[liberationtech] Information Technology in Developing Countries (IFIP WG9.4 Newsletter)

[Yosem Companys]

The February 2013 issue of ‘*Information Technology in Developing Countries*’ 
is now available at: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/current.htm****

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The current issue of Information Technology in Developing Countries carries 
five articles and two conference announcements.****

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The first article by Nirmal Kishor Prasad describes the System for 
Computerised Registration (SCORE) of properties in the state of Bihar, 
India. SCORE was implemented across all 111 registry offices of the state 
in a record time of three months on an innovative as well as indigenously 
evolved cost effective model of Hardware on Hire Basis (HOHB), yielding a 
sharp increase in the state’s revenue, accrual of Rs. 25 million of funds 
within 15 months, and creating ample job opportunities and healthy 
competition among the local entrepreneurs. This innovative ICT solution 
uses technologies like finger print biometric devices, web cameras and 
scanners, and has effectively changed the 200 old system of manual property 
registration to a less-paper one. The article exemplifies how the HOHB 
model can ensure a sustainable and result oriented public/private 
collaboration for projects that are large-scale in nature and citizen 
centric.****

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The next article by Carol Dsouza and Shefali Atrey is titled “ICT for 
Social Change” and shares insights obtained through exploring the potential 
of ICT in selected Indian schools. The article discusses how good quality 
education in schools is about helping the young learners become global 
citizens, through multidisciplinary and real-life based teaching learning, 
having a holistic approach towards their natural and socio-economic 
environment, and how the use of ICT facilitates meeting of some of the 
pedagogical challenges- learning about abstract concepts, working in groups 
and teams, connecting real-life to the classroom, appreciating differences 
among individuals, etc. The authors have illustrated this by describing a 
three-year long process of using ICT for creative and productive learning, 
through which there was visible transformation in the learners- not just in 
the knowledge domain, but much more in their social interaction and social 
skills.****

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This is followed by an article by Stephen Ruth, Mahabir Pun and Samuel 
Stone on the “Nepal Wireless” initiative. The article describes the success 
of a non-profit Internet service provider called Nepal Wireless, which 
provides connectivity services in the central region of Nepal. The success 
of this project illustrates how Nepal, like many other developing nations, 
has found certain applications to be particularly valuable for early 
adoption, either because they foster a government agenda- tourism, 
discouraging poaching, etc.- or align with both regional and national 
objectives, like improving practices in agriculture, environmental 
protection, and medicine. The article also provides an update on this Nepal 
project, describing some of its subsequent income-producing applications 
after initial Internet connectivity, and describes examples of similar 
applications in other developing nations.****

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“Akshaya as a Cradle for Entrepreneurship” by Korath V. Mathew and Jiji 
Umesh describes the success of the Akshaya project, which was launched by 
the Government of the state of Kerala, India in 2002. The initial purpose 
of the project was to cut across barriers of society, culture and language 
to bridge the digital divide and deliver the benefits of information 
technology to the common man. But in its current form, it has gone far 
beyond that and its success has helped the common man to make a living out 
of social entrepreneurship and ensured the financial sustainability of 
Akshaya entrepreneurs through a multitude of citizen services.****

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The last article on “Digital Content and Paper-Pencil Curriculum” by Utpal 
Mallik examines popular assumptions on the role of digital content in the 
school and how that role fits into the overall curriculum design. The 
author feels that as computers and the World Wide Web reach India’s 
schools, what constitutes their effective use in education of children 
should be open to debate. He also emphasizes that though it has been widely 
accepted as an argument for school computing that since technology is 
powerful, it must bring about some spectacular changes in the content, 
process and outcome of schooling, the argument calls for careful scrutiny 
since the process of schooling is deeply rooted in a rigid systemic reality 
and its outcome cannot change if the process does not.****

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Upcoming conferences include eLearning Africa 2013 to be held in Windhoek, 
Namibia from May 29 to 31, 2013, and the International Conference on Rural 
ICT Development (RICTD) at Melaka, Malaysia from June 25 to 27, 2013.****

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We hope you will find this issue interesting and we look forward to 
receiving your feedback on the same. We welcome your contributions for the 
forthcoming issue of the IFIP WG 9.4 Newsletter. Interested contributors 
are requested to refer to the guidelines for authors available at: 
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/guidelines.htm  or may mail us at: 
ifipnewsletter at iimahd.ernet.in ****

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The February 2013 issue can be directly accessed at: 
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/feb2013/feb2013.htm. A downloadable 
PDF version of this issue is also available on our website (URL: 
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/feb2013/feb2013.pdf) to ease access 
and facilitate printing. ****

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With Best Regards,****

Editorial Team, IFIP WG 9.4 Newsletter.****

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Centre for Electronic Governance, ****

Indian Institute of Management,****

Ahmedabad - 380 015, India****

Phone: +91 79 6632 4128****

URL: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/wg.htm****
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