[Sigiii-l] Article on digital divide in Sci American

[Smita Chandra]

Dear Sue,
 
The Gyandoot Digital Library project has indeed been successful. The government of India now plans to implement similar such projects in its mission called "Shrushti" (meaning 'vision').  

However, the word "library" in the name of the project is a metaphor and a reminder for the wide base on which public libraries in India need to begin working on. The reason I feel desperate about the situation here is the paradigm shift in the role of librarians in the not so distant future. To quote Mr.Satyanarayana, Chairman, MD, Informatics (India) Pvt.Ltd., from his recent lecture on "Challenges before the LIS community", "...creating a user base and educating people so that they can use information sources is one of the greatest challenges before us....the point of concern is not a dearth of resources, but the usability of the whatever few we have....".  I guess it is "Information Education" that we need to focus equally on and it is this factor, which has lead to the success of the Gyandoot project among the 1.6 million illiterate, semi-literate and literate user community. I think that this also conveys a message and shows a way, to the library community in India, still
 grappling with ways and means for information technology implementation. 
 
With regards,
 
Ms. Smita Chandra
Librarian
Indian Institute of Geomagnetism
New Mumbai, INDIA
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"Sue O. Johnson" <sueojohnson at msn.com> wrote:
Dear SIG III Members,
     In the August issue of Scientific American, pp 42-47, we have an update on a project from our International Paper Competition of 2001. The paper, in the Bulletin, April/May 2001, The Gyandoot Digital Library Internet, a project reported by Aashish Sharma, from India (second place winner in the Contest) and his professor William Yurcik, is discussed in the Scientific American as  a major example of a successful model to close the digital divide in India.  The article says, "farmers access the Gyandoot intranet at a community computer facility in central India's Dhar district, where 60 percent of the 1.7 million residents live below the poverty line.  The intranet provides crop prices, official application forms, and a place to hold village auctions and to air public grievances."
 
      Aashish predicted when giving the paper in 2001 that this project, just in its initial stages then, would grow and become effective. It has, and congrats for their continued success.
 
Sue O'Neill Johnson, Sig III (current) Chair



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