From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 2 19:21:23 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA84193; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 19:21:23 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA84188 for ; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 19:21:15 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-001.super.net.pk [203.130.5.140]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA19511 for ; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 14:20:43 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 14:23:18 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Simputer: Innovative sub-$200 Internet device will help non-literate users Message-ID: <395F5056.4703.13D808@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [this is further to "If you can't afford computer, buy a Simputer" (9 Jun 2000)] 'Simputer' Aims at the Developing World Innovative sub-$200 Internet device will help non-literate users. by John Ribeiro, IDG News Service June 23, 2000 In an effort to bring the Internet to the masses in India and other developing countries, several academics and engineers have used their spare time to design a sub-$200 handheld Net appliance. Called the Simputer, for SIMple ComPUTER, the device will enable India's illiterate population to surf the Web. According to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook 1999, some 48% of the Indian population can't read or write. The device was designed by professors and students at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bangalore, and engineers from Bangalore-based design company Encore Software. A prototype of the appliance will be available in August. The Simputer is built around Intel's StrongARM CPU, with Linux as the operating system. It will have 16 MB of flash memory, a monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD) with a touch panel overlay for pen-based computing, and a local-language interface. The appliance will have Infrared Data Association and Universal Serial Bus interfaces, and will feature Internet access and mail software. The designers expect the Simputer to be used not only as a personal Internet access device, but also by communities of users at kiosks. A smart-card interface to the device will enable the use of the device for applications such as micro-banking. Taking Technology to Everyone "We expect to change the model for the proliferation of information technology in India," says Professor Swami Manohar, professor in the computer science and automation department of the IISc. "The current PC-centric model is not sustainable because of the high cost of the PC, and also because we expect that most of the users will not be literate." A subsequent version of the Simputer will also offer speech recognition for basic navigation through the software menus, says Manohar. The speech dictionary will be customizable to support different languages. A text-to-speech system will also be developed to take the technology to India's illiterate population. Later versions will also offer wireless technology. The intellectual property for the device has been transferred free to a non-profit trust, called the Simputer Trust, and both the software and the hardware for the appliance have been offered as open source technology. In the open source model of development, users and developers, often unpaid, work together to update technology. Manohar says that the trust decided to put the technology in Open Source to enable third party software developers and designers to add value to the platform. The technology for the product will be licensed to manufacturers at a nominal fee of $1150, which is to be used to finance upgrades to the Simputer. A number of large manufacturers have shown interest in licensing the technology, though the interest is currently confined to Indian companies, according to Vinay Deshpande, chairman of Encore and a member of the Simputer Trust. Deshpande says that the designers have been able to achieve the sub- $200 price point since the electronic components used in the device are all off-the-shelf volume components, and the software is primarily open source software such as Linux. http://www.pcworld.com/pcwtoday/article/0,1510,17401,00.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 2 19:21:28 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA84212; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 19:21:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA84189 for ; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 19:21:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-001.super.net.pk [203.130.5.140]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA01096 for ; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 14:20:53 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 14:23:19 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Nonprofits and Electronic Commerce Message-ID: <395F5057.32162.13DAE0@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Digital Beat Extra (20 June 2000) Nonprofits and Electronic Commerce by Katharina Kopp Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has been around now for a while; great expectations of huge financial gains and economic growth are associated with it. Brick and mortar companies rush to set up their .com enterprises and new business ventures are announced every day. Do we know, however, what e-commerce means for nonprofits? E-commerce and nonprofit work is not necessarily a contradiction in terms. As electronic commerce becomes a larger part of the U.S. and world economy, it seems critical that nonprofit organizations become knowledgeable participants in it. E-commerce is likely to develop into an important vehicle that allows nonprofits to become more self- sustainable and more effective in advancing their objectives. Furthermore, in order to shape the market in their best interests, nonprofit organizations must become knowledgeable about and advocate for the key policy issues that will best serve them. New policy frameworks are being implemented, and the nonprofit community can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines. For various reasons, some nonprofit organizations are beginning to consider the risks and opportunities of e-commerce. For those nonprofits who do, this typically means selling products like books, reports or other merchandise online, or it involves online fundraising. In more general terms, however, e-commerce for nonprofits could refer to the creation of value from the knowledge and expertise that nonprofits generate, in exchange for money or other values, such as increased visibility. In addition to providing their general audience with information and services, nonprofits could also offer special services, such as reports or analyses, for member organizations only, in exchange for reasonable rates. Beyond being producers of value nonprofits are also consumers. They purchase products online and could, for example, benefit from discounts facilitated through co-ops. Nonprofit organizations involved in e-commerce therefore have to grapple with a range of issues such as: what products and services can be marketed, how should they be appropriately marketed, what legislation and regulations apply, how to set up partnerships with for-profit organizations, and how to establish a for-profit spin-off. They also have to address policy questions and articulate their interests, from privacy, to copyright, to consumer rights. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, guidance is needed to explore ethical issues and the value standards that should apply to nonprofits in general and their organization in particular, including issues such as appropriate marketing and privacy protections and where to draw the line when profit-maximizing goals are in conflict with the larger mission of the nonprofit enterprise. Why Is E-Commerce Different? Commerce has been around forever and nonprofits have not previously gotten involved in it on a large scale. Why, then, is e-commerce any different, some might ask? The Internet puts high value on content, knowledge and expertise, and it values neutral brokers of information, something many nonprofits are particularly well- positioned to take advantage of. Also, transaction costs appear low and certain audiences are now easier to reach. E-commerce for nonprofits seems to be a particularly attractive proposition, because the general climate that nonprofits are operating in is changing. Gregory Dees, in his article "Enterprising Nonprofits" (Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb. '98), describes five major pressures and influences that are pushing nonprofits into entrepreneurial models or commercialization. These include: - a general pro business zeitgeist, - the need to decrease dependency on and organization's constituency to deliver social goods and services, - financial sustainability and the need to create more reliable funding sources than donations and grants, - a drive by foundations to make grantees more self-sufficient, and - competitive forces from for-profits leading nonprofits to consider commercial alternatives to traditional sources of funding. Dees argues that improving mission-related performance must remain paramount and that the most important measure of success is the achievement of mission-related objectives, not the financial wealth and stability of the organization. A New Benton Project This brief overview of some of the critical issues for nonprofits in electronic commerce marks the beginning of the Benton Foundation's involvement in this area. Benton is interested in providing nonprofits with practical guidance in helping evaluate the opportunities and risks of e-commerce in a thoughtful way. Moreover, Benton wants to help raise some of the critical policy issues on the agenda of the nonprofit community. In future Digital Beats, we will cover various aspects of e-commerce. Articles will particularly focus on privacy, copyright and fair use, consumer rights and Internet governance, as well as practical advice on e-commerce implementation and the various e-commerce business models that in some form or another could be applicable to the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits should care about the practical aspects of e-commerce and the associated policy issues, not because everybody else is talking about it, but because e-commerce may provide an important vehicle with which to become economically more independent and self- sustainable. Some of the more lucrative possibilities for nonprofit e- commerce ventures are already being taken up by for-profit enterprises. Nonprofits should consider now whether to become more assertive and creative in taking advantage of those e-commerce opportunities and make e-commerce also work for philanthropic goals. In order to develop a credible and effective voice in policy making, the nonprofit community must set the highest standards when implementing their own e-commerce practices. Being creative with e- commerce practices can demonstrate to other nonprofits and corporate enterprises what models and standards to adopt. In the policy making environment, setting the benchmark for e-commerce conduct high will put pressure on the private sector to do the same, as nonprofits demonstrate what can be done. The expectations for the potential of e-commerce and its impact on our economy and our lives are high and perhaps exaggerated. The extent of its impact remains to be seen. However, it is likely that the changes, good and bad, will be considerable, particularly with the increasing conversion of electronic media into one platform. The nonprofit community can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines and let the opportunities of e-commerce pass them by. Nor can they remain passive in shaping the policy framework in this emerging market. Too much is at stake and time is running out. For nonprofits to become self-sustainable and for them to remain valuable contributors to our civic lives, they must change with the times and adopt new models of operation. E-commerce is likely to provide some of those new models. The Benton Foundation will try to provide some of the necessary exploration, knowledge, and guidance in conducting e-commerce and provide, in cooperation with other advocates and nonprofit leaders, the guidance in organizing an effective voice in e-commerce policy making. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- (c)Benton Foundation, 2000. Redistribution of this email publication - - both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message. http://www.benton.org/News/Extra/ec062000.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 2 19:44:12 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA84521; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 19:44:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA84505 for ; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 19:44:05 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-001.super.net.pk [203.130.5.140]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA28020 for ; Sun, 2 Jul 2000 14:43:47 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 14:46:39 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: UN plans Conference on Internet Technology in July Message-ID: <395F55CF.18473.2939AC@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk June 29, 2000 UN plans Conference on Internet Technology in July BY JOY ELLIOTT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations, often criticized for not making the best use of its own Web site, said it would host a conference in July on speeding up worldwide economic development through Internet technology. ``It is the first time that the U.N. will take the lead in discussing information technology,'' Ambassador Makarim Wibisono of Indonesia, the president of the conference organizer, the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), told reporters Wednesday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers was scheduled to join the heads of major international finance and trade bodies from July 5 to 7 as part of the U.N. campaign called ''Information Technology for the World.'' Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate, was invited to address the conference by video link, and President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali, a West African country that hosted a similar conference in February, will also speak. Also expected were WorldCom Inc. Senior Vice President Vinton Cerf, acknowledged as a founder of the Internet, and the heads of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. ECOSOC organizers drew on the recommendations of other U.N. information technology meetings, and scheduled speeches, panel discussions and a ministerial round table to examine such problems as connecting to the Net, training for its use and providing content in languages other than English, Wibisono said. Participants would also weigh the legal issues surrounding security in electronic commerce, privacy for Internet users and copyrighting intellectual property, the Indonesian ambassador said. ``First among the issues that will be reflected on during our ministerial round-table discussion (July 6) is that there is a 'digital divide' between countries that are rich in information and countries that are poor in information,'' Wibisono said. An ECOSOC study released last month said, ``There are more hosts (Internet sites) in New York than on continental Africa, more hosts in Finland than Latin America and the Caribbean, and, notwithstanding the remarkable progress in the application of information and communication technology in India, many of its villages still lack a working telephone.'' http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/148515 l.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 4 12:38:42 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA125097; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 12:38:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA125091 for ; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 12:38:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.35]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA10030 for ; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 07:48:35 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 07:39:50 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (India] IT to the doorstep of farmers Message-ID: <396194C6.25909.ECF73@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 22:29:10 +0500 From: Frederick Noronha To: CYBERCOM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU India-IT-Farmers ITC to bring IT to the doorstep of farmers by Anil Sharma, India Abroad News Service Bhopal, June 21 - Tobacco giant ITC Ltd. has announced plans to bring information technology (IT) solutions to the doorsteps of the farming community, starting with the launch of a new Web site for soyabean farmers it has launched in this central Indian city. The Web site, www.soyachaupal.com, is billed as the first of its kind in Hindi, and will give soyabean farmers access the latest information about the weather, crop position, arrivals in markets and crop prices. Besides functioning as an information bank, the site also has an interactive element where farmers' queries would be answered within 24 hours. "This is a small step towards a technological revolution," Y.C. Deveshwar, chairman of ITC Ltd., said. "This is an effort to link farmers to the globalised economy. There are no definite targets at the moment but we expect the site to evolve. We are investing Rs.100 million in this venture and shall give it a full-blooded trial," Deveshwar added. However, with more than 71,000 villages in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and the cost of equipping a village with computers placed at Rs.100,000 the investment requirements are rather huge. The state government, meanwhile, is willing to collaborate on the project. "We are prepared to go along with ITC in this project. We want that there should be a tripartite participation in harnessing information technology for the masses. The government, the private sector and the people have to come together," Chief Minister Digvijay Singh said. He suggested that funds from the prime minister's 'rozgar yojana' be made available to individuals to set up computer centres. Singh pointed out that the federal government's shifting policy on import duty for edible oils had created problems for soyabean farmers as well as the processing industry. "The biggest problem is poor productivity of the soya crop. Unless we increase the average yield per hectare our produce will not become competitive in the global market," he said. Deveshwar also spoke about developing Web sites on the lines of www.soyachaupal.com for wheat and rice growing farmers. "We shall reach out to other states as well," he added. The ITC chairman said that while there was no revenue model in place at the moment, an IT link connecting farmers to the rest of the world had endless possibilities. "There is no use speculating on it, but we feel that it has great potential including e-commerce," he added. Madhya Pradesh produces nearly 80 per cent of India's soyabean output while ITC, which is mainly into cigarette manufacturing and hotels, is a major player in the soya-processing industry. -- India Abroad News Service ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 4 12:38:47 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA125119; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 12:38:47 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA125092 for ; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 12:38:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.35]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA10033 for ; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 07:48:38 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 07:39:51 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Indian Telecom and Internet Tangle - What is the way out? Message-ID: <396194C7.26015.ED1EA@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id MAA125112 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [thanks to Frederick Noronha who posted it on the Cybercom mailing list on 29 june 2000] ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Very interesting article on how India can solve its Internet and telecom problems, written by Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala et al of IIT-Madras. The URL For the paper (with diagrams) is http://www.tenet.res.in/Papers/TelecomTangle/telecomtangle.html Best wishes, Frederick. Indian Telecom and Internet Tangle - What is the way out? Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Dept of Elec. Engg. Timothy A. Gonsalves, Dept. of Comp. Sci.and Engg. IIT Madras, Chennai 600 036 ashok@tenet.res.in, bhaskar@tenet.res.in, tag@tenet.res.in Introduction India’s success over the last one and half decades in providing high quality software professionals to the world has prompted us to take a relook at ourselves. The question that is being asked is whether we can sustain this success and make it grow – can IT in India become a force to reckon with in the world? The IT Task Force has recently set a yearly revenue target of Rs.400,000 crores from this industry. Is it realisable? Can we have a few million people working in this industry in the next five to seven years? Can this industry be used as a spring-board for India to get into the forefront of modern technology? These and many other similar questions are indeed being raised. But will these goals remain a mere dream or become a reality? This paper looks at one of the many, and probably one of the more important tasks that needs to be carried out for achieving such a goal – the task of providing an affordable telecom and Internet network all over India. Without wide-spread access to the telecom and Internet networks, one cannot even dream of expanding our IT industry. The Reality The reality today is grim. We have less than two telephones per hundred population, (as opposed to one for every two persons in the developed world). The Internet, which is the crucial component in today's IT revolution is accessible today only through a telephone. The number of Internet connections in India has barely crossed 200,000. There is a yearning for more telephones and Internet connections. But will this yearning be satisfied? Not many of us know that today it takes approximately Rs.35,000 to install a new telephone connection in India (this is per-line cost of the complete telecom network). Assuming 15% as finance charge on such an investment and even a low figure of 15% for operation, maintenance and obsolescence cost, and assuming no other charges such as license fees, connectivity costs etc., it would require 30% of Rs.35,000 per year, or approximately Rs.10,500 per year of revenue from each telephone, just to break even. How many in India can afford to pay such a large telephone bill? Is it more than 2–3% of our population? How then can we carry out an IT revolution? <...> From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 4 12:38:55 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA125134; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 12:38:55 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA125093 for ; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 12:38:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.35]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA10036 for ; Tue, 4 Jul 2000 07:48:40 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 07:39:43 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES Message-ID: <396194BF.15103.EB20F@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from The Drum Beat - 54] IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES Join one of the upcoming country discussion forums on the implications of the new technologies for how technical assistance is organised and delivered. Countries covered include: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Philippines, Mali, Morocco, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda. http://www.comminit.com/email_forum2.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 5 20:48:43 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA94137; Wed, 5 Jul 2000 20:48:43 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA94130 for ; Wed, 5 Jul 2000 20:48:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.8]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA30936 for ; Wed, 5 Jul 2000 15:47:43 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 15:50:34 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Table of Contents: TechKnowLogia, July/August 2000 Message-ID: <3963594A.23385.125689@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id UAA94133 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk The July/August 2000 Issue of TechKnowLogia has been posted on the web: http://www.techKnowLogia.org. The thematic focus of this Issue is on TECHNOLOGY AND VOCATIONAL & TECHNICAL TRAINING. ====================================================================== ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS- TechKnowLogia VOL. 2, ISSUE 4, July/August 2000 ====================================================================== Editorial --------- 1. Skill Training: Aiming at a Moving Target Wadi D. Haddad, Editor Skill Training is not what it used to be. Planning for it now has to happen under a constantly changing environment. This leads to new rules of the game for economic success and for the role of technology. Frontline --------- 2. Vocational and Technical Training: 7 Policies for the Effective Use of Technology Laurence Wolff, Inter-American Development Bank In order to use effectively technology to improve and strengthen technical and vocational training, it is necessary to have the right public policies in place. This article summarizes recent thinking on this important subject. 3. Vocational and Technical Education, the "American Way" Sonia Jurich The Tech-Prep and School to Work programs have been instrumental in bringing vocational education to the center stage of a discussion on American education, in opening the lines of communication between employers and schools and between secondary and post-secondary institutions, and in spreading the premises of contextual learning. 4. TechKnowNews ¨ Online University Teams Up With Hopkins Library to Offer Digital Resources ¨ New University in Vietnam Will Rely Heavily on Information Technology ¨ New System of Peer Review Rating Academic Websites ¨ President Clinton Appoints Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities ¨ Tech Companies Lobby Congress for Improved Math and Science Education ¨ Barnes & Noble.com to Offer Free Online University Technologies at Work -------------------- 5. Getting the Most Out of Online Training: Integrating the Missing Ingredients Raymond L. Vigil, Ph.D., Vice President, Lucent Technologies Enterprise Networks Group, Global Learning Solutions Imagine a highly interactive, synchronous, internet-managed learning experience between distant locations over vast national and international networks, providing learners with an ability to obtain simultaneous distance learning services from their geographically dispersed organizations, schools and other colleagues. This article describes how a well designed, integrated system can provide effective e-Learning solutions. 6. Skills Training: Where Simulations Are At Home Claudio de Moura Castro, Laurence Wolff and Norma Garcia, Inter-American Development Bank Simulation has been a tool used by trainers for a long while. This article describes how simulation is used for training in various industries. 7. Low-Investment Internet-Based Distance Learning Solutions: Systems and Procedures Jason Hughes, Lecturer, Centre for Labour Market Studies, Leicester University, United Kingdom This article is a case study of the development of a low-investment, internet-based, conferencing software solution implemented at a distance learning center within the University of Leicester, UK. It explores the practical issues encountered in establishing an online learning community, and how these issues were addressed and resolved. 8. High Tech/Grassroots Education: Community Learning Centers (CLCs) for Skill Building Mary Fontaine, The LearnLink Project, Academy for Educational Development This article is a description of two Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in Africa that provide training and learning opportunities for trainees at the grassroots level. It illustrates design and implementation elements that are proving effective for both the CLCs and their clients. 9. The Lowly Correspondence Courses for the Masses: Fraud or Redemption? Claudio de Moura Castro, Laurence Wolff and Norma Garcia, Inter-American Development Bank Correspondence education remains a powerful means to reach modest clienteles with practical courses that have positive impact in their lives. This article summarizes a survey that shatters conventional wisdom. 10. Computer Software Development: An Export Industry for Developing Countries Gregg B. Jackson, Ph.D., George Washington University Can a country with inefficient ports, unreliable trains, and intermittent electrical service ever hope to compete with American and European firms in engineering networks, writing commercially distributed software, and developing sophisticated web sites? Can a country with long history of trade restrictions think to do so? Can a country with widespread illiteracy expect to do so? 11. What, No Lectures? The Francis Tuttle Vocational School Claudio de Moura Castro, Laurence Wolff and Norma Garcia, Inter-American Development Bank The late Dr. Francis Tuttle and his staff were entrusted to develop a first rate vocational training system. That system has evolved through the years to become so remarkable that it has been considered by educators and industrialists to be one of the leading training systems in the U.S. and has been visited by groups from 47 countries worldwide. Can it be replicated? Under Observation ----------------- 12.Technology for Skill Training: A Medical Affair Sonia Jurich Physicians and medical researchers recognized the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for medical education and research. This article reviews the literature on the use of complex simulators, virtual laboratories, and Internet-based tutorials for the training of medical personnel. Planning for Technologies ------------------------- 13. Training of Technical and Vocational Teachers: A Case Study of a Low Tech Alternative John Bartram, The Commonwealth of Learning and Dr. Nancy George, University of Technology, Jamaica While many in North America appear to equate distance learning with virtual or cyber-learning centered on the computer and its networking capabilities to deliver learning packages and stimulate interaction with students, there are significant groups with learning needs for whom this paradigm is an inappropriate technology. This article presents a case study that describes the use of low tech for the training of Technical and Vocational teachers in small island states. 14. Tertiary Occupational Skill Training on the Web: A Shopper's Guide Gregg B. Jackson, Ph.D., George Washington University The web can be used to find a wide range of skill training. To benefit from these opportunities, this article helps prospective students to deal with four critical determinants: (1) whether distance education is well suited to their needs and preferences: (2) in which occupational field should they take training; (3) how to find the various providers of training in the selected field; and. (4) which program will best contribute to their career objectives. 15. On the Move Upcoming Events: Conference, Seminars, Exhibits, Training Courses, etc. Technologies Today ---------------------- 16. What You Need to Know Before Buying a Computer Rafael Chargel Everybody seems to own, or intends to own a computer. The problem is, which computer is right for you? 17. Enhancing Vocational Skills: Interactive Media Training Jelena Lewis One of the most useful applications for multimedia (videos and CD-ROM) is skill enhancement and training. This article reviews a sample of instructional/training CD-ROMs and videos in the areas of technical training, medical training, and general skill training. 18. WorthWhileWebs Gregg B. Jackson, Ph.D., George Washington University There are thousands of sub-baccalaureate training programs, at the tertiary level, currently available through the Web. There are also hundreds of web sites that are intended to help people find that training. This article presents a few that appear most useful as well as several e-Learning web sites that offer technical, business and other courses. Technologies Tomorrow ------------------------- 19. The Bluetooth Connection: Saying Goodbye to Wires Jelena Lewis Wireless technology has been around for a few years now. The Bluetooth vision is to take the current wireless a step further, by broadening the wireless range of interaction in order to incorporate more than just computers. 20. "Virtualized Reality": The Future of Television? Rafael Chargel We've heard of virtual reality, but what about "virtualized reality"? How does it work and what implications does it have for training? Profiles in Development ----------------------- 21. Global Learning Solutions Global Learning Solutions of Lucent Technologies has been recognized as one of the top eLearning organizations in the corporate training industry. Its executive leadership team, its technical expertise, its assets in intellectual property and its physical assets make it one of the world's most experienced full service eLearning service providers. 22. Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) lends approximately $400 million per year to education projects. Read about what education and technology projects IDB is supporting in the Latin America region. 23. Peace Corps Moves Into Information Technology The Peace Corps launches an e-initiative to address the increased demand for Information Technology skills worldwide. ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 7 14:23:18 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA85008; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 14:23:17 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9] (may be forged)) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA85000 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 14:23:06 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.100]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA31204 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 09:32:57 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 09:25:05 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: The World Computer Exchange: Bridge the Digital Divide... Message-ID: <3965A1F1.30714.A9344@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk The following description comes from the website of The World Computer Exchange [http://www.worldcomputerexchange.org/ ]. At the moment six Indian NGOs are in process of becoming part of this exchange programme. ik. ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- The World Computer Exchange: Bridge the Digital Divide... For Our Kids, For Our Future We act as a broker in bridging the international digital divide, promoting cultural understanding between students in the U.S. and developing countries, and facilitating the use of technology and experiential education in education reform. World Computer Exchange, Inc. is a non-profit organization established to ship donated new and used, working Internet-accessible computers to formal and informal schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Students in these schools are partnered on-line with interested schools in industrialized countries. We also arrange for small teams of U.S. student "ambassadors" to visit some of the participating schools in developing countries. The "ambassadors" provide training to interested local students in computer and Internet use and maintenance. In exchange, the hosting schools and communities teach the "ambassadors" about their local culture, history, and language. Students in the participating schools will be encouraged to compete for cash awards to develop cultural and educational web pages to share on our website. We broker donations of working, surplus, Internet-accessible computers and monitors from large U.S. companies. We ask their help in packing the computers in shipping containers for ocean shipment along with their maintenance histories and inventories. We seek volunteers from companies in the U.S. to work with our clubs in schools and to accompany our student "ambassadors" during their visits. We seek volunteers from companies in developing countries to help with computer installation and maintenance. We seek technology-savvy students from high schools and colleges in industrialized countries interested in learning more about different countries and volunteering to visit schools in developing countries to provide technology training. Our "ambassadors" visit for two weeks during January, spring break, or in the summer. We provide orientation prior to these trips. We work via Ministers of Education, Non-Governmental Organizations, and Universities that distribute the computers to the participating schools, help them with connectivity issues and maintenance, and help to arrange home stays for our visiting student "ambassadors". We seek to work to support existing initiatives by the Peace Corps, USAID, World Bank, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations. We also seek to have our student volunteers work with adult volunteers from the Peace Corps, UN Volunteers, Net Corps, Global Tech Corps, and the Geek Corps. Timothy Anderson, President World Computer Exchange, 936 Nantasket Ave., Hull, MA 02045 Telephone (781) 925-3078 Contact : WorldComputerExchange@mediaone.net World Computer Exchange is registered trademarks of the World Computer Exchange. Copyright 2000 World Computer Exchange, Inc. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 7 14:36:40 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA85283; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 14:36:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA85275 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 14:36:32 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.100]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA05877 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 09:36:01 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 09:38:58 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Plan panel recommends opening of Net telephony Message-ID: <3965A532.11689.1748A3@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 6 July 2000 Plan panel recommends opening of Net telephony Shalini Singh & Manoj Gairola NEW DELHI THE PLANNING Commission has recommended the opening of Internet telephony, coming out stridently against the existing policy, which does not permit transmission of voice over public Internet. The telecom chapter of the Planning Commission's Mid-Term Review of the 9th Five Year Plan says the opening of Internet telephony will lead to optimum use of resources and provision of least cost services to the consumers. It further says since VSNL, DOT and MTNL are already leading ISPs, opening up of internet telephony would provide them with a greater opportunity to be major players in this area. The opening of Internet telephony will not harm national interest in any way, the document says. 'In fact, it is bound to revolutionise the long distance communications as it will provide services at a fraction of the present cost. The existing policy should not be allowed to hold back the benefits accruing from technological innovations if it is not against the interest of the nation and the consumers. Opening of Internet telephony like data services will not harm national interest in any way', it reads. The Planning Commission further says with the convergence of technologies, service segmentations and a separate licence for each service becomes redundant and work only as artificial barriers. It recommends a single licence for all telecom services and evolving a common revenue share formula. Telecom services would include fixed line telephony, Internet, mobile telephony and satellite services. This will help in the liberalisation of the sector and ensure a desirable perfect competition model. Contrary to the DoT's views, the Planning Commission is against competitive bidding for the award of national long-distance licences as this would restrict the number of players. It suggests a one-time entry fee and no restriction on the number of NLD operators. DoT has been known to be opposed to this idea. The final body blow to the DoT is the Planning Commission's recommendation that NLD operators should carry intra-circle long distance traffic as this would increase competition and give the subscriber the option of choosing the NLD operator of their preference. The recommendations say the artificial distinction between intracircle and inter-circle long distance connectivity would become redundant in the face of emerging technological innovations. The liberalisation of the ISP sector is a befitting model to prove that unrestricted competition helps expand the user base and reduces cost to the customer. http://www.economictimes.com/today/06tech01.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 7 15:01:49 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA85775; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:01:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA85761 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:01:20 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.100]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA02080 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 10:00:50 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 10:03:45 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: U.N. conference seeks to close technology gap Message-ID: <3965AB02.10412.2DFD6F@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk U.N. conference seeks to close technology gap July 6, 2000 NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Wealthy nations face huge obstacles to spreading technology in a world where half the population does not have a telephone and four of every 10 African adults cannot read, a U.N. forum said on Wednesday. At a U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) conference on information technology, U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and IMF, World Bank and U.N. officials sought ways to prevent technology from becoming another resource that divides rich and poor nations. "In large parts of Africa today, young girls are more likely to die before reaching the age of 5 than they are to learn to read," Summers told the ECOSOC forum. "To put it bluntly, until we see substantial improvement in these figures, the dream of putting the world's poorest citizens on a fast track to technology and growth will remain just that: a dream," Summers said. The conference explored ways to bring information technology to the developing world and help countries tap the benefits of globalization. The push for globalization has touched off a debate about whether the world's poor will reap the fruits of increased trade and more integrated financial markets such as increased growth, job creation and investment. Technology in developed countries is rapidly increasing productivity, boosting growth and creating enormous private-sector wealth. Poor countries stand to benefit enormously from those technologies which could arm them with information to attack some of their most pressing problems. But without the basic economic infrastructure or political policies to support the spread of technology, they risk being left behind. The digital divide between rich and poor countries is readily apparent. Some 90 percent of Internet host computers are in high- income countries with 16 percent of the world's population. New York has more Internet hosts than all of Africa. "Much as I have the same right to access the Internet as anybody in the west does, I wonder how many of my mates in the developing world can have access to a computer at all or a phone line," said Rwanda's U.N. Ambassador Joseph Mutaboba. Other African delegates said the conference had skirted the issue of funding for technology which is one of the biggest obstacles. But Summers said there was a risk technology would exacerbate rather than narrow the disparity of wealth in the world. "When half the world's population has yet to use a telephone and 40 percent of African adults cannot read, there is perhaps an equal chance that technology will speed further divergence," Summers said. The spread of technology should be part of a holistic approach to global economic development, Wolfensohn said. "In our excitement about the information superhighway, we must not forget the villages and slums without telephones, electricity, or safe water, or the primary schools without pencils, paper, or books," Wolfensohn said. Speakers urged the adoption of domestic and international aid policies that would improve growth, health, education and basic social services. The prescriptions included market economies, eradication of corruption and debt relief. "What is needed is a virtuous cycle of poverty alleviation, sustained growth, higher savings and investment and rising productivity," International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Eduardo Aninat said. Wolfensohn said money is not the only barrier to the spread of technology. Leaders must learn how to use computers and support policies that are technology friendly. Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/07/06/un.it.conference.reut/ind ex.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 7 15:18:37 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA86187; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:18:36 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA86177 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:18:29 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.100]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA20387 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 10:17:59 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 10:20:54 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Satyam Launches Portal in Malayalam and Kannada Languages Message-ID: <3965AF06.3359.3DAF27@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Satyam Launches New Editions in Regional Languages By Steven Schwankert Managing Editor, asia.internet.com [July 6, 2000--HONG KONG] India's largest private ISP Satyam Infoway [NASDAQ:SIFY] has launched two new editions of its consumer portal in the regional languages of Malayalam and Kannada, the company said in a statement Wednesday. <...> http://asia.internet.com/2000/7/0603-satyam.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 7 15:18:40 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA86205; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:18:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA86179 for ; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:18:31 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.100]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA16708; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 10:18:01 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 10:20:55 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Old computers bring hope for hard-up hospitals CC: pphf-digest@maillists.com Message-ID: <3965AF07.28723.3DB1C8@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Old computers bring hope for hard-up hospitals HUGH PAIN CHICAGO (June 29) : Don't throw out that old 486! It could be saving lives in a hard-up hospital half the world away. Zina Munoz is an emergency room nurse in Chicago, but not just any emergency room nurse. Which is how she comes to be in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, bringing medical Internet connections to the city's main hospital. Four years ago at a medical ethics conference in Dallas, Munoz was talking to some doctors, one of whom was Kim Solez, a renal pathologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and also a leading light of the International Society of Nephrologists (ISN). "Why shouldn't older-model computers that people throw away in America be shipped out to Third World hospitals to hook them up to the Internet?" she said. "There's nothing wrong with the systems except they are slow, and the hospitals need access, not speed." "Good idea," said Solez. "Why not write a proposal?" Munoz had never written a proposal before, but she found out how -- on the Internet, of course -- wrote it overnight and gave it to Solez the following morning. A year later, in June 1998, and thanks to funding from the ISN, Munoz, Solez and a team of doctors arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, along with eight second-hand computers donated by Toshiba Corp and upgraded and refurbished at home by her four cybernaut children and their friends. The team spent 2-1/2 weeks in Nepal, installing the computers and conducting training and clinical lectures with local renal specialists. By the time they left, the local doctors and nurses -- Munoz insists on equal facilities for nursing staff -- knew how to access and use the growing number of nephrology sites on the Net, and were able to contact nephrologists in the developed world to get immediate -- and potentially life-saving -- answers to problems. The next stop, eight months later, was Cuba, this time along with Noel Gibney, an intensivist (intensive care specialist) colleague of Solez from the University of Alberta. In 10 days they hooked up 12 computers in different provinces -- new ones this time -- because officials thought the rich "yanquis" should be giving state of the art equipment, not someone else's cast-offs. "There's a real prejudice against using used equipment," said Munoz. "But rich we are not. This is strictly a shoestring operation. We accept anything that will run Windows 95. Anything older we dismantle for parts -- it's amazing how much you can save by recycling." Further small-scale projects followed in Nigeria and rural Argentina, and by this time the operation had been formalised as the Renal-Tech Donation Project, with Munoz as its director.--Reuters http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0011/S1103/S1103101.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Jul 8 15:32:51 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA111124; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 15:32:51 +1000 (EST) Received: from mail-relay-delhi.ernet.in ([202.41.100.92]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA111109 for ; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 15:32:32 +1000 (EST) Received: from uucp-relay-delhi.ernet.in (vikram [202.41.100.90]) by mail-relay-delhi.ernet.in (8.9.0/8.9.0) with ESMTP id KAA09403 for ; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 10:57:00 -0500 (GMT) Received: by uucp-relay-delhi.ernet.in (8.9.3+Sun/SMI-4.1-MHS-7.0) id KAA10837; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 10:59:36 -0600 (GMT) >Received: (from john@localhost) by sdalt.ernet.in (8.6.12/8.6.11) id KAA08291; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 10:49:32 +0500 Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 10:49:32 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: John Borgoyary To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Dear All, Can any one in the list direct me to a site where I can find information on the Internet usage and connectivity in different states of India. I would be very grateful for the information. Thanks, John Borgoyary British Council 17, Kasturba Gandhi Marg New Delhi - 110 001 Ph: 3711401 (Ext. 206) Email: john.borgoyary@in.britishcouncil.org Web site: http://www.indev.nic.in From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Jul 8 20:18:20 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA115163; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 20:18:20 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA115158 for ; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 20:18:08 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-125.super.net.pk [203.130.5.125]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA31611; Sat, 8 Jul 2000 15:28:02 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 15:19:53 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Online medical group targets developing countries CC: pphf-digest@maillists.com Message-ID: <39674699.9393.3279FF@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from InDev e-mail digest, July 2000. complete issue at http://www.indev.org .] Online medical group targets developing countries The WebMD Foundation is collaborating with the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch an international Web portal offering health information to medical practitioners worldwide. The initiative, known as the "Inter-Network," plans to install 100 Internet-accessible computers in each of the world's 130 poorest nations. By 2003, the WebMD Foundation said it hopes to have established a service which doctors, nurses and the general public can instantly access for free, up-to-date medical information. One challenge will be to create applications that users will find useful and valuable. To meet that challenge, the WebMD Foundation is relying on a range of international health authorities, including the WHO. Funding for the $150 million initiative will rely heavily on donations from private companies. This is a moral imperative for the advanced and affluent nations of the world. The winners from all of this will be neither the public nor private sector, but the people around the world who are currently dying from ignorance. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 9 05:22:05 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA122575; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 05:22:05 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA122565 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 05:21:45 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-104.super.net.pk [203.130.5.243]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA04204 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 00:21:05 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 00:23:49 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: News from UN ECOSOC Conference on IT Message-ID: <3967C615.19977.5F1B1E@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [the following three items were posted by Frederick Noronha on the Cybercom India mailing list.] Developing world still untouched by new economy by Jeet Thayil, India Abroad News Service United Nations, July 8 - The emerging new economy, with its reliance on high technology, has left most of the developing world untouched, according to a U.N. agency. "The majority of the world population still lives in poverty and remains untouched by the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution," said the draft ministerial declaration of the substantive session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The ECOSOC 2000 declaration said the "emerging new economy, characterised by a rapidly increasing reliance of value creation on information and knowledge still remains concentrated in the developed countries." It made special note of "the efforts deployed" by countries "at (a) regional level," in particular the "Regional Roundtable on Information Technology and Development for the Asian and Pacific Region" held in New Delhi in June 2000. The declaration expressed concern that information technology (IT) had not benefitted developing countries, which needed such change the most. "We are deeply concerned that, at present, ICT's huge potential for advancing development, in particular of developing countries, has not been fully captured." The "digital divide" needed to be bridged with "urgent and concerted actions, at national, regional and international levels," it said. "We call on all members of the international community to work cooperatively to bridge the digital divide and to foster digital opportunity." The private sector was identified as crucial in the new economy. To "achieve universal connectivity," the declaration said, "especially in developing countries, will require innovative approaches and partnerships" and "private sector investment." It advocated the setting up of national programmes to, among other things, "bring down the connectivity costs to make it affordable" and provide "public access points." ECOSOC was identified as being able to play a key role in the development of IT by "serving as a global forum to accelerate and to promote universal access to knowledge and information" and helping developing countries integrate with the networked knowledge-based global economy. The declaration called on members of the international community to promote South-South cooperation and "projects for enhancing direct connectivity among developing countries." The cost of access to the Internet in developing countries must be reduced, it said. More computers and small and medium-sized companies using IT needed to be encouraged, it added. A U.N. task force on IT was recommended by the declaration, which also called on international governments to implement its directives. --India Abroad News Service --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- Internet can be used to improve India's quality of life: Pitroda by Jeet Thayil, India Abroad News Service New York, July 8 - India's Sam Pitroda, WorldTel chairman and chief executive, says the telecommunications business is plagued by rampant corruption. Pitroda, former chief of India's telecoms department, told a United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting here that corruption made it difficult to enter the telecommunications business. His comments came on the third and final day of the meeting in the presence of information technology (IT) pioneers from the private sector and development officers from around the world. He said WorldTel's experience in India had taught it several lessons, chief among these was the fact that material for the implementation of a telecommunications system in India had to be locally made. This would create jobs, but the whole complex operation needed commitment from the government, he said. Pitroda said the key to linking IT and development, with specific reference to India, was to set concrete goals. "With the help of the Internet we will make the world literate in five years," he said. The Internet could be a huge help in bringing about quality-of-life changes in India. If India needed water pumps, for instance, with the use of the Internet, pumps could quickly be installed. He advocated the setting of a single-point programme to achieve a specific aim -- for instance, availability of water or literacy, according to a press note. Information and communications technology was a different concept in India, he said. Whereas in the West there was no connection between improved quality of life and IT, in India the two were deeply connected. --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- E-learning field has to be leveled: ECOSOC meet told by Jeet Thayil, India Abroad News Service New York, July 8 - The Delhi-based chairman of the only Indian company present at a United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meet here said the e-learning field has to be levelled as 5.5 billion people still remain unwired. Rajiv Savara, chairman of the Delhi-based Compunnel Software India, a medium-size software services company, said, "The e-learning playing field" has to be levelled as despite the fact that enormous strides had been made in the world of information technology (IT), not everyone had access to it. Compunnel was the only Indian company at the summit among nine other companies that included such names as Dell, Compaq and Hewlett Packard. For Compunnel it was "an absolute honour to represent the Indian private sector among such giants," Romi Mahajan, vice president, business development, told India Abroad News Service. The company used ECOSOC as an opportunity to "reaffirm our commitment to develop a global services brand out of India," Mahajan said. "Our company's mainstay is the development of content for e-learning applications." Indian software companies have now passed the initial stage "after 10 years of exponential growth in India," he said. "We no longer have to sell the concept of an Indian company, we don't have to prove ourselves in that way any more. Now we sell ourselves on what we can do, on our skills and domain knowledge." --India Abroad News Service --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 9 09:44:38 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA122575; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 05:22:05 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA122565 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 05:21:45 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-104.super.net.pk [203.130.5.243]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA04204 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 00:21:05 +0500 (GMT+0500) From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 00:23:49 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: News from UN ECOSOC Conference on IT Message-ID: <3967C615.19977.5F1B1E@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [the following three items were posted by Frederick Noronha on the Cybercom India mailing list.] Developing world still untouched by new economy by Jeet Thayil, India Abroad News Service United Nations, July 8 - The emerging new economy, with its reliance on high technology, has left most of the developing world untouched, according to a U.N. agency. "The majority of the world population still lives in poverty and remains untouched by the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution," said the draft ministerial declaration of the substantive session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The ECOSOC 2000 declaration said the "emerging new economy, characterised by a rapidly increasing reliance of value creation on information and knowledge still remains concentrated in the developed countries." It made special note of "the efforts deployed" by countries "at (a) regional level," in particular the "Regional Roundtable on Information Technology and Development for the Asian and Pacific Region" held in New Delhi in June 2000. The declaration expressed concern that information technology (IT) had not benefitted developing countries, which needed such change the most. "We are deeply concerned that, at present, ICT's huge potential for advancing development, in particular of developing countries, has not been fully captured." The "digital divide" needed to be bridged with "urgent and concerted actions, at national, regional and international levels," it said. "We call on all members of the international community to work cooperatively to bridge the digital divide and to foster digital opportunity." The private sector was identified as crucial in the new economy. To "achieve universal connectivity," the declaration said, "especially in developing countries, will require innovative approaches and partnerships" and "private sector investment." It advocated the setting up of national programmes to, among other things, "bring down the connectivity costs to make it affordable" and provide "public access points." ECOSOC was identified as being able to play a key role in the development of IT by "serving as a global forum to accelerate and to promote universal access to knowledge and information" and helping developing countries integrate with the networked knowledge-based global economy. The declaration called on members of the international community to promote South-South cooperation and "projects for enhancing direct connectivity among developing countries." The cost of access to the Internet in developing countries must be reduced, it said. More computers and small and medium-sized companies using IT needed to be encouraged, it added. A U.N. task force on IT was recommended by the declaration, which also called on international governments to implement its directives. --India Abroad News Service --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- Internet can be used to improve India's quality of life: Pitroda by Jeet Thayil, India Abroad News Service New York, July 8 - India's Sam Pitroda, WorldTel chairman and chief executive, says the telecommunications business is plagued by rampant corruption. Pitroda, former chief of India's telecoms department, told a United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting here that corruption made it difficult to enter the telecommunications business. His comments came on the third and final day of the meeting in the presence of information technology (IT) pioneers from the private sector and development officers from around the world. He said WorldTel's experience in India had taught it several lessons, chief among these was the fact that material for the implementation of a telecommunications system in India had to be locally made. This would create jobs, but the whole complex operation needed commitment from the government, he said. Pitroda said the key to linking IT and development, with specific reference to India, was to set concrete goals. "With the help of the Internet we will make the world literate in five years," he said. The Internet could be a huge help in bringing about quality-of-life changes in India. If India needed water pumps, for instance, with the use of the Internet, pumps could quickly be installed. He advocated the setting of a single-point programme to achieve a specific aim -- for instance, availability of water or literacy, according to a press note. Information and communications technology was a different concept in India, he said. Whereas in the West there was no connection between improved quality of life and IT, in India the two were deeply connected. --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- E-learning field has to be leveled: ECOSOC meet told by Jeet Thayil, India Abroad News Service New York, July 8 - The Delhi-based chairman of the only Indian company present at a United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meet here said the e-learning field has to be levelled as 5.5 billion people still remain unwired. Rajiv Savara, chairman of the Delhi-based Compunnel Software India, a medium-size software services company, said, "The e-learning playing field" has to be levelled as despite the fact that enormous strides had been made in the world of information technology (IT), not everyone had access to it. Compunnel was the only Indian company at the summit among nine other companies that included such names as Dell, Compaq and Hewlett Packard. For Compunnel it was "an absolute honour to represent the Indian private sector among such giants," Romi Mahajan, vice president, business development, told India Abroad News Service. The company used ECOSOC as an opportunity to "reaffirm our commitment to develop a global services brand out of India," Mahajan said. "Our company's mainstay is the development of content for e-learning applications." Indian software companies have now passed the initial stage "after 10 years of exponential growth in India," he said. "We no longer have to sell the concept of an Indian company, we don't have to prove ourselves in that way any more. Now we sell ourselves on what we can do, on our skills and domain knowledge." --India Abroad News Service --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 9 15:57:08 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA124702; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 15:57:08 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA124684 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 15:57:01 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-019.super.net.pk [203.130.5.158]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA16494 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 11:06:56 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 10:59:12 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: UNDP wins award for computer training project Message-ID: <39685B01.2310.499C42@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [As mentioned below the project also operates in south asian countries.] UNDP wins award for computer training project The UNDP announced that its Asia-Pacific Development Information Program has received the Stockholm Challenge Award for excellence in information technology. In partnership with Cisco Systems, the program offers four semesters of education on designing, building and maintaining computer and Internet networks. According to UNDP, the program is so highly regarded that students in many of its academies are offered employment prior to receiving certification. The UNDP program operates in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Nepal, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka. Japan pledged $1.5 million last month for the program to institute an Africa information technology project. http://www.indev.org/news/1july2k.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 9 15:57:13 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA124738; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 15:57:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA124690 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 15:57:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-019.super.net.pk [203.130.5.158]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA16501 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 11:07:02 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 10:59:16 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Humanscape cover story on IT: How much really trickles down? Message-ID: <39685B04.14437.49A89D@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk The cover story of the June 2000 issue of Humanscape, a Mumbai-based magazine, is on information technology. The following description comes from the magazine's website [http://www.humanscapeindia.org/ ]: How much of the benefits really trickle down to the common man? What does all the Internet hysteria signify in a country like India where the penetration of PCs is 1.1 per 1000 people, compared to 450 per 1000 in the US? Does a drought-ridden state like Andhra Pradesh need portals or potable water? Are we being swept away by dotcom delusions? This issue of Humanscape explores these questions, and provides several first-hand reports of the benefits of information technology to the villagers around Pondicherry, to a cowherd in Maharashtra's hills, to the women who form part of SEWA, to the 'mobile ladies' of Bangladesh who are doing brisk business with their new cell phones.... [Contents] - A wired world for whom? Margaret Wertheim - Does AP need portals or potable water? Lionel Messias - The future according to Naidu - How the common man benefits. Frederick Noronha - The new, low-cost information vaccine - Global villages B Siddharthan - The Interactive idiot box Roberto Verzola - 'IT has great potential in alleviating poverty' Prerna Bindra - Cyber fundraising Dr Swapan Garain - Community radio calling. Anyone listening? Frederick Noronha - 'Cable radio' could be the solution - Why AIR has completely ignored community radio Bandana Mukhopadhyay - Dotcom activism Dilip D'Souza - E-campaigns in the real world: The power of mail - Here come the mobile ladies Nava Thakuria - It may cost more than a cow, but you still need the modem Shahidul Alam - desiduniya.com Lina Krishnan - Peer-to-peer pedagogy Peter Patrao - Does information technology really promote knowledge? Kunda Dixit - Dotcom delusions John Samuel From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Jul 9 15:57:16 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA124761; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 15:57:16 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA124701 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 15:57:08 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-019.super.net.pk [203.130.5.158]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA16522 for ; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 11:07:04 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 10:59:10 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India In Need of Serious Rewiring Message-ID: <39685AFF.32392.499436@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk India In Need of Serious Rewiring by Frederick Noronha July 6, 2000 BANGALORE, India -- India's world-renowned software gurus are pushing for improvements to the country's woefully inadequate Internet infrastructure which continues to thwart their dreams of international IT supremacy. Speaking at IT Infrastructure, a conference organized by the Computer Society of India, software developers pleaded for infrastructure improvements, saying they are critical to the nation's development. "Knowledge is the key to growth," they said, "and IT infrastructure is the foundation for the knowledge economy." Unfortunately, India's current IT infrastructure "is really, really short of global levels," said Arvind Thakur, president of NIIT, a computer education firm. While Internet penetration is 400 per 1,000 in the United States, Thakur said that barely two in 1,000 Indians have direct access to the Net. Thus, the critical mass needed to demand a better IT infrastructure just isn't there, nor is it perceived as a basic human need in a country plagued by overpopulation, malnutrition, and a high illiteracy rate. Nearly half of all children under 4 in this country of 1 billion people suffer from malnutrition, according to the World Bank, as do 60 percent of all women. UNESCO estimated the literacy rate in 1998 at 64 percent, up from 18 percent in 1951. Even where an Internet infrastructure exists, it isn't very good, by international standards. Thakur said that at his home in Gurgaon, a residential suburb of New Delhi, securing a modem connction can take 15 to 30 minutes. Once online, the connection often brings in junk characters. "Even if we get through successfully, the connect speed may be a paltry 9,600 kbps," he said. With infrastructure obstacles like that, Indian firms see the odds stacked against them in their bid to become global e-corporations, said Jawahar Beekay, CEO of Bangalore-based Planetasia.com. Other problems include a lack of a payment settlement mechanism for e- commerce and government regulations that stifle the Net's characteristic freedom, Beekay said. Yet he remains optimistic about the widely accepted predictions that India will have 45 to 60 million Internet users in the next five years. Today, there are less than 2 million Internet accounts and and estimated 4 million to 5 million Internet users. Faced with the prospect of increased demand, computer engineers at the conference said official plans to give India total Internet bandwidth of just 4 GB by 2002 are flat-out inadequate. Even a single- tier ISP in the United States has 10 GB, they said, and the consensus was "we're way off the mark in our scaling." "There is money, knowledge, a market, and opportunity available," said Dr. A Prabhakara, founder of the Bangalore-based Datanet Corporation. "This is a mess we don't really have to be in." Many Internet-focused Indians are determined to extract the country from the morass. One of them is Subhash Reddy, co-founder and vice president of incubation at e4e Labs Private Limited, Reddy is a graduate of the University of Illinois and a self-described SVI, or Silicon Valley Indian. Reddy's firm is a 12,000-square-foot operation in Bangalore, the center of India's Silicon Valley, offering office space, a link to the Internet, computers, and specialist advice for anyone with a workable dream. "We want to create a small Silicon Valley greenhouse in India," Reddy said. "There are 5,000-plus Indians worth over a million dollars in Silicon Valley. Thirty percent of startups in the Valley have an Indian as part of the core team. "Why can't we build a small set of people to be as successful here as Indians are in Silicon Valley?" Bandwidth is a large part of the answer. Vivek Kulkarni, IT secretary for Karnatka, said the country's total international bandwidth is under 350 MB, compared to 40 GB available in China, India's traditional rival. The United States, Kulkarni said, has 200GB of bandwidth. Major efforts are underway to right this bandwidth imbalance. According to Kulkarni, private companies are laying 1,678 miles of fiber-optic lines in Karnatka at a cost of $560 million. Seven firms, including Enron, Lucent Technologies, and Airtel, are involved in this project. Indian firms are also planning to set up international gateways to the Internet, using foreign-owned satellites. The government granted permission for 17 firms throughout India to begin doing this. In the past, the government required all international Internet access to be routed through the state-run VSNL -- India's international telecom and service provider -- leading to bottlenecks and complaints of inefficiency. Linking Bangalore, Chennai, and Vijayawada using Wave Division Multiplexing technology is another project aimed at improving user- available bandwidth. Scheduled for completion at the end of this year or early in 2001, the link will allow some 60,000 subscribers to talk simultaneously. B.V. Jagadeesh, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Exodus Communications in Santa Clara, California, dreams of an India with widespread Internet access. One of his Indian firms, Mumbai-based Netmagic, "will create an ability for all ISPs to come and exchange traffic with one another. This is essential, as you need a neutral player to help all ISPs exchange traffic." The engineers at Netmagic are trying to develop what Jagadeesh called "access to applications more suitable to the Indian market." Jagadeesh, who studied engineering in Bangalore, founded another company, IPCell, "to create a box costing only $114, and charge a monthly fee of 90 cents to $1.12, that will allow simple people to send emails to friends and family at a very affordable price." Although the average Indian earns less than $300 annually, the middle class comprises an estimated 250 to 300 million people with incomes averaging $20,000. This group is expected to expand between 5 and 10 percent annually. The growth of the middle class, combined with lower Internet rates, will put cyberspace within the reach of millions and create an ever-expanding market, Jagadeesh said. He criticized the government-run telecom/ISP giants, VSNL and the Department of Telecommunications, for "treating telecom as a luxury. It's not. It is essential for the success of all of us." Jagadeesh stressed the need for India to adopt VoiceOver IP, or Internet telephony. VoiceOver IP is currently banned by the government, which cites limited available bandwidth. Critics charge the government is trying to protect its own telecom firms, which generate substantial revenue from costly long-distance and international calls. "I'm a very strong believer of VoiceOver IP," Jagadeesh said. "For every telephone call, the link gets used up and blocked completely for the total duration of the call. That's a waste of bandwidth." "We need to improve connectivity phenomenally within the nation," Jagadeesh said. "That's more important than Internet international connectivity and gateways. We need to be self-dependent, so we don't have to go via the U.S. or Europe to access every bit of content we need." Currently, even prominent Indian websites like Indya.com and Rediff.com are housed on servers in the United States because reliable services are not yet a guarantee here. Bemoaning the current level of infrastructure in India, Jagadeesh said people were signing up for Net connections not because the middle class "did not want to install it ... but because the infrastructure is so bad, almost unusable." There are, however, positive developments, one of which was the Information Technology Act 2000, which became law on June 19. Administrative and market reforms are now underway on the state- monopolized telecom front as well, with the private sector now giving government-run monopolies a run for the money. Other subjects discussed at the conference included providing Internet exchange points, content distribution, bandwidth services, application services, managed and co-location services, and website hosting. http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,37232,00.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 10 18:34:53 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA84153; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 18:34:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA84137 for ; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 18:34:43 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.79]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA31581 for ; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 13:34:21 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 13:37:04 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Bangladesh passes IT copyright law Message-ID: <3969D180.20145.530D17@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 9 July, 2000 Bangladesh passes IT copyright law By Moazzem Hossain in Dhaka Computer programmers and software developers in Bangladesh are disappointed by a new law which aims to protect intellectual property rights. Bangladesh has a growing information technology sector, and computer experts have long demanded a copyright law that would safeguard intellectual property. But they say the new law does not go far enough because it does not prohibit songs, writing or computer programmes from being reproduced without permission for non-commercial purposes. This means that under the Copyright Law 2000, which is what the new legislation is called, a student or researcher could freely use a software programme or chunk of a novel without infringing copyright or asking for permission. But computer experts say the new law was meant to protect the creative work of writers, singers and software developers alike. Mostafa Jabbar, one of Bangladesh's leading software developers, says the new provision will not help the country's information technology sector. But a member of the Law Commission, Justice Naimuddin Ahmad, told the BBC the law was framed in line with the conventions of the World Trade Organisation. He said Bangladesh was a developing country and its priority should be to protect consumers' interests rather than those of a few businessmen. The new law was passed by parliament on Sunday. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_826000/826331 .stm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 10 18:35:48 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA84192; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 18:35:48 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA84187 for ; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 18:35:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.79]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA31575; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 13:34:14 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: John Borgoyary Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 13:37:05 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Internet usage and connectivity in india CC: s-asia-it@apnic.net Message-ID: <3969D181.2730.5310F3@localhost> In-reply-to: X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk On 8 Jul 2000, at 10:49, John Borgoyary wrote: > Can any one in the list direct me to a site where I can find > information on the Internet usage and connectivity in different states > of India. I would be very grateful for the information. While I am unable to offer an appropriate answer to your query, the following pointers may be of some help to you: - National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom)'s website is at http://www.nasscom.org/ . Check "Internet & E-Commerce Scenario in India" [http://www.nasscom.org/template/inetec.htm ]. - A list of Indian ISPs is at http://www.rekha.com/search/ISPs/ - Read Professor Sadagopan's article "Internet Diffusion in India" (September 1998) at http://www.askallindia.com/infotechdesk/art2.htm - Check the following category in Yahoo! India [http://in.yahoo.com/ ] Home > Regional > Countries > India > Business and Economy > Business to Business > Communications and Networking > Internet and World Wide Web > Network Service Providers > Regards, Irfan From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 11 03:28:03 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA94087; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 03:28:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from goa1.dot.net.in (goa1.dot.net.in [202.54.17.30]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA94083 for ; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 03:27:58 +1000 (EST) Received: from home-system ([210.212.161.219]) by goa1.dot.net.in (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id WAA29128 for ; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:59:18 +0530 (GMT) Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20000710224819.007c9940@202.54.17.30> X-Sender: fred@202.54.17.30 X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:48:19 +0500 To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Frederick Noronha Subject: Participation of private sector at ECOSOC meet hailed as 'historic' Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Participation of private sector at ECOSOC meet hailed as 'historic' by Jeet Thayil, India Abroad News Service New York, July 8 - This year's meeting of the 54-member United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which included India, has been "fairly historic" because it is the first time the U.N. has been "able to arrange the participation of the private sector." Ambassador Makarin Wibisono (Indonesia), the president of ECOSOC, said this to reporters on the third and final day of the high-level meeting with the theme 'Development and international cooperatioon in the 21st century: The role of information technology in the context of a knowledge-based global economy.' Wibisono said it was important to "encourage the participation by governments, international organisations as well as the private sector to solve the problems of the digital divide." The involvement of information technology (IT) professionals was "crucial" to solve these problems, he said. Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai said it was important to "emphasise the level and quality of participation from member states and the private sector." He cited in particular the participation of Sam Pitroda of WorldTel, Jay Naidu of the Africa Connect programme and "the CEOs of Nokia and Windcerf" in the meeting. Desai said there had been "a really high level of participation from both sides." He said "the crucial role the U.N. can play is in providing an interface between the IT community and the development community." He said at breakfast meetings and roundtables, there had been "very frank open discussions" between government officials responsible for education, health, trade promotion and IT professionals. India's Permanent Representative to the U.N., Kamalesh Sharma, told the high-level segment of ECOSOC in a statement, "Information technology is regarded by India as a facilitator and enabler, of enormous potentiality, in adding value to almost all sectors of national activity, particularly economic and social." "For the first time in our history, we are witnessing the growth of a technology that has the potential for assisting in bridging the gap between haves and have-nots." "Information technology in its fully convergent form, encompassing various modes of information delivery, such as printed media, radio and television, computer and Internet into one integrated environment provides a unique opportunity to touch the lives of everyone, overcoming earlier divisions," he said. "It is our strong belief that IT, to be successful, must be pro-people and pro-development, which can happen only if it reaches out to the masses in rural areas and it its use in local languages is promoted. We have set for ourselves the target of 'IT For All by 2008' whose centrepiece is a major national campaign 'Operation Knowledge' focussing on universalising IT and IT-based education at all levels of the education pyramid." "A harmonious blend has to be maintained between the 'brick' and 'click' economies within societies, recognising the creative and progressive requirements of both," he said. "We have also entered into many MoUs (memorandums of understanding) for cooperation in the IT sector with many developing nations, several developed nations as also countries in transition..." A senior Indian diplomat said 250 El Salvadoreans were being trained in India and India had helped to set up IT centres in Senegal, Namibia and Harare among other countries. "We have informationised crucial offices in these countries," he said. -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ Frederick Noronha | Freelance Journalist | fred@vsnl.com _/ 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India | Ph 832.409490 or 832.409783 _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 11 03:36:09 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA94267; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 03:36:08 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA94248 for ; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 03:35:11 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-122.super.net.pk [203.130.5.122]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA21232 for ; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:34:25 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:37:05 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: IT climbs down from skyscrapers to the common man Message-ID: <396A5011.18015.618484@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id DAA94264 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Jul 10 2000 IT climbs down from skyscrapers to the common man BANGALORE EFFORTS are on across the country to make the benefits of information technology relevant to the common man by incorporating it to improve civic amenities, make blood banks effective and let non-English speakers get a taste of the "virtual" revolution. Initiatives are underway to boost Internet-based distance education in the country. Courses launched include ones for IT-based distance education through the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). India's top technical institutions are also pitching in. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, is building a Web-based digitised collection of interactive courseware. IIT, Kanpur, is working on a digital library and interactive classroom. Other initiatives include the Birla Institute of Technology and Science's (BITS) virtual university project. Offering space to non-English computing is also on the agenda, a vital task in a country that has 18 constitutionally-recognised languages, over 1,650 dialects (minor languages) and about 10 scripts. Translation-support systems are also being polished up. English-to- Hindi prototypes for rough translation of English news stories is now available. AnglaBharati, a programme for translating documents for public-health campaigns has also been developed. Eleven languages -- Assamese, Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu -- have got their vocabulary put together on compact discs (CD). Training material has been created in Hindi for the DOEACC O-levels computer exam, a popular qualifying exam. Vishwabharat (http://vishwabharat.tdil.gov.in) is a website showcasing Indian language technology. Indian language fonts and basic word processing software have also been put out in the public domain to allow it to spread freely. 'Samadhan kendras' or village information centres have been set up at Mudukulathur and Bogalur block of Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. Software on health data has been developed. Each village stores data on about 200 families -- including important events in the village like births, deaths and marriages. In Gangtok, a database is being worked on to forge a digital-terrain map covering the city's infrastructure and facilities. This will help mapping of roads, property lines, land-use, surface drains, watershed analysis and water supply. The Centre for Electronic Design and Technology of India (CEDTI) in Mohali, Punjab has implemented a project for developing a low cost audiovisual teaching aid for implementing literacy. This system will connect to the TV, and is so generic that any Indian or even foreign language can be implemented on the same hardware. In another project for having a 'wired village', the federal government-run National Informatics Centre (NIC) has implemented facilities for Internet access to a complex of 45 villages around Prawara in Maharashtra. Wireless Internet connectivity has been set up for a rural engineering college, a medical trust, bank, sugar factory, women's polytechnic and agricultural centres. To build an agricultural infonetwork, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has set up 80 VSATs (very small aperture terminals) in its partner institutions and state agricultural universities. This is expected to strengthen the agri-research network across India. To reduce bureaucratic stumbling blocks, the NIC has also standardised its file-tracking software. Litigants in the Supreme Court and high courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka can now check the Internet to find out when their cases are likely to come up for hearing. Under the sustainable development networking project, the Mumbai-based National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) has built a blood-bank information system. It is trying to host a 'virtual trade fair' on the Web. It is also working on a multi- lingual Internet chat called ‘varthalap' (conversation). On the health front, computing is being used for telemedicine, to offer remote consultation and diagnosis. This is still in an early stage. Institutions working on it include C- DAC, Pune; CEDT, Mohali; IIT, Kharagpur and Webel, Calcutta. Some prestigious medical institutions are providing the health-side inputs, including premier hospitals in Delhi, Chandigarh and Lucknow. -- IANS http://www.economictimes.com/today/10tech03.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 12 02:02:55 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id CAA67833; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 02:02:54 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA67813 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 02:02:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.157]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA32291 for ; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 21:02:20 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 21:04:52 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?UN_volunteers_to_bring_the_world=92s_poor_on-line?= Message-ID: <396B8BF4.977.7B2150@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id CAA67826 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk New web-site: UN volunteers to bring the world’s poor on-line July 06, 2000 - As the information technology summit opened at the UN yesterday to seek ways to bridge the digital divide, the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) has launched the United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) website to mobilize volunteers around the world to help bridge the technological divide between developed and developing countries. Visitors to the web site will find the latest programme developments, while UNV prepares to coordinate the placement of the first UNITeS volunteers by the time of the UN Millennium Summit in early September 2000. UNITeS Volunteers will work directly with individuals and groups from developing countries to make effective use of information technologies. While the digital divide is in large part a consequence of the lack of equipment and connectivity in many areas, it is also due to a lack of coherent connectivity strategies within countries and communities to deal with the divide. In fact, providing connectivity to individuals and communities can exacerbate digital, economic and cultural inequalities as the focus of local populations is drawn away from local content and services, to those of the mega- portals currently dominating the Internet. In order to ensure that small communities and economies truly benefit from Internet connectivity, it is necessary to combine connectivity with a strategy and related tools and services to build a truly inclusive knowledge based economy and society. The new site is intended to generate discussion on information and communication technologies, volunteerism and global development. It aims to generate feedback on the values and objectives of the UNITeS programme and to involve development agencies, volunteer organizations and ICT specialists in bridging what is often referred to as the digital divide. The UNITeS initiative was announced by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his Millennium Report. The UNV has been asked to lead this effort. The program will function through an international coalition of institutions from both South and North. The United Nations Volunteer programme (UNV), as the volunteer arm of the UN, in collaboration with other partners, is helping to coordinate this major campaign and strategy to empower the peoples of the world to fully participate in the new information and communication age. Related Links United Nations Volunteer programme (UNV) http://www.unv.org/ United Nations Information Technology Service http://www.unites.org/ [source: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/000706_unv.shtml] From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 12 02:03:05 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id CAA67865; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 02:03:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA67804 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 02:02:36 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.157]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA32287 for ; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 21:02:07 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 21:04:53 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Low-Bandwidth Communication Tools for Science Message-ID: <396B8BF5.18902.7B24A5@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from Linux Journal #75 July 2000] June 09, 2000 Low-Bandwidth Communication Tools for Science No access to the Internet? Browse the Web via e-mail instead! by Enrique Canessa and Clement Onime Dissemination and management of knowledge is essential for scientific enterprise and sustainable development. For several decades, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, has paid special attention to the needs of developing countries to foster, through training and research, the progress of science. The Centre long ago realized the importance of information retrieval systems on the Internet, including the distribution of in-house preprints, yearly activities and public access catalogs. On a technical level, Linux provides us with a cost-effective alternative for promoting distance electronic collaboration (see Resources). Based on the Linux OS, virtual laboratories and the extensive use of digital communication tools can help reduce scientific isolation, while filling the need to transfer knowledge to developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere in an unprecedented way (see Resources). Following these principles, we have started building prototype, on- line scientific tools to further enhance electronic collaboration and to support the use of web navigation and database search by e-mail. Below, we describe two tools that Salam ICTP offers the low-bandwidth scientific community. Both packages use state-of-the-art technologies and software developed in-house, and are distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). www4mail--Web Navigation and Database Search by E-Mail The ICTP www4mail software allows navigation and search of the entire Internet via e-mail, using any standard web browser and a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Exchange)-aware e-mail program. At first glance, it may appear similar to one of the several web-to-mail software interfaces; but the www4mail program introduces new features not previously available. In short, e-mail messages containing filtered HTML pages are automatically passed to the www4mail server when links to other web sites are selected while browsing. Written in modular Perl, the program allows retrieval of web pages, searching of arbitrary databases, filling out of web forms (GET and POST conduct web database searches) and following of links (on-line browsing), all by e-mail. It is multi-lingual, easy to manage and supports current Internet standards (MIME, HTML 4.0, etc.). Developed from scratch on the Linux platform, www4mail has been used successfully on the BSD platform and contains some optional optimisations that are Linux-specific. For example, www4mail can monitor the system load average, directly from the Linux /proc file system and, at high load averages, queue requests for later processing. Here are some major features of www4mail: - sends replies as e-mail attachments or in the body of an e-mail message, depending on the type of request options sent by the e-mail client through the web browser - supports scripting, once the browser can display it - delivers most types of web documents, including JavaScript and cookies - handles dynamic contents, parsing text HTML and source HTML - preserves the original layout of requested web pages - retrieves information from FTP sites and Usenet news servers - handles meta tags; that is, if a web page is redirected or relocated by the use of a meta statement, www4mail automatically warns about the possible relocation of the information and provides suitable links for the new location at the top of the reply page - handles frames, inserting suitable links to each framed document - supports user authentication for password-protected web/FTP sites - traps error messages and sends them back to the user - provides support for text-only access for compatibility with the alternative ``Agora'' and ``GetWeb'' web-mail servers - serves filtered requests to reduce bandwidth - supports the transfer of binary data - allows web pages to be downloaded as PostScript files, to be viewed or printed locally (see http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~www4mail for manuals). <...> read complete article at: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue75/3825.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 12 09:27:51 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA70838; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:27:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from guardian.apnic.net (guardian.apnic.net [203.37.255.100]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA70820 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:27:47 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by guardian.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id GAA13086 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 06:01:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from goa1.dot.net.in(202.54.17.30) by int-gw.staff.apnic.net via smap (V2.1) id xma013048; Wed, 12 Jul 00 06:01:03 +1000 Received: from home-system ([210.212.161.105]) by goa1.dot.net.in (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id BAA23067 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 01:27:57 +0530 (GMT) Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20000712004826.007af5d0@202.54.17.30> X-Sender: fred@202.54.17.30 X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 00:48:26 +0500 To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Frederick Noronha Subject: bYtES For aLL: JULY 2000 EZINE Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 07.1999-07.2000 bYtES For aLL _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ B y t e s F o r A l l --- http://www.bytesforall.org _/ Making Computing Relevant to the People of South Asia _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Special first anniversary issue. July 1999-July 2000. We thank all our many friends and supporters who have offered encouragement along every step of the journey ---------------------------------------------------------------- * SIMPUTER -- SUB-$200 INTERNET DEVICE to help non-literate * users: In an effort to bring the Internet to the masses in * India and other developing countries, several academics and * engineers have used their spare time to design a sub-$200 * handheld Net appliance, writes Bangalore-based John Ribeiro of * IDG News Service (June 23). * The Simputer, or SIMple ComPUTER, will enable India's * illiterate population (some 48% of the country of one billion) * to surf the Web. The device was designed by professors and * students at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at * Bangalore, and engineers from Bangalore-based design company * Encore Software. A prototype of the appliance will be available * in August. * The Simputer is built around Intel's StrongARM CPU, with Linux * as the operating system. It will have 16 MB of flash memory, a * monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD) with a touch panel * overlay for pen-based computing, and a local-language * interface. The appliance will have Infrared Data Association * and Universal Serial Bus interfaces, and will feature Internet * access and mail software. * Its designers expect the Simputer to be used not only as a * personal Internet access device, but also by communities of * users at kiosks. A smart-card interface to the device will * enable the use of the device for applications such as micro- * banking. * "We expect to change the model for the proliferation of * information technology in India," says Professor Swami Manohar, * professor in the computer science and automation department of * the IISc. "The current PC-centric model is not sustainable * because of the high cost of the PC, and also because we expect * that most of the users will not be literate." * A subsequent version of the Simputer will also offer speech * recognition for basic navigation through the software menus. * The speech dictionary will be customizable to support different * languages. A text-to-speech system will also be developed to * take the technology to India's illiterate population. Later * versions will also offer wireless technology. * The intellectual property for the device has been transferred * free to a non-profit trust, called the Simputer Trust, and both * the software and the hardware for the appliance have been * offered as open source technology. In the open source model of * development, users and developers, often unpaid, work together * to update technology. Manohar says that the trust decided to * put the technology in Open Source to enable third party * software developers and designers to add value to the platform. * The technology for the product will be licensed to * manufacturers at a nominal fee of $1150, which is to be used to * finance upgrades to the Simputer. A number of large * manufacturers have shown interest in licensing the technology, * though the interest is currently confined to Indian companies, * according to Vinay Deshpande, chairman of Encore and a member * of the Simputer Trust. He says that the designers have been * able to achieve the sub-$200 price point since the electronic * components used in the device are all off-the-shelf volume * components, and the software is primarily open source software * such as Linux. * http://www.pcworld.com/pcwtoday/article/0,1510,17401,00.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * DISTANCE LEARNING CENTRES have been approved in 10 major cities of Pakistan by the country's chief executive Gen Pervez Musharraf. This is for the 2000-2001 period, and is aimed at promoting information technology (IT). Sources were quoted saying that the government would spend Rs 220 million for setting up the centres, which would use facilities provided by Allama Iqbal Open University and Pakistan Television in learning technologies. http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/03/nat1.htm IN WAR-TORN NORTHERN Sri Lanka, where the only postal service must go by sea to Colombo in the south (taking three weeks or more to deliver), the Internet is being combined with good old- fashioned pen and paper to overcome basic communications struggles. Neither the sender nor the receiver needs access to a computer or a phone line, and letters get delivered in a couple of days via Pan Lanka Networking. To send mail, the sender simply turns up with a handwritten letter with the snail-mail address of the recipient. It is then scanned into the computer and sent as an attachment to the office in Colombo. From there it is printed and sent to its final destination by standard post. Two special e- mail addresses, jaffna@pan.lk and colombo@pan.lk are used to receive the mail. PAN was set up by IDRC (Canada) to promote the development of communications infrastructure in poorer regions of Asia and assist the research communities within the region to create and share resources. One major initiative on its way is a proposed pilot project for a multi-purpose community telecentre (MCT). These are centres where information and communication technologies are shared by a particular community, often in remote or regional areas. Contact: Helge Selrod, Colombo helge@panlanka.net Maria Ng Lee Hoon at Singapore panasia@idrc.org.sg [Thanks to Touhid Uz Zaman for this input.] PAN TIBET INTERNET WORKSHOP WAS HELD FROM May 22-June 02, to assist Tibet to get wider Internet access. PAN-Tibet project aims to enable key R&D and government institutions within Tibet to access the Internet for communications and to use Internet tools for educational, research and development work. Trainers from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Tibet University (TU) and Tibet Academy of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (TAAAS) conducted an Internet Workshop in Lhasa using ITrain materials. Participants came from: Tibet Agriculture and Animal Husbandry College, Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, Tibet Traditional Medicine College, Tibet Science & Technology Commission, Government of Lhasa City, Lingzhi Prefecture, Duilong County Bureau of Science & Technology. Details received from Touhid Uz Zaman JOIN A MAILING LIST on learning communities. Send an email to LearningCommunities-subscribe@onelist.com Or visit http://www.onelist.com/community/LearningCommunities IT DEVELOPMENTS IN PAKISTAN. Do a search at The Global Knowledge Partnership site at http://www.globalknowledge.org You will found many good discussions on the issues of *IT developments in Pakistan. To subscribe to GKD-Digest, send the command: subscribe gkd-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.edc.org" TO MAKE PCs AFFORDABLE TO MORE INDIANS, the Ministry of Information Technology is suggesting steps like tax reductions, technology innovation, and importing second hand or refurbished PCs. On an average, there are 60 computers for every thousand people in the globe, nearly 17 times higher than the current Indian average. http://www.mit.gov.in [Ministry of IT] FOR AN IMPRESSIVE update of the Internet in Pakistan visit the SPIDER webpage. July issue is out at http://www.spider.tm/jul2000/szone.shtml PAKISTAN'S OFFICIAL website is at http://pak.org VISHWABHARAT IS AN INDIAN web-site that has been put up to showcase Indian-language and non-English technology. Indian language fonts and basic word processing software has been put up on this site, and made freely available, in the public domain. http://vishwabharat.tdil.gov.in IN INDIA, THE Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) vice chairman FC Kohli has long harboured a dream of using IT to solve basic social problems in India. Pushed by Kohli, a TCS team has developed a computer-based training system that is designed to teach illiterate adults how to read in a much shorter time than conventional methods permit, and at lower costs. The beta version of the training software developed by TCS has been tested at three locations in Andhra Pradesh, and the results have been very encouraging. Between 120 to 160 million Indian adults are illiterate. It now takes between six to 18 months to convert an illiterate adult to a state of functional literacy, and depends on trained teachers who are in short supply. It could take over 30 years to eradicate illiteracy going by current trends. If computer-based training methods are used, the nation could be made fully literate in three to four years.An illiterate adult is capable of reading within 10 weeks "at the outer limit" and the system is not dependent on trained teachers. TCS researchers developed a new pedagogy of teaching language to adults. The basic learning unit is not an alphabet but a syllable. This is based on the theory that adults process both pictoral and aural inputs in a contextual and holistic mode, before breaking it down into smaller units of information. The R&D team is -- more importantly -- developing an Indian speech recognition engine which will be capable of converting spoken words into written text and vice versa. This could free the process from the Indian language overlaid keyboard, which is a difficult interface to handle even for trainers. Once created, TCS plans to patent the software and training modules, but offer them for free use to any agency involved in eradicating illiteracy. TCS also plans to donate all its 1000 486 PCs to organisations implementing the computer-based anti- illiteracy programme. Some 200,000 PCs are needed for a countrywide adult literacy programme, and TCS may be able to source most of these machines from Tata group companies and its large international clients for free. 486 machines may not be able to handle speech recognition. So ways have to be found to fund Rs 800 crore faster machines. But leaders are are confident that money is not going to be a bottleneck to implement a large- computer aided literacy campaign. Express Computer http://www.expresscomputerindia.com (June 26 issue) JONATHAN PEIZER IS CIO of Soros Foundations, one the funders of MediaChannel.org. Award-winning site (http://www.soros.org) records 180K-250K hits monthly. For further comment on the role of governments and multi-laterals in remedying the digital divide and other related issues, e-mail jpeizer@sorosny.org HEALTH INFORMATION FOR DEVELOPMENT project aims to compile a Global Directory of Health Information Resource Centres by August 2000, working with a wide range of partners throughout the world. Planned next is a much-larger, $45 m Information Waystations and Staging Posts project, which aims to establish a global network of 1,000 health information resource centres that will provide locally appropriate content on health issues. An Information Waystation is a local point of access to health information received electronically. It has a PC, CD-ROM & databases, printer, modem, reliable satellite or land telephone, and prepaid broadband Internet access. If you want to send these questionnaires out to your friends in any kind of health centre or network, contact dvt@compuserve.com English http://www.iwsp.org French http://www.iwsp.org/lang/qfrench.asp Swahili http://www.iwsp.org/lang/qswahili.asp UNRISD INFOTECH WEBSITE is being updated. Details from Matthias Rosenberg, Research Project on Information Technologies and Social Development, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland http://www.unrisd.org/infotech PAKISTAN HAS PROMULGATED AN ordinance for the establishment of the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences in the federal capital. It will be a multi-campus university with its principal seat in Islamabad, reports APP. http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/02/nat1.htm THE WORLD COMPUTER EXCHANGE acts "as a broker in bridging the international digital divide, promoting cultural understanding between students in the U.S. and developing countries, and facilitating the use of technology and experiential education in education reform." It is a non-profit organization established to ship donated new and used, working Internet-accessible computers to formal and informal schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Students in these schools are partnered on- line with interested schools in industrialized countries. It works via Ministers of Education, Non-Governmental Organizations, and Universities. Details from: Timothy Anderson, President, World Computer Exchange, 936 Nantasket Ave., Hull, MA 02045 Email: WorldComputerExchange@mediaone.net http://www.worldcomputerexchange.org/ THE WIRED WORLD is also nudging forward India's battle against corruption. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) gave its services to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Citizens can lodge 'vigilance' complaints through the CVC's site at http://www.nic.in/cvc Instructions, circulations and notes issued by the CVC are available for all to read from the site. JOURNALIST RESOURCE CENTRE of Pakistan was founded in April 1997 and seeks to uphold "every citizen's right to know and express". Says the centre's Mohammad Tanveer: JRC believes that our media industry's grasp to technology does not tantamount to produce positive results in social capital building, rather in many cases we have witnessed in reverse. We see media's becoming an actor and instrument of power in growing sectarian and ethnic tensions, discrimination against women, rising of violence as resort and high levels of illiteracy. JRC insists upon keeping the full picture of media politics in our minds and action. This role demands journalists to extend beyond fulfilling their professional duties to taking care of their social responsibilities. http://www.syberwurx.com/jrc FOUNDATION DU DEVENIR is seeking persons willing to contribute to the CD-Rom it is preparing called "Internet: Bridges to Development". Says the foundation: "We want to present the best achievements in the area of Internet in order to disseminate the most efficient experiences and methodologies so that the Internet will be usefull for development." Contact: Marie Thorndahl, Geneva anais@fdd.org http://www.anais.org http://www.bamako2000.org SEE AN initiative to make computers available to Indian school students at http://computersforindia.org TAKING IT SOLUTIONS TO the doorstep of the farming community is what tobacco giant ITC Ltd plans. It is starting with the launch of a new Web site for soyabean farmers it has launched in this city. The Web site, http://www.soyachaupal.com, is billed as the first of its kind in Hindi, and will give soyabean farmers access the latest information about the weather, crop position, arrivals in markets and crop prices. Besides functioning as an information bank, the site also has an interactive element where farmers' queries would be answered within 24 hours. There are plans for developing Web sites on the lines of www.soyachaupal.com for wheat and rice growing farmers. INFODEV IS A GLOBAL PROGRAM managed by the World Bank to promote innovative projects on the use of information and communication technologies for economic and social development, with a special emphasis on the needs of the poor in developing countries. infoDev's June edition of the infoDev bulletin can also be found at http://www.infodev.org/news/june00.htm BENTON FOUNDATION, ATTEMPTING to bridge the digital divide. See http://www.benton.org/ THE UNITED NATIONS, WHICH HAS BEEN OFTEN criticized for not making the best use of its own Web site, said it would host a conference in July on speeding up worldwide economic development through Internet technology. An ECOSOC study released last month said, "There are more hosts (Internet sites) in New York than on continental Africa, more hosts in Finland than Latin America and the Caribbean, and, notwithstanding the remarkable progress in the application of information and communication technology in India, many of its villages still lack a working telephone." http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/148515l.htm THE DRUM BEAT is the email and web network from The Communication Initiative partnership involving The Rockefeller Foundation, UNICEF, USAID, CHANGE, WHO, BBC World Service, CIDA, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, The European Union, Soul City, The Panos Institute, UNAIDS. Information, ideas, linkages and dialogue on communication, development and change. Director: Warren Feek wfeek@coastnet.com http://www.comminit.com NET GROWTH FACES LANGUAGE, OTHER BARRIERS: India, China and other large populations may be slow to come on to the Net, but use is already exploding in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan -- countries with young populations, AND are also centres of PC production, where people can easily assemble their own machines from parts. URL: http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/e-commerce/20000704/ A44781-2000Jun30.html ADDRESSING TECHNICAL/VOCATIONAL EDUCATION and training challenges: Half the world's workers are self-employed or work in small family enterprises in the informal sector. Many are barely subsistent. By providing access to learning experiences designed to broaden skills, TVET programmes can increase productivity and significantly improve the fortunes of this large group of people. The social consequences of not meeting this demand are enormous. http://www.col.org/events/0006events.htm#TVET THE COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING (COL) of Canada is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. http://www.col.org Email: dwilson@col.org DISTANCE EDUCATION HEADLINES ON YOUR DESKTOP: Sign up on a free list or review the headlines about distance education published each weekday from around the world. http://www.distance-educator.com/add_dedailynews.html DISTANCE-EDUCATOR.COM is a newsletter which includes updated headlines recently added to its site. http://www.Distance-Educator.com UN PLEDGES TO FIGHT DIGITAL DIVIDE: The Internet has given Ivory Coast villagers instant access to the market prices of their cocoa and coffee crops, Ethiopian herders the chance to sell their goats, and Indian children a first glimpse of the Disney Channel. To make sure these don't remain just isolated cases, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization joined the United Nations on Wednesday in pledging to spread information technology and the vast profits of E- commerce to the developing world, reports the Associated Press. The statistics tell the story: The World Bank says it has more telephones than Rwanda, and only 5 percent of the world population has access to the Internet, according to a U.N.- appointed panel of experts who studied the issue. ETHNOTRENDS IS AN ATTEMPT to balance your reading diet with a dash of minority opinion. Based in Canada, its tentative line up of stories will cover press opinions from the Chinese, Italian, Punjabi, Tamil and Ukrainian communities. Andrew Machalski, Publisher Email: andmac@ethnomedia.com http://www.ethnomedia.com/ AKDN.ORG PROVIDES INFORMATION on the Aga Khan Foundation, the Aga Khan University, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, the Aga Khan Health Services, the Aga Khan Education Services, the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. It covers activities in Central and South Asia, in various parts of Africa, and in Europe and North America. The Aga Khan Development Network is non-denominational and is dedicated to improving the well-being and prospects of people in some of the poorest regions of the world, irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, race or religion. For more information, visit http://www.akdn.org/?sc UNICEF'S EMERGENCY WEBSITE (REVAMPED) NOW ON-LINE: The new format makes UNICEF field situation reports, thematic reviews, appeals, & references easily available. Comments & information requests can be emailed to emops@unicef.org http://www.unicef.org/emerg TO BYPASS THE "SYSTEMATIC DISTORTION" of history on both sides of the (Indo-Pakistan) border, three projects are being attempted by Dr Mubarak Ali and Mr Isa Daudpota, a physicist by training -- publishing anthologies of the writings of Pakistani and Indian historians for the Ancient, Medieval and Modern periods; trying to write a history of the subcontinent with an Indian counterpart and a project for collectively writing a school text-book of the history of the subcontinent on the net. Details from: Isa Daudpota a consultant with Hamdard University in Islamabad. http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/060700/detFRO05.htm DAUDPOTA SAYS THAT HE GOT the idea of such a project from an Israeli site on the net where Arab and Jewish school kids interacted with each other. He initially thought of creating a similar site for Indians and Pakistanis to communicate with each other through moderators on both sides: "I realised that this would only become a chat site. And then http://www.chowk.com was already there, though that is a slightly highbrow discussion group." 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 bYtES For aLL is a voluntary, unfunded venture that, for the purpose of spreading its ideals, seeks the involvement and support of all who agree with its goals. Contact us at bytes-admin@egroups.com * Compiled in public interest * CopyLeft bYtES For aLL volunteers team includes: Frederick in Goa, Partha in Dhaka, Zubair in Karachi, Archana in Goa, Arun-Kumar in Dortmund, Shivkumar in Mumbai, and Daryl in Chicago. To contact them mail bytes-admin@egroups.com May be freely circulated provided entire message is left intact. If you wish to reproduce in part, please write to us for permission; we have never refused to date. TO UN / SUBSCRIBE simply send a message to fred@bytesforall.org with UNSUBSCRIBE BfA or SUBSCRIBE BfA as the subject line. 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 12 09:27:53 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA70860; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:27:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from guardian.apnic.net (guardian.apnic.net [203.37.255.100]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA70832 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:27:49 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by guardian.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA12893 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 05:44:58 +1000 (EST) Received: from unknown(203.130.2.9) by int-gw.staff.apnic.net via smap (V2.1) id xma012875; Wed, 12 Jul 00 05:44:36 +1000 Received: from excel586 (khi-line-044.super.net.pk [203.130.5.183]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA06690 for ; Wed, 12 Jul 2000 00:28:27 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 00:30:46 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Are Poor Countries Losing the Information Revolution? Message-ID: <396BBC36.13331.137A849@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id JAA70833 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from InfoDev Bulletin June 2000] * New infoDev working paper: Are Poor Countries Losing the Information Revolution? Are Information and Communications Technologies contributing to widening the gap between poor and rich countries? Are these countries converging in terms of ICT outputs and inputs? Are ICTs helping to lower the gap between the poor and the rich within economies? What is the relationship between the gap in GDP per capita and the gap in ICTs? Francisco Rodríguez and Ernest Wilson attempt to answer these questions with summary cross-country indicators of ICTs. Their main indicator is an Index of Technological Progress (ITP) built through principal components analysis using data on several indicators of ICT progress. They find that the gaps in ICT are increasing, but that there are a number of policies and institutional changes that can help poor countries catch up with the rich in terms of technology. http://www.infodev.org/library/working.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 14 01:12:39 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id BAA116797; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 01:12:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA116763 for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 01:12:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-067.super.net.pk [203.130.5.206]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6DFBl623591 for ; Thu, 13 Jul 2000 20:11:49 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 20:14:44 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] PTCL move to block Internet telephony Message-ID: <396E2334.1058.1D17C6@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk PTCL move to block Internet telephony ISLAMABAD, July 12: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited is establishing two National Access Points (NAP) in Karachi and Islamabad to block Internet telephony and pornographic websites. Informed sources said that the NAP was being installed to monitor exiting circuits, traffic analysis and effective utilization of the Internet bandwidth. Telephone calls made via Internet have caused a huge revenue loss to the PTCL estimated to be in the range of US$2.8 million per annum. The NAP will enable the PTCL to effectively block all voice telephony over the Internet and the subscribers will not be able to access the porn web sites, the sources said. The PTCL has called tenders for establishing NAP till June 21, 2000 up to 1030 hours. Besides blocking the voice the NAP will also allow the PTCL to control a symmetrical solution and frame relay function.-APP http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/13/top13.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 14 02:27:31 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id CAA125196; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 02:27:31 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA125164 for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 02:27:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-075.super.net.pk [203.130.5.214]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA03253 for ; Thu, 13 Jul 2000 21:26:56 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 21:29:35 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] PTA to launch tele-medicine service Message-ID: <396E34C0.7545.61A1F5@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk PTA to launch tele-medicine service By Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, July 12: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is launching a programme on tele-medicine which will go a long way in the betterment of health care system. This was stated by Mian Mohammad Javed, chairman of the PTA at a conference on telemedicine implementation programme in Pakistan at PTA Islamabad on Wednesday. Through telemedicine health care will be provided by telecommunications, he said. Experts in telemedicine and telecommunication attended this conference. Involvement of private sector in this programme was discussed. Maj Gen Naqvi, chief executive of Rawalpindi Medical College also attended the conference. The PTA has visualized a three-stage implementing programme. In phase I (pilot) primary centres like THQ Hospital at Fateh Jang and Pindi Gheb and a private clinic in Taxila would be linked to Tele-medicine Centre at Holy Family Hospital and the PTA headquarters where medical experts would give advise/consultation on Internet. These sites would be given computer hardware and telecom lines. Staff and doctors would be imparted basic computer knowledge. In phase II more remote areas like DHQ Hospital Gilgit would be linked up to National Telemedicine Centre and services of tertiary hospitals like Agha Khan Hospital Karachi and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital at Lahore would be acquired. In phase III international linkup by satellite would be established with hospitals in the USA and elsewhere. A committee for implementing the programme was formed, headed by member technical of the PTA, Maj Gen Khalid Bashir which will chalk out the strategy. http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/13/nat4.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 14 17:36:23 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA96385; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 17:36:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.2.55]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA96376 for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 17:36:15 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (zubair@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA19401 for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 12:36:17 +0500 Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 12:36:17 +0500 (PKT) From: Zubair Faisal Abbasi X-Sender: zubair@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: The National Access Point: The Dilemma of Vision Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk The National Access Point: The Dilemma of Vision by Zubair Fasial Abbasi While rest of the world including our neighbor is preparing to cultivate the benefits of Information Technology revolution, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited [http://www.ptc.pk] is nestling into one of the most regressive and myopic policies of control. In the news item published in the DAWN dated 13 July, 2000 with heading "PTCL Move To Block Internet Telephony item, PTCL claims to setting up a so-called NAP "National Access Point" under the garb of monitoring, analyzing internet traffic to block access to pornographic sites and for effective use of the Internet bandwidth including scrapping the Internet telephony option for the Internet users. The ulterior motives of the 'factors' behind such a move may crop up with a simple click of common sensical thought. PTCL calls it "National Access Point" while, technically speaking, such arrangements are called "Network Access Point. This nomenclature hints towards something that rests between the lines. The difference between the two versions of NAP is not merely technical; it is a political question of vision and points towards what is lying in store for our society. The fact is that such a monitoring and control over the flow of electronic data and information necessarily and potentially encroaches upon the fundamental human rights like "right to information and expression". It creates opportunities for a "politically motivated sniffing" into emails and other Internet packets. The most vulnerable to hi-tech vindication, along with other cross sections of civil society, are journalists, human right groups and "dissidents". It seems that the vested interests perhaps want to make use of this technology for blocking access to "undesirable" and "rogue" systems of message transmission under the politics of "national interest". Virtually leaving information consumers and the so-called citizens of Pakistan with "404 Error URL Not Found" sort of Internet packets. The whole episode of NAP is happening in Pakistan when comparatively totalitarian regimes like United Arab Emirates (UAE) are removing regulatory restrictions and allowing people to use direct satellite uplinks while completely bypassing the main Etisalat infrastructure. One may say about PTCL, woe to the administrative set ups which move backwards while society moves ahead! As a matter of fact, it is practically impossible to effectively block "morally corrupt" and "politically (in)correct" sites from accessibility. Our national interests/visions are so wide and fluid that IP (Internet Protocol) and word-based controls are insufficient in catching up our whims. For instance, if PTCL chooses to block sites carrying word 'breast' it would necessarily block many of the medical related sites as well and if it starts controlling through IP (Internet Protocol) it is simply impossible to do it effectively with accuracy of results and 100% blocking. People may choose re-director sites like 'anonymous dot com' and other services for reaching them. It seems that the "morality" propaganda of PTCL is frivolous and nave in the potentially anarchic world of cyberspace. On the technical front the proposal for establishing NAP is not without caveat. Reducing multiple pathways of networks to two gateways i.e., one in Karachi and the other in Islamabad, would provide easy targets for "info-terrorists" to ransack the whole apparatus of Internet connectivity in Pakistan. This is only a manifestation of sheer myopia fast engulfing the profit hungry monopolistic PTCL. How would PTCL be able to keep smooth sailing of NAP with the required level of technical expertise? The answer lies in the PTCL's questionable performance and expertise in managing and troubleshooting the half circuit bandwidth provided to Internet Service Providers. What should be done is to establish Network Access Point for interconnectivity between ISPs in Pakistan to avoid Internet traffic taking international route. This would result in reducing unnecessary consumption of international bandwidth resources. However, this should be done in collaboration with ISPs both at the policy and implementation levels while respecting ISPs democratic right either to choose NAP or avoid it for routing the Internet packets. On the revenue side, it seems that the PTCL's claim of revenue loss due to the Internet telephony should be taken with a pinch of salt. They present a net revenue loss figure of $ US 2.8 million per annum due to Internet telephony but, as a matter of fact, there is no credible mechanism to tabulate and claim with exactitude that the said loss is exclusively due to the Internet telephony. While PTCL is raising line rent and using other measures to mop up money from its telephone subscribers which would substantially increase its profits, it is not prepared to draw its hands away from grossly exaggerated $ US 2.8 millions per annum. It must be kept in mind that this amount is less than a fifth of a per cent of PTCL's total revenue. Is this the superhighway that promises to lead Pakistan to the vista of revolutions in Information and Communication Technologies? It goes without saying, the NAP policy of PTCL will be harmful, if implemented ubiquitously for all ISPs making it mandatory for them to use the NAP. This will obviously discourage new investors in the IT field for providing satellite-based up-links for Internet Service Providers in Pakistan. The benefits of faster and reliable data transmission from direct up-linking will be lost in congested and blocked pipes of two NAP gateways. Result: the not-so-distant-Revolution Betrayed! In the present scenario and with "National Access Point" what PTCL can and help do is to "sniff" the chunk of Internet packets and play with privacy of users, and some "interests" may use the logs generated through proxy servers (acting as black box) for ulterior political purposes. Who knows whether PTCL and "others" will restrict themselves doing only the things that they claim doing? NAP is a dilemma of vision, in the final analysis. - zubair fasial abbasi. _______________________________________________ Cyberclub mailing list Cyberclub@isb.sdnpk.org http://lists.isb.sdnpk.org/mailman/listinfo/cyberclub From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Jul 15 18:09:48 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA105992; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 18:09:48 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA105961 for ; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 18:09:34 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.63]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA17932 for ; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 13:07:09 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 13:05:44 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: The challenges to harness IT for poor Message-ID: <397061A8.5944.1E00DB@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 14 July 2000 The challenges to harness IT for poor By Ricardo Lagos, Thabo Mbeki and Goran STOCKHOLM: Until a decade ago, the three of us were partners in a struggle for freedom and democracy in Chile and South Africa. That victory was won in Chile in 1989 and in South Africa in 1994. Today our countries are all led by social democratic governments. With the same spirit of solidarity and decisiveness as we struggled against and defeated dictatorships, we are now joining forces to enhance development and alleviate poverty. Our present challenge is the new economy of knowledge and information. With information technology, the concept of global solidarity has been given a new thrust. Information technology is a key factor in all processes for development - economic, political and cultural - all over the world. But it is still only an elite that has access to this key. The digital gap is already here. Our task as political leaders is to ensure that it narrows, within and between our nations. Some developing countries have advanced their competitiveness rather quickly and thereby leaped into the global economy. But so far most of the winners are Western or Northern nations. This is not acceptable, and we are committed to democratize information technology. This will be at the top of the agenda in our countries and in regional and global forums. We will support projects to facilitate the rise of developing countries to become e-commerce- capable societies. We have a common political vision and aim: to create an inclusive and efficient welfare- and people-centred society where it may not exist, and to modernize it where it may have become irrelevant and outdated. This can be accomplished only through broad access to information technology, knowledge and skills. We recognize and welcome the potential for development created by globalization. We want market economies but not market societies.We are dissatisfied because the growth and development produced so far have not contributed enough to alleviating poverty and promoting equality in large parts of the world. On the contrary, they have made the rich richer and marginalized even more the excluded. The three of us are committed in each of our countries to promoting a culture for learning, for entrepreneurs and innovators. Priority must be given to investment in equipment and training for small and medium enterprises. Competence in information technology must be given a priority in our educational systems, and conditions for investments in infrastructure must be facilitated. We will share our experiences and cooperate to support each other's efforts. As one of the most advanced information-technology countries, Sweden plays a special role in this process. The success of IT development in Sweden is closely linked to broad access by the population, 55 per cent of which connected to the Internet during this past May. IT is also an important instrument for the future to maintain and deepen democracy. To involve all people in decisions that affect their lives is a fundamental social democratic task. If we cannot achieve this in our own societies, we will not be able to develop regional and global democracy. This is especially important since, despite the wave of democratization in the '90s, too many people live under regimes of oppression and human rights abuse. We who have won our freedom will not forget those who are still struggling. The acts of cruelty in Rwanda, the Balkans and Chechnya demonstrate clearly that the world is far from humane. Social democracy has always been an internationalist ideology, and solidarity must be a reality, not only a word. Today, social democratic leaders in Europe, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere can meet in cyber space. We share and discuss the same kinds of problems, and we are heading toward the common goal - a world in which the success of democracy is legitimized by the quality of life experienced by the poor in the poorest countries, not by the rich in the wealthiest ones. -Dawn/ International Herald Tribune http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/14/int12.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Jul 15 18:16:35 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA106664; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 18:16:33 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA106634 for ; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 18:16:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.63]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA18145 for ; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 13:16:02 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 13:18:55 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] PTCL plan to block telephony criticized Message-ID: <397064BF.20195.2A1290@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk PTCL plan to block telephony criticized LAHORE, July 14: Computer users and various Internet service providers (ISPs) in the city have strongly criticized PTCL's plan to block telephony (voice transmissions) over the Internet, saying that it seemed to go against not only good sense but against the government's own information technology (IT) policy. They also said that the money that the PTCL was claiming it could save by blocking people from using the Internet to make long-distance phone calls did not justify such an anti-consumer measure given that PTCL had made substantial profits. In fact this 'huge' revenue loss, as the PTCL puts it, is a mere 0.265 per cent of its total annual sales. One user, a student at a local computer institute, said that the plan was all the more surprising since the draft of the government's proposed information technology (IT) policy - placed on an official web site for public feedback - clearly says that telephony will be allowed when deregulation of the telecommunications industry takes place. The user said that the proposed IT policy will also allow video transmissions over the Internet and that the process of deregulation would be used to encourage the private sector to provide such services. According to the secretary of the ministry of science and technology, the policy was to be announced late last month. The proposal on deregulation says that "three general" principles should be adopted if the Internet is to grow in Pakistan. These are: the existing regulatory structures should not be forced on the net industry; competition in Internet growth should be encouraged; and unnecessary regulations should be avoided. So, PTCL's plan, notwithstanding that it might affect thousands of people all over the country who use the net to talk to their relatives in the US and Britain, seems to run country to the government's proposed IT policy. An owner of a leading ISP in Lahore who did not wish to be named when asked to comment on this said that sites like dialpad.com and hottelephone.com were technically banned but users still accessed them because they could talk to their friends and families in the US or Europe at the cost of a single local call. He said that the ISPs all tried to follow this rule though it was almost impossible since they couldn't go into people's homes and check what websites were being accessed. An executive at another ISP said that the government should reconsider the ban because telephony over the net was now a fact of life and was common in many countries. He said the government should allow private operators to provide these services (as the proposed IT policy indeed does) and then tax them instead of placing bureaucratic hurdles in their way. "The reason why the Internet has been so revolutionary is because it is completely decentralized and no one institution or government can control it. It allows for complete independence and enterprise and that can be seen in the numbers of multi-millionaires that the dotcom revolution has created, a good example being the creator of the ICQ chat programme, a high school dropout, whose company was recently bought by America Online for $287 million," the executive said. The PTCL said on Wednesday that it was planning to block all telephony websites and was setting up what are called 'national access points' for the purpose. It also said that telephone calls made via the Internet were causing "huge" revenue losses, around $2.8 million a year. The PTCL should have also mentioned here that its annual turnover was Rs57 billion or around $1.05 billion. Hence, the 'huge' revenue loss caused by telephony, according to the corporation's own claims, is 0.265 per cent of its annual turnover figure. Incidentally, it also made after-tax profits of $231 million for the first nine months of fiscal 1999-2000 financial year. And currently, it also plans to increase its line rent from Rs204 to Rs250 - double of what it was three years ago. Many of the users Dawn spoke to said that for once the PTCL should do something that was consumer-friendly. They said that four-fifths of the PTCL's shares were owned by the government which meant that the views of citizens had to be considered. One user said that the gain that the corporation could make in terms of public goodwill - if it doesn't go ahead with its blocking plan - would easily outweigh the $2.8 million it says it loses every year because of such calls. "And given its public/consumer service performance, or rather the lack of it, they PTCL could do with some goodwill," she said.-ORQ http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/15/top14.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 17 04:58:55 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA106878; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 04:58:54 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA106856 for ; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 04:58:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-118.super.net.pk [203.130.5.118]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6GIvl615761 for ; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 23:57:52 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 00:01:02 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Indian portal takes cash Message-ID: <39724CBE.30115.555E2A@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [the very idea of e-commerce is tied up with plastic money. no more! read the indian experience where the good old cash is part of the game. ik] 12 July, 2000 Indian portal takes cash India's biggest and most popular internet portal has started accepting cash payments for online purchases. Rediff.com, which was set up four years ago, feels this would help get more business in a country with a low credit-card penetration. Only 3.5m of India's one billion people have credit cards, and credit card companies do not give credit cards to students and even some professionals. "What's amazing is that a large number of women also do not have credit cards," Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman of Rediff, told BBC News Online. "Credit card companies don't offer them cards because they don't earn, but that doesn't mean women have less spending power." Mr Balakrishnan says most internet companies go by e-commerce experience of the US, which has almost 100% credit card penetration. Japanese experience "The situation is different in other parts of the world. In Japan, for example, they had very low credit-card penetration. But they experimented with cash payments for online purchases and are now very successful." Rediff has tied up with Elbee, an associate of US based delivery service UPS, to deliver its products within the country. Elbee promises to deliver products within one to three days and will pick up cash payment at the same time. The service will be available at 800 locations in urban and rural India. Rediff had been experimenting with the service for the last three months, and Mr Balakrishnan says the response has been good enough to make it a regular feature. Buying options Mr Balakrishnan says buyers in smaller cities had little option when buying books and music, but the Rediff range may just make them click the mouse and order something. Adding to his hopes is the fact that a lot of Indian families keep a substantial amount of cash at home. Industry figures do not provide a very rosy picture of e-commerce in India. In 1999-2000, business worth 4.5b Indian rupees was conducted over the internet. But the National Association of Software and Services companies (NASSCOM) predicts a 500% growth over the next couple of years and that has most online sellers rubbing their hands in excitement. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_830000/830534 .stm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 17 10:59:43 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id KAA68910; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 10:59:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA68892 for ; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 10:59:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-062.super.net.pk [203.130.5.201]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6H0ww620983 for ; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 05:59:00 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 06:02:12 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India Initiative by Digital Partners Message-ID: <3972A164.26342.27CEBC@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Call It E-Philanthropy by Lakshmi Chaudhry July 11, 2000 Some Seattle-based techies are dreaming up an ambitious initiative to fight global poverty. And they plan to use the Internet to do it. Digital Partners [http://www.digitaldivide.org/] says it wants to change the definition of philanthropy. The group will not give food, clothing, or shelter to the poor. It will offer them online content instead. "We're looking to put together creative applications of the Internet that will provide immediate benefits for the poorest of the poor," president Craig Smith said. "This is not trickle-down economics." Funded by the Kellogg, Ford, and Rockefeller foundations, Digital Partners was formed last year to cultivate talent and other resources designed to narrow the global digital divide. Last month, at a meeting in Redmond hosted by Microsoft, it launched a five-year global plan, which will begin with the India Initiative. The organization has created a working group of 65 India-born technology entrepreneurs, who will brainstorm to come up with a series of Internet-focused proposals. The idea is to use the wealth and expertise of the extensive network of Indian engineers and entrepreneurs to help the nearly 330 million Indians who live in abject poverty. One of the main reasons Digital Partners picked India as its first target country is the presence of a large Indian community in the United States. It's a community that is closely knit, highly skilled, and financially sound. "Forty percent of all new startups are run by Indians. Together they account for nearly $235 billion in market capitalization," Smith said. And more than half of all H-1B visas go to Indian engineers. Better yet, the current crop of immigrants also has strong business and social connections to their country of birth. "Most of these people live in two worlds. Many of them have a branch office in India," executive director Akhtar Badshah said. "This is a way for them to develop local talent for their own businesses and markets." And unlike the traditional India elite, these newly minted multi- millionaires are eager to do more than just write a check to their favorite charity. They want to use their IT skills to develop a brand new approach to development and economic growth, he said. The main philosophy underlying the India Initiative is the idea that the poor are profitable. Badshah argues companies have been slow to recognize the value of creating products aimed at the bottom of the economic pyramid. He points to the success of Grameen Bank -- a project that first offered micro-loans to women in Bangladesh -- as an example of how economic empowerment can be lucrative business. Before Grameen Bank, "poor people were not deemed credit-worthy," Badshah said. "Now there are hundreds and thousands of micro- financing projects being offered by companies like Citibank and Chase, because they've realized this is a great way to make a profit." "The aim here is to make markets work for the poor." Digital Partners hopes to jump-start the process by creating a social venture fund that will contribute to both companies and nonprofit organizations that produce online content for poor people. For now, the fund will focus on three main areas: literacy, healthcare, and micro-enterprise directed especially toward women. "We want to help a village gain access to information that has perhaps been kept from them to keep them back," Smith said. Women, for example, could learn more about contraception. Or a farmer can get more accurate information on prevailing market prices for farm products. It may seem outlandish to propose using the Internet in a country with such a poorly developed infrastructure. Many Indian villages often lack more basic resources, such as electricity or running water. But many development agencies working in India are already using information technology to help the poor. There are several micro- projects in place to wire rural areas using solar panels. Others are turning to cellphones to connect villages that have never seen a telephone line. The India Initiative hopes to build on and perhaps reorganize the various IT initiatives that are already in place. Badshah says the response so far has been overwhelming. The Redmond meeting included representatives of major U.S. foundations, including Ford and Rockefeller, and United Nations officials. Indian organizations, such as The Indus Entrepreneurs, a Silicon Valley-based network of Indian entrepreneurs, are also eager to get on board. With the India Initiative underway, Digital Partners is already setting its sights on other parts of the world. Next in line will be the Africa Initiative, which will be launched next month. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,37046,00.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 17 10:59:44 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id KAA68924; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 10:59:44 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA68895 for ; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 10:59:38 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-062.super.net.pk [203.130.5.201]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6H0x3620986 for ; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 05:59:03 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 06:02:11 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: World Bank's Global Development Gateway: civil society forum Message-ID: <3972A163.29272.27CC46@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Katherine Morrow" To: "Bellanet Information Dissemination List" Date sent: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 13:58:12 -0400 GDG Principles is a public electronic forum to discuss civil society responses to the proposed Global Development Gateway (GDG) -- a major World Bank-led initiative to create "a portal website on development issues from which users will be able to access information, resources, and tools, and into which they will be able to contribute their own knowledge and experience." Several civil society organizations, (Oneworld International, the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Transparency International, Bellanet and others) have met among themselves and with World Bank staff to discuss their role in the Gateway and its potential to shape information exchange among development partners worldwide. The results of these initial discussions are posted on the GDG Principles site, including a proposal for civil society representation in the evolution of the Gateway, "Interim Civil Society Steering Committee for the GDG." GDG Principles is a forum for transparent and constructive discussion of the GDG. Civil society will have a large part to play in ensuring that the Gateway realizes its goal of enabling "those in the development field to share information, easily communicate, and build communities of practice around significant development challenges from the grassroots up." Civil society partners wish to ensure that the initiative reflects the diversity of development perspectives and approaches, that it responds to the needs of all stakeholders in development, and that it complements and strengthens existing networks for information sharing and dialogue. JOIN THE DISCUSSION Send a message to: lyris@lyris.bellanet.org In the body of the message type: subscribe gdgprinciples-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname VISIT THE GDG PRINCIPLES WEB SITE http://www.bellanet.org/gdgprinciples The site includes background documents, contact information, and web access to the archives of the discussion. Both the web site and the discussion list are hosted by Bellanet. Katherine Morrow Communications Officer Bellanet International Secretariat PO Box 8500 Ottawa Canada K1G 3H9 Tel +1 613 236 6163 ext. 2398 Fax +1 613 238 7230 Email kmorrow@bellanet.org http://www.bellanet.org ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 19 18:59:16 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA70702; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 18:59:16 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA70678 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 18:59:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-116.super.net.pk [203.130.5.116]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6J8w6607630 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 13:58:08 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 14:00:03 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Computer assisted education for special children Message-ID: <3975B463.26684.25A210@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 11:41:21 +0530 From: soundararajan To: CYBERCOM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU Computer assisted education for special children Sophia Opportunity School, Bangalore announced the opening of their Computer Centre, today. It was formally inaugurated by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr. S M Krishna. Microsoft, which is actively contributing towards community development projects in India, has provided aid towards the construction and setting up of the Centre. On this occasion The Sophia Opportunity School also launched its website at www.sophiaopp.org. Sophia Opportunity School has been running a program for mentally challenged children. In the pilot program in which computers were used to train these children they observed a tremendous improvement in response if the child was introduced to interactive multimedia for learning. Their endeavor is to introduce this kind of an education, for the 0-3 years age group, at the Infant Stimulation Centre. The institution believes that early intervention could lead to better prognosis, thus increasing the chances of correction. Speaking at the launch function Sister Naina, Principal, Sophia Opportunity School said, "Developmental delays can be reversed by providing the brain with the right information and experiences. Now that we have the support from a Corporate Leader like Microsoft, Sophia School has been able to initiate and rollout an intensive intervention plan for the 0-3 years age group. The focus would be on providing computer based multi-sensory training to children. This would involve intensive computer based education for the special children. Our view is that this would help these children integrate better with the society at large." Source: Text 100 Public Relations /Global High Technology Public Relations Author: Aditi Roy Chaudhuri ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 19 18:59:22 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA70728; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 18:59:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA70684 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 18:59:08 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-116.super.net.pk [203.130.5.116]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6J8wD607633 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 13:58:13 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 14:00:04 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Indian language e-mail service Message-ID: <3975B464.30756.25A4A0@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 11:54:37 +0530 From: soundararajan To: CYBERCOM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU 50,000 beta users evaluate Indian language e-mail service Hosted on 28th April 2000, www.mailjol.com provides e-mail service in 12 Indian languages. The service provides an interactive web experience in Indian languages for the first time. Although Internet users primarily use English, there is a popular need for using Indian languages. This is being fulfilled by an innovative service available at www.mailjol.com. The service offers e-mail for English and 11 Indian languages, catering to the needs of Indian communities worldwide. "We will promote the use of languages because we know from experience that there is a growing need for such solutions and that the use of Indian languages will be one of the key drivers for growth of Internet in India." opines the company's CEO, Tarun Malaviya. Nearly 2.6 million (26 lakh) Indians subscribe to Hotmail, the most popular e-mail service for English. The ability to use Indian languages along with English offers a good reason for users of such services to switch from English only e-mail services to Mailjol. Mailjol expects to garner 5% of English language e-mail market in India in the first 4 months of going online. According to the company nearly 1000 new members subscribe every day. The company estimates that nearly 1 million users will subscribe to this service by the year end.The subscriber base of Mailjol comes from different parts of the country and from all over the world. More than 20% of the subscriber base is cornered by Telugu language users followed by Hindi, Marathi and Tamil language users who constitute 15%, 12% and 10% respectively. Gujarati language users top the list among the non-resident members. Mailjol is designed to work with any existing or future software for Indian languages, depending on the standards adopted. The e-mail service works in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and English making it possible for people to exchange messages in more than one language. Source: Mithi.com Pvt. Ltd. Author: Deepak M. Email : deepak@mailjol.com ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 19 18:59:29 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA70767; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 18:59:28 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA70690 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 18:59:11 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-116.super.net.pk [203.130.5.116]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6J8wF607636 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 13:58:15 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 14:00:05 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Electronic seminar on poverty in Bihar Message-ID: <3975B465.8783.25A72C@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from indev e-mail digest, 17 Jul 2000; complete issue at http://www.indev.org ] Electronic seminar on poverty in Bihar bihartimes.com, the first online daily newspaper from Bihar, launched an electronic seminar on the theme of poverty in the state. The state chapter of UNICEF has sponsored the seminar which will continue for a period of three months. The seminar will offer an opportunity to everyone to express his views on different facets of poverty in the state. It will initiate an open dialogue among the policy makers, experts, NGOs and social activists. This initiative has an obvious advantage over traditional seminar as it provides round-the-clock global platform to all those who have keen interest in the affairs of the state, without any formality of invitation. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 19 19:02:01 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA71137; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 19:02:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from guardian.apnic.net (guardian.apnic.net [203.37.255.100]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA71117 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 19:01:53 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by guardian.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA20384 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 19:01:51 +1000 (EST) Received: from unknown(203.130.2.13) by int-gw.staff.apnic.net via smap (V2.1) id xma020349; Wed, 19 Jul 00 19:01:35 +1000 Received: from excel586 (khi-line-116.super.net.pk [203.130.5.116]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6J8wH607639 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 13:58:17 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 14:00:00 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) ENTER THE ICT STORIES COMPETITION! Message-ID: <3975B460.4597.2593F1@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: "infoDev Forum" From: Pstreet@worldbank.org Date sent: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 10:18:43 -0400 ENTER THE ICT STORIES COMPETITION http://www.iicd.org/stories This unique project is a joint initiative to collect creative stories about the projects you are working on using information and communication technologies (ICTs). Enter your story today and be one of four stories selected to join infoDev at their Annual Symposium in Cairo, Egypt from October 9 - 11, 2000 to share your project lessons in person. Last year's winning stories included the "hole-in-the-wall" internet kiosk in India, installing internet in a rural township schools in South Africa, the Quipunet virtual network of Peru and the Virtual Souk of Morocco. Yours could be the next story that will be read by others and used as an example for projects in the future. September 1st is the last day to submit your story and everybody is free to participate. An online entry form and more information can be found at: www.iicd.org/stories/ . You may also submit your story by email by sending it to pstreet@worldbank.org . The ICT-stories project is a joint initiative between IICD of the Netherlands and infoDev of the World Bank. The project is an effort to disseminate best practices and lessons learned from organizations around the world. We look forward to reading your stories! Sincerely, Pamela Street Information for Development Program (infoDev) Washington D.C. -------------------------------------------------- Pamela Street The World Bank Information for Development Program Tel: +1 (202) 458 7654 Fax: +1 (202) 522 3186 Email: pstreet@worldbank.org ---------------------------------------------------- ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 24 02:24:21 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id CAA120172; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 02:24:20 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA120158 for ; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 02:24:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.141]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6NGN7612329 for ; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 21:23:09 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 21:26:55 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Digital divide replicates Message-ID: <397B631F.6321.508F13@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from Dawn, Karachi (23 July 2000)] Digital divide replicates By Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI: South Asia has emerged as the most promising region for sourcing information technologyexpertise, but this is an achievement that is of use only to the rich nations, say critics. The so-called digital divide between industrialised and developing nations is being replicated within the region, widening the already big gulf between the majority poor and an English language-speaking, Internet-savvy elite, they point out. The region's emerging prominence as an IT superpower, best seen in the case of India, is said to be accentuating the sharp contrast between an educated white- collar "elite" and the rest. Increasingly, the new sub-continental Internet-using elite identifies less with their digitally-deprived compatriots than with what Kenneth Keniston, expert on South Asian software at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), calls the global "digirati." In the past half century, South Asian nations have done little to raise living standards of the majority poor who are a world apart from a microscopic, English language-speaking elite that is close to the centres of political and economic decision making. The big Indian names in the global IT industry such as Sabeer Bhatia, creator of Hotmail and Azim Premji, rated by Forbes magazine among the world's five richest people, belong to this class. Says New Delhi-based education expert, Kirti Jayaraman: "The Internet is very much a big- city phenomenon and confined to the elite classes who may as well be living on a different planet with access to the Internet from their homes, offices and schools." According to Jayaraman, the digital divide can be seen quite clearly in schools in India's big cities. Here, the children of rich and middle class families go to English language-medium -schools stacked with computers linked to the Internet. On the other hand, the urban poor send their children to government schools that instruct in the vernacular language and lack tables, chairs and even roofs. The situation is worse in India's vast rural hinterland. -Dawn/The InterPress Service. http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/23/int8.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 24 03:00:00 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA124369; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 03:00:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA124323 for ; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 02:59:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.141]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA01376 for ; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 21:59:03 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 22:02:06 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] Cowasjee on the "National Access Point" Message-ID: <397B6B5E.26695.70C6DF@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [Cowasjee is one of the leading english-language columnists in Pakistan. He writes regularly on the issues of Governance, Politics, and Human Rights. Excerpts from his latest column in which he has criticised PTCL's plans to establish "National Access Point".] Dawn 23 July 2000 Information technology By Ardeshir Cowasjee <...> Information technology and the Internet are controlled by the antiquated inefficient Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited which is overstaffed, and is incapable of even publishing a telephone directory which lists current information. The present board members of PTCL who direct the affairs of the company are: Bureaucrat Abu Shamim Arif, Secretary Information Technology and Telecom Division, a flip-flop non-technical man; Zafar Ali Khan, Secretary Privatization Commission; Major General Mohammad Tariq, described as Signal Officer in Chief'; Mohammad Yunis Khan, Secretary Finance Division, Finance Ministry; Arshad Mahmud, Member Finance PTCL; Akhtar Ahmad Bajwa, Member Operations PTCL; Dr Altamash Kamal of Xibercom; Dr Awais Kamal, Managing Director of LT Engineering and Trade Services (Pvt) Ltd; Syed Mazhar Ali, Chairman IT Commission; Zafar Usmani, CEO Mobil Oil Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd; Fakir Aijazuddin, Chairman Arts Council Lahore; Barrister Rafiuddin Ahmed of Orr Dignam; Syed Zahoor Hasan, Associate Dean of LUMS; Asghar Dawood Habib, Chairman Habib Sugar. These men have been asked to provide an undertaking one clause of which states: I am not a defaulter in repayment of any loan amounting to Rs.1 million or more as adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction or a tribunal within the meaning of Section 187(1) of the Companies Ordinance 1984. "This ipso facto means that if one of them is a defaulter to the tune of Rs.999,999 he is qualified to sit on the board. Another undertaking stipulates : I shall, to the utmost of my capability, ensure and safeguard the interests of the government in PTCL during the tenure of my directorship. Any lapse shall make me liable to be proceeded against under the relevant laws." With due respect to all, it is difficult to conceive of a respectable responsible individual putting his pen to either of these two undertakings? After all, there is no compulsive reason, no guns are held to any heads. Should they not be guided by the dictates of their consciences and what is good for the people? More bad news. PTCL is establishing two National Access Points (NAP) in Karachi and Islamabad to block Internet telephony and pornographic websites. (APP, July 13.) The NAP aims at directing all Internet traffic in and out of the country through two PTCL controlled gateways. Whilst this is still a proposal, it is increasingly obvious that elements within PTCL, with the tacit support of our insecurity agencies and other government elements, are trying to push it through as fast as possible. This must be vehemently opposed. It is fundamentally faulty and has the potential to cause catastrophic damage to the information infrastructure of the country. One fundamental and obvious principle of network design is the provision of multiple pathways. The more pathways there are, the more robust the resulting network. To some extent we already have this redundancy in our exiting Internet access, but rather than introducing additional pathways to the Net, the NAP proposal aims at reducing these to two choke points to be controlled by our very own PTCL, an organization renowned for its unreliability, inefficiency, incompetence, and zero-level customer service. Within the next few years, global services will permit direct satellite access. If the NAP logic is followed, these services would also be illegal in Pakistan. Is this what a country endeavouring to leapfrog into the information age should be doing? NAP also raises the question: are we serious about attracting foreign investment in information technology (IT) when we have an organization intent on controlling and dictating as to which pathways the people may use to access the net? Even the relatively totalitarian UAE now allows direct rooftop-to-satellite Internet connectivity, completely bypassing the Etisalat Infrastructure. And here we are, proposing the reverse. PTCL itself admits that it has no way in which it can estimate the revenue lost to Internet telephony. The number being thrown around is $ 2.8 million per year which is at best an exaggerated guesstimate, and a figure which amounts to less than a fifth of one per cent of PTCL's total revenue. Is this miniscule loss sufficient justification to thwart and sabotage a national objective - the swift expansion of IT in Pakistan? With two years to go until PTCL's monopoly expires, is it not time that it started to experience the real world, where markets dictate tariffs, where better technologies replace the obsolete, where customers decide what services to use, where only the efficient and competent survive? Rather than all this, PTCL is aiming at retaining its monopoly over international data traffic and hoodwinking the nation in the process. NAP also smacks of Big Brother. In a country such as this, it is likely that NAP will be used to block access to information that someone decides will damage national security' or the ideology of Pakistan' or the national moral fibre'. Does not NAP itself raise national security concerns by providing enemies within and without with exactly two large targets to take out if they wish to cut off the entire country's access to the Net? <...> http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 25 04:26:54 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA69624; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 04:26:53 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA69568 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 04:26:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-045.super.net.pk [203.130.5.184]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA05154 for ; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 23:26:04 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 23:27:42 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: (Fwd) The July 2000 issue of iMP Magazine has been posted. Message-ID: <397CD0EE.6413.159C62@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id EAA69619 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Bessette, Randi" Subject: The July 2000 issue of iMP Magazine has been posted. Date sent: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 12:23:15 -0400 The July issue of iMP: The Magazine on Information Impacts, which is published on the Web by the Center for Information Strategy and Policy (CISP) of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), has been posted. You can find the magazine at: http://www.cisp.org/ [follow "visit imp"] or http://www.cisp.org/imp/ or http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00contents.htm In this issue, we are featuring stories and editorials about IT and Education: Anywhere? Anytime? "But as Y2K showed us, legacy systems -- remember COBOL and Fortran? -- still have life in them. It is not enough to prepare for the day after tomorrow; the day before yesterday will remain with us for some time to come." Editorial. http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00editorial.htm Learning-Centric Virtual Education: An Extended Conversation with William Graves. "When you move into the adult/post baccalaureate market, the 'audience' for educational services changes; it puts a premium on convenience and access." http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00graves.htm Is Education Really a Priority for the Country? Roger G. Schank. "The solution, I think, must be software. It is nearly impossible to introduce curricular change in any other way." http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00schank.htm Tradition and Transformation. Linda Terrell. "Ultimately being wired may signify more than just an expectation. Some experts believe it may reflect a new way of thinking, learning and interacting with the world." Done Is Better than Perfect: The Current Crisis in U.S. Higher Education, Its Multiple Consequences, and the Universities' Unwillingness to Fund a Possible Solution. Rändi Sigmund Smith. "The distance learning support proven to be most successful in getting ABDs to finish their dissertations and obtain their Ph.D.s is external coaching." Technology, Engineering and Education. Ben Erwin. A seventh grade class in robotics gave every student some exposure to all of the basic concepts of the design process. Then, the group worked on a systems engineering project together to design a robotic zoo. Why this experience is the face of educational reform. http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00erwin.htm Moving Past the Information Age: Getting Started with Knowledge Management. Jon Desenberg. "The government depends on what it knows. Or to be more specific -- on what it knows, how it uses what it knows, and how fast it can know something new. For just this reason, the Federal community is turning to the growing field of Knowledge Management." http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00desenberg.htm Opening the Door: Jordan Phillips and Medical Books for China International. Mary Zoe Phillips. Hard work, dedication and goodwill may ultimately mean more than bits, bytes and waves. This is the story of how two people changed the world. http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00phillips.htm Weaving a High-Tech Blanket. Daniel Atkins looks at digital libraries and digital divides. http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00atkins-insight.htm Reading, Writing, 'Rithmetic and Computers : An Interview with Mignon G. Williams of the Xerox Corporation Why continuing education matters. http://www.cisp.org/imp/july_2000/07_00williams-insight.htm Of more general interest are our columns, What's Happening and Calendar, in which we identify new reports, journals, funding opportunities, upcoming conferences and developments on the Hill and in the courts. <...> From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 25 04:47:24 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA71231; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 04:47:23 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA71218 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 04:47:10 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-045.super.net.pk [203.130.5.184]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6OIjuf21923 for ; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 23:45:57 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 23:49:52 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Indian net users set to soar Message-ID: <397CD620.29512.29E628@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 24 July, 2000 Indian net users set to soar The number of people using the internet in India is expected to rise to 23 million by 2003. At present, it is estimated that about four million people use the internet in India. The figures were released by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) which carried out a survey. It was conducted in 68 cities and towns across India, which account for 92% of the country's internet usage. Nasscom president Dewang Mehta said: "We see a very rosy picture ahead, particularly when internet connectivity will be available through cable television." India currently has about one million internet subscribers. But each connection is said to be used by four people, because of which the number of users is estimated to be nearly four million. "The last eight months saw subscribers jump by more than 800,000, thanks to the government's policy to encourage private participation," Mr Mehta said. "Internet is still an urban phenomenon, but we expect that to change with the setting up of community internet centres in rural areas," Mr Mehta added. Nasscom also said that more than 80 service providers and at least 12 private international gateways will become operational by March 2001. Private gateway On Friday, India's first ever private internet gateway, Mantra Online, was launched, ending the monopoly of the state-run telecom company, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL). Until recently, India's private internet service providers had to route access to international gateways through VSNL. But this was reversed in 1999, with the government deregulating the telecommunications sector. Internet services in India have suffered because of low bandwidth and poor telephone connections. Dewang Mehta says the government has been asked to open up the bandwidth to which private gateways had access. Mantra Online is a joint venture between British Telecom and Bharti Telecom of India and has set up its gateway in the capital, Delhi on a KU-band frequency. It plans to open seven more gateways in Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Madras and Pune. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_848000/848832 .stm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 25 17:38:23 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA68050; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:38:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.2.55]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA68034 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:38:17 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (zubair@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA27332 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:38:27 +0500 Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:38:27 +0500 (PKT) From: Zubair Faisal Abbasi X-Sender: zubair@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Internet charges may be cut further (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/25/nat10.htm Internet charges may be cut further By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI, July 24: The federal ministry of science and technology is trying to further reduce the charges for international bandwidth connectivity for the internet users, said the chairman of the Information Technology Commission at a seminar on Monday. The event was organized by the Computer Society of Pakistan at a local hotel. Syed Mazhar Ali, the chairman of the IT Commission, said the ministry realized that the recent reduction of charges of the 64kilobytes per second connectivity from Rs100,000 per month to about Rs60,000 was not enough. Mr Ali said the ministry wanted to reduce the rates to Rs5,000 from Rs10,000 per month for the 64kbps of shared bandwidth connectivity. "This will ensure low cost, reliable universal Internet connectivity, thus making it affordable for the schools, colleges, training centres, universities, libraries, hospitals, software houses, call centres, etc." He stated that the ministry was in the process of finalizing an "IT Policy and Action Plan" which would be announced soon after due review and examination. A $50 million venture capital fund was also being established. Mr Ali said measures were being taken which would make it easier for the software export houses to borrow money from the banks instead of through LCs which were based on firm orders only. He said the income tax rates for the faculty members of the non-profit IT institutes had been halved. He was of the view that IT was the main engine of growth in the economies of today. "That's why the government was adopting a number of measures to produce the required number of high quality IT manpower in the country." Speaking on the occasion, Robert Iau, the secretary-general of the South-East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC), said that to be an effective players in the world's expanding IT field the countries of the region must have accurate and current information about the quantum and quality of the Information, Communication & Technology resources available to them. Kamran Saeed, the projects coordinator at the Institute of Business Administration, presented the country's ICT Manpower and Skills Survey. Ms Dittas Formoso, the SEARCC's chairperson for the ICT Manpower and Skills Surveys, presented a brief report on the comparison of the manpower available in nine of its member countries. Others who spoke included Ahmed Allauddin of the CSP. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 25 17:43:51 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA69104; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:43:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.2.55]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA69082 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:43:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (zubair@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA27414 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:43:58 +0500 Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:43:58 +0500 (PKT) From: Zubair Faisal Abbasi X-Sender: zubair@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: World interest in Pak software development increasing (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Daily The Nation 24/7/2000 World interest in Pak software development increasing ISLAMABAD-International interest in Pakistan as a new centre for software development is fast developing, according to the Minister of Science & Technology, Dr. Attaur Rehman. His recent overseas visits have yielded a series of commitments from corporations around the world, with the list including the U.S. largest defence contractor, Lockheed Martin; Cisco, the world's top IT firm, has committed US$5 million; an as-yet unidentified Washington-based group of investors intends to funnel in $50 million; a major British company plans to invest $15 million in collaboration with a Singaporean group. It is these developments that prompted Atta to predict a 100-150 per cent growth in the scale of Pakistan's software export industry. "I have been hammering this fact that we need to invest in human capital and the vision is to enhance the GDP of the country to US $150 billion, which in turn will reduce unemployment," he told The Nation in an interview. Job creation & human resource development The process has already begun, with the government placing newspaper advertisements seeking applications from college under-graduates and batchelor's degree holders for training in data-feed operations. To date, some 3,700 IT-career aspirants have started taking instruction, with the government putting up three-quarters of the Rs.2,000 fee for the two-month course. The establishment of this sub-industry will receive a boost when the government processes applications already received from students with biology-related educational backgrounds, who will next month become the first batch of medical transcribers, working for overseas clients The scale of this initiative pales in front of the state's plans to open 40 IT universities in the country. One of the biggest steps taken in this regard is setting up of a Virtual University, which will reach its students via the distance-teaching method. The Science & Technology Ministry is already engaged in talks with the Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan Television and Information Minister Javed Jabbar, a process which will hopefully lead to the training of IT professionals holding degrees issued by the renowned University of Illinois. Another major education initiative is the establishment of a digital library at Comstech, where scientific research data published in 6,000 journals in the 56 member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference is now available over the Internet. This will enable Pakistani researchers to send E-queries and receive an answer within 48 hours, free of charge. Of course, none of this will be possible unless the general standard of Pakistan's education curricula is enhanced. To this end, some 300 different projects have been launched and Rs.150 million. It has further started the upgradation of universities and other educational institutions with the help of Rs.15 billion package. Free dedicated Internet connections are being extended to state-run universities. The government also intends to raise the standard of teaching by increasing the output of Ph.D-holders to 300 per year, 100 of which will are to be sent abroad. National IT Policy However, if Pakistan is to have its due share in the US $4 trillion software industry, it needs to legislate. Atta says a landmark intellectual property rights protection ordinance has been approved, which the Chief Executive will announce soon as part of the National IT Policy. Since the new IT and Telecommunications Division was created under the Ministry of Science & Technology three months ago, a number of steps have been taken to stimulate the growth in this key area of economic development. Dr Atta said that an IT Policy and Action Plan have been finalised, thanks to monumental efforts by a group of more than 200 professionals over the last 10 weeks. The working group has dealt with human resource development, training and education, IT in government and databases, IT market development and support, IT fiscal issues, telecommunications, coverage and deregulation, cyber laws, legislation, software export, e-commerce and incentives for IT investment. Incentives for software industry Dr Atta said that many steps have been taken to promote the growth of the software industry. Software Technology Parks are being established countrywide, with space at first dedicated park established at Awami Markaz, Islamabad, already having been exhausted. There is great demand from the private sector for similar facilities where businesses can just moved in and start up operations. Following complaints from prospective Internet service providers about difficulty in obtaining licenses, the processing period for applications by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has been reduced from seven months to 10 days. Similarly, the time in which Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited provides leased line connectivity has been reduced from several months to four-to-eight weeks. Internet delivery on Cable TV has also been permitted. Other incentives given to the private sector include permission to establish call centres and a 53 per cent reduction in the cost of Internet bandwidth. Internet merchant accounts have been allowed and contracts now are accepted by the banks as collateral for software exporters under the Export Finance Scheme. They have also been allowed to keep 25 per cent of their earnings in foreign currency accounts, taxes on remittances from software exports have been waived, and computer networking and IT equipment have been exempted from Customs tariffs. E-commerce & E-government Atta said the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan has been asked to inform all commercial banks about the working methodology of E-commerce, following which the government will formulate laws, a process which will take about a year. The delay is due to the need for protecting the national economy from hostile hackers, who will be kept out by the construction of electronic fire walls. The concept of E-government will facilitate the sharing of information by ministries and other public sector organisations, something which already has the support of the Cabinet. The first step will involve the nomination of focal points, involving the down loading on to the Government of Pakistan website of information regarding state bodies such as Central Board of Revenue and Karachi Port Trust. But the computerisation of the government is a process which will take a considerable amount of time, particularly as the bureaucracy will need to be educated about it. The general public will be the greatest benefactor, because they will be saved from queuing to pay their bills. The Internet-connected individual will be able to obtain and pay his/her bills over the Internet, via direct debit from their personal bank account. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Jul 25 17:44:07 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA69173; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:44:06 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.2.55]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA69150 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:44:01 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (zubair@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA27426 for ; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:44:18 +0500 Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:44:18 +0500 (PKT) From: Zubair Faisal Abbasi X-Sender: zubair@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Two-hour slot on PTV for IT education Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Daily "The News" Tuesday, July 25, 2000 -- Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1421 A.H. Two-hour slot on PTV for IT education agreed ISLAMABAD: A multi-media Virtual IT university will be established within the next three months to provide quality courses and degree programs through distance learning to over one lakh students. The first phase of the Virtual IT university will be launched on PTV and the second phase through intranet. The modalities to establish the first Virtual IT University were discussed on Monday between the minister for science & technology, IT & Telecom, Prof Dr. Ata ur Rahman and minister for information and media development, Javed Jabbar along with the hig-hups of both ministries and experts from IT & education sector. The minister S&T Prof Ata ur Rahman told the meeting that negotiations were underway with a number of reputed foreign universities for affiliating the IT Virtual University with them. The information minister Javed Jabbar agreed to a two-hour slot on PTV for launching the University and directed his team to work out the timing for the transmission. The utilization of PTV time by the Allama Iqbal Open University and the under utilization of their studio facilities also came under discussion. On a suggestion by the minister information, the possibility of a dedicated TV channel for IT and S&T once the electronic sector opened up also came under discussion. On a demand by the participants for more coverage to S&T and IT, the minister information discussed PTV's plans to promote IT and other sectors of the national economy. The Minister S&T talked about the establishment of an Accredition Council to ensure that the mushroom growth of IT and other educational institutes was regulated and only quality players survived. A committee was formed to determine the content and other working modalities of the IT Virtual University. The second phase of the University will be launched in over 500 Institutes all over Pakistan through intranet which will be available through a dedicated backbone. The students in all these distance learning centers will be able to benefit from a standardized quality curriculum and well worked out lectures delivered by faculty members. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 26 16:31:55 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA103993; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:31:53 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.2.55]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA103979 for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:31:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (rizvi@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA05506; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 11:26:54 +0500 Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 11:26:54 +0500 (PKT) From: "Hasan A. Rizvi" X-Sender: rizvi@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: Undisclosed recipients: ; Subject: Pakistan plans modern net (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Pakistan plans modern net National Telecommunications Corp., owned by the Pakistan government and based in Islamabad, is inviting bids from local and foreign technical consultants to design and supply an integrated broadband and fixed wireless system with provisioning for business users. he plan is a major shift in networking strategy from providing telecoms systems to the powerful defense establishment only, in preparation for the introduction of full competition in the $1-billion Pakistan telecoms market in 2003. "We would go for the most modern network system available anywhere in the world, and certainly Internet Telephony would be part of our network," said NTC technical chief, Mohammad Hussain. "Our modernization goal is to provide the existing clients and customers, who are all government departments, with business solutions that would be in vogue when the PTCL monopoly ends in 2002. Our customers definitely would be in e-commerce." http://www.totaltele.com/secure/view.asp?ArticleID=29156&pub=283&categoryid=0http://www.totaltele.com/secure/view.asp?ArticleID=29156&pub=283&categoryid=0http://www.totaltele.com/secure/view.asp?ArticleID=29156&pub=283&categoryid=0http://www.totaltele.com/secure/view.asp?ArticleID=29156&pub=283&categoryid=0 Cheers, -Hasan Rizvi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sustainable Development Networking Programme, Phone: 051-270684,270691 PO Box 3099, House 12, Street 85, G-6/4, Fax: 051-279072 Islamabad 44000, Pakistan. email: rizvi@isb.sdnpk.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Jul 26 19:24:14 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA83734; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 19:24:13 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.2.55]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA83723 for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 19:24:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (zubair@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA07818; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:24:11 +0500 Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:24:11 +0500 (PKT) From: Zubair Faisal Abbasi X-Sender: zubair@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net cc: cyberclub@isb.sdnpk.org Subject: Minister suspends PTCL proposal Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Minister suspends PTCL proposal Dawn 26/7/00-By Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, July 25: Science and Technology Minister Prof Attaur Rehman has suspended the Pakistan Telecommunication's proposal to establish 'National Access Points'. The information and telecom division considered the proposal detrimental to the flow of internet traffic. The minister directed that all aspects of the issue should be critically examined by an independent committee constituted by the ministry. The committee will ensure that the growth of internet traffic is not hindered by the government policies. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Jul 27 16:06:22 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA84182; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 16:06:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA84145 for ; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 16:06:06 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-105.super.net.pk [203.130.5.244]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6R64Yf13457 for ; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:04:37 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:06:38 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Indian duo put together FM radio station Message-ID: <398017BE.28320.255456@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: creative-radio@egroups.com From: Frederick Noronha Date sent: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 03:04:24 +0500 ---------------------------------------------------------------- INDIAN DUO PUT TOGETHER A 'DIRT CHEAP' RADIO-STATION-IN-A-BRIEFCASE ---------------------------------------------------------------- by Frederick Noronha HYDERABAD, July 22: They took it up as a challenge, and today these two young men have built a radio-transmitter that fits in a briefcase at a cost of barely ten thousand rupees. Vikas Markanday and Dayal Singh of Rohtak in Haryana, both aged 21, have assembled a low-cost FM radio transmitter that they hope will spread useful information that could make a vital difference to the lives of villagers, including on agricultural practices. Their eagerness and suprise achievement won the wows at a national conference on 'community radio' held here this week. The work met with much enthusiasm even as groups with a developmental message hope to get permissions to take to the airwaves opening up to them globally, thanks to rapid changes in technology and the freeing of the airwaves currently underway in India. "Such a type of a radio can play a vital role in low-cost communication. Rural developmental issues can be taken up. Illiteracy (bottlenecks) can be overcome. Farmers in the field could easily be given the information inputs they need," said Markanday. Both the young men belong to Nutra Indica Research Council, a non-profit NGO in Rohtak that seeks to put rural innovators in touch with scientists, and also create a platform for ideas to be exchanged, particularly on the rural front. Markanday is still an engineering student. Weighing approximately 12 kgs., the entire "radio station" fits into a briefcase. This transmitter has a range of 10 to 15 kms radius, and thus can be used to beam developmental inputs to rural citizens. India has been promising to open up 'community radio' stations. Asian countries like the Philippines, Nepal and Sri Lanka have already shown the beneficial impact of such locally-managed, non- profit initiatives taken up by citizens themselves. "We managed (to put the transmitter together) almost by a trial and error method," admits Dayal Singh. Singh says components were purchased from the 'science city' of Ambala and New Delhi's Lajpatrai Market, one of the largest for electronic items in Asia. Since the only radio broadcaster in India has been the government, for many decades, there has long been virtually no market for radio transmitters in this country. But the story of how the came to put this product together is perhaps more interesting than the unique 'station' itself. Last November, at the Tasknet conference in New Delhi -- meant to showcase how technology can fight poverty and ignorance -- a UNESCO-gifted 'radio station in a briefcase' was being demonstrated, narrates Markanday. Nutra Indica president Kamaljeet was surprised that the foreign product cost around Rs 200,000 and "took up a challenge" to produce an Indian equivalent for around Rs 7,000. Costing a little more when put together, the still unnamed product offers to make a vital difference to hundreds of low-cost alternative broadcasters who hope to also benefit from India freeing of its till-recently state-monopolised airwaves. This 'radio station in a briefcase' currently can take its input from a cassette, a microphone or even a built-in radio station. This offers broadcasting possibilities from a wide range of situations. "Maybe it needs some basic editing facilities too. That would make it more complete," Bangalore-based professional radio broadcaster and filmmaker A.R. Pasha told IANS. Pasha was earlier with the the state-run All India Radio. Adds Yoganarasimha of the Creative Instruments and Controls, a firm based in Rajajinagar in Bangalore: "It is a good product. I am impressed. Now we have to see how it can shift into commercial production." Yoganarasimha is partner in the electronics firm and was in electronics R&D for a decade with the public sector BHEL. (ENDS) Contact details: Dayal Singh Nutra Indica Research Council 675/25, Patel Nagar Rohtak (Haryana) India Tel 0091.1262.55329 Fax 0091.1262.40700 Email: nirc_kamaljeet@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Jul 27 16:06:27 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA84204; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 16:06:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA84163 for ; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 16:06:13 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-105.super.net.pk [203.130.5.244]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e6R64ff13464 for ; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:04:41 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:06:38 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Unesco backs community radio initiatives in India Message-ID: <398017BE.32085.2556BF@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: creative-radio@egroups.com From: Frederick Noronha Date sent: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 09:23:23 +0500 ---------------------------------------------------------------- UNESCO BACKS COMMUNITY RADIO INITIATIVES IN INDIA ---------------------------------------------------------------- by Frederick Noronha HYDERABAD, July 21: UNESCO is keen to support the setting up of non-profit 'community radio' initiatives across India and the rest of South Asia, even as radio airwaves are currently being speedily opened up to major commercial players in this country. "UNESCO is committed to encouraging the free-flow of information. It is already supporting the initiatives of community radio development in India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka," UNESCO representative to India and director Professor Moegiadi told this correspondent here. Prof. Moegiadi opened a national meet on community radio which ended here Thursday. Educationalists and voluntary organisations from across the country, particularly South India, have been looking forward eagerly for the government in New Delhi to open the airwaves for broadcast by non-profit groups. "We have set up a studio and are awaiting. Years back it seemed that community radio was on the point of being approved," said said S. Satheesh of the Deccan Development Society, located in Pastapur, some 100 kms away from here, in Andhra Pradesh's Medak district. Permissions for low-cost community radio has long been on the cards. But while dozens of FM (frequency modulation) radio stations are currently being set up by the private sector, the rules for setting up non-profit stations are yet to be framed. Even educational institutions, and varsities, have been waiting patiently before they can reach out via the airwaves. Earlier this year, dozens of private FM stations, being built by media groups and other major organisations, were given permission after they bid huge sums extending in tens of millions for slots on the airwaves. Non-profit and development organisations have been lobbying for over the past five years, to get affordable permissions to broadcast information that could help the "information poor" get an understanding of issues critical to their lives. "Can we use radio to transmit information, knowledge and skills to allow people to improve their quality of life?" asked Prof Moegiadi, backing this view. Recently, neighbouring countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka edged past India by allowing non-profit community radios to be set up. Nepal's Radio Sagarmatha, run by a body of environmental journalists, has attracted attention globally for its unique style of operation -- and promoting a news-based and green message -- in a sub-continent where radio has so far been tightly government-controlled. "In Sri Lanka, we are using a community radio station in Kotmale to find information on the Internet, which readers ask for via phone or post. This helps villagers to get access to the information superhighway too," University of Colombo journalism lecturer Michael J.R.David told this correspondent. David (39) is project leader of the Kotmale community radio station, which took off in May 1999 but is already being studied worldwide as an innovative experiment in development communication. "Prime Minister Vajpayee recently lamented existing digital divides. But what about using radio technology for relevant, local communication in a country where over 80% have access to it?" asked Ashish Sen of the Bangalore-based Voices. This communication NGO that has been highlighting the potential of non-profit community-run radio since the mid-nineties. "We are straddled with a situation where FM radio might just become the monopoly of private broadcasters who cold-shoulder development issues," Sen told this correspondent. India's state-owned All India Radio had set up a string of local radio stations some years back. But without carrying these plans through effectively, the stations were mostly not locally- relevant and community-run. By contrast, community stations can play a very different role. "We've had people coming runing to the station saying their cow had gone astray, and other listners help to locate them. In another case, the child appealed to his mother to return to the husband she abandoned, and it worked," says David from Sri Lanka. Repeated collapses of central governments in India, and feetdragging by officials, has meant that community radio is still to become a reality in this country. Incidentally, Bazlur Rahman of the Bangladesh Coastal NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, told this correspondent that Dhaka is expected to license non-profit radio for community groups in 2001. In the mid-nineties, an Indian supreme court judgement which laid down that "airwaves are public property" and suggested that a government monopoly could not be treated as public property. Said Dr. T.H. Chowdary, advisor to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu on technology matters, commented: "On FM, the bandwidth permits a very large number of low-powered radio transmitters. There could be upto 5000 FM stations, or as many tehsils (district sub-divisions) as there are in India." (ENDS) ------------------------------------------------------------------ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 28 19:35:00 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA100698; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 19:34:59 +1000 (EST) Received: from guardian.apnic.net (guardian.apnic.net [203.37.255.100]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA100669 for ; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 19:34:55 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by guardian.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA27577 for ; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 16:50:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from unknown(203.135.2.55) by int-gw.staff.apnic.net via smap (V2.1) id xma027512; Fri, 28 Jul 00 16:50:37 +1000 Received: from localhost (rizvi@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA31172 for ; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 11:50:27 +0500 Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 11:50:27 +0500 (PKT) From: "Hasan A. Rizvi" X-Sender: rizvi@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: India: Internet subscriptions cross one million mark Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 2000 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.timesofindia.com/250700/25mbom8.htm Tuesday 25 July 2000 MUMBAI: Internet subscriptions finally crossed the one million mark at the end of June. According to Nasscom's Internet and E-commerce survey, this figure is set to rise exponentially and will touch 11 million subscriptions by 2003. Nasscom president Dewang Mehta said on Wednesday, ``In India, 3.7 million users access the net. In coming years, this growth would be propelled by information devices, mobile phones and internet through cable. Internet users in India by 2003 would be 23 million, which would be one million more than China's projections.'' The survey revealed that there is a latent demand for about one million internet connections in the country. Nasscom also predicts a similar spurt in job creation as the net is expected to drive growth in e-commerce. ``The internet and e-commerce industry in India today employs over 82,000 people and by March 2003 this number is likely to increase to over 500,000,'' Mr Mehta said. The survey which has statistics updated to as recent as June this year, also provides detailed demographics of internet users in India. According to it, internet access in India was most widespread amongst the 18-24 year age group at 49 per cent, followed by 28 per cent users in the 25-39 year age group. But maybe it's not quite time to party. Thirty six per cent of the world's population accesses the internet today. India, with 3.7 million users, accounts for a mere 0.37 per cent. And despite the many women-oriented websites springing up, the survey showed that it's still very much a man's world on the web, with males hogging 77 per cent of total access. However, internet access amongst women too witnessed a 5 per cent increase in the last year, the survey noted. The survey was carried out over 68 cities and towns across the country, which account for 92 percent of Internet users. Over 80 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and at least 12 private international gateways were expected to commence operations by the end of March, 2001. Mr Mehta said that Internet connectivity in the country was likely to multiply following the government's decision to enhance bandwidth and liberalise its telecommunication policy. ``Interestingly, over 81 per cent of the personal computers sold during fiscal 1999-2000 were net enabled. And capital cities (Delhi and state capitals) today accounted for 77 per cent of net connectivity,'' Mr Mehta added. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 2000 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Jul 28 19:38:04 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA100698; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 19:34:59 +1000 (EST) Received: from guardian.apnic.net (guardian.apnic.net [203.37.255.100]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA100669 for ; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 19:34:55 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by guardian.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA27577 for ; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 16:50:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from unknown(203.135.2.55) by int-gw.staff.apnic.net via smap (V2.1) id xma027512; Fri, 28 Jul 00 16:50:37 +1000 Received: from localhost (rizvi@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA31172 for ; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 11:50:27 +0500 Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 11:50:27 +0500 (PKT) From: "Hasan A. Rizvi" X-Sender: rizvi@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: India: Internet subscriptions cross one million mark Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 2000 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.timesofindia.com/250700/25mbom8.htm Tuesday 25 July 2000 MUMBAI: Internet subscriptions finally crossed the one million mark at the end of June. According to Nasscom's Internet and E-commerce survey, this figure is set to rise exponentially and will touch 11 million subscriptions by 2003. Nasscom president Dewang Mehta said on Wednesday, ``In India, 3.7 million users access the net. In coming years, this growth would be propelled by information devices, mobile phones and internet through cable. Internet users in India by 2003 would be 23 million, which would be one million more than China's projections.'' The survey revealed that there is a latent demand for about one million internet connections in the country. Nasscom also predicts a similar spurt in job creation as the net is expected to drive growth in e-commerce. ``The internet and e-commerce industry in India today employs over 82,000 people and by March 2003 this number is likely to increase to over 500,000,'' Mr Mehta said. The survey which has statistics updated to as recent as June this year, also provides detailed demographics of internet users in India. According to it, internet access in India was most widespread amongst the 18-24 year age group at 49 per cent, followed by 28 per cent users in the 25-39 year age group. But maybe it's not quite time to party. Thirty six per cent of the world's population accesses the internet today. India, with 3.7 million users, accounts for a mere 0.37 per cent. And despite the many women-oriented websites springing up, the survey showed that it's still very much a man's world on the web, with males hogging 77 per cent of total access. However, internet access amongst women too witnessed a 5 per cent increase in the last year, the survey noted. The survey was carried out over 68 cities and towns across the country, which account for 92 percent of Internet users. Over 80 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and at least 12 private international gateways were expected to commence operations by the end of March, 2001. Mr Mehta said that Internet connectivity in the country was likely to multiply following the government's decision to enhance bandwidth and liberalise its telecommunication policy. ``Interestingly, over 81 per cent of the personal computers sold during fiscal 1999-2000 were net enabled. And capital cities (Delhi and state capitals) today accounted for 77 per cent of net connectivity,'' Mr Mehta added. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 2000 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Jul 31 23:11:31 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id XAA99193; Mon, 31 Jul 2000 23:11:31 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.2.55]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA99110 for ; Mon, 31 Jul 2000 23:11:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (zubair@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA28813 for ; Mon, 31 Jul 2000 18:10:57 +0500 Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 18:10:57 +0500 (PKT) From: Zubair Faisal Abbasi X-Sender: zubair@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: PTCL's move to tackle Internet Telephony (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk http://www.dawn.com/2000/07/31/latest.htm 31 July 2000 Monday 28 Rabi-us-Saani 1421 PTCL's move to tackle Internet overseas calls ISLAMABAD, July 31: Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation has finally decided to provide voice over Internet to avert losses being caused by web-sites established outside Pakistan and providing international call facility on internet. PTCL has invited interested parties to submit their proposals about operating and maintaining a voice over Internet service for international calls to Pakistan originating in the United States and Europe. This would be a pilot project and invitation for proposals is on a non-exclusive basis. Interested parties can obtain detailed documents from PTCL headquarters Islamabad. Incharge Public Sector Project (PSP) of PTCL told APP that initially the project is to operate and maintain calls originating from USA and European countries. It is pertinent to mention that websites like http://www.hottelephone.com, http://www.dialpad.com etc are providing facility to make an overseas call free of charges. The consumer has to pay only the charges of the time at the rate any ISP has offered to him. Normally, the ISPs are charging the consumers between 15 to 40 rupees per hour which means an overseas call for one hour costs 40 rupees, while an international call on the PTCL phone network costs 50 to 1000 rupees per call on average. At present the use of the Internet for making international calls is limited due to a variety of reasons. Most of the people are not aware of these websites, which are providing this facility. Secondly, the Internet is available in few major cities of Pakistan. Still, PTCL revenue on international calls has dropped a little. The PTCL has already started a massive campaign against the illegal operators who are terminating international incoming and outgoing voice traffic and offering illegal overseas services by installing and using completely unauthorized equipment or software such as VSATs, VoIP, Gateways, Dish Antennas and other equipment. This equipment is capable of carrying voice, bypassing the PTCL's network and is causing pecuniary losses to the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited. But the case of the websites established outside Pakistan is different. These websites do not come in the jurisdiction of PTCL and Pakistan. (APP)