Tamil Nadu 2006 |
This output has now been published as a chapter of a new text book, full reference:
Swindell J. (2006) The Information Villages of Pondicherry: a case study in capacity building for sustainable development in Leal W. (ed) Innovation, Education and Communication for Sustainable Development Peter Lang: Frankfurt pp 515-534
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Abstract:
The Information Village Project was established and run by the
M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (based in Chennai, India) in Pondicherry in
1997, with support from the Canadian Government. Since then it has expanded to
cover eight poor rural villages in the territory. Each village is equipped with
a range of ICT equipment which is linked to a central hub in Pondicherry. The
linkages can be via cable TV networks, radio links or telephone lines. Each
village thus has a “Knowledge Centre” which is managed and maintained by locally
recruited and trained volunteers. Villagers can use the technology directly for
communication with relatives and friends in other villages, but more powerfully,
the volunteers can access a range of information sources and publish the results
from the Knowledge Centres. This might be done simply by a blackboard outside
the centre or broadcast over a public address system used for day to day
announcements in the village. The type of information published includes up to
date market prices for local produce in distant market towns, off-shore wave
height predictions for fishermen, health advice, employment opportunities and
availability of government schemes.
The project has proved so successful that the Foundation are rolling it out on a
national basis for 2007 under the new title “National Alliance for Mission 2007:
every village a Knowledge Centre” and further linking it to similar projects in
East Africa.