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Contents Vol. V No. 3 March 2007

Features Mail box

6 Overview
35 ICTD project online.n
et
ICTs as Human Rights Enabler
info@i4d
Jayalakshmi Chittoor newsletter
10 Internet Governance Forum
Internet: A human rights perspective
Dhrupad Mathur, Adela Danciu and
I am regularly receiving your magazine. I
Estuko Anderson
Viewpoint am impressed by the ICT for
Development articles your magazine
13 ICTs and Sexual Issues
Telephone technology in sexuality 21 Building an ICT vision for human brings to its readers from the developing
counselling
rights world. I would like to continue receiving
Upasna Kakroo
Saswati Paik your magazine. Thanks.
Assefa Bahta

15 ICTs and Human Rights Interview Information Network Officer, ICT and Science
ICTs in an unequal world and Technology (ISTD), Economic Commission
Jamuna Ramakrishna and Paul
Maassen 42 Mindset network’s ICT4D
initiatives
for Africa

Vis Naidoo

18 Video and Human Rights

Human rights pilot video hub
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Upasna Kakroo Rendezvous excellent publication, and I share it
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HT Mint SME Summit, 21 publication. Keep up the good work. Best
39 February 2007, New Delhi, India wishes.
Promoting strategic use of ICTs in SMEs Professor Tim Unwin
Department of Geography,Royal Holloway,
Columns University of London, Egham, Surrey

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19 New Media and Human Rights

Celebrating the right to articulate
46 In Fact
An information society for all
Hong Kong

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4 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 2


Editorial
Information for development
www.i4donline.net Why people get hyper about the hyper-democratic medium –
ADVISORY BOARD
The Net?
M P Narayanan, Chairman, i4d
Chin Saik Yoon
Southbound Publications, Malaysia Way back in 1998, Mike Godwin wrote a brilliant book entitled
Karl Harmsen
United Nations University Cyber Rights, Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age. A brilliant
Kenneth Keniston counsel and defender of the free speech, aptly dubbed as the Digital
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Rights Activist, and currently a Fellow of the Information Society
Mohammed Yunus
Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Project of the Yale Law School, Mike is much sought after speaker
Nagy Hanna and advisor, who feels that most people do not understand the
e-Leadership Academy, University of Maryland, USA
nuances and blow up the challenges like forgeries, copyright abuse,
Richard Fuchs
IDRC, Canada pseudonyms, right to privacy, cryptography, and the hidden
Rinalia Abdul Rahim agendas, are blown out of proportion. There is a need to discuss,
Global Knowledge Partnership, Malaysia
debate and understand these issues vis-à-vis new social and political orders that are created
Walter Fust
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland with the digital age.
Wijayananda Jayaweera
UNESCO, France
Parallel to the development of the digital age and a year and half down the World Summit
EDITORIAL BOARD
Akhtar Badshah, Frederick Noronha
on Information Society held in Tunis in November 2005, and the gains made in building
a collective understanding of what are the developments, issues and challenges for the
GROUP DIRECTORS
Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar
evolving knowledge economy, is the gains made in the sector of Human Rights. The global
definitions have expanded, so have the treaties signed since 1948 when the declaration
EDITORIAL TEAM
was made.
Editor Ravi Gupta
Editorial Consultant Jayalakshmi Chittoor
Sr Editor G. Kalyan Kumar The UN has two sets of bodies: one that are commissions set up under the Charter of UN,
Sr. Research Associates Ritu Srivastava, Upasna Kakroo and the other bodies created under the international human rights treaties. On 3 April
Research Associate Ajitha Saravanan
Manager Strategic Alliances Dipanjan Banerjee
2006, the UN General Assembly resolved to strengthen the UN machinery by the creation
Designers Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur of United Nations Human Rights Council. Reaffirming the development perspective and
Web Programmer Zia Salahuddin role of ICTs in ensuring equity, various meetings and consultations have committed to
i4d work together to bridge the digital divide while ensuring that the human rights are
G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA, UP, 201 301, India
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Email info@i4donline.net Web www.i4donline.net

Printed at Yashi Media Works Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India The linkages between ICTs and Human Rights, particularly the Internet as a forum or
i4d is a monthly publication. It is intended for those
space for expression of their rights are at an even more exciting stage of development, with
interested and involved in the use of Information and the advent of new tools for social networking and giving more authorship and control over
CommnicationTechnologies for development of underserved
communities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing knowledge creation and sharing.
network by keeping the community up to date on many
activities in this wide and exciting field.

i4d does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in

this publication. All views expressed in this magazine
are those of the contributors. i4d is not responsible or
accountable for any loss incurred directly or indirectly as a
result of the information provided.
In this issue of i4d, we have taken a fresh look at the many dimensions of Human Rights,
and the creative, innovative and socially relevant technologies and tools that have been
practically applied by various programmes and initiatives. We look forward to learning
about more projects, and to raise voices for the marginalised communities.

We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we did in producing it. We want to hear your
Centre for Science, Development and views, so don’t hesitate to write a few words back to the team!
Media Studies, 2006
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License CYBER RIGHTS: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age Mike Godwin Times Books
/ Hardcover / $27.50 / ISBN 0-8129-2834-2 Publication date: August 3, 1998
i4d is supported by:

Ravi Gupta
Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net 5

 Overview
ICTs as Human Rights
enabler
The 2003 Declaration and Action Plan
documents that emerged out of the first
phase of the WSIS consultations in Geneva
acknowledged that equitable access to the
information society was the most critical
ingredient to bridge the information and
knowledge divide. Though these are not
legally binding, the success of the declaration
is a signal of the political will to achieve
concrete goals. These goals have been
formulated in sync with the Millennium
Development Goals, which sets targets to
be achieved by 2015. Overall, the
declaration outlines a commitment to
address the access divide and bridge it to
reach at least 50 percent of the population
either through Internet, telephone or other
means of electronic media.
The true gain of the conference was that
the Summit specifically stressed that the
development of the information society
must be based on the human rights
framework, and should respect and uphold
the standards laid down in the UN Charter
and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
The WSIS phase II at Tunis further
reiterated a development perspective of the
“An important part of
effective implementation
would be to ensure equal and
affordable access to
information, to guarantee
freedom of the means of
communication, and not in
the least to help build the
necessary ICT capacity for all.”
Rikke Frank Jorgensen, Henrik
Lindholt and Lone Lindholt
The Danish Institute for
Human Rights
6 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
information society. The conference and the
ICT4All exhibition provided an
opportunity for multiple stakeholders to
share, to network and to demonstrate a
development perspective to the definition
of Information Society. Divides exist because
of technological barriers or due to education,
access, governance, ownership, etc., and the
global need to create specific opportunities
to bridge them was reiterated. Though the
Internet Governance issue still remained
unresolved.
ICT and Human Rights
linkages
So, how does that really become a gain from
the human rights perspective? Often when
people think of human rights, they
immediately conjure up faces of oppression
and violence, state excesses or terrorism
issues. However, when we begin to see the
different angles of development, we realise
that the development perspective historically
has evolved from a needs based approach to
a rights based approach. Gender equality
and discrimination, equitable and complete
access to technology and education, and
resources for poverty alleviation can be
 How can ICTs play a role?
argued from a human rights approach to
the development perspective.
Have the organisations working to ensure
that human rights issues and concerns are
lawfully, socially and politically addressed,
made effective use of ICTs? Have they
benefited from them? The need to
campaign, lobby and train their
stakeholders, and find creative ways to reach
the audiences, for advocating the rights and
informing the stakeholders makes this an
exciting area to explore.
Parallel to the development of the digital
age and a year and half down the World
Summit on Information Society held in
Tunis in November 2005, and the gains
made in building a collective understanding
of what are the developments, issues and
challenges for the evolving knowledge
economy, is the gains made in the sector of
Human Rights. The global definitions have
expanded, so have the treaties signed since
1948 when the declaration was made. ICTs
of course include a whole array of tools and
technologies, from the traditional
telephones, mobiles, radio and digital media
(photos, video, CD-ROMs, etc.) to the
modern and most democratic of the tools
Internet. With the advent of new
technologies and new medium of
communications, doors have opened widely
for issues to go beyond national boundaries.
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
Internet, though a democratic medium
still continues to be challenged by issues of
governance. On the one hand, the Internet
provides an excellent opportunity to free
speech and expression, and on the other
hand faces the worries of state to control
and combat fears like terrorism and misuse
by fundamentalist and
destructive groups. How far
are these fears real and how do
we uphold the rights of the
marginalised communities to
express their concerns remains
a hot debate. According to
Mike Godwin, a well known
Digital Rights Activist,
currently a Fellow of the
Information Society Project of
the Yale Law School, and
much sought after speaker and
advisor, “most people do not
understand the nuances and
blow up the challenges like forgeries,
copyright abuse, pseudonyms, right to
privacy, cryptography, and the hidden
agendas, are blown out of proportion. There
is a need to discuss, debate and understand
these issues vis-à-vis new social and political “I believe the Internet should
orders that are created with the digital age.” be a force for political freedom,
Institutional mechanisms for not repression. People have the
implementing Human Rights right to seek and receive
The United Nations has two sets of bodies: information and to express their
one that are commissions set up under the
Charter of UN, and the other bodies created
peaceful beliefs online without
under the international human rights fear or interference. I call on
treaties. On 3 April 2006, the UN General governments to stop the
Assembly resolved to strengthen the UN
machinery by the creation of United
unwarranted restriction of
Nations Human Rights Council. freedom of expression on the
Reaffirming the development perspective Internet - and on companies to
and role of ICTs in ensuring equity, various
meetings and consultations have committed
stop helping them do it.”
to work together to bridge the digital divide Pledge for Internet freedom
while ensuring that the human rights are signed by 43 thousand
guaranteed. Thanks to the rapid
developments of the Internet, organisations
petitioners
7

and individuals around the world can
access the discussions, and decisions of
these bodies.
Jorgensen et al from the Danish Institute
of Human Rights also reiterate the
importance of National Human Rights
Institutions to monitor and implement the
international agreements.
The linkages between ICTs and Human
Rights, particularly the Internet as a forum
or space for expression of their rights are at
an even more exciting stage of development,
with the advent of new tools for social
networking and giving more authorship and
control over knowledge creation and sharing.
The United Nations Secretary General in
2005 established a multi-stakeholder
working group called the World Group on
Internet Governance (www.wgig.org).
Internet governance is the development
and application by Governments, the
private sector and civil society, in their
respective roles, of shared principles, norms,
rules, decision-making procedures, and
programmes that shape the evolution and
use of the Internet, as per the consensus
definition reached by the WGIG.
The last meeting of the Internet
Governance Forum 2006 held at Athens,
Greece came away with the idea of a free
and stable Internet for All (http://
www.igfgreece2006.gr/) The gains made were
especially because of the open dialogue
process taking the diverse viewpoints. The
success of the Athens meet and the need to
continue dialogue around the issue of
Freedom of Expression and Security up to
the next meeting at Rio de Janeiro were
8 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
http://irrepressible.info/blogs
reiterated recently at the stock taking meeting
held in Geneva in February 2007.
Amnesty International, one of the
leaders working to protect human rights
globally has set up a very interesting space
for blogging called irrepressible bloggers
(http://irrepressible.info/blogs), though it
appears to still worry some repressible
governments. They also shared a pledge to
Internet freedom, signed by over 43000
people, and it reads, summarising the crux
of the debate:
“I believe the Internet should be a force for
political freedom, not repression. People have
the right to seek and receive information and
to express their peaceful beliefs online without
fear or interference. I call on governments to
stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of
expression on the Internet - and on companies
to stop helping them do it.”
Citizens have been empowered to use
the Internet for expression, be it through
blogging, community networking tools,
videos or other visual and artistic expression,
citizens are exercising their rights. The
energy and enthusiasm by these innovative
initiatives is creating hope and impact of
how ICTs can be enablers of human rights.
In this issue of i4d, we have taken a fresh
look at the many dimensions of Human
Rights, and the creative, innovative and
socially relevant technologies and tools that
have been practically applied by various
programmes and initiatives for human rights.
We look forward to learning about more
projects, and to raise voices for the
marginalised communities.

Jayalakshmi Chittoor (jchittoor@csdms.in)
 I NTERNET G OVERNANCE F ORUM (IGF)

Internet: A human
rights perspective
Introduction evolution ensured the adoption of additional documents affirming
The salient characteristic of the Internet is its openness and broad new rights (such as the right to peace and the right to social progress),
reach, which contribute to its uniqueness as a tool to advance human or restating and circumscribing consecrated principles to new realities
development. Access to knowledge is critical to continued economic, (such as the protection of privacy in case of automatic data
political, cultural, and social development. Information and processing).
communications technology empowers leaders, as well as ordinary
men, women, youth, children, and people with disabilities—as Human Rights in the Information Society
stated in the World Summit of the Information Society Declaration The development of Information and Communication Technologies
of Principles and Plan of Action. However, users and decision makers (ICT), and especially that of the Internet in the past 15 years, has
require awareness and capacity building to ensure the openness of brought about important changes in society that need attention at
the Internet. Specifically, this paper seeks to examine the key human the international level, including in relation to human rights. A
rights issues on the agenda of the Internet Governance Forum new concept - the Information Society - is now the main social issue
(IGF), drawing from case studies of the various bodies addressing requiring definition. At the international level, two approaches have
these issues and their experiences in working on them, with specific arisen regarding the protection of human rights in the context of
focus on developing countries. the social relationships determined by the development of ICT.
The first approach suggests the assimilation of human rights
The Human Rights framework problems related to the Internet and new technologies with existing
Human rights and openness were concerns in human society long provisions in force. Such a solution was stated in the Council of
before the advent of the Internet. However, the Internet has given Europe Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on Human
an impetus to social phenomena and has transformed man’s life. Rights and the Rule of Law in the Information Society: ‘all rights
The same has happened with enshrined in the Convention
human rights issues. The human for the Protection of Human
rights system in international law Rights and Fundamental
was developed after the Second Freedoms . . . remain fully valid
World War, by the adoption of This paper is an attempt to in the Information Age and
specific instruments under the should continue to be protected
United Nations umbrella: the highlight and bring forth issues regardless of new technological
UN Charter (United Nations, developments’. However, this
1945) and the Universal and solutions in the context of approach is not always
Declaration of Human Rights applicable, since cases arise
(United Nations, 1948). These human rights, freedom of where ICT may assist human
documents were followed in rights violations, which demand
1950 by the European expression, free flow of a response that considers their
Convention for the Protection of specific nature.
Human Rights and information, and content policy. A second approach was
Fundamental Freedoms made to address such problems
(Council of Europe, 1950), and together present the basic and in special conventions, such as those elaborated and enforced at the
fundamental international human rights principles, which are the European level, focusing on issues like personal data protection or
points of reference for the conventions, declarations, and other cybercrime, which are now open to accession on a worldwide basis.
documents that followed, dedicated to the affirmation and protection These European conventions possess the legal character of
of human rights. These principles were formulated in a general and international treaties, providing legal obligations to the signatory
universally applicable manner that granted their viability and states to comply with the respective acts. Therefore, the human
validity over time. However, they reflected the state of facts and rights issues in the Information Society have been considered so far
developments of the 1950s. Social, political, and technological either part of the general human rights protection system, where

10 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3

the existing acts (declarative or binding) are applicable in the digital
environment as well, or have been addressed separately, usually in
legally binding international documents, when the matter needed
particular attention.
The complexity of the Internet-related issues, however, raises
concerns that a coherent and global approach is necessary, following
the model of the climate change convention, to establish a framework
of principles and norms applicable to Internet governance. Although
such an international convention remains a theoretical project
envisaged by academics, the Internet issues in relation to the
Information Society were addressed at global level under the United
Nations auspices in a dedicated Summit.
UN’s action concerning Human Rights
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a
document adopted by the UN General Assembly, is equivalent to a
resolution that this institution usually elaborates according to the
UN Charter. Therefore, its legal character is that of ‘recommendation’
addressed to the UN members. In order to become legally binding,
its provisions require restatement in treaties or must become
international custom. Accordingly, the most important provisions
of the UN Declaration have been transposed and detailed in two
international legal documents – the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both adopted in 1966 and
opened for signature, ratification, and accession to UN member
states. These acts stipulate obligations for the signatory states to
ensure the application of their provisions, as well as a mechanism for
monitoring the compliance through information and reports sent
to UN institutions in charge of human rights protection.
Unlike the previous UN summits, the WSIS took place in two
phases corresponding to two steps in achieving the proposed goals.
The documents adopted at the first phase – the Geneva Summit –
remained at the recommendations level, since the results were
proclaimed in a Declaration of Principles (WSIS, 2003a) and a Plan
of Action (WSIS, 2003b). The Tunis Summit followed these
documents with a particularisation of the set principles in the
Agenda for Information Society (WSIS, 2005a) and a Commitment
(WSIS, 2005b) to support them. Although the documents are not
legally binding as a treaty or a convention, they are part of the UN
system of instruments that create moral and political obligations,
since the representatives of the states endorse by their presence at
the summit and their signature the commitments assumed by the
international community as a whole.
Human Rights issues on Internet
Here, with reference to an Internet governance perspective, one has
to consider only those issues that the existence of the Internet was
initiated or catalysed. The approach is to obtain a list of addressable
elements that develops a focus. The essential human rights issues
that have been identified as having a close relation with the new
ICT environment are: the freedom of expression, information and
communication, privacy, free (and equal) access to information, the
protection of human dignity, the protection of property (intellectual
property rights), and civic liberties (freedom of assembly, voting
secrecy). The IGF priority human rights issues are also consistent
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
with the Tunis Agenda Mandate and the WSIS Principles. The
issue of human rights is classified on the IGF agenda under the
theme of ‘Openness’ and treats such sub-themes as freedom of
expression, free flow of information, empowerment, and access to
knowledge. The report of Working Group on Internet Governance
(WGIG) has given due weight to human rights issues which has
been echoed by various stakeholders and regional representatives in
the background report of the WGIG.
As well, various organisations, specific individuals from civil
society, and academic institutions have tried to raise a voice to register
Internet governance issues and their effects on society. However,
one hears little concern in various governmental agencies across the
world regarding these issues. Internet content and freedom of speech
issues have drawn the attention of the international community
and have determined their efforts to promote them. Human Rights
Watch, a New York based NGO, has a list of identified human right
issues on its website, including freedom of expression on the Internet.
Global Internet Liberty Campaign, a coalition of various active
human rights organisations, advocates many facets of Internet
governance issues including: censorship of online communication,
requirement of laws, and inclusion of countries with insufficient
infrastructure into the global information infrastructure.
Legal policy
It is generally recognised that the exercise of human rights is not
absolute and states may impose boundaries in order to protect social
and moral order within society. Restrictions and limitations in
exercising human rights in a digital environment should be
compliant with general principles enshrined in the general
documents – legality, proportionality, and temporariness – and
should not exceed the specific lawful restrictions applicable in the
non-digital environment. In this perspective, regarding the freedom
of expression, a distinction must be made between illegal content
and harmful content. The distinction is not always easy to cope
with, due to cultural differences and historical traditions that
characterise societies around the world, which determine different
understandings of the area of state intervention for limiting this
freedom. Child pornography is probably the only subject
unanimously rejected and sanctioned in all legal systems, as it belongs
to the so-called ius cogens norms. Other issues, however, are
interpreted differently. While dissemination of racist and xenophobic
materials through the Internet is illegal in Europe according to an
additional protocol to the cybercrime convention and national
legislations, the issue benefits from a different approach in the United
States, under the First Amendment protection. Therefore, the
challenge at the global level is not only the common understanding
of the existing provisions and applications of human rights
principles, but also the elaboration of a coherent policy to address
specific issues like freedom of expression.
Content policy and content control
The liberty to put desired content on a web page makes the Internet
an unusual place and thereby gives rise to issues of content policy
and content control. These two issues seem to be two facets of the
same regulatory effort. Nations with the capacity to address these
issues are trying hard to create policies and harder to enforce them.
11
These policies are generally suited to the flavour of the region and
might lack a holistic perspective. Another inherent impediment in
content control is that control mechanisms are resource-intensive
and many countries cannot afford these technological resources,
thereby rendering the policy ineffective in absence of an enforcing
mechanism. Additionally, market forces often influence content
regulation, which, in turn, governments, the Internet community,
and Internet multinational companies seek to counterbalance in
the press forward with the growth of the Internet. International
agreement on censorship of Internet content regulation may be
difficult to achieve given the lack of commonality in what various
nations want in this respect. However, some kind of international
cooperation will be necessary if any real control over Internet content
by individuals or by governments is to occur. Clearly, a continuous
dialogue between the stakeholders is mandated for better
understanding of the mutual issues and for development of suitable
mechanisms, such as the Internet Governance Forum.
Right to privacy
With increasing awareness of the rights of users, privacy is yet another
important issue with intricacies of all kinds. From a user’s perspective,
one encounters different levels of acceptance. The core issue in
respecting this fundamental right is the awareness of the Internet
user regarding the level of privacy online and his or her consent on
the amount and quality of personal data disclosed. Public and private
organisations that require personal information from Internet users
should collect only the minimal data necessary for the minimal
period needed. A transparent privacy policy that allows people to
find out what is collected about them and to correct mistaken
information is widely desirable. If a commercial organization is using
personal data to market its products, this is generally not acceptable
to users; however, users may have views that are more moderate
when it comes to security issues. Yet, differences of opinions may be
found here as well. One can see a prominent trade-off between
security and privacy and security at the cost of privacy.
Internet as an enabler of Human Rights
A new dimension that has evolved is to view the Internet as an
enabler of human rights. The Internet is an enabler of human
rights, even if violations, such as censorship, occur. The open
structure of the Internet and its technology allows stakeholders and
human rights activists to surpass the restrictions imposed arbitrarily;
however, the control of Internet content is still effective in some
cases. In several instances, the web serves as a media to evade
perceived suppression. The idea highlighting this proposition is
that the force of the information superhighway can promote human
rights. The main basis of this belief is that the human rights principles
as defined by international instruments must be generally respected
and those who have the right to determine how to exert their rights
are the human rights subjects, in this case, the Internet community.
Unique and innovative combinations of
approaches
The world community will have to seek and actively work towards
a long-term sustainable solution of human rights and freedom of
expression issues sustaining a continous multilateral dialogues. This
12
will consist of a combination of the following:
• A legal and inclusive regulatory and policy framework at regional,
national and international levels
• A liberal view with empathy toward the beliefs of all stakeholders
• Continuous stakeholder consultations at regional, national, and
international levels
• Awareness and education across regions and stakeholders,
including formal training programmes targeted towards
stakeholders to create capacities to identify, register, and address
the human rights and Internet governance issues.
• Technological means of maintaining human rights:
• Tackling censorship or state-directed Internet content filtering
through circumvention technologies, geo-location software, and
search engines
• Ratings of newsgroups by content providers and rating agencies
• Content labelling and filtering schemes, such as the use of
Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) considered to
have many advantages in offering a method of protecting minors
from undesirable material
• Declarations and disclaimers
• Promoting self regulatory systems and their acceptance as a general
standard or code of conduct
• Regulation of search engines.
Moreover, a common set of mutually agreed norms should be
developed for flexibility. This has to be accompanied with regard
for the beliefs of other nations, regions, and stakeholders. Therefore,
it calls for a change in the mindsets of people.
Conclusion
It is understood that the international nature of the Internet and its
unique characteristics (global, decentralised, open, abundant,
interactive, user-controlled, and infrastructure-independent) clearly
pose novel and specific problems that may require innovative and
specific solutions to be put in place rapidly at the national, regional,
and international levels. Besides there is also an increasing demand
for capacity development and awareness on the identified critically
important human rights issues in Internet governance. It is observed
that in many philosophies on ‘freedom of expression,’ the Internet
is presented as an ideal place where incidents of violation of freedom
should not or might not happen. Such idealistic situations are
difficult to achieve and policy should recognise this. It should be
understood that society is not part of the Internet; rather, the Internet
is a part of society and, therefore, it reflects social phenomena with
which humanity has been living for ages. The Internet phenomenon
is a manifestation of humankind and, at times, exacerbates issues
that have been silent by bringing divergent communities together.
If one delves into making the Internet an ideal place, then for
certainity a much larger social transformation may occur, which, in
any case, is required in this world.

This paper is the result of the research work under Internet Governance
Research Programme for 2006 of DiploFoundation.http://
www.diplomacy.edu/ig/Research/default.asp
Dhrupad Mathur, India, dhrupadm@gmail.com
Adela Danciu, Romania
Estuko Anderson,Barbados
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
 ICT S AND S EXUAL I SSUES

Telephone technology
in sexuality counselling
TARSHI (Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues) counsellors who speak with callers about concerns as wide ranging
was founded in 1996 and is guided by the vision that all people as body image, masturbation, homosexuality, relationship issues,
have the right to sexual well-being and to an enjoyable and self- contraception, abortion, HIV/AIDS/STIs and sexual abuse.
affirming sexuality. TARSHI works towards expanding sexual and • The amount of time devoted to each is flexible and can range
reproductive choices in people’s lives. Its programmes address people from one minute to an hour.
of all ages, genders, communities, classes and sexual preferences and • Approximately 80% of helpline callers are men, despite the fact
disability status, with a focus on women and young people and that the line is meant to be especially for women. Women bear
their sexual and reproductive health and rights. TARSHI began as the greater burden in terms of sexual and reproductive health
an individual fellowship project supported by MacArthur problems and are doubly disadvantaged because of lack of access
Foundation and later was also supported by the Ford Foundation to accurate information. Devising ways to increase the number
and Packard Foundation. It has expanded its activities beyond the of women callers has been an ongoing challenge.
helpline and is recognised as one of the organisations in India that • Designed to be interactive, non-judgemental and non-
addresses issues of sexuality from a rights’ perspective. threatening, the helpline offers information that is relevant to
TARSHI’s work the contexts of
currently includes two people’s lives, and
broad programmatic counselling that
strands: enhancing the explores with callers
quality of helpline the pros and cons of
services on issues particular choices
relating to sexuality (while never taking
and making a larger from them their own
positive impact in the right of choice), as well
realm of sexuality. as referrals to
appropriate agencies.
The Helpline • The referral
• The TARSHI network includes
helpline has private practitioners,
received over government hospitals,
57,000 calls in its therapists and lawyers,
eleven years of as well as HIV
operation, since counselling, testing,
February 1996. care and support
• The callers are from services, etc. The
diverse socioecono- service organisations
mic backgrounds and are in an age group from 7 to 70 years, are researched to the best of TARSHI’s abilities, and site visits are
though the majority is between 18 and 35 years of age. Over made in an attempt to ensure good-quality service - or at least to
one-third of callers call back. The majority are Hindi speakers. As know first hand what callers will encounter at a facility. In the
the helpline is run in Delhi, most callers are from in and around case of private doctors and therapists, the organisation tries to
the city, but there are also many callers who have migrated from select gender-sensitive, gay sensitive, sex-affirming and non-
rural areas to the city, and still may have their roots in rural India. judgemental professionals.
• The helpline provides information, counselling, and referrals on
sexuality and sexual and reproductive health issues. The helpline Helpline counsellor training
service is free, though the calls to it are not toll-free. • New helpline counsellors undergo 10 - 12 weeks of intensive
• It is supervised by a qualified clinical psychologist and has trained training that focuses on information, perspective and building

March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net 13

 counselling skills. Counsellors are trained on basic sexual and
reproductive anatomy and physiology, pubertal changes,
conception, contraception, sexual practices, sexual problems,
infertility, STIs, HIV/AIDS and other topics.
• As a part of their ongoing work, and continuing even after the
formal training period ends, counsellors are encouraged to read
about, and analytically discuss, different perspectives on these
issues. Because people engage in a wide range of diverse sexual
acts, the counsellors must also be familiar with the repertoire of
human sexual behaviour and know the terms (including slang)
that people use to refer to sexual practices.
• The counsellor training is done through experiential and
interactive role-plays and mock counselling sessions.
Making a larger positive impact in the realm
of sexuality
• TARSHI has used a variety of information dissemination strategies
to increase awareness about sexuality. These have ranged from
producing and distributing written material on sexuality in the
form of pamphlets, booklets, and books in English and Hindi
on sexuality and related issues at public events and bazaars, to
professional presentations and writings. TARSHI has especially
focussed on producing material that is gender-sensitive, non-
heterosexist and affirming respect for all people and their right
to sexual well-being. Raising awareness of sexuality and rights
issues are undertaken
• TARSHI has conducted various public education and advocacy
activities through publications, websites, campaigns, public
events like organising theatrical performances, poster competition,
film screenings and talks, and sessions in schools and colleges. It
has also worked in partnership with other NGOs to create a
broader public understanding about women’s rights, sexuality,
gender and violence.
• The Sexuality and Rights Institute: This is an annual two-week
long residential course that focuses on a conceptual study of
sexuality. The Institute is organised in collaboration with CREA.
It examines the interface between sexuality and rights and its
links with the related fields of gender and health. The faculty
comprises of national and international resource persons who
use a range of pedagogical techniques including lectures, group
work, films, reading assignments and exercises. Participants
examine sexual and reproductive health programs as well as
various legal and socio-cultural issues and incorporate their
learning into planning and working on programmes. Six such
Institutes have been held since 2002.
• The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality is
hosted by TARSHI with the aim to develop and build on
the scholarship and capacity in the field of sexuality in the
South and Southeast Asian region The Resource Centre
specifically focuses on sexuality related work in China, India,
Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Philippines, and
Vietnam. The Resource Centre Library provides access to books
and journals on sexuality, an online listing of available material,
and regular updates for activists, advocates, practitioners, and
researchers. The online library can be viewed through
www.asiasrc.org.
14
Advantages and disadvantages of telephone
technology in sexuality counselling
The advantages of using a helpline to access services, especially on
sensitive issues such as sexuality and reproductive health, are:
• The telephone is an easy, accessible and inexpensive mode of
communication
• Callers do not need appointments or have to travel long distances.
They can call at their convenience
• Callers can decide to make and end the call. This enables them to
feel more in control and hence more comfortable and willing to
access the service
• Anonymity makes it easier for callers to discuss intimate concerns
• When provided by a not-for-profit organisation, the service
usually charges no fee
The disadvantages of using a helpline as a
medium of intervention are:
• The helpline worker has to rely solely on auditory cues and does
not have access to other signals such as body language and facial
expressions that might help in understanding clients better
• Counsellors are unaware of the physical environment (home/
office/public call booth/shop) the caller is in and so unable to
anticipate when they may be interrupted.
• Callers may become frustrated if telephone lines are busy for
long durations
• There is little or no possibility to follow-up with callers if the
helpline guarantees anonymity
• Anonymity makes it easier for callers to make crank calls
Over the past few years, the number of callers who seem to have
access to the Internet has been growing. Callers report getting the
helpline number through the web (either through search engines
or through the TARSHI websites). They also report reading up on
information from the Internet. However, just the Internet is not
enough - many callers call to clarify or check if they have understood
correctly – they still prefer to speak to someone about their concerns
at the end of the day. The Internet has made sexuality related
information more accessible and is a definite aid in awareness-raising
and proves to be very effective when coupled with a service like the
TARSHI helpline.
The TARSHI helpline is based on a sound understanding of
ethical principles, and it places a premium on confidentiality and
anonymity. The counsellors are trained in ethics and the ethical
challenges that they might face in the course of the work. Counsellors
maintain clear professional boundaries in their relationships with
the callers. Telephone technology can well be harnessed in sexuality
and HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts, and the
information gathered from a helpline can become a tool for research
and advocacy and can spin off into creating other means of public
education. The issues of context, sustainability and ethics are
considered before setting up a service that has the potential to
change the lives of the people who use it and TARSHI in all respects
does just that!

The helpline number is 011- 24372229 and it runs from Mon to
Wed 10 to 4 presently. www.tarshi.net
Upasna Kakroo, upasna@csdms.in
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
 I CTS A ND H UMAN R IGHTS
ICTs in an unequal world
The promise and pitfalls
The intensive of ICTs
integration of ICTs We live in a globalising world where there is
more information and knowledge available,
into the daily lives shared by more people and accessible to a
larger number of those people than ever
of people has before. Growth in sharing and access has
been facilitated by enormous advancements
produced a of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs). When Information
continuum of social and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
started to flourish, they were touted as the
vulnerabilities, solution for many development problems.
Several years down the road, the
rather than a mere accumulated experience of using ICTs in
the development arena shows that ICTs are
digital divide. first and foremost communication tools, but
can also be used strategically to build
capacity, amplify voices, share knowledge
and empower people. The rapid growth of
ICTs has rendered the inter-relation between
ICT, information and society more complex.
It may not be relevant or particularly
enlightening to continue to speak only of
ICTs in the relatively limited framework of
ICT4D.
A paradigm shift in thinking about ICTs
and development is required. The widely
used concept of ‘digital divide’ is still relevant
Jamuna Ramakrishna
to the extent that ICTs overlay existing
Programme Officer
divides of gender, literacy, income, mobility
ICT, Media and Knowledge Sharing
and infrastructure. But to take the analysis
Hivos India Regional Office, Bangalore, India
further, a new perspective is necessary.
j.ramakrishna@hivos-india.org
ICTs have made the world a ‘global village’
by providing ease and speed of
communication. At the same time, the
intensification of information processes
(surveillance, data mining, information
harvesting, and data processing) has
generated new social vulnerabilities, while
exacerbating existing ones. The result is a
Paul Maassen
continuum of social vulnerability that spans
Programme Manager
the globe, crossing even the ‘digital divide’.
ICT, Media and Knowledge Sharing
Events show that everyone feels the impact
Hivos-office, The Hague
of ICTs regardless of whether they
The Netherlands
personally have access to these technologies
p.maassen@hivos.nl
or not. Proof of the intensive integration of
ICTs in daily life can be seen in the
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
ubiquitous presence of closed-circuit
televisions, radio frequency identification
tags and linked databases.
While the social vulnerabilities generated
by digital technologies are felt by all but
especially by those who are already
marginalised and discriminated against,
there are differences in the type and degree
of vulnerability that is generated. The key
variables seem to be pre-existing inequalities
and fissures in society, the presence and active
use of checks and balances, a critical and
active civil society, and adequate information
and awareness of how ICTs are used, by
whom, and for what purpose.
The Challenges to Human
Rights
The widespread dissemination of ICTs
presents unprecedented risks to human
rights, which call for conscious behaviour
by the users as well as producers of ICTs –
whether commercial, governmental or
individual - and democratic structures to
support the fast-paced information society.
Some of the risks are described below:
• Mining Information trails on the
Internet: The internet provides users
the opportunity to share and exchange
information, which many users accept
and exploit uncritically. Most users do
not realise that the ‘information trail’
that they leave on the net can be used
and re-used by others, in a variety of
contexts and for a variety of purposes.
Thus, users may unwittingly reveal
information about their preferences,
routines and lives which may be
collected and used by commercial and
non-commercial interests. The
distinction between ‘commercial’ and
‘non-commercial’ is becoming
increasingly blurred, as data gathered
under one pretext may subsequently be
bought by those seeking market
intelligence or commandeered by those
engaged in surveillance activities. It is a
matter of serious concern that there is
15
 not enough awareness or debate on Digital Rights Management.
Who owns what information? Who has the right to use what
information?
• Digitalisation and de-contextualization of personal data:
Collected data are increasingly stored digitally. A side effect of
this is that it is easier to share data and to link various data
sources to each other. These capabilities can lead to distorted
representation of information or people. For those who are
already marginalized, such as HIV+ people, this opens a whole
new area of vulnerability. The de-contextualized use of personal
data can also create problems. As in real life, in the virtual world
too people behave differently in different contexts.
• Data trading and profiling in an environment of fear: In the
aftermath of 9/11, the EU provided the USA with all flight
data without prior agreement on any kind of checks and
balances, thus sidelining key human rights. Even after severe
pressure from the European Parliament this was not handled
adequately. In a pervasive atmosphere of fear and insecurity,
governments and intelligence agencies have stepped up
collection of personal information – simplified by technology.
The ‘war on terror’ has led to extensive cross-border sharing of
information and huge data-mining operations, with scant
thought given to the human rights implications of these actions.
It is difficult at present for ‘virtual’ humans - as represented by
their virtual personal data - to claim their human rights. This is
due to the intrinsic international characteristic of ICTs, the
present state of fear as well as the newness of the subject.
• Censorship and persecution on the internet: The Internet
provides a channel for free expression that enables those living
in repressive societies, especially, to make their voices heard.
Sometimes, the information and opinions that these users put
online voluntarily, is used against them. World-wide, there is
an increase in the number of people that are prosecuted or
threatened for their work online (so called cyberdissidents).
There are at present 60 cyberdissidents in prisons around the
world. Their plight represents one extreme end of the
continuum of vulnerability generated by ICTs. Existing
(international) human rights protection systems are not fully
equipped to deal with these situations.
• Apathy or manufactured consent? The loss of independent
media: Herman and Chomsky1 state that the fact that mass
media news outlets are owned by large corporations nowadays
invariably distorts the kinds of news items reported, as well as
the manner and emphasis in which they are reported. They
further point out the dependency of mass media news outlets
upon major sources of news, particularly the government. If a
particular outlet is in disfavour with a government, it can be
subtly ‘shut out’, and other outlets given preferential treatment.
To minimise the possibilities of lost revenue, therefore, outlets
will tend to report news in a tone more favourable to the
government and will give unfavourable news about the
government less emphasis. Herman & Chomsky’s theory is
best explained by an example. The ‘War on Terror’ has shown
that the independence of the media has been severely
compromised for a number of reasons, including corporate
ownership of mass media. The media have contributed to the
16
prevailing atmosphere of fear and insecurity; and have been
reluctant to engage critically with the State, thus reneging on
their watchdog role. Rather, the media have assisted in
‘manufacturing consent’, i.e., in building up the appearance of
widespread support for the War on Terror and in ‘manufacturing
demand’, i.e., in creating the impression that people feel
infringement of human rights is an acceptable price to pay for
‘security’. In this broader context, there has been general
unwillingness – from the side of the public and of the media -
to protest against increasing surveillance and policing on the
Internet, or against deployment of ICTs-based surveillance
technologies.
• Digitalisation of citizenship: The ICT revolution has created
an information society that in some aspects reinforces the
inequalities in the world. Some groups in society are excluded
from this new society (‘if you don’t exist digitally, you don’t
exist’). The growing tendency to equate citizenship with (virtual
and paper) documentation is problematic; the potential for
exclusion is enormous. With governments moving towards
becoming e-Governments, exclusion might grow. An example
of this is the proposal to introduce digital identity cards in
India and Indonesia which, if implemented, may exclude or
increase discrimination against certain groups in society,
especially the poor and marginalized who are less connected (if
at all) to the digital world.
• Deployment of ICTs to address (in)security: Enthusiastic
deployment of new ICTs to address perceived threats to ‘national
security’ can be seen in both the North and the South. Arguably,
the most rapidly growing application of ICTs is for surveillance,
profiling and screening. Certain characteristics are equated
with high risk. As the list of characteristics grows and becomes
more complex (moving from name, ethnic group and mother
tongue to body language, etc.), more sophisticated technologies
are brought to bear. These technologies are applied rather
arbitrarily at airports, police stations, and on the street. Those
who are most likely to be accosted are those who are at the
margins of society – the poor, migrants and minorities. Far from
increasing security, these technologies have the potential to
exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and to create new ones, so
much so that the rights of people to go about their daily
lives – and sometimes even to earn a livelihood - are
severely affected. In this too, the media has played a key role in
presenting certain technologies as not only harmless but
also desirable.
• Lack of democratic checks and balances in use of ICTs: Sharing
and storing of information would not be risky in itself, if there
were effective checks and balances (on the users of the data, the
rules of appeal, the types of use, the timeframe etc) that governed
the manner in which information is accessed and (re)used. In
reality, these governance structures either do not exist or are not
adequately adapted to the digital era. This is especially valid for
countries in the South but is also relevant for more mature and
responsible democracies that ostensibly safeguard the
information collected as well as human rights. The intrinsic
international nature of ICTs requires at the same time a global
approach. This approach will be as challenging as any other
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
 mechanisms that need international consensus. The post-WSIS
mechanisms are most logically suited for this endeavour.
It is important to note the dynamic relationship between the
deployment of ICTs to control, monitor, and restrict, on the one
hand, and the burgeoning, hugely inventive usage of ICTs that
defies regulation, on the other. Increasing surveillance online and
growing sophistication of monitoring mechanisms can be seen, in
one sense, as an indication of the proliferation of internet users and
their high level of activity. Such a positive interpretation is valid,
but this silver lining comes with a dark cloud.
Conclusion
There has been a slow erosion of human rights resulting from the
introduction of technology, the commercialisation of data and the
emphasis on ‘security’. This erosion is reflected for example in the
loss of dignity and livelihoods of those at the margins of society, and
in the growing number of cyber dissidents. There is a real danger
when fear and insecurity dictate the deployment of a technology,
that the end result will be greater vulnerabilities, exclusion and
discrimination rather than more inclusion. ICTs, which have been
applauded for the empowerment of people through the
democratisation of information and freedom of expression, can lead
to further marginalisation of the marginalised. An inclusive
information society should be based on human rights, but even
that cannot be achieved in the absence of a more critical engagement
with technology, and recognition of the inter-linkages between
ICT-induced vulnerabilities in the North and South.

Note: Hivos’ Media, Information and Communication programme (MIC)
aims to empower citizens in development countries - especially the poor
and the marginalised and the organisations that support them - to express
their voices and make them heard. Hivos takes the view that access to
information and knowledge can improve the position of the poor. The
views expressed in this article reflect the opinions of the authors who would
like to acknowledge the inspiration and insights gained from Hivos’ partner
organisations, particularly CSDS/Sarai.

Pakistan: Online freedom of speech as collateral damage?

One year ago, on the 27th of February 2006, when the Danish The complex questions that enter the mind of anyone facing
cartoons controversy exploded, spawning waves of protest, anger similar situations in other countries are obvious. What can you
and misunderstanding; setting embassies, flags, streets and passions do, as a defender of online free speech, when your country, your
on fire, the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority (PTA), under fellow citizens–and maybe you –are insulted by those exercising
pressure from religious groups and on the orders of the Supreme freedom of speech? What kind of balance do you need to find in
Court, decided to ban the order to defend freedom of
popular blogging platform speech for everybody–even
Blogger. It was obvious that Freedom of Expression in Asian Cyberspace for those who published,
during the most caricatural republished or made the
chapter of that “clash of cartoons while unders-
ignorance”, almost everyone tanding the sentiments of
among the major actors was anger surrounding you?
overacting and overreacting. Figuring out where one ends
Nevertheless, seeing a and the other begins is not
government overblocking access an easy task in an
to millions of blogs hosted by environment where religious
blogspot.com just because 12 fervor is the norm.
websites were displaying the And yet, that was the
Danish cartoons, was surrealistic tricky path that the “Don’t
if not Kafkaesque. And what Block The Blog” (DBTB)
made the situation more Source: campaign found and has
unbelievable is that only one blog http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/02/23/pakistani_collateral_damage/ succeeded in navigating
out of the 12 was hosted at over the last year:
blogspot.com. defending the freedom of
Furthermore, that was not the speech and campaigning
only overblocking exercise undertaken by the Pakistani regime. for the right of everyone to express themselves, while containing
During the same period, on March 31st, and based on the same the overwhelming pressure coming from many who supported,
“moral” motivation of protecting religious sensitivities, the Pakistani openly, the ban of the deemed blasphemous blogs and websites.
Telecommunications Authority overblocked for several hours Sami Ben Gharbia , Global Voices Online
millions of Wikipedia pages. The justification: the cartoons had Source: http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/02/23/
been published on one single page. pakistani_collateral_damage/

March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net 17

 V IDEO AND H UMAN R IGHTS
Human rights pilot
video hub
Human Rights Video Hub Pilot is a joint collaboration between
WITNESS and Global Voices Online. WITNESS empowers people
and organisations all over the world to use video and other
technologies to promote and defend human rights.
This pilot is a first step towards a larger endeavor that WITNESS
is currently undertaking: the development of a Human Rights Video
Hub. This Hub will be a place where anyone anywhere can upload
human rights related footage video from handheld devices or
laptops, to create communities and proposed calls to action around
the abuses they witness.
Goals of the Video Hub
• Provide the only global online destination for video content
specifically related to human rights violations;
• Provide tools to educate people and motivate others to act to end
human rights violations and create community around issues;
• Provide a unique online resource for human rights activists,
citizens, journalists, and others to access information, resource
footage for news stories, and get engaged;
• Help deter and reduce human rights violations through
community-enabled advocacy using visual imagery as a force.
Structure and Functionality
The Video Hub will be organised into 3 main sections: See Video,
Upload Video, and Get Active.
The See Video section will allow the user to browse uploaded
videos from the community as well as from other human rights
groups collaborating to provide content. Users will be able to view
and search videos by ‘spotlight,’ ‘latest uploads,’ ‘highest community
ranked,’ ‘global themes,’ or by other parameters such as creator,
location, and user-defined tags. While watching the footage, users
can review the video, flag the video for offensive or inappropriate
material, and tag the video with keywords. Each video serves as a
launching pad to advocacy groups, discussions, and actions that
the user can take such as sending the video to a friend or posting the
video on a webpage.
18
WITNESS has announced a call for applications to participate
in the inaugural Video Advocacy Institute (VAI). The Video
Advocacy Institute, is their newest initiative and the first of its
kind, is an innovative program that will train human rights
defenders to successfully integrate video advocacy into their
social change campaigns. The VAI will be held in association
with Concordia University’s Communication Studies Program
and Documentary Centre.
When: July 15 – July 27, 2007, Where: Montreal, Canada
Application Deadline: March 25, 2007
http://r.vresp.com/?WITNESS/871a69512e/865703/
25362181a8/916612e
The Upload Video section of the site will contain online tools
that allow users to easily submit and share their videos whether
online or through a mobile device. The exact procedure and
technology used will need to be determined after further research.
Production manuals and uploading and security guidelines will
also be offered to the user as additional reference. Within this section,
users will have access to all their uploaded videos. They can track
the status of their videos, edit meta information, and submit new
videos for review.
The Get Active section of the site will empower the user with
access to online advocacy and community tools which include
advocacy groups to join or create. An advocacy group is a mini-
community based around a common interest. Each group has its
own discussions, video collections, member
lists, petitions or email campaigns, and
group updates. Users are free to engage in
discussions or activities without joining a
group. This section will also serve as an
educating component for access to a Video
Advocacy Tool Kit, an overview of human
rights, and research links.
The first step in the project is this
Human Rights Video Hub Pilot. The pilot is a curated forum that
contains a subset of the functionality of the Video Hub which will
be released in the summer of 2007. This pilot project will give a
better sense of the quality and quantity of Human Rights videos
already in existence, and level of public interest around them.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/-/human-rights-video/

Upasna Kakroo
upasna@csdms.in
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
 N EW M EDIA AND H UMAN R IGHTS

Celebrating the right

to articulate
The right of expression and speech is one of the most fundamental An alternate universe- Blogosphere
of human rights which has been curbed by many a countries and Technology has brought into the public arena conventions and
civilizations, though with the world moving forward through the practices of face-to-face communication that mass communications
World Wide Web people are finding alternative spaces and ways to had relegated to a ‘privat’ realm, expanding the reach and what is in
articulate, reach out and express, cutting through the distances and public. Blogs represent such a space wherein the public sphere is
boundaries resulting in a connected, albeit virtual, global village of enriched by people and communities by more conversations and
sorts. The distances are breaking down, not just as those arenas are more ways of recognising themselves and their lives in public
penetrated, but more importantly as the number of conversations discourse. Thinking of ‘spaces’, it represents a great innovation that
multiply and find their way into public media and wider circulation. came out of nowhere. Blogging is so popular in the world because
of the innovation that’s there.
Convergence of Media-online
The convergence of media and wider participation in Blog hopping - Voices Online
communication through the Internet is creating a global information Blogging has become a global phenomenon with the number of
revolution permeating through the world and bypassing efforts of blogs doubling after every 3 months worldwide. It is not only a
nearly all governments of the region to control the print and publishing medium but also a vibrant form of personal expression.
broadcast media. This information features more of everything: Here’s a peek into some virtual organisations which support the
media, especially transnational media, information, and erosion of innovation:
boundaries to communication sometimes erected by state Global Voices Online is a non-profit global citizens’ media project,
monopolies. It erodes attempts to limit public discourse to the sponsored by and launched from the Berkman Center for Internet
promotion of acceptable views. The real change due to convergence and Society at the Harvard Law School. A growing number of
of various media and the growth of the online media is not the bloggers around the world are emerging as ‘bridge bloggers’: people
emergence of alternative voices in public media, but probably their who are talking about their country or region to a global audience.
sheer variety. Global Voices is the guide to the most interesting conversations,
The Internet is a global phenomenon, but with a distinct regional information, and ideas appearing around the world on various forms
profile. Part of the reason for its growth is that the technology is of participatory media such as blogs, podcasts, photo sharing sites,
readily available and largely off-the-shelf, with the costs low. and videoblogs.
Generally for ‘end’ users, the cost of equipment and connections, A global team of regional blogger-editors is works to find,
limited infrastructure, and aggregate and track these
the overwhelming English conversations. Each day they link
language medium have kept to 5-10 of the most interesting blog
the Internet beyond reach. Sometimes I wonder about my life. I posts from their regions in the ‘daily
But now with more and more roundups’ section. A larger group
usage of language interfaces lead a small life. Well, not small, but of contributing bloggers is posting
the Internet penetration rates are daily features in the left-hand
going up. valuable. And sometimes I wonder, do Weblog section, shedding light on
Technologies from cassette what blogging communities in
recording to satellite TV to the
I do it because I like it, or because I
their countries have been talking
Internet have accelerated haven’t been brave? I don’t really want about recently.
communication, bypassed At a time when the international
gatekeepers, reduced the social an answer. I just want to send this English-language media ignores
distance between sender and many things that are important to
receiver, segmented markets, and cosmic question out into the void... large numbers of the world’s
given voice and place to special, citizens, Global Voices aims to
even to passing, interests.
Kathleen Kelly- You’ve Got Mail redress some of the inequities in

March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net 19

media attention by leveraging the power of citizens’ media. The
main aims of the organisation are:
1) To call attention to the most interesting conversations and
perspectives emerging from citizens’ media around the world by
linking to text, audio, and video blogs and other forms of
grassroots citizens’ media being produced by people around the
world.
2) To facilitate the emergence of new citizens’ voices through training,
online tutorials, and publicising the ways in which open-source
and free tools can be used safely by people around the world to
express themselves.
3) To advocate for freedom of expression around the world and to
protect the rights of citizen journalists to report on events and
opinions without fear of censorship or persecution.
Media Bloggers Association is a non-partisan organisation
dedicated to pro-
moting, protecting and
educating its members;
supporting the
development of
‘blogging’ or ‘citizen
journalism’ as a distinct
form of media; and
helping to extend the
power of the press, with
all the rights and
responsibilities that
entails, to every citizen.
Its mission as follows:
• Promoting its members by
advancing the grassroots media
movement generally, showcasing
exemplary instances of media
blogging and citizen journalism.
• Protecting members by defending
the rights of bloggers, providing
first-line legal advice to members.
• Educating its members through mutual support and robust
internal discussion, by partnering with organizations dedicated
to education in the area of technology, methods and standards.
It celebrates diversity of experience, purpose and opinion. The
members include veteran and newly minted bloggers, seasoned
journalists and those who don’t consider themselves journalists,
political conservatives, moderates and liberals. People join the
association for various reasons: to promote freedom of expression in
cyberspace, for mutual support, education, training, legal support,
collegiality, greater visibility for their efforts.
Blogging for Human Rights
Human Rights Watch has been committed to upholding the right
to free expression since its beginnings in the 1970s. It is dedicated
to protecting the human rights of people around the world. It is an
independent, nongovernmental organisation, supported by
contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide
In recognition of the power of blogs Human Rights Watch has
encouraged them as they have created an enormous opportunity
20
for disseminating information about, and ending human rights
abuses around the world. A blogger can stand with the victims and
activists to prevent discrimination uphold political freedom, protect
people from inhumane treatment in wartime, and campaign to
bring offenders to justice. Human rights violations can be exposed
and abusers can be held accountable. Governments and those who
hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human
rights law can be held responsible. Public and the international
community to support the cause of human rights for all are enlisted.
The works feature help to put a human face on threats to individual
freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of the human spirit
and intellect to prevail. It seeks to empower everyone with the
knowledge that personal commitment can make a very real
difference.
The individual presences of various communities and people
collectively through different
media has constituted
a new community of
communication across
countries, open to more
participants, and interactive in
a way that traditional
broadcasting has not been. At
its best, blogging is all about
change. The
format suits
writers who
want to move
fast. The blog
world has been
evolving on a
grand scale and
here’s hoping it
continues to
grow so!
Challenges and the future ahead
The creation of these alternative spaces has also meant that a lot of
issues have also come into play. With the freedom of expression, a
certain dilemma comes into play with respect to content control,
privacy protection, education, moral and cultural values,
multilingualism and cultural diversity, youth, common heritage of
mankind – knowledge and information on the Internet. A quandary
as to whether or not there should be an organisation to administer
is still to be resolved.
Several approaches have been taken to defining the scope of
such Internet governance. The narrow approach focuses on issues
concerned with the technical infrastructure of the Internet
(infrastructure and standardisation). The broad approach adds policy
issues. While on one end a platform has been set apart for people to
express themselves, there is also an apprehension that the control of
such a platform may be controlled by a select few. Whether or not
a decree will be arrived at is a matter of contention, but it is also true
at a technology like this will go a long way to promote the freedom
of expression.

Upasna Kakroo, upasna@csdms.in
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3

VIEWPOINT
ICT AND H UMAN R IGHTS
Building an ICT vision
for human rights
What is human right? – The question is
probably relevant, but not so expected to
be thrown to a community which is tech-
savvy, which talks about our cyber rights,
wrongs, laws and flaws frequently. Probably
many of us know about the human rights,
but many of us don’t. But we have Internet
in hand that can provide us the ‘A to Z’
about any theme including the theme like
‘human right’. In this article, an attempt
has been made to highlight some issues
where ICTs could not intervene so far to
protect the human rights in their true sense
and also some facts are discussed to show
the gap between the theoretical aspects and
practical aspects in the protection of human
rights with special reference to India.
Gaps between theory and
practice
On December 10, 1948 the General
Assembly of the United Nations adopted
and proclaimed the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. There is no need to go to
the details on that Declaration. Because, ICT
has provided the access to the information
about the Declaration in details. In fact,
many of the theoretical aspects are available
with the community who have access to
Internet. But, these information are not
available with the people who are the victims
of ‘digital divide’. Some examples are here.
The rational and socially enlightened
citizens know that getting basic needs is a
part of human rights. So, each of us in the
world has the right for food, shelter and
clothes. But, unfortunately, almost half of
the world still lives on less than two dollars a
day, around 790 million people in the
developing world are still chronically
undernourished, almost two-thirds of
whom reside in Asia and the Pacific. Apart
from the shelter less poor people of all corners
of the globe, there is a floating population
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
being added to the number of shelter less
people each year due to natural and man-
made disasters. There are lots of people in
the world, to whom clothes are for their
survivals only and education is a luxury!
Nearly a billion people are unable to read a
book or sign their names.
In this world, to these numerous
underprivileged people surrounding, who
have no idea about ‘human rights’, no single
initiative could assure them to get their
‘rights’ as ‘human being’, providing a proper
channel to convey their problems or
complaints. It’s very unfortunate that many
people of this ICT age prefer to ‘sympathise’
the underprivileged for being
‘underprivileged’ rather than being
‘ashamed’ for their situation.
Commission for Social Development, a
functional commission of the Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United
Nations, in its Thirty-sixth session, accepted
that the development debate has ignored
the fact that poverty tends to be
characterised not only by material
insufficiency but also by denial of rights. It
also emphasized on a rights-based approach
to development. If a nation can ensure
essential political, economic and social
entitlements and human dignity for all
citizens, it will be definitely able to provide
the rationale for policy.
Looking at India
In India, National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) observed starvation
deaths reported from some pockets of the
country which are invariably the
consequence of mis-governance, they are of
direct concern to the Commission under the
provisions of the Protection of Human Rights
Act, 1993. The Commission approved the
constitution of a Core Group on Right to
Food, that can advise on issues referred to it
and also suggest appropriate programmes,
which can be undertaken by the
Commission. But I am not sure so far,
whether there is any thought for setting up
any approachable and accessible common
platform within the community, where the
starving people can claim their ‘food’ for
survival.
In order to curb the practice of child
marriage in India, the Commission
recommended to the Department of
Women & Child Development a number
of amendments to the Child Marriage
Restraint Act, 1929 in July 2002. In
pursuance of these recommendations, the
Legislative Department, Ministry of Law &
Justice introduced a Bill entitled the
Prevention of Child Marriage Bill, 2004 in
the Rajya Sabha in 2004, incorporating
almost all the recommendations of the
Commission. Recommendations are there,
laws are there, but are the people ready to
follow that law? No, I have not found so.
Just visit some interior villages of Haryana
or Rajasthan States in India, you should not
be surprised to see married girls of 14-15
years or even younger, some with kids also!!
And another surprise may also be waiting
for you – her girl child of 3-6 months is
already married with some boy of 5-6 years
old and waiting for maturity to go to her in-
law house!! Because child marriage is not
only associated with lack of education and
awareness, but also closely associated with
gender imbalance, dowry system, lack of
family planning and also caste and
community based matrimonial restrictions.
Which human right will prevent these
chains of problems? They need social
awareness, social education, but who will
provide that?
The NHRC has been deeply concerned
about the employment of child labour in
the country as it leads to denial of the basic
21
human rights of children guaranteed by the Constitution and the
International Covenants. But how much effective such right might
be in a country like India, where poor people are encouraged to
remain ‘poor’ for the sake of spreading ‘compassion’ by the so-called
democratic leaders, who are keen to keep their vote bank strong by
means of donation in the form of clothes and food, or may be a
computer kiosk (which may not work due to lack of electricity) just
before the election!! Children can’t go to school with the assurance
of a ‘mid day meal’ only, they need food for the remaining part of
the day also, but how to fetch it without labour or begging? Could
the Commission ever show the way?
‘Health’ – which must be a big issue of human right. But is it
available in the rural India so far? I may give you a first hand example
about the health centre in a rural part of India. There was a young
doctor (MD, Medicine by qualification) posted in a rural hospital
where there was no electricity connection, therefore no storage facility
for medicines, no telephone for contacting nearby hospitals or so.
The doctor had to take care of critical cases of maternal delivery,
snake bite etc without a single bottle of blood and with a full risk of
his own life as the relatives of the patients all kept waiting outside
the operation theatre to get the report about the patient, and there
was no other hospital within 5 kilometres range!! I met the doctor,
could understand his helpless situation with all knowledge, but no
infrastructure to utilise his knowledge. Now I can understand very
well why the doctors prefer to practice in private hospitals after
completing their degree rather than going to serve the rural areas.
The rural people have the right to have good health, but in a
‘wrong’ manner they are being provided that right!!
Euro-India ICT Research
Collaboration Workshops
The Euro-India ICT Co-operation Initiative (http://
www.euroindia-it.org/) is organising Workshops in Kanpur and
Chennai offering Indians an opportunity to understand how to
collaborate with European entities on competitive Information
& Communication Technologies (ICT) projects funded by the
European Union and inform them how to get involved in
European funded projects.
India is already recognised as an ICT powerhouse in the global
marketplace, here is an ever-important opportunity to open the
doors to the international arena of research and innovation. The
workshops will allow participants to have a comprehensive
understanding the new Framework Programme 7 (2007 – 2013),
covering ICT domains, the international cooperation objectives,
instruments and funds to engage in research projects alongside
European partners.
Experienced European Experts will share their know-how and
explain the inner workings of EU-funded research projects which
will serve as practical examples on how to get involved in
international research projects. An open Q&A and Networking
opportunity will be available to consult the panel experts.
Participation is FREE!
To register for Kanpur go to http://www.euroindia-it.org/
To register for Chennai go to http://www.euroindia-it.org/
contact info@euroindia-it.org
22
ICT – a myth or reality?
In the developing nations like India, where ICT can not pave the
way for human rights, holding the hand of computer only, ICT
can bring some changes in terms of changing the level of awareness
with the help of more simple equipments like community radio.
Radio is till now a most popular and well-spread media in the
countryside. With the latest initiatives towards community radio,
initiatives must be taken by the organisations, working with and
within community, to spread the awareness regarding the human
rights and the way to keep their rights maintained. Knowledge can
generate information and that information must be shared among
the community who can make use of it.
United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan once said, “The
right to development is the measure of the respect of all other
human rights. That should be our aim: a situation in which all
individuals are enabled to maximise their potential, and to contribute
to the evolution of society as a whole.” We must think of creating
that situation, not to sympathise those who are still struggling to
get their rights, but to encourage them to step forward to claim
their rights, holding hand in hand.

Saswati Paik
M.Phil (JNU)
Individual researcher,
Bangalore, India
Saswati.paik@gmail.com
India-vehicle tracking
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combination of proven technologies includes: GPS
(Global Positioning System), GSM & GPRS (via Cellular
Technology) and easy-to-use, web-based location mapping
software developed by the company.
vTRACK users can track vehicles day or night via the vTRACK
web site. Users can locate a vehicle’s present position, see the
vehicle’s historical path, and monitor its speed and direction. The
vTRACK user can be notified of excessive speeds, vehicle leaving
constraint regions or reaching specific locations via SMS to their
given mobile numbers. Users can view numerous print-ready
reports which can be saved by them as files in the computer for
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i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
 India's Premier ICT4D event

30 July - 03 August, 2007

Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India
www.eINDIA.net.in

eINDIA2007 unites seven specialised conferences and exhibitions

ommun ty
Rad o

While India has made huge strides
and has been a key player in the
Information technology revolution,
vast digital divide still exists that
inhibits a sustained all-inclusive
growth for the society. India is bracing
itself to catalyse the potential of ICTs
in all spheres of development and
creating opportunities for private
investment and initiatives to
supplement its development. In this
immense growth environment, there
is also a need for strategic planning,
knowledge sharing and collaborative
vision building between the
government and the private sector to
leverage the country’s growth
potential and steer the country to lead
the knowledge revolution.
eINDIA 2007 is an inclusive,
consultative and constructive ICT for
Development forum – the largest and
only one of its kind in India –
promoting and propagating the use of
ICT4D through its seven seminal
conferences. Through its seven
different but interrelated conferences
namely,
● egovIndia2007,
● Digital Learning India 2007,
● Indian Telecentre Forum 2007,
● eHealth India 2007,
● mServe India 2007,
● Community Radio India 2007 and
● eAgriculture India 2007
the conference will address the issues
of digital divide and identify and
explore opportunities for Digital
India.
The National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is a comprehensive
programme designed to leverage the capabilities of ICT to promote good governance across the country. The Indian economy is growing at a
INDIA steady rate of 8-9%. For this growth to be sustainable there is a need to increase efficacy of business processes especially those directly
2007 controlled by the government. The eGov track of the eIndia2007 aims to bring together key stakeholders to forge the path to good governance
for citizens and businesses in India, ensuring cross-pollination of information & knowledge across socio-economic and geographic
boundaries.
India is trying to achieve the 'Education for All' goal in one hand and investing in building infrastructure and initiating programmes to build a
INDIAworld class human resource capacity on the other. The National Knowledge Commission has emphasised the need for extensive use of ICTs for
2007 research, collaboration and university networking for building ICT skills, sharing education resources and reaching the un-reached in higher
education though distance learning. Digital Learning India 2007 will take on the existing debates and provide a platform for all stakeholders to
deliberate on the issues of enabling and strengthening capacities to achieve the national goals of education.
With the launch of a national programme, 100,000 Community Service Centres, the Indian telecentre movement is at a vibrant stage of
development, with the key stakeholders representing government, private sector and civil society besides donors being engaged in
INDIA fulfilling the aspirations of the grassroots community to join the knowledge economy. Second year in the series of annual consultations,
2007 the Indian Telecentre Forum 2007 will provide the platform to take stock of what has happened. The Forum will shape the way forward for
the telecentre movement within India, and for creating an example for the world to learn from.
Telemedicine has been a technological takeaway for the developed countries. Defined as the use of communication networks for the
exchange healthcare information to enable clinical care, it is increasingly being viewed as a tool for improving care and enhancing access
INDIA to healthcare. Telemedicine helps to connect remote rural hospitals/health centres to super specialty hospitals located in the cities and
2007 helps patients in remote and rural areas to avail timely consultations from specialist doctors without the ordeal of travelling. eHealth India
2007 will deliberate on such initiatives and many other excellent though scattered efforts in this field and bring it together to form a conduit
of critical information.
The Indian telecom sector after liberalisation has shown tremendous growth with its growth rate being one of the highest in the world. The
mobile phones apart from bringing in the aspect of mobility in connectivity have an inherent ease in terms of usage unlike computer-based
INDIA connectivity, which requires people to be literate and e-Literate at the same time. In a nation plagued by connectivity lapses, mobile
technology may well emerge as the key to bridging the digital divide. mServe India 2007 will showcase the immense potential of mobile
2007
technology in the implementation of existing and future m-Government, m-education, m-agriculture and other applications.
Amongst all the broadcasting media in India radio has the highest penetration and thus
makes it the media which can reach the rural and remote areas servicing even the
unlettered and illiterates. Realising its potential in November 2006, after seven long years
INDIA
ommun ty of lobbying by groups like the Community Radio Forum, that the government finally
2007 accepted to make changes in the Community Radio Policy, to allow community based
Rad o
groups to set up their own radio stations. Community Radio India 2007 will bring together
key stakeholders on a common platform to take the community radio movement in India to
the next level.
e-Agriculture India 2007 will explore the opportunities of how ICTs can be used to improve the lives of the rural communities. Timely
information on weather, disasters, improved agricultural practices, commodity prices and market information would greatly benefit
farmers directly to minimize the risks and provide opportunities for enhanced incomes while cutting out high debt servicing costs, and
INDIA
taking informed decisions. The impact is felt directly with improved incomes and savings, access to services and valuable connections
2007
with stakeholders. The Universities, policy makers, industry leaders, development specialists and NGOs working for the farmers’ interests
would explore the current developments and scalability of experiments.
www.eINDiA.net.in
 i4d Film Festival
“A picture speaks a thousand words”… The audio-visual
medium is obviously an extremely powerful tool that can change
the way global dialogues take place.
The first attempt of its kind in this arena, CSDMS will bring
together over 50 films at the upcoming eIndia2007 forum. The
features, long and short, will be gathered from around the world
through the well-established networks that we already foster.
Grassroots representation from not only India but around the
world in the various cinematic forms will constitute the world's
first ICT4D film festival. The film festival will cater to all sections
of the ICT4D domain.
Interested persons are requested to visit our website at
http://www.eINDIA.net.in/films to download the application
form and guidelines. All submissions will be reviewed
by the festival committee. Please be advised that we do not
return VHS tapes or DVDs. We will contact those film-makers
whose films/videos are accepted to participate in the
festival.
For any further enquires, please contact Sulakshana
Bhattacharya at sulakshana@eINDIA.net.in
or call at +91 98119 25253.

Call for Proposals for Special Sessions/

Workshops@eINDIA2007
CSDMS would like to invite you to co-host a
session/workshop under the umbrella of eINDiA2007
Criteria for Participation
● The activities of the co-hosted sessions/workshops should
have direct links with one of the seven tracks under the
eINDiA2007 banner (i.e e-Governance, digital Learning,
eHealth, Telecentres, m-services, Community Radio and
e-Agriculture)
● The responsibility of the content and conduct of the
session will remain with the organisers of the session
● The submitting organisation must have a proven track
record in delivering major impact on ICT4D issues.
The following entities can submit proposals for co-hosted
sessions/workshops:
● Government Agencies
● International Inter-governmental Organisations
● Bilateral & Multilateral Development Agencies
● NGOs/Civil Society Organisations
How to submit a request
Any organization interested in co-hosting an event must
submit a request at sulakshana@eINDIA.net.in attaching a
detailed description of the proposed event, including its
thematic focus and the planned speakers/presenters.

Past Sponsors and Exhibitors

®
empowering education... enabling careers

Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS),

G-4, Sector - 39, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301
Phones: +91-120-2502180-85 Fax: 91-120-2500060

For any information/enquiry contact

Sulakshana Bhattacharya Tel: +91-9811925253
email: sulakshana@eINDIA.net.in
www.eINDIA.net.in

RENDEZVOUS
T HE A SIAN T ELECENTRE F ORUM 2007, 6-8 F EBRUARY , 2007, M ALAYSIA
Malaysian experiences
Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, Minister of Energy Water and Communications, Malaysia inaugurates the e-ASiA conference by beating the gong
The Centre for Science, Development and
Media Studies (CSDMS) organised egov
Asia 2007 from 6-8 February 2007 at
Putrajaya in Malaysia. The conference was
fourth in the series of e-Government con-
ferences, following those in India in 2005,
Thailand in 2006, and again in India in
2006. A part of the 3-day Asian ICT
conference and exhibition eASiA 2007, the
conference was hosted by the Ministry of
Water, Energy and Communications
(MEWC) along with the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC). The event, which
was inaugurated by Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Keng
Yaik, Malaysia’s Minister of Energy, Water
and Communications, comprised of five
thematic ICT conferences - egov Asia, Digital
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
Learning Asia, e-Health Asia, mServe Asia,
and Asian Telecentre Forum. The e-
Government track of the event ‘egov Asia
2007’ offered a high-level cooperation
platform for delegates from various countries
to conduct and initiate consultative
dialogue, strategic planning, knowledge
networking and business partnering, along
with seminal discussions on opportunities
and challenges in leveraging ICT for
improving government services.
The event received endorsement of
several international organisations such as
Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation (SDC), Switzerland;
Commonwealth Secretariat, UK;
Commission on ICT, Philippines; Global
Knowledge Partnership (GKP), Malaysia;
ASiA
2007
Telecentre.org (IDRC), Canada; USAID,
India; South East Asian Ministers of
Education Organisation (SEAMEO),
Thailand; The Asia Foundation, USA;
Bellanet, Canada; National University of
Singapore (NUS); ICT Agency, Sri Lanka;
and many other institutions of repute.
Microsoft and Nokia participated as
premium sponsors.
The conference saw the participation of
more than 300 delegates, representing
various key policy makers from government
departments, multilateral and bilateral
agencies, academic institutions, NGOs and
the IT industry. The conference brought
together different stakeholders on one
platform through keynotes, papers, special
workshops and exhibition, and provided an
27
 From left to right: Walter Fust, Director, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); Rwakyera James, ICT liaisons officer, ricnet, uganda; Bimal
Pratap Shah, National Information Technology centre, Nepal; R Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology, Government of India
opportunity to interface with private sector
players, practitioners, government
executives, decision makers and experts.
Sessions and Exhibition
The conference was structured into plenary
sessions and main sessions. As a part of the
overall eAsia themes, the telecentre track took
prominence due to the importance of
provision of community access to services in
an increasingly knowledge driven global
economy. In the next two-day of the
conference, the participants tried to learn
about experiences that have enabled change
conducive to the new environment of
telecentres as the instruments to bridge the
knowledge divide.
The sessions began with a visioning
process setting the stage for the participants
to learn, share, network and identify
collaborators. While infrastructure is critical,
going beyond it and looking at content,
looking at bottom-up need based services
were identified for national programmes,
keeping in mind the importance of
convergence.
The forum participants learnt about
national level ecosystem of telecentres
Exhibition
28
development, movement and plans in eight
countries. The objective of these sessions were
to explore how countries in South Asia
compared to countries in South-East Asia
in terms of content focus, collaborations,
social inclusion aspects, entrepreneurships
etc. The session reflected on the
commonalities, challenges and
opportunities and the role of multi-
stakeholder partnerships, addressing not
only economic but also social sustainability
issues.
The group then learnt of several grassroot
experiences from Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Hungary and Uganda, ranging from
community led, community driven models
to entrepreneur driven projects to collective
projects all aimed at fulfilling the rural
information and knowledge needs of the
community.
The participants also pointed out that
there was a need to go beyond short-term
projects to long-term goals at the national
level. Micro finance provides an opportunity
to fill the identified needs especially with
respect to building and sustaining telecentres
as a livelihood for the rural entrepreneur and
hence there was a need to build linkages of
the telecentre programmes with other
national programmes like rural development
and microfinance programme.
Several case-study discussions from
countries revealed that there was a need to
‘expect the unexpected’ in outcomes of
telecentre initiatives. Initiatives, which may
be similar, may pose unique challenges in
different local situations and even present
different outcomes. What was more
interesting, as the discussions revealed, local
technology adoptions often induced local
technology innovations be it low cost
communication facilities or innovative
solutions to power supply to run the
telecentres. As it also emerged, ‘evidently
functional technologies’ cannot be applied
universally as there might constraints of
terrain and current connectivity status.
The issue of ownership of telecentres was
also discussed. Participants insisted that the
ownership issues needs to be clarified and
pre-defined as evident from the Indian
Community Service Centre (CSC)
programme and the Malaysian programme
where the government helped to handhold
for a defined number of years, either the
community or the social entrepreneur, then
the community or the entrepreneur takes
over. Thus the ownership is fundamentally
clear which also works positively toward
building sustainability in the telecentres.
Impact assessment tools as a way to
measure the real impact of telecentres was
also discussed. While different projects had
come up with different quantitative and
qualitative ways to measure the impacts of
telecentres that included indicators like the
number of centres, new innovations and
network mesh connectivity, additional
benefits and impacts like computer training
programmes, job placements services etc
were in need of more substantial evaluation
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3

Mapping the future
mechanisms to appraise their real benefit to
the community. In addition as the
participants indicated there was a need for
evaluation capacity building among the
practitioners to be able to integrate such
mechanisms within the project itself.
UNESCO uses action research as an
evaluation mechanism in all its major
initiatives, this could be a very useful method
that can be designed as a part of the project
to avoid repetitive research. As it also
emerged, pre-project mapping of the
community information needs is also a
necessary prerequisite for a successful
telecentre programme.
The discussions revealed that there was
a need for building adequate human
resource capital. A new proposal to pool
existing knowledge and resources in capacity
building through a World Telecentre
Academy was discussed and collaborative
planning was shared. This session, led by
the telecentre.org.
Currently several national programmes
are focused at the provision of universal
coverage of broadband connectivity. With
such access improvement that can lower the
cost of operation, smaller project
implementers would need to worry less
about technology and access issues. Again
with the coming on board of mobile
technology, information access is also
becoming easier and even beyond the
physical existence of telecentres. In fact as
some of the participants demonstrated in
the ‘way forward for telecentre’ session, that
was led by Mark Surman of telecentre.org,
telecentre as a physical identify may become
redundant as a resultant shift from ‘access to
information’ to ‘information at your
doorstep’!
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
‘Dynamism and innovation in product
and services’ was epitomised as the key to
the success of telecentres along with
adoptability of services to local needs. This
reinstated the fact that ‘content is’ still ‘the
king’. The emphasis was also on not to
‘rediscover solutions’ but to invest in
building partnerships and network of
stakeholders as a means to collaborate and
share content and also adopt solutions
developed elsewhere to suit local needs.
The participants (and several others who
could not participate) continue to dialogue,
share and find answers to their challenges
and issues in the discussion list set up to
provide an ongoing dialogue space
www.dgroups.org/groups/ATF2007.
Members can write to atf2007@dgroups.org
Recommendations
The Asian Telecentre Forum 2007 was co-
organised with telecentre.org, and was
planned as a highly interactive, learning and
collaborative forum. The practitioners drawn
from international spectrum of networks
Participants attending the session
brought together a vision for moving ahead
of the pilots and reflecting on national level
initiatives primarily drawn by various
governments and incorporating an up-
scaling vision. This called for a strategic focus
on three key aspects: promoting multi-
stakeholder partnerships promoting public-
private-entrepreneur models, focusing on
locally relevant and inter-operable content,
and building the community ownership by
engaging the youth and existing knowledge
base among the civil society organisations.
The need to go beyond infrastructure
emerged as the key to promoting successful
business models.
Several new linkages and collaborations
emerged. The participants learnt also from
experts on how to collectively address the
capacity building needs that was identified
as single most challenging task, in view of
the huge programmes that various
governments were planning in the coming
years.
Some of the most exciting and inspiring
stories that were shared included, Virtual
village in Sri Lanka; Agribazaar programme
by Mimos, Malaysia; Telecentre Association
and IS Mentor program in Hungary;
Building up telecentre training programs;
sharing of the eight national telecentre
networks activities; and Low Cost Video
Conferencing, India.
Several new partnerships and follow ups
emerged during the forum: A grassroots
telecentre knowledge conference at Bario in
East Malaysia was announced. Hungary and
Bangladesh telecentre collaboration MoU
was crystallised. Malaysia, Egypt, Sri Lanka
projects to work together to market SME
products via telecentres. Telecentre
29

networking in Indonesia and Philippines
were worked out. A committee worked
during the conference to conceptualise the
World Telecentre Academy to address the
capacity building needs. Upcoming activities
of telecentre.org around the GKIII were
announced.
The participants besides sharing case
studies experiences and innovations also
spent a session on visualizing what telecentres
would look like in 2015. Workshop groups
came up with a visual representation of a
robust and mature telecentre where services
and satisfaction were the key, and these
would be locally relevant and community
mServe Asia 2007
mServe Asia 2007 was a new thematic track
being organised in association with Mobile
Monday (Malaysian Chapter) as a lead
partner. The objective of this conference was
to discuss the development perspectives in
the context of emerging mobile
technologies. Amongst various Information
and Communication Technologies (ICTs),
the mobile sector has shown tremendous
growth worldwide in recent time. The
mobile sector in developing countries has
grown considerably against fixed lines over
the last few years, resulting in huge cost
reductions. However, the growth has been
lopsided and the mobile revolution has
been limited to urban areas primarily. The
rural areas have remained untouched and
in nations plagued by connectivity lapses,
mobile technology may well emerge as the
key to bridging the digital divide.
The forum recommended that mServe
practices involve the operators, the service
providers, regulators and the bodies looking
into security, legal and ethical issues and
30
Ashish Sanyal, DIT India, chairing a session
owned. Some felt that there will be mobile
services and advanced technologies that will
be integrated, and new livelihoods
opportunities created. Still others felt that
telecentres would become redundant,
leading to telepathic centres, where
knowledge would flow freely. The
participants committed to continue the
dialogue to a more mature community of
practice in the discussion list after returning.
The overall satisfaction level from a feedback
survey was 8.5 on a scale of 10.

Rumi Mallick, Byju Kurian
and Jayalakshmi Chittoor
ASiA
2007
representation from all these sectors. The
participants lauded the creation of this
forum as a community, and recommended
that regular consultations should follow. The
forum also recommended that the organizers
create a platform for extended knowledge
sharing, like a magazine/portal/web space.
It could help build relationships between
the various possible partners/organisations.
The forum also requested for more research
and case studies from more countries in
future consultations. More interactions
between developed countries and
developing countries could help to leapfrog
the learning curve.
- Upasna Kakroo
DELEGATES’
FEEDBACK
It seems many of the audience interested on
our private sector
initiative and sustainable model bottom up
that was adopted for the
non-profit telecentre environment. It seems
that if you give us a chance to speak again in
the next Telecentre forum, I would like to
address our business model that was
adopted for both profit and nonprofit social
entrepreneur.
- Rudi Rusdiah
Egypt
Surely, the private sector and civil society
should be facilitated to fill the gaps that they
can detect where there’s sufficient revenue
to make it possible for them to do so, but we
shouldn’t let this stand in the way of
additional models where the need may
greater but where the market fails to deliver.
- Roger Harris
Hong Kong
It was a pleasure for myself and the
organization I represent (Bellanet
and SAP International) to be a part of the
telecentre forum. It was
indeed an opportunity to learn, share and
develop partnership. I thank
the the organizers for having accomplished
the commendable work of
managing such a successful event.
- Bibhusan Bista
Nepal
I think what we are talking of here in
development parlance is inclusive
growth and for that to happen, all forms of
marginalised groups must
benefit. However when resources are scarce
there must be some
prioritisation and therefore larger allocation in
the rural contexts in
most countries.
- Bhaskar Mittra
India
I enjoyed the conference and my KL tour
immensely. Congratulations to the
whole team.
- Maria Teresa Camba
Philippines
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
Vol. V No. 3 March 2007
Information for development
www.i4donline.net

Agriculture
Biofuel: Source to power
base stations in rural India
Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular,
Ericsson and the GSMA’s Development
Fund have joined together to develop
biofuels as a source of power for wireless
network in rural India.
These organisations will use biofuels to
power mobile base stations and the pilot
project will come in Pune, Maharashtra. In
the first phase of the project will
incorporate the testing the feasibility of
non-edible plant based fuels like cotton and
jatropha. The second of the project will
involve setting up a supply chain using
locally grown crops to produce biodiesel to
power between 5-10 base stations across
the state. Biofuels will help to further
extend mobile coverage into these areas
bringing major economic and social
benefits to rural communities. The GSMA’s
Development Fund is set up to catalyse the
role of mobile technology in social,
economic and environmental development.
According to Mats Granryd, managing
director, Ericsson India, this initiative step
will also involve local communities in the
wireless revolution and taking the benefits
of technology to the masses.
www.cxotoday.com

Community radio
FM ‘Awaaz Apki Prayas
Hamara’
AID, West Bengal (WB) (India) based NGO
has launched the Nagpuri community radio
programme, Awaaz Apki Prayas Hamara’
in All India Radio (AIR) FM channel.
The programme, ‘Awaaz Apki Prayas
Hamara’ will deal with urban poverty and
other issues faced by slum and street
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
dwellers, tribals, rickshaw pullers and
migrants. The programme would be
broadcasted in Ho, Santhali, Bengali and
Mundari languages. According to Shiv
Sharan Choudhary, liaison officer of AID,
the community radio reaches up to 80
percent of the rural and urban areas. These
programmes are conceived, developed and
managed by the poor and addresses their
real issues and sufferings.
www.telegraphindia.com
rce
e-C
om
me


eCommerce
Send money though
mobile phones
Now millions of migrant workers can send
their money through their mobile phones.
A global association of mobile operators has
launched a programme, mobile money
transfer (MMT) in association with
MasterCard to allow workers to send money
through mobile phones.
More than 19 mobile operators are
involved in the global money transfer project
with networks in over 100 countries. Mobile
operators like Philippines’ Smart and India’s
Bharti Airtel are making partnership with
banks at local or regional level to provide
this service. While the GSM Association is
planning to set up the global money transfer
project worldwide in association with Master
Card, which will provide international
authorisation, clearing and settlement.
news.bbc.co.uk

eGovernance egov
eGovernance10
commandments of Indian e-
Governance comes in CSI’s
eGov-2007
The two-day National conference of the
Computer Society of India (CSI),
‘eGov-2007’ on ‘Redefining Governance
through IT’ has been concluded with
10 commandments on e-Governance
in India.
CSI has hosted the conference and
Government of India, Government of UP,
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
(IIT-K), IBM, Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS), Oracle and National Informatics
Centre (NIC) are active partners of the
conference. The CSI Lucknow chairman
and principal consultant, Tata
Consultancy Services (TCS), Jayant
Krishna has given 10 commandments of
e-Governance in India. The declaration
states that e-Governance projects need a
proper ‘Management of Change’ entailing
an internal communication programme,
securing stakeholders’ mandate, re-
tooling and training since most e-
Governance projects fail due to people and
few due to technology. The commitment
of top management of the government
organisation is an essential pre-requisite
for e-Governance programmes to be
successful. e-Governance stakeholders
should explore implementation of
packaged solutions like Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) products,
workflow systems etc rather than bespoke
solutions since products have a long-term
future roadmap and correspond to the
optimised processes and global best
practices. Procurement of e-Governance
solutions and services from the vendor
community should be based on quality
and not on lowest cost.
www.hindustantimes.com
Defence Ministry launches
online auction website in UK
The Ministry of Defence has launched an
online auction website, which allows the
public of UK to bid for surplus
Government equipment including Green
Goddess fire-trucks.
31
The i4d News

infrastructure and a multilingual contact

India’s first radio on disaster centre. Government is providing high-
bandwidth communications network,

management launches which will make easy for citizens to

communicate with the council.
India’s first community radio on disaster management The Access Glasgow will make easy for
was launched on February 23, 2007 in Nagapattinam 600,000 citizens to communicate with the
district of Tamil Nadu. Group of NGOs like Caritas India, council. The network upgrade will deliver a
UN agencies and involvement of Government has turned citywide communications platform to
the lives of citizens of coastal regions. integrate data, voice and video to support
The station would be operated from front-line applications including online
Vizhundhamavadi, a village in the district. The radio consultation and planning, tax collection
station became active due to the financial aid from United and benefit. Cisco Unified
http://img.alibaba.com/photo/51023680
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to Dhan Cordless_Headphone_with_FM_Radio Communications System will deliver IP
Foundation, based in Madurai and involvement of local telephony services to council staff and a
people. UNDP has already trained local youngsters as radio volunteers. The radio station will multi-lingual contact centre.
work, as a warning system and it will give information to the local communities about www.computing.co.uk
disasters. A studio for the radio station has been set up at Vizhundhamavadi, where from
initially the daily broadcast will be for about half-an-hour, and later it will go up to an hour.
www.theindiancatholic.com

Health
Philippines Government
The Disposal Sales Agency has course for students. The portal will work launches e-Nutrition project
extended its existing website to include an on the lines of operating system Linux,
Philippines Government has established
on-line auction. Customers can bid and pay where students and teachers can
the Philippine Knowledge Centre on Food
for ex-Government items online. Even contribute matter on topics. It functions
and Nutrition or e-Nutrition to improve the
they can bid through the website for items like Wikipedia in the sense that teachers
nutritional status of Filipino population by
put up for sale by Government contractors. and students can collaborate with each
providing information on nutrition.
Additionally, the auction website will allow other; add to the already existing data using
Government is hoping to combat
the public to buy equipment directly from the wikiengine called mediawiki.
malnutrition problems of citizens through
contractors who supply the Government. timesofindia.indiatimes.com
e-Nutrition project. Nutrition workers will
To access the online auction site visit the
access information on food consumption,
Disposal Sales Agency main website on
www.edisposals.com and click on the
General nutrition and health status and other
essential indicators that will be useful for
‘auctions’ link.
www.publictechnology.net
Government of West Bengal policy-making, monitoring, evaluation,
(India) eager to generate planning and development of nutrition-
awareness of RTI related programmes. The e-Nutrition

Education project includes assessments, which will
The state of West Bengal has tied up with assist local government units, non-
a private telecom provider in order to erase governmental organisations, schools and
Educatione-Shiskha portal the state’s poor RTI (Right to Information) communities to determine the prevalence
helps Indian students in record for setting up a call centre to respond of under-nutrition and over-nutrition as
making their concept easy to all RTI-related queries. well as dietary management tools for
A Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) The state government of West Bengal individuals to develop a healthy weight
has developed a collaborative e-Learning has appointed and funded an NGO named management plan. The project is a product
system and portal under its initiative PUBLIC to run the Administrative Training of the collaborative effort of the Food and
Shiksha India, which will help Indian Institute (ATI) and set up the RTI helpline Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) and
students to search difficult topics. in collaboration with Bharati Telecommun- Advanced Science and Technology Institute
The portal, www.eshikshaindia.in can ications. Malda and West Midnapore have (ASTI). The Commission on Information
be accessed by anyone free of cost. It will been selected as pilot districts to be covered and Communications Technology has
equip schools with e-Learning facilities to by the UNDP project. The project-‘Capacity funded for the project.
help students understand difficult concepts building for access to information with www.pia.gov.ph
better. The portal is basically designed for reference to RTI Act, 2005’-covers 12 states
students aged between 12 years to 17 years in India in its first phase.
on subjects like physics, biology, chemistry, cities.expressindia.com Mobile phones for visually
English and geography. It will also contain impaired
other languages, including English, Hindi
and Tamil. Shiksha has developed the
UK’s Glassgow city upgrades The International Institute of Information
its IP telephony Technology-Bangalore (IIIT-B) and
ready content, which offers e-Tools and e- Chennai (India) based company, Lattice
Resources as well as other software that Glasgow City Council of UK is upgrading its Bridge has developed mobile phone based
teacher can use to create her own online network to provide an IP telephony technology to help the visually impaired and

32 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3


tourists find their way in a particular
location. User has to call on a designated
number and ask question and then user
will receive an automated response about
their queries. IIIT-B is developing the server
application, and Lattice Bridge in designing
the voice engine, which converts text
messages to speech. Spinfo will provide the
geographical content. Initially, the project
would be tested in Bangalore and Chennai
and later on it would be extended to other
cities. If the user has a GPS-enabled phone
with bluetooth capability, then the software
can ascertain the caller’s location more
precisely.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Livelihood
BPOs are changing lives of
rural India
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) are
connecting rural citizens of India. BPO is
not about call centre; there are business
processes from areas like Aviation,
Insurance, Banking, Health care and
Information Technology.
A girl, named Sharmila is running
India’s first rural BPO facility in Kizhanur
village, Thiruvallur district about 50 km
from Chennai. Recently, Satyam
Computers has set up a BPO in a village of
Andhra Pradesh, India. BPOs are
benefiting rural economy, which has not
been possible with outdated agricultural
technology. Indian Tobacco Company (ITC)
is planning to leverage its infrastructure to
offer a basket of new services in power,
health, education BPO in rural India. ITC
e-Choupal, which essentially began as a
supply chain delivery mechanism for
its agriculture-commodity business, is
looking at an investment of INR 5,000
million over 5-7 years.
www.merinews.com

mServe
Hutch joins Jet Airways to
offer m-Ticketing service
in India
Hutch, India’s number one service
provider has joined hands with Jet
Airways to provide mobile ticketing
service in India. Jet and Hutch has
launched the ‘m-Ticketing with
JetWallet’ solution, which will allow users
to book, pay and generate e-Tickets
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
The i4d News
Read Newspaper on your
mobile phone
Now, Indians can enjoy Newspaper on their mobile phones, while on the
move. Pressmart, a subsidiary of Bodhtree Consulting Limited, and
IMImobile, has announced the availability of mPaper.
The mPaper technology will enable newsreaders to read and access
their favorite newpaper content, while they are traveling also. The mPaper
technology also allow user to use features like archives and options to
search and save news reports and it would be available on monthly
subscription. Pressmart, a subsidiary of Bodhtree Consulting Limited, is a
new media delivery partner of leading newspapers and magazines published
in over 15 languages across 21 countries. IMImobile is a next-generation end-to-end enabler
of Mobile Value Added Services (VAS) for mobile operators, media companies and enterprises.
Pressmart will provide mPaper facility in 9 major newspapers of India. Currently, Pressmart is
providing content on its e-Publiching products. According to Sanjiv Gupta, CEO of Pressmart,
the company has partnered with IMImobile to deliver new services on mPaper in the future.
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
through their mobile phones. customers in late 2005 and contactless
Initially, Jet will offer this service to credit cards in 2006
Hutch subscribers with Java enabled mobile www.finextra.com
phones with GPRS capability. Chicago-
based company, C-SAM has developed the

Open source
technology, named JetWallet. JetWallet is
a version of C-SAM’s patented technology,
OneWallet, which allows users all
Kerala in India aims for open
source software destination
functionalities of wallat in their mobile
phones. Users can download the JetWallet The State Government of Kerala is
software directly on their mobile phones planning to develop the state into a free
and then book their tickets through mobile and open source software destination.
phones. Then, such tickets would be The Government is intending to use
emailed to customers, so that customers open source software in its e-Governance
can take print of that and use it as regular programmes. The State’s IT industry is
tickets. e-Tickets would be automatically free to work with whatever software
stored in mobile phones, so that user can it wants. The draft IT policy is aimed to
access it in future. bridge the digital divide and take the
economictimes.indiatimes.com benefits of IT to all sections of society.
TheGovernment is hoping to ensure
that at least one person in each family in
HSBC launches m-Payment the State is e-Literate.
solutions to US customers
www.thehindubusinessline.com
HSBC bank has launched mobile
contactless payments technology for its US
card services division.
Asia Source II recommends
HSBC has launched this service for 200 for open source software in
staff members in New York, Chicago and developing counties
several other US cities. The service is More than 130 IT professionals of
available on Near Field Communication professionals of non-governmental
(NFC) enabled mobile phones to make organisations (NGOs) and small and
contactless credit card purchases. User can medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from
use the ‘over-the-air’ (OTA) personalisation more than 27 countries have been gathered
process to load their credit card data from for the 9-day Free/Open Source Software
their mobile phones. ViVOtech has (FOSS) training camp at Sukabumi,
provided the wallet, smart poster, and Indonesia.
payment-provisioning software for the The objective of 9-day FOSS training
mobile phones. HSBC introduced camp, named ASIA SOURCE II is promote
contactless debit cards to its bank the use of FOSS for social and economic
33
The i4d News
WiMAX moving ahead in India
C-Dot Alcatel-Lucent Research Centre will
launch Reve. C-Dot Alcatel-Lucent Research
Centre (CARC), in Chennai (India), has
successfully completed the country’s first live
WiMAX IEEE 802.16e-2005 (also known as
Rev-e) field trial using Aircel’s licensed
spectrum (2.5GHz band). It is expected that
WiMAX will provide broadband access that
can foster economic growth, better
education, health care and improved
entertainment services.
www.cxotoday.com
development and to build a network of
FOSS practitioners and trainers within Asia.
Asia Source II is jointly organised by UNDP’s
International Open Source Network
(UNDP-IOSN) through its ASEAN+3
Centre of Excellence, InWEnt - Capacity
Building International (Germany), Tactical
Technology Collective (Netherlands),
Aspiration (USA), and ICTWatch
(Indonesia). The Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development
(BMZ), Hivos and UNDP’s Asia-Pacific
Development Programme (UNDP-APDIP)
has supported the event. The main focus
at Asia Source II is open publishing and
broadcasting, alternative hardware and
access, system migration and information
management.
www.cio.in

based in Burnaby, near Vancouver,
SME/SMB
SAP eyes SME segment
in India
SAP is planning to launch a new solution
to specially address the lower and mid
market in India.
SAP India, has announced its new
initiatives to tap the huge potential in the
SME ERP market in India and globally, as
part of its vision 2010. SAP India is also
planning to expand its customer base to
15,000 by 2010 as part of its Vision 2010. In
2007, SAP will enter the SME segment and
promote its Enterprise SOA platform.
www.dqchannels.com
World Bank will be setting up
US$ 5 billion fund for
emerging markets
The World Bank’s global bond fund
for emerging local market currencies
34
will be established with a corpus of US$
5 billion.
The global bond fund will have
contributions from forex reserves of
25 emerging economies and funds
from private institutional investors, and it
will have government and industry
representatives in its advisory board. US-
based PIMCO is being looked at as a
prospective fund manager along
with Oppenheimer, Alliance Bernstein,
Deutsche, JP Morgan and Fidelity.
economictimes.indiatimes.com

Technology
Possibility of first practical
quantum computer is positive
On February 13th, D-Wave Systems, a firm
announced the existence of the world’s
first practical quantum computer.
Quantum computers are perceived to
reduce dramatically the time needed to
solve a range of mathematical tasks known
as NP-complete problems by encoding all
possible permutations in the form of a small
number ‘qubits’. Qubits are created in the
laboratory using photons, ions and certain
sorts of atomic nuclei.
www.economist.com

Sify has partnered with Proxim to deploy
Telecentre
Telecentres bridges digital
gap in Putrajaya
Telecentres are bridging the digital gap
with urban areas and rural areas of
Putrajaya.
Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, Putrajaya’s
Minister of Energy, Water and Communi-
cations said that many rural citizens are
using these telecentres to check their e-
Mail browse the Internet and use some
computer applications. The cost to built
such a telecentre, is around RM200, 000 to
RM300, 000. Government has constructed
over 900 such centres, in rural areas. These
telecentres help villagers to access e-
Government services.
thestar.com.my

Telecommunication
Tata group wins TCIL’s
African e-Project
The Tata Group has won a multi-
million bid of Telecommunications
Consultants of India’s (TCIL) project to
set up a pan-Africa e-Network project,
which aims to connect all 54 countries in
the continent.
The Tata group has beaten Infinium
and Bharti for this project. The company
will supply, implement, test, commission
of satellite earth station equipment,
antenna sub system and VSAT sub
systems, in addition to setting up remote
terminals in all 54 African countries and a
central hub in Senegal. This network will
create a common platform for all African
countries to provide telecommunication,
tele-medicine, Internet, video conferencing,
VoIP services and also support
e-Governance, e-Commerce, infotainment,
resource mapping and meteorological
services.
economictimes.indiatimes.com

Wireless
Sify deploys WiMAX Tsunami
product in India
Sify has deployed Proxim’s Tsunami MP.11
WiMAX base stations and 3500 subscriber
units to provide Internet access, voice and
video broadband services in India. Sify is
providing this service to enterprise,
residential and cybercafe subscribers in over
200 cities of India.
its Tsunami MP.11 WiMAX solution in
India. The company is setting the standard
for delivering the ‘triple play’ of voice, data
and video to subscribers wherever they are
located throughout the country. According
to Bhaskar Sayyaparaju, CTO, Sify Limited,
WiMAX is the future of Wireless Internet
Communications especially in fast
developing countries like India.
www.cxotoday.com
i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
 March 2007
Citizen Friendly Government Services
The days of standing in a queue for anything and everything from applying for a passport or
purchasing movie tickets to paying electricity bills and telephone bills seem to be heading towards
oblivion. Probably the next gen may not know what it means to stand in a queue. This is
happening not in USA or Canada but right here in India.
F rom e-Sampark in Chandigarh
and LokMitra in Himachal
Pradesh to e-Seva in Andhra
Pradesh and BangaloreOne in
Bangalore, citizens are transacting
government services in comfort
without standing in a queue in the
hot sun or pouring rain and being
serviced by smiling courteous
staff. They do not have to face surly
government officials and have the
option of transacting services at
any time of the day or night either
by physically going to the centre
or doing it from the comfort of one’s
home over the Internet. This is a
sea-change in the way government
services have traditionally been
transacted and has been made
possible by the application of ICT
in the delivery of services.
Under the ICTD project the
Government of Karnataka (GoK)
conceived the Bangalore One
project to provide integrated
services to citizens so as to
enhance speed, certainty,
transparency and efficiency in
providing various government
services to the citizens through the
concept of ‘One-Stop-Shop’. It was
envisaged that Bangalore city
would eventually need about 50
citizen service centers to provide
about 100 G2B, G2C and B2C
ICTD Project
Newsletter
services. At the outset it was
decided to establish 15 service
centers in different parts of the city
and provide the services of 7
departments/agencies partici-
pating initially in the Bangalore-
One Project. Currently as per the
first phase of the project 16 centres
are operational and there are 11
government departments and 5
private players who are offering
services through Bangalore One.
A wide range of services from
paying electricity and telephone
bills and property tax to sub-
mitting passport application and
renewing registration licence for
shops is being offered. Currently
23 services are being offered and
many more are in the offing.
About BangaloreOne
The BangaloreOne project is one
of the finest examples of the Public
Private Partnership concept at
work. Here a state government
(Government of Karnataka) and a
private agency (CMS Computers
Ltd) have joined hands to deliver
services to citizens in the best
possible manner.
The objectives of the Bangalore
One are:

To provide government and
business services in a
convenient and efficient manner

To enhance the accountability,
transparency and responsive-
ness to citizens needs

To provide cost-effective
methods of service provision to
the departments and provisions

To provide efficient and real-
time MIS to the departments

To enable the Government
departments and agencies to
focus on their core functions and
responsibilities
The outsourcing to the private
partner is a variation of the Build,
Own, Operate, Transfer (BOOT)
model wherein the capital
expenditure is divided between the
Government and the partner. The
Government of Karnataka (GoK)
took the responsibility of construc-
tion of civil structures and provision
of interiors and furniture in the
service centers. The rest of the cost
– both capital and operating
expenditure – was borne by the
private partner. The maintenance of
the backend was the responsibility
of the participating agency. The
responsibility for the construction
of buildings, providing furniture
and interiors for all the service
centers was handled by GoK
because it would have been extre-
mely difficult or next to impossible
for the private partner to secure
Make ICTs Work for People sites in strategic, commercial and
residential locations as well as to
obtain timely permissions for
constructions and execute the
same in tune with the project
timelines.

All the 15 service centres have

the same look and feel and this
along with a distinctive logo helps
to create a distinct brand identity.
The features at the BangaloreOne
centres are:

2,000 sq ft of space

10-15 manned counters

Non-stop 24x7 service

All services at any counter and
any center

All modes of payment (except
debit card) accepted

Electronic Queue Management
System

Sl.No. Participating Departments Services offered
Seating space for 50 visitors

Amenities for visitors like TV,
Government to Citizens newspapers, writing desk,
1. Viewing and Payment of Bills drinking water, grievance
1 BESCOM 2. Statement of Accounts redressal module
3. Viewing and Payment of Bills
Card swiping machines, fake
2 BWSSB
4. Viewing and Payment of Post Paid Bills note detectors, note counting
5. Payment of property tax machines
3 BMP 6. Issue of Birth certificate
ATM facility
7. Issue of Death certificate
Professional housekeeping and
4 8. Renewal of Learners License security
RTO 9. Collection of road tax for transport vehicles
BSNL 10.Viewing and Payment of bills A tie-up has been established
5
with UTI Bank to take care of the
6 Cellone 11.Viewing and Payment of post paid bills back-end banking transactions.
Bangalore One services can also be
7 12.Collection of fine
BPS availed of through the Internet at
8 SRO 13.Market Value Assistance < w w w. b a n g a l o r e o n e . g o v . i n >
14.Renewal of registration certificates of Shops and There is a single application
9 Dept of labour
commercial establishments interface for all services and in-
15.Sale of Passport Applications built redundancy, load balancing,
10 Regional Passport Office 16.Acceptance of Applications for Fresh Passport for offline capability and disaster
Major and Minors recovery to ensure 24X7
17.Renewal of Passport for Majors and Minors operations.
11 BMTC 18.Renewal of Monthly Passes
Interesting Statistics
Business to Citizens The total number of transactions
20.Viewing and Payment of Bills per month over all the centres is
12. Tata Teleservices Ltd.
approximately 40 lakh while the
Spice Telecom 21.Viewing and Payment of Bills total monthly collection is
13.
22.Money Transfer Services approximately Rs. 32 crores. In
14. Western Union Money Transfer contrast with the number of
15. Reliance Communication 23.Viewing and Payment of Bills transactions at the service centre
only around 2,000 transactions
16. Airtel 24.Viewing and Payment of Post Paid Bills took place over the Internet. In the

36
share of services by department

Make ICTs Work for People

Bangalore Electricity Supply
Company (BESCOM) leads with a
share of over 65% followed by
Bangalore Water Supply &
Sewerage Board (BWSSB) with
13.5% and BSNL with 10.7%. The
preferred mode of payment is cash
with over 85% cash transactions
followed by 14% transactions
through cheque. Interestingly only
0.09% of the payment is through
credit card.

Though it was envisaged that

50 such centres would be set up
there have been difficulties with
finding space in Bangalore city.
The GoK envisages that the
benefits of this kind of project will
also be made available in Tier II
cities like Hubli, Dharwad etc. and
a roll-out plan is being prepared.
Customer
Feedback Survey
To gauge the response of users, to
find out what they think of
Bangalore One a rapid survey was
carried out. This survey does not
have the rigor of a scientific survey
and was not intended to get an
exhaustive in-depth customer
feedback, rather it was more on
the lines of a dipstick survey. This
would help give a quick feedback
to the project managers and
funding agencies and also point
out whether there is a need for a
full-scale customer feedback
survey. The three centres chosen
for the survey were: Shanthinagar
centre located in the business area
of Bangalore; J.P. Nagar centre
located in mid and high income
residential area and
Srirampuram which was started
recently in a low income
residential area. A questionnaire
was developed which was
administered to 31 users in
Shanthinagar, 31 users at J P
Nagar, and 33 users in
Srirampuram. The responses
were as follows:
Share of Departments
1) Varieties of G2C and B2C
services are made available under
one roof
Currently 23 different G2C
and B2C services are being
provided by Bangalore One to
the citizens

The feedback from citizens
showed 93% of respondents
were satisfied with the
number and type of services
provided, but many
suggested addition of new
services like train and flight
tickets, collection of income
tax, insurance premium
payments and even movie
tickets

Growth of monthly transactions Mode of Payment BangaloreOne

37
Make ICTs Work for People
Glimpses of BangaloreOne service centres

Electricity (BESCOM) and
Telephones (BSNL) are most
used services both from the
feedback and as per the MIS
generated.

About 27% of the respondents
saw high value for Bangalore
One being an access point to
multiple services under one
roof, 16% saw moderate value,
1% no value at all and 56% did
not respond.
2) Service orientated appro-ach
ensured to all citizens

The current average waiting
and transaction are
maintained as per the targets
set and 61% and 68% of
respondents were extremely
satisfied with the waiting and
transaction time respectively.

91% of respondents found the
location of centre very
convenient and 89% were
extremely satisfied with the
ambience of the centre

38% of the respondents valued
BangaloreOne high in terms of
saving time; 14% placed a
moderate value and 48%
didn’t respond. In terms of ease
of payment 26% respondents
gave a high value, 2% –
moderate value and 47% –
didn’t respond

The preferred mode of
payment is cash – 51%, cheque/
DD – 29%, credit card – 7% and
13% didn’t respond

65% of respondents were
extremely satisfied with the
38 38
user friendliness of the
BangaloreOne staff working at
centre with 8% were neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied and
27% didn’t respond

In terms of skills and
knowledge of BangaloreOne
staff, 62% of respondents were
extremely satisfied, 17% were
neither satisfied nor
dissatisfied and 21% didn’t
respond
3) Efficient system for addressing
the grievances

Many respondents suggested
that BangaloreOne shoul d
have formal system for
grievance readdress and
feedback mechanism

Amongst the respondents
only 3% had service defaults
and 75% of these service
defaults were handled to the
satisfaction of the respondent.
4) Awareness of citizens about
BangaloreOne services

27% of the respondents had
come to know about
BangaloreOne and its services
through advertisements, 29%
through neighbours and
relatives, 6% through govern-
ment officials, 22% on their
own and 16% didn’t respond.

32% felt most of their
neighbours and friends are
aware of BangaloreOne, 19%
felt very few are aware and
49% didn’t respond

Only 22% respondents were
aware that BangaloreOne
can also be accessed through
internet with 27% were not
aware and 51% didn’t
respond.
5) Perception about Bangalore
One

51% of the respondents
perceived BangaloreOne as a
private enterprise while 42%
thought it was a government
enterprise.
This quick survey revealed
that BangaloreOne has
established itself as a quality
citizen services centre in terms
of multiple G2C and B2C
services under one roof with
high value for the citizens. Also
there are many areas like
perception of Bangalore One as
a private service; low usage of
internet services, etc which need
to be looked into.
It is now an established fact
that the concept of an integrated
citizen services centre on the
lines of e-Seva and
BangaloreOne is here to stay.
The next challenge is to see that
they continue adding value or
they might just end up as bill
collecting agencies. ICTD
NISG and i4d jointly hold the
copyright to the articles printed in the
ICTD section of the i4d magazine and
website. For permission to reprint the
articles please write to the Editor i4d.

RENDEZVOUS
HT M INT SME S UMMIT , 21 F EBRUARY 2007, N EW D ELHI , I NDIA
Promoting strategic use
of ICTs in SMEs
The Hindustan Times Mint SME Summit, which was hosted by
Hindustan Times along with National Small Industries Corporation
(NSIC), Aveya Global Connect Ltd., Global Trade Finance Ltd.
(GTF), Tata Telecom, SMERA and SAP, was held in Hotel Crown
Plaza, New Delhi (India) on 21st February 2007. Sandip Ghose,
Head New Ventures, Hindustan Times Media Ltd, delivered the
welcome note, where he informed about IT’s (information
technology) positive role in transforming not only big but also
small and medium enterprises. He asked for enabling policies on
the part of government to provide incentives to SMEs for usage of
IT. Jawahar Sircar, Additional Secretary and Development
Commissioner (SSI), informed that the number of SMEs is around
12.4 million headcount-wise in India, which include village and
cottage industry, micro and small industry. He said that the total
number of registered companies is 0.9 million which is miniscule.
He said that some of the vision of Government of India is archaic in
terms of providing protection instead of promoting them to become
competitive at the global level. He informed the audience about the
National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC), Limited
Liability Partnership Bill, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME) Bill and OP Bhatt and Gupta Committees Report, which
are oriented to strengthen the SME sector. Soum Mukherjee,
Director, Aveya Global Connect Ltd., informed that SME contribute
to a fair chunk of the GDP, and industrial output. IT usage could
help SMEs in doing better business, with cost efficiency, he said.
During the first session, HP Kumar, Chairman, NSIC informed
about the India’s Finance Minister’s decision about increasing
lending support to the SMEs by twice. He welcomed the credit
guaranty fund to support SMEs. He informed about the credit
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
linked capital subsidy scheme of the government. Rajesh Dubey,
CEP SMERA, said that credit rating helps in cost efficiency and
innovation to be undertaken by SMEs, and helps the bank to go
for less riskier lending venture, provided the credit rating is
done in a scientific way. J Ahluwalia, Head, Business Development,
GTF, informed about Exim Bank of India’s financial solutions to
the SMEs.
During the second session, Anirudh Kalia, GM-SME, Tata
Teleservices, talked about SMEs’ potential in transforming Indian
economy. He said that companies, which have registered could go
to the stock exchange to raise capital. He also informed about the
various IT-based products and services, which Tata Teleservices is
offering to Indian SMEs. He said that IT or Internet-enabled
environment helps in fast decision-making by the SMEs as
this leads to mobility. Deb Deep Sengupta, Vice President–Mid
Markets and Channels, SAP India, said that service providers could
provide various kinds of IT enabled services to raise the productivity
of the SMEs.
Amit Gupta, CEO, S Chand and Company, talked on how
usage of IT by the SMEs raises productivity of the sector in particular
and the economy in general. He mentioned about product,
leadership, operational excellence and customer relationship, which
SMEs look at while using IT-based solutions. He said that SMEs
have to be good decision-makers, planners and strategy-makers
regarding the type of technology, which it is adopting. He informed
how technology has changed the face of mankind from the days of
industrial revolution to the post-Fordist era. Rajiv Chawla, President,
Faridabad Small Industries Association, mentioned about the need
for best manufacturing practices in the SME sector. He emphasized
on innovation, design development and validation by the SMEs in
the face of globalisation and rapid technological advancement, to
stay afloat during competition. He said that instead of IT use being
limited to accounting or some in-house activities, there is need to
use IT to look at inventories and capacity utilisation. He also
mentioned about TQM, TPM, 5 sigma, benchmarking ISO et al
for effective standardisation of the SMEs. He added that the
framework has to move beyond built to print to art to part, where
ERP (enterprise resource planning) has a possible role. The emphasis
should be not only on cost efficiency and quality, but also on speed
and innovation. He asked for investing in youth for the IT sector to
sustain and the key role entrepreneurs can play to bring change.
The sessions were moderated by Josey John, National Co-
ordination Editor, Mint (promoted by the Wall Street Journal).

Reported by: Shambhu Ghatak, shambhu@csdms.in
39
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Bytes for All...

ICT4D
Getting a voice in cyberspace
Audio for social movements in campaign mode, everyone
understands the importance of getting a voice in the media. The
problem is, the mainstream media often trivializes or misunderstands
your cause. So? You needn’t just sit back and groan. Technology is
today increasingly placing the tools in the hands of those who want
to wield them. And it’s getting simpler, more affordable and freer all
the time.
Concepts like ‘social software’ and ‘participatory media’ keep
getting mentioned. Can these really help to make the campaigner
more effective in computer-mediated communication? Can it enable
people to collaborate more effectively?
Social software, on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Social_software
Bangladeshi school students discuss climate change
in online forum
School students throughout Bangladesh recently participated in an
online discussion on climate change. The online forum is hosted by
Relief International- Bangladesh and is a part of Global Connections
and Exchange Project which has set up Internet enabled telecenters
in Bangladeshi schools. Each month the project conducts an online
collaborative project involving students from Bangladesh and
abroad. Students did online research and discovered the concepts
of climate change and global warming and their importance.
Through Internet searches and the use of online libraries, students
attempted to define and explain climate change and global warming.
In groups, students researched their community’s contribution to
climate change. With this knowledge in hand, students brainstormed
a local organization or business that they felt either a) contributes to
climate change and the greenhouse effect or b) helps to prevent
climate change and the greenhouse effect.
www.connect-bangladesh.org, www.ri.org
Defining e-Government: a citizen-centric criteria-based
approach
E-governance Compendium 2007, brought out by the Department
of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) on
the occasion of 10th National Conference on e-Governance,
February 2-3, 2006, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, under the theme:
avant-garde issues in e-governance. The paper is available for
download in the Files section of the group:http://tech.
groups.yahoo. com/group/ cyber_quiz/ .
projects. May be of interest to the members of the group.
India a ‘promising’ destination for community radio
One-step forward, two steps back...is this the fate of non-commercial,
non-state radio broadcasting in Asia? It would seem so, going by the
perceptions of a campaigner trying to promote community radio
even as he says India holds out hope. Community radio - also called
rural radio, cooperative radio, participatory radio, free radio,
alternative, popular or educational radio - operates out of rural or
urban areas, is broadcast to small areas and offers alternate, non-
commercial, non-state voices to a diverse set of people via the radio.
India has just opened up its ‘community radio’ possibilities with a
new official policy announced in mid-November 2006. Earlier, for
a couple of years, it was mostly ‘campus radio’ stations that were
being allowed.
http://www.hindusta ntimes.com/ news/181_ 1924420,0008.htm
Launch of Brazilian Portal to Promote National ICT
Development
Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda announced today the launch
of the e-Brazil portal, a bilingual portal that is part of the international
network of country gateways supported by the Development
Gateway Foundation.
The e-Brazil portal brings together information and discussions
related to the use of Information and Communications Technologies
(ICTs) to build a more equitable and more competitive Brazil.
http://www.dgfounda tion.org/ news-events/ news-releases/ view-news/
archive/2007/ february/ article/27. html
FOSS
How the net turns code into politics
The launch of Windows Vista last week was accompanied by
widespread criticism from advocates of open systems, open networks
and the free flow of information. Particular attention was lavished
on the digital rights management (DRM) features of the new
operating system, the tools that determine whether you can play or
copy video or audio on your computer. The Internet that we know
today is changing, turning from an open, enabling and profoundly
public space into a communications system which can be regulated,
controlled, monitored and - where necessary -curtailed. A regulated
Internet does not have to be a closed Internet, but the trend is
clearly towards increased control and the loss of the freedoms which
the net has provided thus far. We must understand how this is
happening before we can find ways to resist it.
http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/technology/ 6325353.stm
New media briefing questions whether
open source software can covert the software
world?
For many people in developing countries, commercial software
packages are not an option because they are expensive, do not come
in local languages and cannot be shared or adapted. Advocates of
the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement argue that
the tools of information and communication should be in the public
domain. But commercial software companies say they spend huge
sums of money on research and development, and need to recoup
their investments.
This latest media briefing on the information society explores
how these opposing views can be reconciled in the interests of
millions of potential software users in the developing world.
http://www.panos. org.uk/PDF/ reports/wsistool kit5.pdf

40 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3

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Bytes for All...

Communication and Computing
Vancouver ready to go wireless
The City of Vancouver took the first step toward establishing a
high-speed citywide wireless network Thursday, when council
approved a motion to begin looking for a private partner to provide
the service.
Details at CBC website:
www.cbc. ca/canada/ british-columbia /story/2007/ 02/01/bc- wireless. html
Project 6Core (Pakistan) is now listed on www.ipv6-
to-standard.org
6Core stands for ‘IPv6 National Core of Pakistan’ which is the First
IPv6 based project initiated by ISPs of Pakistan under the common
platform. The 6Core is a test-bed network which was formulated in
2006 by CYBERNET, SUPERNET, and DANCOM to take one
step further towards penetration of IPv6 in the economy. Another
goal of the 6Core was to test the IPv6 implementations and network
services to provide feedback to developers and protocol designers at
IETF Forum.
For more information on ‘IPv6 Taskforce at Pakistan’
please visit
http://www.ipv6tf.org.pk, http://www.ipv6foru m.pk
Cit-J sites are here to stay and for good, says study
Local news websites offering user-generated content are securing a
valuable place in the media landscape and are likely to continue as
important sources of community news, says a new report by US-
based J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism.
“Citizen sites are developing as new forms of bridge media,
linking traditional news with forms of civic participation, “ said J-
Lab director, Jan Schaffer, author of the report, Citizen Media: Fad
or the Future of News: The rise and prospects of hyperlocal
journalism.
Full story: http://www.newswatc h.in/?p=6521
Events
INDO ICT EXPO AND FORUM 11-13 September 2007
The Indonesian Department of Communication and Information
will once again host INDO ICT 2007, Indonesian No.1
Information Technology and Communication Event which will be
held on 11-13 September 2007 at the Jakarta Convention Centre,
Indonesia. This exposition will present INDO WIRELESS 2007
& INDO BANKING 2007 at the same venue.
INDO ICT would like to invite your company to participate in
the exposition INDO ICT 2007 EXPO & FORUM, and
convinced you will expand the most effective market opportunity
to gain access to ICT professionals and regional top operators,
regulators, vendors and consultants. INDO ICT 2007 will also
host a conference which will feature an international panel of speakers
and experts.
www.indoict.com
Call for Papers: KM4Dev Journal
The ‘Knowledge Management for Development Journal’ (KM4D
Journal) is an open access, peer-reviewed, community-based journal
on knowledge management in development – for and by
development practitioners and researchers. The journal is closely
related to the KM4dev community of practice, and can be read and
downloaded at: www.km4dev.org/ journal
Vol. 3, Issue 1, to be published in June 2007, will focus on
innovative practices and uses of ‘technologies for knowledge sharing’.
This focus comes on the wave of new web based tools and processes
supporting knowledge sharing, knowledge management and
organisational learning that have emerged. Sometimes called ‘Web
2.0’ technologies, these tools allow people to collaborate over time
and distance in both new ways and in new networked forms. It
builds on previous issues on the importance of networks, working
across boundaries and even sustainability.
News and Announcements
MobileActive Guide
MobileActive is announcing the second MobileActive Guide,
profiling strategies and civil society organisations using mobile
phones in their work to make the world a better place. The
MobileActive Guide focuses on using mobile phones in issue
advocacy. It features case studies from around the world, strategies
for using mobile phones in advocacy work, and a how-to section for
advocacy organizations considering using mobile phones to advance
their causes. Call for Papers — Mobile Web in the Developing
World MobEA V - Mobile Web in the Developing World in Banff,
Canada on May 8th 2007, co-located with WWW2007 conference
is accepting papers.
http://mobileactive .org/
Creative Commons Version 3.0 is Born
After few months of delay, Creative Commons has finally released
the Version 3.0 licenses. The key differences from Version 2.5 are:
• Generic and the US licenses are now separated
• International harmonisation of moral rights and collecting society
• No more endorsement language
• BY-SA compatibility structure is included
• Clarifications negotiated with Debian and MIT
Details of the changes are described at
http://wiki. creativecommons. org/Version_ 3.
Bytes for All: www.bytesforall.org or www.bytesforall.net
Bytes for All Readers Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
bytesforall_readers
To subscribe: bytesforall_readers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Compiled by Farah Mahmood, Bytes for All, Pakistan
farah.mahmood@gmail.com

March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net 41

 I NTERVIEW

Mindset network’s
ICT4D initiatives
? What are the main activities of Mindset
Network?
Mindset Network is a non-profit
organisation aimed at the personal, social
and economic development of all people in
Africa. Mindset has pioneered the use of
cutting-edge technologies to deliver high-
quality learning and teaching materials,
aimed at redressing structural educational
inequalities in South Africa. Specifically,
Mindset creates and distributes contextually
relevant digital educational materials for the
health, education and livelihoods sectors and
other underdeveloped and under-resourced
communities where development can be
achieved through education. This is
Vis Naidoo
these two sectors knowing that these serve
as vital platform to development. This focus
is further refined to develop high
quality electronic content (video-based,
computer based multimedia and print)
designed to support the formal and non-
formal education needs of the education
and health sectors. Together with content
development, Mindset also focuses on
increasing usage within these two sectors.
This includes training, developing
and installing delivery platforms and on-
going support.
? Can you please explain in brief what
exactly you do for ‘Delivering Educational

combined with a holistic training strategy Assistance on a Mass Scale’?

‘The critical pillars that we
would suggest are necessary
for ICT infrastructure are
-Open Content – to
encourage sharing and co-
creation, Platform
Independence – to enable
the widest usage and
partnerships to reduce the
financial burden for any
one player.’
Vis Naidoo, Chief Executive Officer,
Mindset Network of Johannesburg,
South Africa
vis@mindset.co.za
to empower teachers and healthcare workers
to integrate technology into learning,
teaching and healthcare.
?How did this organisation start its
activities?
Mindset was the brainchild of Hylton
Appelbaum (Liberty Foundation) who
identified the need for a substantive inter-
vention to support education and health.
In taking this concept to reality, he solicited
the support of various corporates, senior
officials from the DOE, DOC and DOH
and other organisations.
?Which areas of ICT for Development
(ICTD) are mainly focused by your
organisation?
Mindset is focused on the application of
ICT to education and health. We do this
with the understanding that an informed
and educated citizen is better able to
participate and contribute to economic and
social development in a country. A healthy
citizen is better able to focus on other areas
that contribute to their livelihood and
community. Mindset has chosen to support
Mindset uses both broadcast and satellite
technologies to deliver to health and
education sites. Using both technologies,
enables Mindset to reach over one
million homes (broadcast via satellite TV),
directly to 1250 schools and 300 clinics
and hospital sites using Mindset’s datacast
(via satellite) platform. In this way, Mindset
is able to deliver educational support to
over 12 million learners, teachers, healthcare
workers and members of the public
annually.
?How do you get the communities
associated with your activities?
Mindset embarks on various consultative
processes to ensure that our intervention is
targeted where it is needed, and that it will
be utilised, supported and maintained.
Mindset installation sites are selected in
consultation with the relevant government
departments (i.e. Health and Education) at
national and provincial level. Consultations
with also include teacher and learner focus
groups (content and training), funders
(including donor agencies, corporate on
support for Mindset).

42 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3

?What are the main achievements of
Mindset Network so far?
Mindset has developed in excess of 150
hours of video content has been developed
for teachers and learners, healthcare workers
and patients, out-of-school youth, as well as
the general public. This content is on HIV/
AIDS, TB and Child Survival for the health
sector, Science, Matshematics, IT and
English for the schooling sector, and
entrepreneurship, employment creation and
basic ICT skills for the out of school sector.
In addition, we have developed over 100
notional hours of multimedia content.
We have facilitated access to this content
using a variety of platforms: digital video
broadcast (DVB) to over 1.5 million homes
on the African continent, a Datacast
platform to 1250 schools and 300 clinics,
and via the Mindset website, www.mindset.
co.za. In the health environment we also host
a public health channel that is installed in
the waiting rooms of public health clinics
and hospitals targeting over one million
patients a months.
?What is the special implication of ?What limitations you have faced while
Development Gateway Award to your
organisation?
For us as a South African NGO, this award
is recognition of the work being done within
developing countries to address our
challenges and it gives an immense boost to
the staff of Mindset. This international
award is vital to ensure that our partners
and supporters are given the necessary
acknowledgements for their excellent
support to enable Mindset to fulfill its
mission, and thus encouraged to continue
doing so. The recognition as a Development
Gateway Award winner has also raised
awareness about our work to potential
partners across the African continent and
the world which we hope will increase our
ability to make a difference.
?What are the plans to develop the network
of community oriented future activities by
your organisation, involving the youth
power more into it?
Mindset’s focus is to support youth within
the school and post school sectors. In doing
this, Mindset will work with other groups
and originations involved in creating ways
to engage the youth. By providing our
electronic content to support youth
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
The India NGO Awards 2006
The India NGO Award was the first of its kind in the country was an initiative by the Resource
Alliance in partnership with The Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation. The main aim of this
initiative is to promote the NGO’s financial and organisational stability, and strengthen
community support of civil society. The Resource Alliance and the Nand and Jeet Khemka
Foundation have together collaborated with the Child In Need Institute (CINI) in the East,
Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA) in the South and S.P. Jain Institute of
Management in the West to select and award the ‘Best NGO of the Year’ in India.
NGOs from all over the country were invited to participate in the competition. The
competitors for the award were divided into four regions – North, South, East and West. They
were evaluated on the following criteria: delivery of quality services to its beneficiaries;
demonstration of efficient management of resources, transparency and accountability; effective
mobilisation of resources (financial and non financial) from the local community and exhibiting
capability for financial management.
The NGO of the Year has received a trophy and a cash prize of $20,000/-. The first runners
up were given a trophy and cash award of $10,000 and the two NGOs that are the second
runners received a trophy and a cash prize of $5000 each.
The award function ‘Best NGOs of the year’ was held on March 1, 2007. The chief guest,
Honourable Minister for Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs and Sports and Development, Mr.
Mani Shankar Aiyer (North-Eastern Region) presented the awards at India Habitat Centre in
New Delhi. The winner was PRADAN and the runner Gram Vikas and the other two runners
were The Spastic Society of India and SEWA.
activities, Mindset envisages that more reduce the financial burden for any one
youth will be involved in processes to player
support content development and usage.
?You organisation provides assistance
through a satellite-based technology
implementing ICTD projects at the grass platform that distributes high-quality
root level in the developing countries? multimedia educational content. How can
A major limitation is the lack of adequate you replicate such a model in a developing
ICT infrastructure to enable access to country where socio-economic parametres
content. This includes among other things, show a very poor status?
hardware, bandwidth and connectivity. Using satellites in poor countries enables
Poor ICT skills by teachers, health care total coverage of a country. This is important
workers and others have also resulted in poor to ensure that all parts of the country benefit
usage. In the education sector, teachers often from the satellite coverage and use the infor-
are not skilled at integrating technology into mation and content to build the skills and
their teaching methods, and the use of knowledge set and contribute directly to the
technology is seen as an add-on rather than socio-economic development of the country.
an integral part of their pedagogy.
?What are the strategies required to
?Do you think that there is a scope of overcome the problem of ‘digital divide’ in
replication of the ICTD activities of your the developing nations? How did you face
organisation in other developing countries and overcome this problem in your activity
of the world? If so, how would you like to areas?
visualise the replication model? By using distribution platforms (e.g. satellite)
The scope for replication would be to cover the whole country and providing
determined by contextual factors in each support to the users of the technology, one
country. These would include the can address the digital divide. At Mindset
ICT infrastructure available, content we believe this to be an important part of
development organisations, and technology our work. We have excellent support from
rollout capacity. The critical pillars that we our funding partners to increase our roll-
would suggest are necessary in each case are: out to all parts of the country. This massive
Open Content: to encourage sharing and roll-out also requires full support from the
co-creation, Platform Independence – to state so that the platforms and receiving
enable the widest usage, Partnerships to equipment is part of the system.

43
Books received
Business and Human Rights: Dilemmas and
Solutions
Edited by: Rory Sullivan
Published by: Greenleaf Publishing
ISBN: 1874719810
Pages: 335
The book provides an analysis of the relationship
between companies and human rights in the
context of globalisation.
The book has twenty two chapters
segmented into four parts and attempts to assess
the relationship between companies and
human rights in the context of globalisation.
The analysis is done in two parts: The first
maps the reasons (financial, ethical, and regulatory) why human
rights have become a business issue. The second part of the book
considers a specific case study of how companies have behaved in
situations where, human rights violation has occurred or where
companies have role or influence in protecting or promoting human
rights. The focus of this book is on transnational corporations
(TNCs). It also provides insight into questions such as: How do
companies organise themselves to respond to human rights
challenges? What have the experiences been—positive and negative?
What are the roles and responsibilities of other actors: government,
trade unions, NGOs? What are the limits to responsibility? It thus
looks into the certain fundamental questions around the world
concerning the responsibilities of human for the protection and
promotion of human rights as a consequence of the broad concern
about the impacts of the globalisation on the poor.
Assessing Community Telecentres: Guidelines
for Researchers
Author: Anne V. T. Whyte
Published by: 2000 IDRC
ISBN: 088936916X
Pages: 114
The guidelines were developed in collaboration
with research groups participating in the Acacia
Telecentre Research Network (ATRN).
The book has six chapters including the
introduction. The Telecentre Evaluation Plan,
Indicators in Telecentre Studies, Issues in
Sampling and Surveying, Matching Research
Methods to Data Needs, Data Analysis and
Reporting, Abbreviations and Acronyms. The guidelines identify
key questions being faced by the research and evaluation team,
proposes alternative solutions and, best practices based on experience
44
from similar field situations and facilitate comparability of pilot
projects by providing a common reference and starting point. The
guideline encourage research team to share ideas, methods etc and
as they assess, it enables them to evaluate the role and impact of
telecentres on communities. Telephone, fax, email, Internet;
telemedicine, distance education, news distribution, telecommuting
are some of the communication services offered telecentres. As
community telecentres become more commonplace across Africa
and in other developing regions of the world, there reach and impact’
questions take on an increasing urgency. Practitioners, and academics
in information science, communications, international development,
and evaluation, including telecentre operators, telecentre managers,
and community leaders found this book very useful.
International Human Rights And Humanitarian
Law: Treaties, Cases And Analysis
Author(s): Francisco Forrest Martin, Stephen J. Schnably,
Richard J. Wilson, Mark V. Tushnet, Jonathan S. Simon
Published by: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521858860
Pages: 990
The book gives a catching glimpse to the readers
on international legal instruments and case law
governing the substantive and procedural
dimensions of international human rights and
humanitarian law, including economic, social,
and cultural rights.
The book also discusses the history and
organisational structure of human rights and
humanitarian law enforcement mechanisms. The main content
includes, an overview of international human rights and
humanitarian law development and their protection mechanisms, a
chapter discussing on sources and principles of international human
rights and humanitarian law, incorporation of international human
rights and humanitarian law in U.S. law, international human rights
tribunal procedure and remedies, substantive international human
rights and humanitarian law protections etc. Questions and
comments sections provide critical analyses of issues raised in the
materials. The last chapter addresses theoretical issues facing
contemporary international human rights and humanitarian
law and its enforcement. As mentioned relevant to U.S.
audiences, a chapter is exclusively devoted to the issues surrounding
the incorporation of international law into U.S. law, including
principles of constitutional and statutory interpretation,
conflict rules, and the self-execution doctrine. In the era of
gobalisation and digitilisation, the book comes as a fundamental
solid guide.

i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3
What’s on Italy
26-29 March, 2007
Fiera Milano Congressi
http://www.iec.org/events/2007/c5/

Africa Germany Philippines

12-16 March, 2007 26-29 June, 2007 23-24 April, 2007
SatCom Africa Energetic Materials - Characterisation and ICT on People, Work and
Sandton Convention Centre Performance of Advanced Systems Communities in Asia
Johannesburg, South Africa Dusseldorf Renaissance Hotel, Makati City,
http://www.satcomafrica.com/ http://www.ict.fhg.de/ Philippines
http://ict-conference.up-ncpag.org/

28-30 May, 2007 18-20 September, 2007

eLearning Africa 2007 Wimax Global Forum, Singapore
Nairobi Hilton Düsseldorf 20-22 March, 2007
Kenya http://www.wimax-vision.com/newt/l/ Mobile Content World
http://www.elearning-africa.com wimaxvision/world_forum Suntec International Exhibition &
Convention Centre, Singapore
Australia 8-11 October, 2007 http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/mcw_sg/

20-21 March, 2007 Broadband World Forum Europe 2007

Wireless World 2007 Estrel Convention Centre 15-17 May, 2007
Sydney Convention and Exhibition Berlin Wimax Asia
Centre http://www.iec.org/events/2006/bbwf/ The Shangri La Hotel, Singapore
http://www.wimax-vision.com/newt/l/
http://www.wirelessworld2007.com/
wimaxvision/asia
India
1-3 May, 2007 17-19 December, 2007
3rd Indian International Conference on Spain
CeBIT Australia 2007
Artificial Intelligence (IICAI) 3-6 March, 2007
Darling Harbour
Pune Web Information
Sydney
http://www.iiconference.org/
Systems and Technologies Barcelona
http://www.cebit.com.au/
http://www.webist.org/

Brazil CSDMS Events

27-30 May, 2007
United Kingdom
15 March, 2007
9th International Conference on Social
Creating Learning Opportunities in and
Implications of Computers in
out of the Classroom, Hertfordshire
Developing Countries
Development Centre, Wheathampstead
Paulista Plaza Hotel
ommun ty England
São Paulo Rad o
http://www.thegrid.org.uk learning/ict/research/
http://www.ifipwg94.org.br/ 30 July - 03 August, 2007 conferences/2007/index.shtml
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India
Bulgaria
3-6 December, 2007 eGovIndia 2007 United States
ITU TELECOM EUROPE http://www.egovonline.net/egovindia/2007 9-10 May, 2007
Sofia GovSec
Digital Learning India 2007
http://www.itu.int/EUROPE2007/index.html http://www.digitallearning.in/dlindia/2007
Washington DC, USA
www.govsecinfo.com
Indian Telecentre Forum 2007
China http://www.i4donline.net/ITF/2007
14-17 April, 2007 Vietnam
International ICT Expo eHealth India 2007 15-17 March, 2007
HK Convention Centre http://www.csdms.in/eHealth/ Projects Vietnam 2007
HongKong mServe India 2007 Vietnam
http://ictexpo.tdctrade.com/ http://www.csdms.in/mServe/ http://www.projectsvietnam.com/

Get your event listed here. www.i4donline.net/events

March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net 45

 I N F ACT

Promoting human rights

in an info-society
WSIS views access to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can help to promote freedom of expression and be a source of
openness even for closed societies. It enables information to be disseminated quickly, and with appropriate regulations can be safely used by
governments and organisations in maintaining equity and promotion of human rights in society. .
Several key principals and action lines have been defined such as:

• The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
• Information and communication infrastructure: an essential foundation for an inclusive information society
• Access to information and knowledge
• Capacity building
• Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs
• Enabling environment
• ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
• Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
• Media
• Ethical dimensions of the Information Society
• International and regional cooperation

Key Principles Action Lines

Access to information and knowledge

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19
Removing barriers to equitable access to information for economic,
social, political, health, cultural, educational, and scientific activities
Preservation of documentary records Affordable access to software
Development and promotion of public domain information
Promote research and development to facilitate accessibility of ICTs
for all
Promote awareness among all stakeholders of the possibilities
offered by different software models, and the means of their
creation, including proprietary, open-source and free software, in
order to increase competition, freedom of choice and affordability,
fostering worldwide cooperation between libraries

Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content

Promotion, affirmation and preservation of diverse cultural identities Develop local cultural industries suited to the linguistic and cultural
and languages as reflected in relevant agreed United Nations context of the users,support local content development, translation
documents that includes marginal areas as well and adaptation, digital archives, and diverse forms of digital and
traditional media by local authorities

Ethical dimensions of the Information Society

Use of ICTs and content creation should respect human rights, Promote the common good, protect privacy and personal data
fundamental values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, shared and take appropriate actions and preventive measures, as
responsibility, and respect for nature determined by law, against abusive uses of ICTs such as illegal and
other acts

Source: http://www.kus.uu.se/pdf/publications/Background_material_IG.pdf

46 i4d | March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3

The world is talking. Are you listening?

30 July - 03 August, 2007

Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India
www.eINDIA.net.in/cr