Tower of Babel - Cross Cultural Communications

Embalam, India. When village elders in this ancient community of thatched huts considered where to situate two solar-powered computers, only one building met the criteria: a century-old temple. Today, one door to the temple closely follows tradition – the “Untouchables” (Dalit) and menstruating women are not allowed to enter. The other door, however, welcomes all into the information age, where the internet provides them with important information about food prices, local services, and the auspicious hours of the day. A woman who worked collecting and washing clothes for her clients, now operates the town’s computers and is a source of valuable information to the townspeople.

Poverty. Environment. Gender. Sustainability. Empowerment. Technology. For the M. S. Swaminathan Research Center, these issues were front and center six years ago when they launched the Village Knowledge Center (KC) Programme.

The ten villages participating in the programme are connected through a hybrid wired and wireless network. Personal computers, VHF duplex radio devices, and email through dial up telephone are utilized for both data and voice transfer.

Initially funded by the International Development Research Center (IDCR), Canada, and the Canadian International Development Agency, the KCs have focused from the onset on identifying the needs of the people before deciding how to use technology to improve their lives. Leaders and observers of the project credit its success to the use of the local language (Tamil), the use of multimedia to facilitate access, and local participation from the very beginning.

Subbiah Arunachala, a leader in the project, stresses the need to integrate content with livelihood opportunities and for investors to act as partners and not as donors.
“The local communities must be involved right from the beginning,” he says. “The people should feel a sense of ownership.”

According to Arunachala, as long as CTCs, telecentres, and information centers focus on tools and technologies not much headway will be made in addressing the problems facing the communities. “For ICT to succeed, the focus must be on the people, their contexts and current needs and a clear understanding of how these work together towards creating and finding the content and information that can satisfy the needs of the people. Of course, we use technology to be able to disseminate the information fast."

Hundreds of villagers have benefited from this project by accessing information and training on how to form self-help groups (SHG) to obtain loans from banks that enable them to create their own micro enterprises. Gender equity and the dissolution of caste distinctions are of utmost importance to MSSRC’s work.

In most villages, the women are trained to run the knowledge centers; they work together to create small businesses, localize health services, and provide computer training to other villagers.

In Thirukanchipet, landless Dalit laborers didn't’t start objecting to the practice of a local tea-stall where tea was served from two sets of glasses -- one reserved for ‘untouchables’ - until they began working in the Knowledge Center. Then, they began posting literature condemning caste-based discrimination on the center’s notice boards. Today, the tea-stall has only one set of glasses.

Today's KCs are situated in panchayet buildings, a temple, a meal programme center and a private house. The project, slated to be retrofitted for use in Africa, claims success in promoting development, social change, cultural values, solidarity, political awareness, community organization, and participation.

An excerpt from DigitalDivide Listserv of March 2004 from Subbiah Arunachalam:

"As I write this, I have in front of me a copy of our Rural Yellow Pages. It is a good example of the content created in our project. It is just like the Yellow Pages of New York or any other city. Only it is smaller, about 150 pages. It lists mostly addresses and rarely telephone numbers (because hardly anyone in the 10 or so villages it covers has a telephone), and some of the categories it has (such as people who can tend to your cows and buffalos) may not be found in the Yellow Pages of New York.

While most villagers will know virtually everyone else in their own village, many of them may not know people in neighbouring villages and their occupations. The Yellow Pages will come in handy when one is looking for people with some specific skill. The booklet also lists government officials, doctors, vets, sellers of fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, organic manure, etc.

We do not use the terms 'kiosks' and 'telecentres', because our 'knowledge entrees' are far more than mere telecentres. The volunteers operating the knowledge centres provide value-added locale specific information which the villagers can use immediately. Take for example the fishermen in Veerampattinam. They get wave height information 24 and 48 hours in advance. The information on wave heights in the Pondicherry coast is obtained from a US Navy website by the volunteer at our hub in Villianur; the volunteer downloads the picture (in colour), interprets the information and prepares a written statement and a sound byte and transmits the entire package (image, soundbyte and typed statement) to knowledge centres in coastal villages.

The volunteer at Veerampattinam puts up the image and the written statement on the noticeboard and broadcasts the soundbyte over a public address system. The loudspeakers are positioned in the streets and near the shore so everyone in the village can hear the announcement. The fishermen can decide whether to venture into the sea or should stay back home. Ever since we started providing this information not a single death has occurred in the sea.'