adjusting, structuring

back to Amsterdam and back to writing…
so let’s keep the research blog as a window on current writings…

I am taking out on the paper some thoretical consideration…I will keep updating this blog…and will post few thesis paragraphs every once in a while. However will try and copy here most of the thesis chapter, once they are formed and have aquired some shape…

I want to improve on the terminology in the current monitoring and evaluation of Ict practices in the education field in the Indian context since issues of education per se in current critical debate emerge into a clear subsequent social differentiation that the economical, political and cultural level of the spectrum of Indian society.

While on the other hand there exist a headless drive for technological interventions in the educational system with lesser degree of compatibility with the material positioning of devices into much broader frameworks of culture and society. I will try to build correlations between the larger debate of the educational model in India and the implications of introducing Ict in the educational system with centralized national or decentralized sustainable programmes. I would like to suggest that here I am not exclusively focusing on the theoretical notion of techno-determinism and the model of progress, but I am also looking at aspects of inter-subjective experience with the technology.

In fact as I will proceed with the unfolding of the various layers of critique on the role and use of Ict for education, a strong sense of imbalance of access, technological skills and understanding of the effects of Ict in the education field will be presented as a critical reflection on the prominence of economical, cultural and political undercover implication of infrastructure and segmentation of human based services as the implementation of Ict in education will be taken to the level of priority developmental goals.

Pune goes wireless

Just found this article on the inititative of wireless development in India. To show and highlight that there are many realitites unfolding at the same time. Is impossible to imagine to define the many different realities that are being created simultaneously, but maybe just to observe does bring much to the surface.

“The Pune Municipal Corporation PMC has announced the Unwire Pune project, with Intel Technologies Ltd. as the chief technology and program management consultant. This project is aimed at making 400 square kilometers of the city along with adjacent areas of Pimpri and Chinchwad wireless. Intel would be deploying the Wi-Fi and WiMax technologies. The goal is to provide seamless connectivity to citizens, businesses and academic institutions.

Intel would be responsible for developing an extensible, high performance technical architecture and detailed design to suit the PMC’s requirements. Intel would also be responsible for informing and educating the PMC by various workshops and training programs. PMC has set apart an initial estimate of 70 million INR for the project.

Apart from the push by the corporation, Pune has been selected over a lot of cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore, mainly because of its small size. PMC is planning to build 10 WiMax towers and 800 Wi-Fi hotspots in the city. After the technical survey is done (by Intel), which has an estimated time of 2-3 months, tenders would be opened for implementation of the plan. Initially free access to low end users and charges to high end users (with high bandwidth usage) are planned.”

source: http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/5884/1/23/

DIY education

Back in Delhi,

I was just speaking on the phone to Sharad Sharma, one of the founders of World comics India, who is the coeditor of “Voices from the field: People’s comics” a structured publication on the workshops and teaching about comic culture as communication tools ! Indeed a grassroot activity, a great opportunity for me to witness the work in process…so I got the address and I’m heading to Gandhi Smriti, the location of the workshop. Such a fortunate day!!!

Bombay and Pune

I arrived in Bombay (Mumbai) last week, the summer humid air was forgotten, once I overlooked at the shores.

landing at the airport felt immediately as a disharmony in the city architecture. irregularly shaped slums formed a circle around the airport, cement blocks imprinted the clear demarcation of this sites of poverty. Near them,  huge apartment blocks of the suburbs. Bombay holds a population of nearly 20 million people. it was incredible to compare this view of the city to the view of Delhi. In fact, it is not so visible in the city circle where the demarcation between rich and poor exist. I felt as these areas were hidden, transported towards the outskirts, marginalized from the city. Clearly enough Bombay has a European imprint on its buildings and roads, its cosmopolitan spirit. back to my research.

I visited Comet Media Foundation, where I spoke with Chandita Mukherjee, the director of the institute who introduced me very warmly to the rest of her team.  It was a very busy day for her, as she was departing the following week. I came to know about their educational programes. They are conducting workshops and training for the web, holding seminars and introducing community oriented education.  They will also shift completely to open source operational system and are collaborating with the National Resource Centre For Free/Open Source Software (nrcfoss.in).  

I came to know for the first time that the government of Karnataka is implementing foss in all areas. I would like to research more about this topic to show the experience of the open source community here in India.

right now I’m in Pune, where I will visit in the afternoon the women’s organization Aalochana, which has been conducting a study on the use of ICT at the grassroot level.

I have collected personal interviews with street workers (taxi driver, street cleaner, key maker, coconut vender) on their use of mobile technolog. the responses I got were various, each clearly showing their adaptation to the new communication technologies. Each one had a different mobile use and I am waiting to arrive to Delhi to upload/transcript as soon as possible the interviews and pictures.

funds for community radio

Concerns regarding the question of community radio funds in this point of time, scratches only the tip of the iceberg of sustainable processes of grassroot community radio development in India.

and now some news:

UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (UNESCO-IPDC) has approved funds in the amount USD 60,000 in contribution to the establishment of the first ten Community Radio Stations in India. The funds are expected to support community radio stations especially in tribal belts, in collaboration with organizations such as Alternative India Development (AID).

Support will be extended in specific areas of technology choices, advice, maintenance and technical training at the community level with a view to the development of the community radio movement and industry in India

source: Unesco New Delhi

The case study conducted for Unesco by Seema Nair, Megan Jennaway and Andrew Skuse called “Local information networks” comprehends an extensive research on the following community radio station:

Namma Dhwani Community Multimedia Centre, Karnataka,

Nabanna Information Network for Women,

West Bengal and Akshaya ICT Project, Kerala.
The emphasis is on sustainable content production, whcih needs to challenge social issues and needs to create beneficial improvements in the information divide betwen the urban and the rural.  Technology alone  is not going to provide the solution, but the efficinecy of the communication process could become an effective channel for it.

Now who is going to engage in this process? What type of community and issues are going to be addressed and who is going to benefit. These are all relevant questions to be answered while exploring the possibilities of participative boradcasting. The actual implementation of community radio should be formed in a  bottom up process in order to be significantly improving community participation in the communication process. This case study will be really interesting to follow in a much longer time framework.