at http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/iis/papers3.htm
* Role of Information in Development by Chris Zielinski, Health
Information
for Development Project
* Beyond Circles in Square Boxes: Lessons Learned from Health
Communication
Impact Evaluations by Dr Robin Vincent, Learning Co-ordinator,
Exchange
Programme
* Rural Info Shops by B. Shadrach and Ron Summers, Department of
Information
Science, Loughborough University, UK [in PowerPoint format] etc
**********************************************************************
MULTILINGUALISM: UNESCO prepares recommendation on multilingualism
and
universal access to cyberspace. areas touched on include facilitating
access to telematics services, promoting multilingualism; faciliating
access
through development of public domain content; access through
application of
exemptions to copyright. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mul_recom/
**********************************************************************
S-ASIA-IT, MAILINGLIST ON SOUTH ASIA: One of the most useful mailing-
lists
reporting on IT in South Asia is run by Irfan Khan
<[log in to unmask]>.
Some weeks back (Aug 2001) this list had 232 subscribers.It's an open
list,
and members can post all IT-related news relevant to South Asia. Says
Khan:
"Around 10 percent of our subscribers are active in one way or the
another.
This should change to active participation of a greater number of
subscribers." To join, contact Irfan Khan.
**********************************************************************
INFO SYSTEMS IN THE THIRD WORLD: The Electronic Journal on
Information
Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC) strives to become the
foremost
international forum for practitioners, teachers, researchers and
policy
makers to share their knowledge and experience in the design,
development,
implementation, management and evaluation of information systems and
technologies in developing countries. Manuscripts are invited.
http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/ejisdc/ejisdc.htm
**********************************************************************
WOMEN AND IT, SOME CONCERNS: Veena N of the Gender and Development
Studies
Unit, Asian Institute of Technology (Pathumthani-Thailand) says: "We
are
interested in the benefits women draw from ICTs. Also, if there has
been a
gender analysis of any project, it would be very useful to us. We
find that
despite all the hype regarding ICTs and the digital divide, women are
yet to
reap the benefits of ICTs. Even projects that address populations on
the
other side of the divide do not address women - the men and children
get
online, while the women stay out. Is this true? Or am I drawing
conclusions
based on lack of knowledge? I do hope it is the latter." Contact her
at:
[log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
ICTs AND DEVELOPMENT: A one-day workshop on 'Information and
Communication
Technologies and Development' was held on September 11 in Manchester,
England, as part of the 2001 UK Development Studies Association
Conference.
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/dsa01.html Or contact Dr Richard Heeks
Senior
Lecturer, Univ of Manchester. Email: [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
MITRA, LEVERAGING ICTs: "We are a group of graduates from the
Institute of
Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and has started an organiasation called
MITRA
with the objective of leveraging Information Communcation Technology
(ICT)
for development." Contact Rahul Barkatay, 4th Floor, 'A' Shangrila
Garden
Bund Garden Road Pune 411001 India Tel 91-20-6128221-5 (extn.413);
6140761
(direct) Fax: 91-20-6128226 www.icicicommunities.org
**********************************************************************
HEALTH WITH WIRELESS:Rural doctors from South Africa are working to
advance
care with wireless. A pilot project lets a developer test under
extreme
conditions.
http://mbusinessdaily.com/magazine/story/MBZ20010914S0014
**********************************************************************
UNESCO AND FREE SOFTWARE: Free software faces difficult challenges
and
dangers In an article for UNESCO Free Software Portal, Richard
Stallman,
founder of the Free Software Foundation and the author of the GNU
General
Public License (GPL), and the developer of software like gcc and
Emacs,
outlines the development in this area since 1984. "I'm grateful to
UNESCO
for recognizing that, in the domain of software, free software
disseminates
human knowledge in a way that non-free software cannot do" says
Stallman.
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft/stallman_011001.shtml
**********************************************************************
ASIA-PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION PROGRAMME: Vijay Parmar
<[log in to unmask]> gives an update us on APDIP's recent
compilation
-- with the assistance of Dr. Madanmohan Rao -- of "A Synopsis of
Recent
Discourse on the Developmental Potential of ICTs in a Globalised
Economy".
The synopsis includes UNDP's human development report 2001 on making
new
technologies work for human development; the Digital Opportunities
Initiative; the Digital Oppunity Task force; and the Bridges.org
report
Spanning the Digital Divide.
**********************************************************************
DR JHUNJHUNWALA'S PLANS EXCITE YOUNG ENGINEERS: Anthony Lobo
<[log in to unmask]> writes in to say: "(Recently in mid-
October)
Prof Ashok Jhunjunwalla was in Bombay and presented his ideas in the
evening
to a large group of Student Members of the IEEE Bombay Section in the
Thadomal Shahani Engg College, Bandra. His talk was supported by a
very
interesting series of 49 slides. You could visibly see the interest
and
enthusiasm of the audience." BytesForAll recently wrote about Prof
J's work
on building low-cost Internet Kiosks in rural India and small-towns
across
this country. Here's wishing him and n-Logue all the best. Contact
details:
Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Professor and Head, Department of Electrical
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Chennai. Email
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] 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@n-
logue.com Ph
445 5210/12/21/23
**********************************************************************
GNU/LINUX GROUP FROM BANGALORE, SOUTH INDIA: You can join a group
discussing
GNU/Linux issues. This list caters to *NON-technical* discussions
about
Linux and the Bangalore linux User Group. To join, send a blank email
to
[log in to unmask]
If you wish to participate in GNU/Linux discussions but are not
interested
in non-technical stuff, then we have several other lists to choose
from.
Visit http://linux-bangalore.org for more information about these
lists.
**********************************************************************
ICT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN NEPAL: Nepal will play host to an
international conference on IT, communications and development (ITCD
2001)
on Nov 29-30. It aims to learn from one another and to draw up
recommendations for better policies and better projects that benefit
people,
particularly in the Third World. Visit http://www.fesnepal.org/itcd
**********************************************************************
HEALTH INTERNETWORK FOR INDIA TOO: India is being built up as the
first
'country pilot' for an ambitious United Nations-led international
project,
seeking to strengthen public health services by making use of the
powerful
potential of the Internet. "The Health InterNetwork (HIN) seeks to
bridge
the digital divide, as it affects health. Initially we're planning
some
pilots, and the first pilot is to be done in India," Health
InterNetwork
India project manager Ranjan Dwivedi told bytesforall.org
Contact [log in to unmask] /Ranjan Dwivedi, Project Manager
**********************************************************************
INDLINUX PLANS: Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan <[log in to unmask]> write,
"IndLinux is a voluntary, not-for-profit effort to deliver the
benefits of
Information Technology to the Indian masses. The project is motivated
by the
realization that imminent technological advances offer a huge
opportunity
for developing countries to harness IT for the common man. We foresee
an
exponential drop in the price of computing and communications
technologies
in the next few years. In our opinion, these changes will make IT
affordable
to tens of millions of people within a three-five year time frame. A
huge
amount of work need to be done to take advantage of the imminent
revolution
in low cost hardware and communications technologies.... The lack of
Indian
language software is therefore one of the fundamental obstacles to
bridging
the digital divide in India. [Our] proposal deals with IndLinux's
approach
to bridging the digital divide in India and why we feel that this
approach
can pay enormous dividends from a social venture capital standpoint."
**********************************************************************
CURRENT LANGUAGE SITUATION IN INDIA: Hariharan describes the current
situation thus, "Commercial software vendors, in their wisdom, have
ignored
the Indian language market under the argument that the purchasing
power of
the non-English speaking market is limited. Microsoft has limited
itself to
enabling Windows at the operating system level for Indian languages
but has
not yet taken the initiative to create Indian language user
interfaces. The
current set of players in the Indian language market are small
players who
are focussed on selling fonts, word-processing applications and web
localization tools. None of them are focussed on building the
underlying
infrastructure for enabling Indian language computing since there is
no
commercial incentive for them to do so." IndLinux, he says, proposes
to use
a collaborative approach to create Indian language user interfaces to
the
Linux operating system, and distribute these free of cost.
**********************************************************************
INDIANISATION OF LINUX: Venky also argues that "the Indianisation of
Linux
is probably one of the most practical ways of making information
technology
available to millions and millions of Indians. It is now upto
linguistic
and technical groups to collaborate and make things happen."
**********************************************************************
SOFTWARE FOR VILLAGE WATER LEVELS: Vikram Vyas
<[log in to unmask]>
writes in to say that Jal-Chitra -- the software to predict water
levels in
drought-prone rural areas -- is likely to be tested in the village of
Toddganj, Rajasthan. Says he: "I am busy with translating Jal-Chitra
into
Hindi.I have also started with the preliminary steps for porting Jal-
Chitra
to Linux."
Vyas has been working on modelling of water sources and the related
development of the software "Sim-Tanka" and "Jal-Chitra" for helping
communities to drought-proof their villages. "At present "Jal-Chitra"
is
being tested,fairly systematically, in a group of villages in Silora
Block,
of Ajmer district. This is being done by the Barefoot College
Tilonia,"says
he. He informs that Jal-Chitra has been received very positively by
various
voluntary organisations working in developing countries. "I have just
send
some copies of "Jal-Chitra" to Pakistan," he adds.
Contact: Dr. Vikram Vyas Scientist The Ajit Foundation, Jaipur
& Associate, International Centre for Theoretical Physics Trieste,
Italy
Email [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
FREE HEALTH INFORMATION: Informania Ltd, the world's largest
electronic
publisher of biomedical journals from the Third World, announced that
it
would provide the ExtraMED full-text database to developing country
users
for free or at very low cost, under the same terms as those announced
last
week by six leading medical publishers. It would also enable the
distribution of this information through a new network of health
information
resource centres. Zielinski offered the use of the recently
established
Information Waystations and Staging Posts Network
(http://www.iwsp.org) to
distribute the publishers' offline material, as it already links the
largest
collection of health information centres in the developing world, and
is set
to expand rapidly.
CONTACT: Chris Zielinski, Chief Executive [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
EARLIER INITIATIVES ON HEALTH INFORMATION: On 9 July 2001, six of the
world's leading medical publishers (Blackwell Science, Elsevier
Science,
Harcourt International, John Wiley, Springer Verlag, and Wolters
Kluwer)
joined forces with WHO in a unique venture in which they have put
profits
aside to enable more than 100 of the poorest countries in the world
to
access vital scientific information free of charge through the
Internet.
**********************************************************************
MEDIA, INTERNET... AND ACCOUNTABILITY: The 2002 Human Development
Report
will be on the theme of voice, power and accountability. One aspect
of this
discussion is the role of the media and the Internet in advancing the
causes
of the disadvantaged people, and in providing tools for them to
exercise
accountability. Through disclosure in the media of occurrences of
abuse of
power, elected and non-elected officials are forced to answer for
their
actions. Examples of media and the Internet being used as tools for
exerting
accountability within the three areas outlined above are welcomed
from
journalists all over the world. Please e-mail your story to Jenny
Berg at
the Human Development Report Office: [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
SEUL/edu -- FOR LINUX IN EDUCATION: SEUL/edu is the discussion group
for
those interested in using Linux for education. This covers all
aspects of
educational uses of Linux, by teachers, parents, and
students.SEUL/edu is a
sub-project of SEUL, the Simple End User Linux. Thanks to
[log in to unmask]
for this link.
SEUL/edu Home Page http://www.seul.org/edu/
**********************************************************************
LITERATURE FROM THE INDIAN STATE OF KARNATAKA:
www.kannadasaahithya.com is
a web site which provides Kannada literature which is supported by
University of Pennsylvania for archival purpose. Major Kannada
writers like
U R Ananthamurthy, Chandrashekhara Kambar have supported this web
site by
providing exclusive rights to publish all their works. It is non-
profit
making venture which is trying to provide reference works for
academical and
general purpose for who ever may have interst in Kannada literature.
The Kannada documents require downloadable Baraha Kan New fonts.
http://www.kannadasaahithya.com
**********************************************************************
FREE ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO JOURNALS: Multilingual Matters/Channel View
Publications are to offer free electronic access to journals for
institutional subscribers in countries of "low human development" as
defined
by the Human Development Index. We hope that our new pricing policy
will
encourage other publishers to adopt similar schemes to support
academic
activity in the developing world. Libraries wishing to take up this
offer
should contact: Email: [log in to unmask] For further
details
see: http://www.multilingual-matters.com
**********************************************************************
SITE ON SYHLLETI: Thanks to Sarai for this information: There is a
new
website on Syhlleti dialect of the Bangla language, based in Silchar.
You
could surf www.syhlleti.org. Contact the webmistress of this site at
[log in to unmask] It is trying to build a global cyberspace
devoted
to Syhllet and Syhlleti words,culture. http://www.syhlleti.org
**********************************************************************
IDEAS ABOUT PROJECTS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE: Brendan Nyhan is the
product manager for new ventures at Benetech
(http://www.benetech.org), a
new Silicon Valley social enterprise non-profit that develops and
markets
socially beneficial technology ventures. He writes: "Our focus has
been in
IT for disability, education and human rights, but we're now looking
at
environmental products/services as well as technology specifically
targeted
at the developing world." Nyhan is keen to hear of ideas about
projects that
should be done that no one is doing, or people who have good concepts
that
they want to pursue in the non-profit realm. We're interested in
helping
concepts that have high social value get developed and brought to
market. In
general, they're looking for concepts with a high social return that
are
based on established (or at least proven) technology with low to
medium
technical risk and a reasonable amount of execution risk.
The Benetech Initiative http://www.benetech.org
Email: [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
NEPAL'S SUPREME COURT TO BECOME CYBER-SAVVY: (Thanks to Deepa
Rai/BytesForAll for sending this through.) Nepal's Supreme Court has
finally
decided to become web savvy. It is soon posting its all-
important "cause
list" on the Internet, including the daily and weekly roster of cases
to be
heard by the highest court. "We have registered a domain for the
purpose and
the proposed address will be [log in to unmask] The research
section is
working for further developments," said joint-registrar of the Court
Ram
Krishna Timalsena. [Courtesy: The Kathmandu Post on Sunday]
**********************************************************************
SOUTH INDIAN LANGUAGE FONTS MAPPED: Rajkumar Buyya
(BytesForAll/Australia)
informs us of an impressive page which has extended English character
set
and which are then mapped to Kannata fonts. All happens
transparently.
This text can be cut/pasted like normal English text.
Check http://www.ourkarnataka.com/kannada/kannada_main.htm
**********************************************************************
EDUCATIONAL CONTENT FOR COMPUTERS IN INDIA NEEDED: Tia Sircar
<[log in to unmask]>, of Bangalore, is working on a plan to put
together
creative educational content for the computer, for underpriviledged
primary
school children. She writes: "(Our vision is) to bridge the Digital
Divide
by producing child-centric, interactive educational computer content
for the
underprivileged children of India, in the Indian context and
language. The
material will be in the form of interactive games and activities, in
the
local language and context. The application-based software will
encourage
the child to apply his knowledge of material taught by conventional
methods
in schools. As of now, there is almost no planned effort to do this,
and
there is a recognized need for an agency to identify, create, and
disseminate such material, and evaluate the benefits." Contact Sircar
for
details of her plans, and if possible, ideas of how you could take
the
useful idea forward.
**********************************************************************
LOW-COST COMPUTERS FROM BRAZIL (The Digital Beat): The Brazilian
government
recently announced a project that will make stripped-down desktop
computers,
known as "Popular PCs," available for about $300. Developers were
able to
save on licensing fees by using free, open-source Linux as the
operating
system instead of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows.
Related Web Sites
Brazilian Committee for Internet Administration http://www.cg.org.br/
Simputer http://www.simputer.org/
**********************************************************************
HYDERABAD TO USE COMPUTERS TO BYPASS BUREAUCRACY (Ft.com): Hyderabad
city in
South India, home to a large proportion of India's thriving software
companies, is planning to open a network of computerised one-stop
shops that
will enable "customers" to clear 18 separate bureaucratic hurdles in
one
visit. Services on offer at the "e-sava" shops will include payment
of
utility bills, applications for driving licences and passports and
the
registration of property. Up to now most bureaucratic procedures were
a
nightmare because they had to be conducted in person.
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?
offset=++&quer
y=india+e-government&multiViewArticleId010827005259=010827005259
**********************************************************************
THE PALUNG STORY, FROM NEPAL: Thanks to Sangeeta Pandey/BytesForAll-
Nepal
<[log in to unmask]> for drawing this to our attention. Gaurab
Raj
Upadhya <[log in to unmask]> talks of an IT project in Makwanpur
explores
the possibility of getting young people talking and planning Wfor
their
future, and that of their village.
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/august31-6-2001/computers.htm
**********************************************************************
RED HAT IN INDIA: GNU/Linux software major player Red Hat is to make
India
A primary business base
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169854.html
**********************************************************************
ICTs IN PAKISTAN: Zubair Faisal Abbasi has recently written on
Information
Communication Technologies in Pakistan: Infrastructure and
Information
Development -- Policy and Practice. Contact him for more details:
Zubair
Faisal Abbasi 0303-7759274 [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
DISCUSSION FORUM ON BYTESFORALL: We have created a new and open
discussion
forum on 'ICT for Development and Social Changes' at
[log in to unmask] This forum will be an open forum
where
anyone can subscribe and can post their messages (subject to slight
moderation of message approval). To join the list, send a blank email
to
[log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
eLETTERS FOR PAKISTAN: Pakistan Post Office has launched "eLetter", a
service that dispatches letters written through the internet.They
guarantee
that letters are printed and delivered within 48 to 72 hours anywhere
in
Pakistan. http://www.pakpost.gov.pk/
**********************************************************************
WHAT IS PROJECT GUTENBERG? Project Gutenberg is the brainchild of
Michael
Hart, who in 1971 decided that it would be a really good idea if lots
of
famous and important (book) texts were freely available to everyone
in the
world. Since then, he has been joined by hundreds of volunteers who
share
his vision. Now, almost thirty years later, Project Gutenberg
publishes an
average of one e-text every day! http://promo.net/pg/
**********************************************************************
IT FOR CHANGE, A SITE FROM BANGALORE: IT for Change has recently
updated its
web site ... do visit it and mail your comments to
[log in to unmask]
Contact: Gayatri Ramnath Program Coordinator ITfC 302 Ushas
Apartments, 16th
Main, Jaya Nagar IV Block, Bangalore 560 011
Email: [log in to unmask] http://www.itforchange.org
**********************************************************************
NEW MAILING LISTS ON JIVA EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND CULTURE: Jiva, an
Indian
institute working in education, health and culture, has split its
mailing
lists. Pragati (Progress) is from Jiva's Education department. Meant
for
teachers, principals, educators, parents, administrators, policy
makers, and
anyone concerned with the state of education in India and
internationally.
Aroyga (Health) is a newsletter from Dr Pratap Chavan. Samskaar
(Impression)
focuses on spirituality, Indian philosophy, Vedic arts, etc. If you
would
like to join, email [log in to unmask] or
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
SOS -- ANOTHER VIEW OF SOFTWARE: Check out the State of Open Source
(SOS)
home page. Reports required from unrepresented countries, says S.
(Sam)
Kritokos. http://www.gnacademy.org/psip/sos/
**********************************************************************
BHUTAN TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST INTERNET DAILY -- The Himalayan kingdom
of
Bhutan will soon launch its first daily newspaper online in an effort
to
reach out to a global readership. The move is especially significant
because
of the nation's reclusive tradition. The online daily will be
launched by
the state-run Kuensel Corp., which also publishes the weekly Kuensel.
In
addition to expanding the global reach of the paper, the Internet
version
will also reach Bhutanese readers much more quickly, overcoming
transportation and distribution difficulties.Bhutan, a landlocked
nation of
600,000, first logged on to the Internet and launched a domestic
television
channel less than two years ago as part of an ongoing policy.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010422/wr/media_bhutan_dc_1.html
**********************************************************************
VOLUNTEERING IN IT: United Nations Information Technology Service
(UNITeS),
a global volunteering effort to help bridge the international digital
divide, has launched a new, expanded web site that includes a list of
volunteering opportunities, activities already underway, and a
resource
center of applications of information and communications technologies
(ICT)
to human development. http://www.unites.org
Details from Manuel Acevedo [log in to unmask]
Alexandra Haglund-Petitbo [log in to unmask],
Richard Nyberg [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
AKASHGANGA - using simple but appropriate information technology, to
facilitate timely collection of milk and thereby generating, higher
profits
for the rural milk producers has won the ICT Stories Competition 2001
from
India. This project was conceptualized more than four years ago, when
IT
awareness in the country was limited to big urban centers only. The
fact
that illiterate and semi-literate farmers accepted the system and are
operating it confidently, is an achievement by itself. Computers are
being
used for a very basic activity like collection of milk for the past
so many
years and rural masses are comfortable with it and have reposed their
confidence in it. Local entrepreneurs could spot the latent potential
and
have spread the system in the remote areas, through diligent work and
timely
support. They kept their system, without any monetary compensation
for weeks
together, for the DCS to try out and feel comfortable with it. The
popular
and widespread usage of AKASHGANGA breaks the myth that ICT will not
help in
solving the day-to-day problems of the rural masses. On the contrary,
the
farmers are very open to adopting new technologies (without being
granted
any kind of subsidies!), provided it delivers tangible benefits.
http://www.iicd.org/base/story_search_read?id=105
**********************************************************************
INDIA'S SOCIAL AND DEVELOPMENT SECTOR: Virtual window to the Indian
Social
and Development Sector is at http://www.IndianNGOs.com
Also vist http://www.DevelopmentToday.org
http://www.NGOCareers.com
http://www.IndianVolunteers.org
**********************************************************************
WORLD TECHNOLOGY NETWORK AWARD: AN Indian has won a prestigious world
technology award for an experimental project that takes the benefits
of
information technology to poor fishermen. Venkatramann Balaji of
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in
Andhra
Pradesh led a project to bring the benefits of IT to 15 fishing
villages
near Pondicherry. The award was among 23 given out at the end of a
two-day
summit of the World Technology Network at the Science Museum in
London2E
**********************************************************************
FREE SOFTWARE... IN INDIA: Some weeks back, India joined the Free
Software
movement. A group of government officials and Free Software
practitioners
and enthusiasts in India persuade Richard Stallman to establish an
Indian
Chapter of the Free Software Foundation. On July 20, 2001, the Free
Software
Foundation was inaugurate Free Software Foundation-India,
[http://www.fsf.org.in], an affiliate organization headquartered in
Trivandrum, Kerala, India, at the "Freedom First!" ceremonies. FSF
India
will be the national agency for the promotion of the use of Free
Software in
India.
Free Software helps countries foster an indigenous software industry,
because it encourages solidarity, collaboration and voluntary
community work
among programmers and computer users to create viable alternatives to
proprietary software products, since it permits access to the
software by
all developers, not just a privileged few.
http://www.fsf.org.in
**********************************************************************
LINUX DOCUMENTATION FOR INDIA: Mahendra M from Bangalore
<[log in to unmask]>
tells us about a new Linux Localisation INitiative. Says he: "Our
main aim
is to translate all Linux Documentation, available from the Linux
Documentation Project (www.linuxdoc.org), into Indian languages. We
have
just started the work, and are in the process of translating
documents now."
Volunteers needed from across India (and beyond!)
http://lli.linux-bangalore.org
**********************************************************************
YOUHELPINDIA.ORG: Parag Bhargava <[log in to unmask]> from
Kharagpur
writes in to say: "We started work on development of the web-site 6-8
months
ago and we now have it hosted under the domain name --
www.youhelpindia.org
The site is dedicated to the cause of literacy and education of the
underprivileged in the country. The web-site is absolutely non-
commercial
and will remain that way in the future." Parag is assistant professor
of the
Materials Science Centre at the prestigious Indian Institute of
Technology
Kharagpur. http://www.youhelpindia.org
**********************************************************************
TELECOM ISSUES-INDIA: For a copy of the newsletter of the Centre for
Telecom
Management and Studies-India please contact [log in to unmask]
or
[log in to unmask] (Dr T H Chowdary) Check http://www.ctmshydindia.org
**********************************************************************
WORLD COMPUTER EXCHANGE: Helping to bridge the digital divide one
classroom
at a time. This non-profit group based in Massachusetts, is actually
collecting used computers in the US and sending them to schools in
Africa,
Asia and Latin America - helping to bridge the global digital divide
for
youth in the process. This year the Exchange is providing 3,800
donated
computers to 500 schools and 200,000 students in Bangladesh, Benin,
Cameroon, Ecuador, India, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Uganda.
http://www.WorldComputerExchange.org or send an email to
[log in to unmask]
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bYtES For aLL is a voluntary, unfunded venture. CopyLeft, 2001. bYtES
For
aLL e-zine volunteers team includes: Frederick Noronha in Goa, Partha
Sarkar
in Dhaka, Zunaira Durrani in Karachi, Zubair Abbasi in Islamabad,
Archana
Nagvenkar in Goa, Arun-Kumar Tripathi in Darmstatd, Shivkumar in
Mumbai,
Sangeeta Pandey in Nepal, Daryl Martyis in Chicago, Gihan Fernando in
Sri
Lanka, Rajkumar Buyya in Melbourne, Mahrukh Mohiuddin in Dhaka and
Deepa Rai
in Kathmandu. To contact them mail [log in to unmask]
Two years on, BytesForAll thanks all those who have volunteered their
time,
energy and motivation in taking this experiment forward, since its
launch in
July 1999. If you'd like to volunteer too, contact the above address.
BytesForAll's website www.bytesforall.org is maintained by Partha
Sarkar,
with inputs from other members of the volunteers' team and
supporters. To
join or leave this mailing-list simply send a message to
[log in to unmask] with SUB B4ALL or UNSUB B4ALL as the subject.
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************************************************************************************
Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion
list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic
study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
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