e-Culture : November 2004 Issue by i4d magazine

Vol. II No. 11

November 2004

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

Digital impact on native communities Information for development www.i4donline.net

Digitised cultural knowledge in Kamchatka

Poetryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideal partner Poetry International

e-Culture revolution in Egypt

ISSN 0972 - 804X

e-CULTURE

CULTNAT

April 2004 | www.i4donline.net

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8 T H A N N U A L I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E A N D E X H I B I T I O N I N T H E FIELD OF GIS, GPS, AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND REMOTE SENSING

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7-9 Feb '05 Hotel Taj Place, New Delhi

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THEME

BACK TO BASICS

GOLD SPONSORS

India is passing through a phase of unprecedented economic boom wherein the focus in areas of land reforms, infrastructure and utility services are finding great significance. The geospatial industry in the country is re-working towards this movement 'back to basics'. Map India 2005 will highlight the major achievements and pitfalls in these basic areas of application and will try to assess the potential of geospatial sciences in these areas.

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Engineering the future together

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ISG ANNUAL CONVENTION

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THEME

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GEOMATICS TECHNOLOGIES FOR BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Delivery of information, using latest information and communication technologies to all sections of the society is a challenge in the present millennium especially, when many have a background of poor literacy and reside in rural areas. Digital technologies can contribute in raising the level of human development and bridge the gap between all sections of our society.

CO-SPONSORS

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Elcome Technologies

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H I G H L I G H T S

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MAP INDIA 2005

USER MEETINGS

GEOMATICS 2005

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PLENARY AND KEYNOTE SESSIONS Back to basics

NRDMS User Meet

SESSIONS

Survey of India User Meet

Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Address and Millennium Lecture Applications of Geomatics in

Technology trends GIS industry in India-moving up

TECHNICAL AND POSTER SESSIONS

Agriculture, Health and Infrastructure

the value chain

STUDENT'S SESSION

with emphasis on rural segment

SEMINARS Infrastructure development Transportation Power and telecommunications Land information systems

WORKSHOP National Workshop on Cadastral

A special session will be held for students providing them with an opportunity to present their research initiatives, innovations and viewpoints for the mapping community.

Enabling technologies (Web, Language, Speech, Communication, GIS, GPS, PDA etc.) Cadastral & Property mapping Roundtable/panel discussion

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SPECK

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ORGANISERS

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30o DELHI

20o

CALCUTTA

20o

BOMBAY

EXHIBITION Over 1000 square metre of exhibition space to display various industry products and services.

Surveys and Mapping

Annual General Body Meeting

MADRAS

70o 80

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Important deadlines for Map India 2005 and Geomatics 2005 Abstracts 15 December 2004 Paper Acceptance 25 December 2004 Full Papers 15 January 2005 * For abstract submission guidelines, visit www.mapindia.org/2005/call.htm

MEDIA PARTNERS

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Secretariat: G-4, Sector-39, Noida-201301, INDIA Tel +91-120-2502180 to 87 Fax +91-120-2500060, Email info@mapindia.org

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w w w. m a p i n d i a . o r g

Contents

i4d Vol. II No. 11

November 2004

Features

Mailbox Mail

info@i4donline.net

21 News artist and 26 Grassroots entrepreneur Traditional arts find new markets

Digitised cultural knowledge in Kamchatka

culture project 27 Digital overviews Mores and media

Digital impact on native communities

Erich Kasten

30 Insight

AfricanCraft.com: Pride of artisans

Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) e-Culture revolution in Egypt Elgal Bahgat

Siiri Morley

37 ICT and Education Moving towards ‘Global culture’

Poetry International Poetry’s ideal partner Bas Kwakman

20 Alternative documentary films Beyond the reach

38 Bytes for All... 41 What’s on 42 In fact

Culturing e-Culture

Frederick Noronha

28 Profile of Sarai

Rendezvous

A communicative intersection Shuddhabrata Sengupta

Columns

HIVOS initiatives

32 Salzburg e-Culture Symposium e-Culture horizons

33 Jerusalem Conference

Digitisation of science and cultural heritage

Promoting e-Culture Paul van Paaschen

A Swiss repository 14 Coordinate– of arts Celebrating the South

35 India@work summit on ‘Mapping the 36 Worshop Neighborhood’ Nurturing the future

UNESCO’s Charter Preservation of the ‘Digital Heritage’

18 World Summit Awards Excellence in e-Culture

25 Unwalled museums Crossing boundaries

i4donline.net

News Search ICT4D news by date in the sectors of governance, health, education, agriculture and so on. E-mail Subscribe to daily, weekly, monthly newsletters online or send request to info@i4donline.net Research e-Learning projects from India. www.i4donline.net/elearn.asp Print edition The past issues of the magazine is available online www.i4donline.net/archive/archive.htm

I have read some contents of ‘FLOSS’ issue on the web and it is inspirational. We will use the excerpts in our FLOSS campaigns around Africa. Bildad Kagai bill@circuitspackets.com FOSSFA Africa

I have read and learnt a lot from this magazine. I am also in the field of journalism. I found that i4d is best for Nepali reader also. Such kinds of magazine are not available in Nepal. Ram Prasad Dhungel dhungel_ram@hotmail.com Sub-editor Samaya Weekly Kathmandu

I received the i4d ‘Telecentre’ issue yesterday and found the content very useful and interesting as I’m planning to set up a multi media centre here next year, on behalf of UNESCO. James Scambary james@internews.tp Community Radio Adviser Internews East Timor

The ‘FLOSS’ issue of i4d was good. Keep it up. Venkatesh Hariharan venky1@vsnl.com Red Hat India Ltd. India

Great effort with wide coverage. Wish you all good luck in this venture. Undoubtedly the get up and the content available on Webpage is good as shared by others. Aishwarya Narain narain@wilnetonlie.net

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We would like to acknowledge the support of HIVOS in producing e-Culture issue. This issue www.hivos.nl features articles on diverse initiatives happening globally for the preservation of culture and heritage. Disclaimer: The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in these articles and the opinion expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of HIVOS and do not commit the organisation. The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of HIVOS concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.

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i4d Editorial Calendar 2004 Month

Theme

January

Microfinance

February

ICT and education

March

ICT and health

April

Wireless communication

May

ICT for the poor

June

Local Content

July

Water/Agriculture

August

Community Radio

September

Tele-centers/Kiosks

October

FOSS

November

e-Culture

December

2nd i4d seminar special

i4d | November 2004

Editorial Electronic future for culture and heritage

Information for development www.i4donline.net

Advisory Board M P Narayanan, Chairman, i4d Amitabha Pande Department of Science and Technology, Government of India Chin Saik Yoon Southbound Publications, Malaysia Ichiro Tambo OECD, France Karl Harmsen Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific, India Kenneth Keniston Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Mohammed Yunus Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Nagy Hanna Information Solutions Group, World Bank, USA S. Ramani Research Director, H.P.Labs, India Walter Fust Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland Wijayananda Jayaweera UNESCO, France Editorial Board Akhtar Badshah Fredrick Noronha, Bytesforall Editor Ravi Gupta Editorial Consultant Jayalakshmi Chittoor Research Associates Anuradha Dhar, Gautam Navin, Saswati Paik, Divya Jain, Jhinuk Chowdhury, Tanzeena Ghoshe Mukherjee Design Deepak Kumar Assistant Designer Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Business Executive Neeraj Budhari Group Directors Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar i4d G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA, UP, 201 301, India. Phone +91 120 250 2180-87 Fax +91 120 250 0060 Email info@i4donline.net Web www.i4donline.net Contact us in Singapore 25 International Business Park, #4-103F, German Centre, Singapore - 609916 Phone +65-65627983 Fax +65-656227984

We are pleased to present the penultimate issue of i4d magazine, focusing on e-Culture. Culture and heritage have moved rapidly from the world of amphitheatre and traditional media. The world has ushered in the wave of new media domain for showcasing and documenting the cultural experiences of communities and providing a bigger and hopefully more sensitised community of viewers and appreciators. The opportunities and examples abound wherein organisations and cultural groups have used the media for digitising knowledge, for documenting oral history, weaving the web with a plethora of aesthetics and in itself creating a multi-faceted media full of graphics, arts, colours, languages, cultures and content domains. These projects and efforts that have been documented in this issue have shown the role of e-Culture in preserving and presenting the cultural heritage in line with the challenges of the future; demonstrating valuable assets. These have been possible due to rapid technological advances. This involves innovative research into new technologies and applications, not only those that apply to the cultural domain but to related fields as well. The projects that are presented are illustrations of what these new technologies may mean for how we work, communicate, learn and play. Clarity and informative contents have been the key features of some these initiatives. UNESCO, Hivos and SDC have been leaders in supporting such initiatives. At i4d, we produce a daily news service, and have found e-Culture news to be rare material for coverage. The question is: Is there not enough happening? Are these initiatives not media-savvy? Or, are culture projects not thrust areas for ICT for development? We hope to be able to build a repository on e-Culture on our website, for which we seek the support of agencies that are deeply engaged in supporting and promoting e-Culture. We are already planning the next year’s issues, which we hope to focus on the Millennium Development Goals. With our last few year’s experience we are aiming to become a knowledge portal on all critical issues of ICT4D. Please do let us know how we have fared, whether we have done a worthwhile job of serving the community and what are some of the thrust areas where we should continue to be engaged in.

Printed at Yashi Media Works Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India i4d is a monthly publication. It is intended for those interested and involved in the use of Information and CommnicationTechnologies for development of underserved communities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up to date on many activities in this wide and exciting field. i4d does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors. i4d is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.

Supported by:

Ravi Gupta Ravi.Gupta@i4donline.net and

November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

H IVOS I NITIATIVES

Promoting e-Culture A dress changing colours in reaction to electronic radiation in the environment. Clothes equipped with sensors that produce electronic music based on your and other’s movements. Just some futuristic and fascinating examples of applications of electronic media technologies. These inventions might be a hilarious toy for Western Paul van Paaschen electronic junkies but literally miles Hivos p.van.paaschen@hivos.nl away from realities in developing nations. In this magazine you will find some surprising, although more down-to-earth, examples of how ICTs are being made to work for people and in particular, for artists and cultural workers even in a non-western context. Artists in the Northern Hemisphere have been quick to make use of the so called new media, like video in the 60’s and the computer in the 80’s as a new medium for artistic expression. The use of these new media has, with some delay, also spread to Africa, Asia and Latin America where many people have been eager to exploit the computer and the Internet not only for artistic creation, but also for building up alternative spaces for the promotion, distribution and sale of art, and for communication and networking. Today, those who are involved in the art and culture sector in the South, individual artists just as much as cultural and art organisations, could not possibly do what they do now without computers and Internet. ICT has become indispensable now as a tool for communication and exchange between artists who are living in the so-called periphery, thanks to the low communication costs to build those networks. Every corner of the globe shows creative examples of Internet and new media usage. For example, in Costa Rica, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, MADC (http://www.madc.ac.cr/), constructed a website which presents the curricula and works of about one hundred Central American visual artists. The database and newsletter have contributed greatly to public outreach and to cooperation and exchange amongst artists in the region. It also has sparked off new initiatives. Contacts between artists and organisations which were facilitated through the network of HIVOS (Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation) led to a manifestation of video and new media art in the MADC museum, and to the organisation of a competition and exhibition of digital art in El Salvador this year with participation from Cuba and Peru. Another example is African Colours (http://www.african colours.net/), an initiative which aims to bring together African visual artists on the Internet and offer them a space for them to show and also give the opportunity to sell their work. The ‘networking power’ of ICTs is illustrated by the R-A-I-N website (http://www.r-a-i-n.net/) set up by the Rijksakademie of

Amsterdam to facilitate exchange of information and to initiate joint projects by artist’s organisations based in countries spread over the globe like Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil. Another exciting way of creating added value with ICTs is the world-wide virtual poetry magazine (http://www.poetry international.org/) initiated by Poetry International Rotterdam. The magazine consists of linked web pages that are made by local/national editors from 17 different countries including Zimbabwe, India and Colombia. The editors present the poems and the background of their national poets and publish contents about national events and issues concerning poetry. ICTs can prove to be a very effective medium for of promotion for any artist, and not just limited to the Northern Hmisphere. Especially musicians have taken advantage of Internet and started their own labels and promote and sell their work through Internet. The initiatives of the famous Senegalese musician Youssou N’dour (http://www.youssou.com/) shows how the development of the local music sector in Senegal is being promoted through a good use of Internet. But there are also the less visible successes, for instance Stone Tree Records (http://www.stonetreerecords.com/) that record and sell work of young Belizean musicians. Internet can help in this way to broaden the diversity of expressions, with the added benefits that it can provide an open forum for young artists to present and promote themselves. It can also help counterbalance the monopoly of the commercial cultural industries on the market. Especially in the domain of the film, music and book industries, the continuous process of ownership concentration filters and limits the number of artistic expressions, which are promoted around the globe. A handful of companies determine who is in the ‘mainstream’ and who is not. However, the Internet domain is increasingly taken over by the same cultural conglomerates for the purpose of selling books, films, music files, etc with the same effect. But as long as access for artists and audience will not be limited, there will be sufficient space for other voices and visions. One critical question remains. Because the use of computers in the South is still very limited, the public outreach of arts via the Internet is also limited. In practice it is therefore rather the public in the North, which gets access to artists and cultural expressions from the so-called peripheral areas or ‘zones of silence’. Especially in economically least developed countries ICT and new media will not be the tool for artists to reach their home audience. But is that a problem? Not as long as ICT acts as a useful tool instead as an end in itself. Point of departure is that there should be enough diversity in the way people can express themselves and relate to each other. Most of the examples are drawn from initiatives of partners of HIVOS, a Dutch development organisation that supports innovative activities in the art and culture sector as well as in the spread and development of ICT use in Africa, Asia and Latin America. i4d | November 2004

D IGITISED C ULTURAL K NOWLEDGE I N K AMCHATKA

Digital impact on native communities The contested property rights with regard to cultural heritage of indigenous people ask for new solutions of returning that knowledge or sharing it with the local communities where the data usually originated.

Erich Kasten UNESCO expert Indigenous Knowledge in the Russian North kasten@snafu.de

November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

Introduction The digitisation, and sometimes unauthorised dissemination of cultural knowledge through the Internet challenges intellectual property rights. However, open access to knowledge is seen as a legitimate need of the global community and has become a prominent theme in recent debates within international science and cultural organisations. These pressing issues and controversial views had been discussed for the Russian and the circumpolar North at a conference at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle in 2002. In my key note presentation, I pointed out that contested property rights with regard to cultural heritage of indigenous people ask for new solutions of returning that knowledge or sharing it with the local communities where the data usually originated (Kasten 2004a). Two possible solutions were put forward and have been partly realised since then; first, to provide local communities by means of the Internet easier access to scientific outcome, which are based on their particular cultural heritage; second, to set up the collected data in a digitised way that is in a form on of CD or DVD, so that it can be used effectively by local communities, for example in their educational programmes. So it can contribute to maintaining endangered local knowledge and to stimulate its enhancement. Through this parallel approach new information technologies are not viewed only as disseminating information at low costs, but also as efficient tools inlearning and increasing cognitive capacities (cf. Kasten 2004b).

Sharing scientific results with indigenous communities through the Internet The website http://www.siberian-studies.org is dedicated to the presentation and

dissemination of case studies about Siberia and the Russian North by social and cultural anthropologists. One special regional focus of this site is on Kamchatka. But Siberian studies are also placed into a wider circumpolar context. Because of historic and recent exchanges between Siberia and the people of Northern Europe and the American Pacific Northwest, the site includes corresponding themes relating to these people. By providing electronic access to digitised publications on Siberia and the circumpolar North, the site enhances the dialogue within the scientific community. Beyond this, it aims in particular, at returning and sharing the outcome of ethnographic research to local communities where such activities are usually conducted in collaboration with native experts. Furthermore, in addition to the essays by international scholars, particular attention is given to publications by local and native authors. Beyond monographs, some of the edited volumes are the outcome of international conferences, while others resulted from local workshops and field projects in Kamchatka. The electronic versions of books and essays cover a great variety of themes, which are seen as relevant in the current academic debate and which are felt as pressing by local people themselves. One of the main issues is post-Soviet socio-economic transformations and risks of jeopardising cultural diversity. Particular attention is given to the preservation of endangered cultural knowledge and to native languages and to the enhancement of art and craft traditions. Indigenous knowledge in sustainable nature use is another important theme, and how that knowledge could be best transmitted from the elders to the youth by specific educational programmes and learning tools.

“Spoiled beauty” Kamchatka peninsula Situated in the Russian Far East, Kamchatka peninsula is touched by the Pacific ocean, the Bering and Okhotskoe seas. True to its title ‘the land of fire and ice’, Kamchatka is blessed with the beauty of diverse wildlife, 160 active and inactive volcanoes, more than 150 thermal springs, crater lakes, mountain glaciers, pristine nature and fascinating culture. Kamchatka was closed to foreigners and even to Russians for many decades because of its strategic location importance for Russia with a large presence of military establishment. Finally the doors opened later than 1991. With harsh climate and widerness, Kamchatka is very sparsely populated, averaging less than one person per square kilometer, and far away from modern ways of life. Most of the inhabitants live in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the largest city and regional capital. In the north of the peninsula, the indigenous people of Kamchatka, the Koryaks, the Itelmen, the Chukchies, and the Evens have maintained their traditional ways of life. The untouched beauty is deceptive as Kamchatka is fighting with environmental pollution. The peninsula is filled with toxic pollutants as substantial military presence has contaminated the landscape with heavy metals, radiation, and other pollutants. Many NGOs have now started working to improve the ecology to computer education for the children of Petropavlovsk. Source: http://www.kamchatkapeninsula.com

With these contents, this site offers a broad perspective on scientific, practically oriented and artistic works for this region. Differing viewpoints from a variety of backgrounds should help to stimulate fuller and more productive discussion and understanding among scholars, local and native experts and other practitioners of culture in the Russian North. Making such information more widely accessible even in remote communities of the region can best facilitate this. Beyond providing indigenous communities more possibilities to participate in the debate on current issues that immediately affect their livelihoods, this site gives local scholars access to historical sources that provide complementary ethnographic information from the 18th to the early 20th century. These sources have usually been available so far only in distant libraries, in many cases as far as Moscow or St. Petersburg. Therefore, first electronic versions of historical sources on Kamchatka were produced in 1996 (Steller 1996), and the present website includes links to other institutions, which had become involved in similar activities since then.

For the realisation of the website, in-depth consultations with the individual authors and publishers had to be held to obtain the required permissions. Needless to say, that most authors have welcomed such a possibility for an even wider dissemination of their works. However, some of them have been concerned about unauthorised changes of the electronic editions of their texts, that is others might copy and paste fragments of their works for composing new texts of their own, without acknowledging the rights of the original authors. Although certain security options can be chosen for PDF files, there is no guarantee that these cannot be cracked. On the other hand, anyone who might intend could scan the printed copy and produce one’s own electronic version with OCR anyway. More complicated have been negotiations with some of the publishers. But eventually all of them agreed as they could anticipate that it would be only to their advantage, if additional attention could be directed to these books by showing them – with restricted printing option – in the Internet. It is understood that instead of being a hindrance this public attention would rather promote more sales in the end.

Digitised databases and electronic learning tools for indigenous communities Since the late 1990s, electronic learning tools (the series Ethnographic library on CD-ROM) have been tested in various native communities by our team, in which I collaborate with the anthropological linguist and librarian Michael Dürr and a group of local scholars and native language experts from different regions and ethnic groups. In particular, the CD Itelmen Language and Culture (Dürr, Kasten, Khaloimova 2001) has turned out to be quite successful in responding to serious concerns by many Itelmen people to preserve speech varieties of certain local groups. In contrast to the – often hardly avoidable – standardisation of native language

i4d | November 2004

school books in the past, electronic teaching tools with sound or video files provide more possibilities to pay attention to, and to maintain certain varieties of the given native languages, that local people usually identify with. Earlier standardised language education programmes had often been rejected by some local groups – as such language was not considered as ‘theirs’. New electronic learning tools on Itelmen language and those currently under preparation for the Even and the Koryak language aim to acknowledge the local varieties of these languages. They are quite popular

among the youth also for other reasons – as the use of ‘modern’ technology adds particular ‘prestige’ to these school materials. Beyond preserving endangered languages, the prime aim of this work is to document and to analyse specific contents of the conversations with elder native experts during field sessions. For example, our team recorded recently indigenous knowledge in nature use and biodiversity conservation under the UNESCO-LINKS programme. After boarding school education since the 1960s, much of this traditional knowledge could not be transmitted appropriately from the older generation to the youth. New concepts of bi-cultural education (Kasten 1997, 2002) are more effectively supported by the mentioned DVD publications. In contrast to previous CD publications, DVD technology offers more technical possibilities. It will use more good quality video files extensively with subtitles in the given native language, even with the option of switching between subtitles in additional Russian or English translations – as in the more recent DVD “Die das Rentier tanzen” (Kasten 2003). Here the English translation seems to be useful, as other indigenous communities in the American and Canadian circumpolar North are obviously interested in such “original” information on indigenous cultures and natural environments of the Russian Far East, and some of these publications are used even as learning tools in university courses in Alaska. Thus, beyond documenting and transmitting local

Is digital preservation a digital exclusion? We are standing at the crucial junction in the digitisation of worldwide cultural information resources. Virtual museums, digital libraries and virtual markets for art and culture are cropping up all over the world. The debatable issue which arises here is, whether the preservation of cultural knowledge digitally and its open sharing through Internet truly benefit, the major ‘creators’ of those information. Does that knowledge reach those indigenous communities from where it originated and to people they belong to? Internet, though one of the most effective ways of communication and disseminating knowledge poses a great challenge to the copyrights1 of individuals. Digital products with an open sharing outlook are easily replicable and thus far more easily susceptible to the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations than documents. A meeting took place in Hilo, Hawaii on “Digital Collectives in Indigenous Cultures and Communities”, in August 2001 constituting of representatives of cultural institutions, academic experts, funding agencies and indigenous communities, which discussed the major issues for indigenous people in creating and accessing digital resources. Some of the guiding principles that came from the “Digital Collectives” collaboration report2 are: • Affirm indigenous communities as equal partners in future collaborations. • Uphold cultural intellectual and property rights of communities. • The cultural digital information should be developed and controlled by indigenous communities.

November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

• The content creators should be the first beneficiaries. • Understand the ‘importance of community-based guides (to digitisation) that express tribal values. The principal recommendation of the report was that a group to be established from interested tribes (and indigenous peoples/ communities), to formulate policies on access to the record – in both documentary and the digital formats. It was concluded that cultural expression when marketed as commodity can hurt the sentiments of natives and therefore the various digitisation collaborative projects should be inclusive of the communities who are being represented on the web. Other declarations, “The Mataatua Declaration on Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous Peoples”3 and the “Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”4 highlights the cultural ownership and protection of indigenous knowledge. In recognition to these issues, there also exists an open, electronic forum called Indigenous Knowledge Systems (INDKNOW) where one can participate for discussing issues associated with indigenous knowledge systems and traditional ecological knowledge. The list can be subscribed at listproc@u.washington.edu. References: 1. http://www.copyright.gov 2. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may02/sullivan/05sullivan.html 3. http://www.tpk.govt.nz/publications/docs/tangata/app_e.htm 4. http://www.usask.ca/nativelaw/ddir.html

cultural traditions within the given community, such electronic publications can make it more attractive at relatively low costs for indigenous peoples of the circumpolar North to enter into new forms of a stimulating dialogue on their respective cultures. Main themes of these educational programmes on DVD are the documentation of endangered native languages and their local varieties, local histories or the remembered past of the elder generation, indigenous knowledge in traditional resource use, oral traditions – in particular a full set of Kutkh- or Kutkynnaku (Raven)stories in its local variations, art and craft traditions. A DVD on the latter is produced for an upcoming ethnographic exhibition at the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek in Berlin (28.01.- 30.03.2005). That electronic catalogue illustrates for the visitor of the exhibit the creation or manufacture and the use of the shown objects in their local contexts. Simultaneously, the same DVD will serve – with native and Russian subtitles – as a learning tool for young artists and craftsmen in Kamchatka.

Conclusion There have been justified warnings about the risks of a potential divide of global winners and local losers because of extreme disparities of access to a new culture of ‘information literacy’ (Quéau (2003, 3)). Although, we believe that electronic publications and websites, as those presented above, can probably help more to bridge the possibly increasing divide in information society between those in the centre and those at the periphery, than to reinforce it. My experience in Kamchatka shows, that even in economically difficult times the Internet seems to be the more realistic option to link remote communities to information society. Because of extremely high transportation costs and for other reasons, print media is getting less available in these communities, and very often local libraries does not have the financial means to stock up their holdings. However, even if computers in private households are still a rarity, and some villages still have to struggle for maintaining reliable power supply, almost each local community has access to the Internet, and there is usually a computer at least in the library, the school, or at the office of a native organisation. In sum, it seems that there is good potential that sharing digitised cultural heritage can stimulate creative dialogues and productive cultural dynamics in increasingly globalised knowledge society.

References • Dürr, Michael; Kasten, Erich; Khaloimova, Klavdiya 2001. Itelmen Language and Culture Multimedia CD-ROM. Ethnographic Library on CD, vol 3. Münster / New York: Waxmann. • Kasten, Erich (ed.), 1997. Bicultural Education in the North: Ways of Preserving and Enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ Languages and Traditional Knowledge. Münster / New York: Waxmann. • Kasten, Erich (ed.), 2002. Deti Severa – uroki kul’tury. Kul’turnoe nasledie Kamchatki – budushchim pokoleniyam [Children of the North – lessons of culture. The cultural heritage of Kamchatka for future generations]. Kamchatski pechatelnyi dvor. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. • Kasten, Erich 2003. Die das Rentier tanzen: Korjaken und Evenen im Fernen Osten Russlands (with M. Dürr). Video DVD, with English and Russian subtitles. Münster / Berlin: Westfälisches Museum für Naturkunde & Dietrich Reimer Verlag. — 2004a.Ways of Owning and Sharing Cultural Property. In Properties of Culture – Culture as Property: Pathways to Reform in Post-Soviet Siberia. E. Kasten (ed.), 9–32. Dietrich Reimer Verlag Berlin. — 2004b. Variations of Music and Dance Traditions in Shifting Contexts: Preserving the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Kamchatka. Paper given at the Echolot conference 2004, Moscow, December 1-2, 2004. http://www.echo-net.ru • Quéau, Philippe 2003. Information Policies for Knowledge Societies. Paper given at the EVA conference 2003, Moscow, December 1-5, 2003. http://www.evarussia.ru • Steller, Georg Wilhelm [1774] 1996. Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka. Frankfurt/Leipzig. New edition, edited by E. Kasten and M. Dürr (also available on CD-ROM). Bonn: Holos. For daily news on ICT4D log on to www.i4donline.net

i4d | November 2004

C ENTRE F OR D OCUMENTATION

C ULTURAL A ND N ATURAL H ERITAGE (C ULTNAT )

e-Culture revolution in Egypt The cultural heritage of Egypt in particular has the singular distinction of its spectacular, and almost iraculous, colourful continuity over the span of some 7000 years.... Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) was created for its presevation.

Elgal Bahgat CULTNAT, Egypt ebahgat@mcit.gov.eg

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The beginning The heritage of Egypt commands an exceptional international importance and enjoys highly captivating worldwide attraction â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as it incorporates the many aspects of human civilisations, and records its development over the ages, together with locally and internationally valuable and viable natural resources of renowned beauty. The cultural heritage of Egypt in particular has the singular distinction of its spectacular, and almost miraculous, colourful continuity over the span of some 7000 years. It is therefore, only natural and logical that such an immense wealth of cultural and natural resources would be worthiest of preservation, as well as receiving the most accurate and thorough documentation, which called for the urgent need to establish a specialised national institution to carry out this honourable and pleasurable task. Thus, the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) of Egypt, was created. The 1st of January 2000, marked the launch of CULTNAT, as an integral part of the National Action Plan implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), which is the national body entrusted with the role of leading the e-Revolution in Egypt and steering the country, safely and confidently, into the IT age, and the most advanced digital world. The Centre became affiliated to Bibliotheca Alexandrina in February 2003 by the Presidential decree 360/2002, while retaining the status of being sponsored and supported by MCIT. Moving to its new premises in the Smart Village on October 1, 2003, CULTNAT was officially opened on September 16, 2004. CULTNAT has a mission to document various Egyptian tangible and intangible

cultural and natural heritage. This involves the implementation of a national plan of action towards the documentation programme making use of up-to-date information technology, in collaboration with national and international organisations. It also aims at increasing public awareness of Egyptian culture using the available media as well as building capacities of professionals in the field.

CULTNATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S programmes CULTNAT is implementing the MCIT strategy in documenting heritage under the section of e-Heritage and is conducting 10 programmes as follows:

I. The archeological map of Egypt The overwhelming number of sites, monuments and artifacts scattered all over the country and the ever-increasing pace of urbanisation around archaeological sites as well as environmental hazards, make the task of archeological site management real challenging. The need for documentation, protection and restoration of sites for future generations has become vital that could be best achieved with the availability of an extended archeological Geographical Information System (GIS), which gave rise to the archeological map of Egypt project. The archeological map of Egypt offers three consecutive levels of information. The first is the national one, allowing the user to zoom into different regions and/or select sites based on certain criteria. At the second level, a detailed map displays the site and its components and their basic information. The third level portrays the in-depth data of the selected monument and displays a plan of the structure and an overview image. For some of the monuments, a 3-D model is displayed with a possibility of a

virtual visit. A wide variety of products are also being produced, e.g. archeological atlases and maps of different governorates.

II. The architectural heritage of Egypt Having witnessed a major building boom since the 1860s that extended to the 1940s, a number of Egyptian cities have a modern core contrasting sharply with the old medieval one and featuring a unique architecture combining European styles with local influences and materials. Yet public awareness of this heritage is still not fully formed. The purpose of this project is to document the 19th and 20th century architectural heritage of Egypt, starting with the downtown area of Cairo as a pilot project and continuing with more parts of Cairo and other cities. The project comprises, among other features, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with an easy to browse database that includes extensive photographic documentation and serves a variety of users ranging from decision makers to architects and historians. The project also constitutes an unprecedented systematic digital approach and a series of thematic CD-ROMs, books, guides and other publications are produced.

III. The natural heritage of Egypt The documentation of Egypt’s natural heritage is a multi-disciplinary project aiming at the computerised documentation and dissemination of related data. The project involves the collection of all data available on the protectorates as well as the diverse habitats and their components in the country; including detailed information on the flora, fauna, geological formations and cultural features for specific protected sites.

IV. International joint projects CULTNAT, through its International Relations Department, is collaborating in several activities and projects with various esteemed international organisations, such as: IV.1. European Commission (EC) Several projects funded by EC are as follows: • Euromed Héritage II Patrimoines partagés: A three-year joint research programme on improving awareness of the Mediterranean region’s architectural 19th and 20th centuries heritage.

• Traditional Water Techniques, Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Future (Shaduf): A three-year research project for the development of a data bank on traditional and indigenous technologies; focusing attention on the rich and versatile water and wastewater-related heritage in the Mediterranean region. • Defense Systems on Mediterranean Coasts (SID-LIM): A two-year project to set a website for the shared databases of the participating countries on their costal defense systems; in addition to the restoration of an ancient defense-related building in each participating country. • Strabon: A three-year joint project offering the Mediterranean world a coherent group of online information multilingual and multimedia systems dealing with the cultural heritage and tourist activities. • Unimed Cultural Heritage II: A three-year project aiming to improve cooperation in the field of cultural heritage preservation, restoration and management by providing extended cultural heritage databases, an exclusive portal and training courses in relevant fields. IV.2. IBM corporation In collaboration with the Supreme Council of Antiquities and IBM Corporation, CULTNAT has developed, and is maintaining, the premier website www.eternalegypt.org, which uses the state-of-the-art technologies to illustrate a selection of Egypt’s cultural treasures. IV.3. UNESCO UNESCO has been, and still remains, one of the main organisations funding several of CULTNAT’S activities and projects. • Strategic Approach to Egypt’s Cultural Heritage: A present state study of Egypt’s cultural heritage funded by UNESCO and UNDP; for the purpose of developing a base for its proper management. • The Scientific Islamic Manuscript Heritage: For the digital documentation of Scientific Islamic manuscripts available in various institutions, funded by UNESCO and began in September 2001. • Al-Sirah-Al-Hilaliyya (Epic): A project implemented in collaboration with The Egyptian Society for Folk Traditions, which UNESCO has approved for the list on World Masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage. • CULTNAT library: The Centre Digital library is developed with UNESCO’s support; to be a model of an e-Kept library.

V. The Egyptian folklore Egypt’s living tradition is embedded in a deep and colourful source stemming from the rites of passage of various cultures during the millennia of its past. In an unprecedented attempt, CULTNAT is engaging in the never-ending task of documenting traditions of daily life that historically shape the Egyptian Folklore. The systematic approach to compilation process is building up the most comprehensive and inclusive library of scientific and audio-visual material. A theasaurus on the folklore of Egypt (Al-Meknaz) is being produced in addition to publish a series of books and setting websites on the traditional crafts and practices.

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VI. The musical heritage of Egypt The early part of the 20th century witnessed a strong revival of Arabic music and the birth of a national theatre movement that was, even then, considered a pioneering movement in the history of the modern art in the whole Middle East. Music specialists confirm that the 20’s to the 70’s of the last century marked the golden era for Arabic music. Unfortunately, much of this musical heritage was lost, while the remaining risk permanent loss. CULTNAT aims at providing a better understanding of both our musical heritage and theatre. The Arabic music information system consists of three levels; the first focuses on composers, lyrics, singers, modes, forms, and rhythms. The second compiles complete list of artists’ works with original lyrics. The third is the multimedia upgradation that targets the production of documented audio-visual and multimedia deliverable based on the collected data as well as a detailed musical analysis of selected musical pieces by professional critics.

VII. The photographic memory of Egypt The 19th and early 20th century photographers produced some of the most memorable and technically refined photographs ever made. At the turn of the century, Egypt and the Middle East as a whole became a destination attracting many pioneer photographers. Their works documented such vivid topics as archeology, excavations, local architecture, landscaping, as well as the social life and daily activities. CULTNAT is automating the archives of as many vintage photographs of the Orient as possible. Glass plate negatives, vintage sepia toned albumen prints, selenium toned silver sheets of the early twentieth century that stood the test of time classified in Egypt’s unique photographic heritage database.

VIII. The scientific Islamic manuscripts heritage Funded by UNESCO, the manuscript documentation project commenced in September 2001, with the scientific Islamic manuscripts available in various institutions and private collections, on the national and regional level. The joint vision is to compile an encyclopedic electronic library of the sciences and mathematics of the Muslim era at its climax, from Samarkand to Casablanca. Other topics in the project scope include cosmography, physics and chemistry. The project is also exploring the potential of documenting microforms of manuscripts in special collections as well as creating a portal of Islamic scientific manuscripts on the web. The portal is planned to be the first of its kind exhaustive survey of “who has what” in the world of Arabic manuscripts.

IX. Eternal Egypt on the web The website (see IV.2 above) covers the different eras of the Egyptian civilisation: Pharaonic, Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic. It comprises descriptions of events, characters, museum objects, as well as historical sites, wrapped in a variety of attractive stories. The descriptive information is available in three languages; Arabic, English and French, and supported by an innovative text-to-speech technology to generate the audio narrations dynamically. In addition to the information, 2D high-resolution images of the artifacts are displayed with a zooming capability for the visitor November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

to enjoy the fine details of the artifacts. Virtual tours and panoramic views of many sites are produced, and a selection of objects are 3D-scanned and modeled to allow for adding missing parts, colours, or texture. The website is enriched with web cameras covering the Giza plateau, Karnak temple, Qaitbey fort, and Islamic Cairo; by which the visitor can freely navigate and get a live view of the selected areas. Tours are also provided for the Giza plateau and Luxor temple. These are accessible by cellular phones that are supporting GPRS or WAP technologies.

X. Culturama Culturama is a set of showrooms at CULTNAT premises, in which diverse cultural exhibitions and activities are held using state-ofthe-art technologies. The showrooms include: • The Micro Gallery, with several booths displaying information and sample products of the different projects and activities at CULTNAT in heritage documentation. With new projects’ outcomes, and the birth of new projects, the display will continuously reflect this growth. • La Galleria, an arts cafe for an exhibition gallery that is monthly renewed with alternating artworks. • The Folklorama, a specialised showroom exhibiting sculptured characters from the ever famous folkloric ‘Helaliya Epic’, the first Egyptian folkloric heritage added to the UNESCO World Masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage. Digital recording of this Epic and its famous characters is also displayed. • Star Riders is a showroom exhibiting replicas of astrolabes and other astronomical instruments, illustrating the pioneer work of the Islamic civilisation in Astronomy. Virtual representation is also an integral part of the exhibition. • The Culturama, a showroom in which a variety of interesting cultural topics are projected on panoramic 180 degrees screens.

Special honors and awards CULTNAT won two international prizes for its efforts in the e-Heritage: The “Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age” prize at the World Summit of Information Society held in Geneva December 2003 and the Stockholm Challenge Award on its important project “The Archaelogical Map of Egypt”. The prize was given to CULTNAT in a ceremony held a the Stockholm City Hall on May 13th, 2004.

C OORDINARTE - A S WISS R EPOSITARY

A RTS

Celebrating the South The artists have found a new form of expression through the ICT medium. Lots of artists and cultural organisations are either creating their own homepages or featuring their creative work on other websites to reach out to people. They are initiating dialogue with other artists, receiving business and gaining popularity and appreciation for their work. This is an exciting trend as it strengthens the understanding for other cultures. The perplexing issue here is – how do artists in developing nations use this medium to showcase their culture with lack of ICT infrastructure and accessibility when compared to the developed nations. Therefore, one might find this kind of drift more prevalent in modern developed nations where ICT has become a part of life. While this kind of issue cannot be addressed overnight, there have been many initiatives in the ‘Northern Hemisphere’ to give voice to these artists from South, promoting their culture and work. CoordinArte is one such project that highlights the culture of South in developed countries of North and is supported by Swiss Development Agency for Cooperation (SDC). CoordiArte is an information service on the creative work of the artists from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Arab countries living in Switzerland. The project was started by “Communication and Development (C&D)” in 1998 to record all the information about the events, list of artists with details and their creative work in one place and publish it in a form of monthly bulletin. In 1999 it took the shape of an Internet platform and all the information was made available through the website www.coordinarte.ch. Culture and Development (http://www.coordinarte.ch/K+E/ frameK+E_e.htm) is a focal organisation in Switzerland that was founded in 1992 with the mission to promote and support art and culture of countries of South, which are fighting catastrophes and

poverty. The main task of C&D is to document and promote artists from these areas, who have lived in Switzerland or in nearby countries for a considerable time. This agency primarily facilitates to enable the organisers to fund events, exhibitions, festivals, and workshops in the domain of music, dance, theatre, films, and literature from South. To capture the vast expanse and diversity of Southern culture, C&D launched its documentary project, CoordinateArte. The website, which is available in three languages, English, French and Dutch, has some interesting sections. The best is the ‘Gallery’ section giving information about a list of artists featuring in the Swiss Culture and Development Documentation office on the visual arts. This list is growing, as they are still in the process of compiling information for more artists those who do not have their own homepage. The website has other very important sections, which gives the latest and an update on work and events of the artists called ‘Agenda’ and ‘Booking’. The Agenda offers the listing of upcoming events on stage, exhibitions and projects or festivals. Similarly, the Booking helps the viewer to find and book artists region wise for their events in different domains of music, dance, theatre and narratives. One can also choose from the catalogue of the names of artists. Another interesting link is ‘Films’ that provide a comprehensive information on films from South. The website has a repository of very useful links leading the viewer to world cultures, African cultures, Latin American cultures, world music, world theatre, world films, art worlds, promoters and festivals in Switzerland, agencies, artists, partners of Culture and Development and CoordinaArte. Anuradha Dhar, i4d anuradha@i4donline.net

Cultural role of SDC Swiss Development Agency for Cooperation (SDC) is playing a very important role in promoting intercultural dialogue in Switzerland. It is to promote solidarity with the people of the South and East through contact on an emotional and personal level with their cultures from these parts of the world. By supporting events and organisations, SDC aims to promote the artists from the South providing them a platform for appreciation. It supports programmes under two categories: • For film co-production and distribution Every year SDC directly finances the production of 5-6 documentaries aimed at creating awareness of development issues from the South and East. A few examples are, ‘Malaria’, which tells about effects and spread of this disease in developing countries, ‘The Camel, the Marabout and the girl’ documents the daily lives of the Tuaregs of Niger. It promotes distribution of these movies by supporting agencies like Trigon-Film Foundation. It also promotes film festivals like North-South Media festival, Black Movie festival in Geneva, Cinemaafrica in Zurich. • Intercultural events and organisations The SDC supports important photo exhibitions and shows facilitating the information and cultural exchange. SDC is partner to festivals like Paleo festival, Afro-Pentecost and also promotes musical events as Estival Lugano. Source: http://www.deza.ch/index.php?navID=740&userhash=17877685&lID=1

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U NESCO ’ S C HARTER

Preservation of the ‘Digital Heritage’ Considering that the disappearance of heritage in whatever form constitutes an impoverishment of the heritage of all nations, the Constitution of UNESCO provides that the organisation will maintain, increase and diffuse knowledge, by assuring the conservation and protection of the world’s inheritance of books, works of art and monuments of history and science. Its ‘Information for All’ programme provides a platform for discussions and action on information policies and the safeguarding of recorded knowledge. Its ‘Memory of the World’ programme aims to ensure the preservation and universal accessibility of the world’s documentary heritage. Such resources of information and creative expression could be increasingly produced, distributed, accessed and maintained in digital form, creating a new legacy -the ‘Digital Heritage’. Access to this heritage will offer broadened opportunities for creation, communication and sharing of knowledge among all people. Understanding that this digital heritage is at risk of being lost and that its preservation for the benefit of present and future generations is an urgent issue of worldwide concern. Among the adopted 12 principles in the form of articles, we are here providing you the content of ‘Article 10, 11 and 12’ that speak about the roles and responsibilities of partner organisations as well as UNESCO, towards the preservation of heritage globally. The digital heritage of all regions, countries and communities should be preserved and made accessible, so as to assure over time representation of all people, nations, cultures and languages.

Article 10 - Roles and responsibilities Member State may wish to designate one or more agencies to take coordinating responsibility for the preservation of digital heritage, and to make available necessary resources. The sharing of tasks and responsibilities may be based on existing roles and expertise. Measures should be taken to: (a) Urge hardware and software developers, creators, publishers, producers and distributors of digital materials as well as other private sector partners to cooperate with national libraries, archives, museums and other public heritage organisations in preserving the digital heritage (b) Develop training and research, and share experience and November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

knowledge among the institutions and professional associations concerned (c) Encourage universities and other research organisations, both public and private, to ensure preservation of research data.

Article 11- Partnerships and cooperation Preservation of the digital heritage requires sustained efforts on the part of governments, creators, publishers, relevant industries and heritage institutions. In the face of the current digital divide, it is necessary to reinforce international cooperation and solidarity to enable all countries to ensure creation, dissemination, preservation and continued accessibility of their digital heritage. Industries, publishers and mass communication media are urged to promote and share knowledge and technical expertise. The stimulation of education and training programmes, resource-sharing arrangements, and dissemination of research results and best practices will democratise access to digital preservation techniques.

Article 12- The role of UNESCO (a) Take the principles set forth in this Charter into account in the functioning of its programmes and promote their implementation within the United Nations system and by inter-governmental and international non-governmental organisations concerned with the preservation of the digital heritage. (b) Serve as a reference point and a forum where Member States, inter-governmental and international non-governmental organisations, civil society and the private sector may join together in elaborating objectives, policies and projects in favour of the preservation of the digital heritage. (c) Foster cooperation, awareness-raising and capacity-building, and propose standard ethical, legal and technical guidelines to support the preservation of the digital heritage. (d) Determine on the basis of the experience gained over the next six years in implementing the present Charter and the Guidelines, whether there is a need for further standard-setting instruments for the promotion and preservation of the digital heritage Footnote: This Charter was adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation during its 32nd session, October 2003. Source: UNESCO publication for the World Summit on Information Society

P OETRY I NTERNATIONAL

Poetry’s ideal partner In 2001, Poetry International established the ‘Poetry International Web’ (PIW) Foundation, which set out to give people access to poetry from many countries in the world by the hell of the Internet. The website is a great success, now attracting some 1200 unique visitors a day from all over the world. And each week Bas Kwakman we welcome more. Poetry and the InterPoetry International net are hitting it off far better than many kwakman@poetry.nl of us expected. In 2003, Holland’s outgoing poet laureate Gerrit Komrij, inaugurating a poetry site for the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague, spoke these immortal words: “Poetry at last has found its ideal partner. It has made it more fluid, more agile, you name it. Paper is after all more like – a gravestone. It’s final. The computer screen renews, rejuvenates, it allows for addition and relegation to the trash – it’s mobile, it’s versatile. It’s just the thing for poetry.”

The website www.poetryinternational.org has been online since November 6, 2002, providing anyone with access to a computer anywhere in the world, with an opportunity to meet poetry, poets, and a country. Countries participating to date are Australia, Greece,

Portugal, China, India, Slovenia, Colombia, Israel, South Africa, Croatia, Italy, Ukraine, France, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Germany, Netherlands. In these countries organisations and editors make their national poetry accessible in their own language and in English translation. They collaborate with the central editor in Rotterdam in preparing a versatile digital magazine, which serves as an up-to-date source of information on international poetry. Five more countries, England and Belgium among them, are wishing to join. PIW has set its sights on forty countries within the next five years. The quality of the poetry and translations is high, as is the standard of maintaining the site’s versatility and topicality. These standards operate independently of such notions as First, Second, or Third World, even without taking account of the difference between countries that are fully digitalised and those we think are not. One of the site’s best domains is Zimbabwe, brimming with amazing, beautiful poetry, a domain which constantly renews itself and is truly representative of that country’s poetry. Not surprisingly, for Zimbabwe’s poets the site is their one and only window to the outside world to air their voice. A free voice, that is, so long as the Internet escapes the watchful eye of the authorities. European countries seem to be having more trouble building a satisfactory domain on this international poetry site. In many of them government culture budgets have to be shared out

Poetry.com: Rhyming your way to success Poetry is believed to be a valuable form of expression, no matter who writes it. It does not belong to a chosen few only, as everyone has his/her own individual style and point of view. Poetry is believed to be solely an expression of the heart, irrespective of the poet’s educational level or background. Poetry.com, the prime destination for amateur poets on the Internet, aims at giving encouragement to ones unique vision. It is sponsored by the ‘International Library of Poetry’, and is the largest and most comprehensive poetry site on the Internet. It works towards the mission of eliminating the traditional barriers that prevent most people from having their messages heard. What makes poetry.com the definitive source for personal creative expression in the world is the fact that over 5.1 million poets have submitted poetry to this site. The website provides the perfect platform for the entire world of real people, who share their passion for poetry and are interested in learning more about the poet and their artistry. Each year, poetry.com conducts two conventions and symposia that provide three days of non-stop poetry, fun, and entertainment. Yearly participation of over 4000 poets from 60 countries around the world, makes it the largest international gathering of poets. The site provides a variety of exciting online contests to encourage creativity and talent. Listing some of these contests, presently the website has a poetry contest for amateur poets, whereby it has slated 1175 prizes totaling $58,000.00 in the coming months. Another online contest is the ‘poetry in motion’ where one can win both cash and prizes. This entails creation of a poem from the selection of

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among hundreds of projects. Most of them serving only a national purpose, and what is available for international literary projects has to be divided between several organisations, each claiming the honour of being their country’s poetry ambassador to the world. Yet the European countries taking part in the site, find it a superb opportunity to distribute their poetry around the world in a simpler and livelier manner than by way of a book.

The festival The website is a rich source of poetry and information for magazine editors, publishers and festival planners. Poetry International, which instigated the plan for the site in 2001, itself benefits from it. Poetry International annually stages the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam, which is one of the

“Evening explodes in my hand, my hand and fingers unravel a hot clumsy hand stitches darkness in zigzag the orange exploded in my hand the orange spits blood evening is crowded in an old tin can The sea gathers in my lap I stroke its head Sleep and be silent the sea the sea–” Ella Bat-Tsion (Israel), a participant of the festival. Above passage has been taken from his ‘The orange exploded in my hand’.

world’s leading poetry festivals. Through the international website, the festival can tap into an enormously rich source, not only to feed a public which needs more than an annual festival to still its appetite, but also to keep up with developments in international poetry.

The funding The site has so far been made possible by a subsidy from the European Commission (until mid-2005), the Netherlands Ministry of Culture (start-up subsidy), and several other funds. The country-partners also contribute, and some of them pay their contributions with help from such institutions as the HIVOS foundation and the City of Rotterdam. Most of this funding will cease in 2005, the project has become either too established or too international to fulfil the funders’ criteria. Although the Dutch government’s Culture Board and Culture Ministry seemed favourably disposed, PIW has not escaped the effects of this year’s cuts in the culture budget and has lost its title to ongoing government funding over the period 2005-2008. Other major international funds seem to be exhausted, and PIW’s only hope for survival is a second three-year grant from the European Commission. The Commission rarely approves second grants, but Poetry International has good hope that the success of this project, which involves the cooperation of so many European partners, will make it decide otherwise. Article is translated by Ko Kooman

words presented. The ‘Haiku contest’ is based on ‘Haiku’, which is a Japanese verse form that relies on brevity and simplicity to convey its message. It is usually three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, and frequently includes natural images or themes. It is based on a Zen Buddhist philosophy of simplicity and the idea of perfection that excludes the extraneous. Poetry.com provides an opportunity to the poets to compete against other poets, for great prizes, in a fun and entertaining way. The website provides an exhaustive data bank of over 100 greatest ever written poems, along with the same number of love poems. Moreover, there is a huge resource of poets from across the world, this being an alphabetical directory of poets where a huge resource of poems is available. A unique feature of the website is ‘rhyming dictionary and thesaurus’, which allows the visitor to find synonyms, meanings, rhythms, definitions, homophones and more, for a particular word. This surely proves to be an inspiring and learning experience for poets. A section on ‘poets’ workshop’ provides an enriching experience to the poets to get a highly personal and honest feedback that would help them improve their craft. The website allows the poet to check his/her general poetic knowledge, however at the same time this has nothing to do with ones creativity or present ability or future potential to write good poetry. It is simply an assessment of one’s knowledge of poetic structure, form and technique. Under the section on ‘poetic techniques’, Kathy Hoeck in ‘Poetic Metamorphosis: Revising Your Work’, gives a perfect guide for one to produce a well-laid, polished and professional work of art. ‘Publish your own book of poetry’ is another option that the site provides. Watermark Press, the largest publisher of poetry in the world, has developed an exclusive technology to enable the poet to publish as few as fifteen copies of their own collection of poetry, in a fine setting. Furthermore, the website allows any person to listen to poems as with audio. The resources and links section on the website gives a random list of various poets who have their poetry online as an individual page. A tour down this page is sure to be a delight for the poets. Poetry.com gives a marvelous opportunity to poets from all over the world to contribute their creations on the websites. It makes it possible for the poets to reach millions of people. Divya Jain, divya@csdms.org

November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

T HE W ORLD S UMMIT A WARD (WSA)

Excellence in e-Culture

The World Summit Award (WSA), global project is an initiative by the European Academy for Digital Media (EADIM) and held in the framework of and in cooperation with the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2003-2005. This can be termed as a great communication tool to select and promote creativity under digital mannerisms. World Summit Award 2003 is a collection of 40 extraordinary projects that were chosen by WSA grand jury to epitomize the quality of today’s multimedia market worldwide. The projects which were awarded for e-Culture in WSA 2003 are:

Art2LIFE The Canadian Century- This has been a conscious effort to endorse a perfect understanding of art within greater socio-historical themes. The site can be presented as a timeline of 20th century Canadian art, events and people. The site is inspired by the principles of learning through art and the value of integrated learning. Jury evaluates the endeavour as an instance of e-Culture to be followed by others in order to present and conserve cultural values online. The site gets appreciation from jury because it announces the importance of integrated learning.

Nuestro.cl The Chilean cultural heritage site- the site gives an impression to Chile’s identity and cultural heritage that is alive and dynamic. It aims to encourage cultural diversity, to promote knowledge and allow the free interchange of ideas, uniting efforts for the valuation of patrimony and identity. It also provides an online space for collaboration of people and cultural institutions. It has impresses jury completely as it is been continuously updated and provides articles and news related to recent and upcoming events. And also the site has proved it to be an extremely interactive and demands active participation. The Splendid Chinese Culture Website- the website is Hong Kong’s foremost cultural project ornamented by the rich heritage of Chinese life, literature and culture. The project aims students and

citizens alike and aims to increase knowledge, recognition and the comprehension of Chinese cultural development. Chiculture.net gets appreciation from the jury, as it is a strong provider of implausible range of contents on Chinese life, history and culture. It is a powerful online national archive of Chinese history and culture over the centuries.

FACES- Romantic stones The FACES CD-Rom from France offers a contemporary interpretation of Romanesque figures. It comprises of 18 series covering history, literature, art, religion and intercultural exchange. FACES features twenty-six impressions of faces from different places. According to the jury, FACES provides a very different look on heritage. The photographs are clear and simple interface around black and white combinations. The blending of different multimedia formats is done in a commendable fashion.

Living Heritage This online bilingual initiative has been a great effort that is curriculum-linked and web-based for young people of New Zealand. The project develops and dissects local cultural content created by primary and secondary students in an extraordinary environment of sharing and creating. It stands out distinctively with its participatory approach to social history and contemporary cultural life. This online service preserves history and culture in a digital format for every generation. Living Heritage is highly appreciated by the jury for it’s participatory approach to social history and contemporary cultural life. It provides a free online environment and self-publishing tools for a growing online collection of stories, hence contributing to the unique mosaic which is a nation’s culture and history. The WSA 05 Grand Jury with the selection of nominees and winners will take place in August 2005. The winners will be announced at the WSA winners Gala in Tunis, November 2005 which will be held in the framework of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. i4d | November 2004

Saturday, 27th November 2004 0900 - 1700 Pre Conference Workshops (UCSC)

Tuesday, 30th November 2004 0800 - 1530 hrs - ASOCIO Golf Tournament (Royal Golf Club Colombo) 1900 - 2300 hrs - Welcome Reception (Colombo Plaza, Araliya Garden) 2130 - 2300 hrs - 20th Anniversary Committee Meeting (Colombo Plaza, Orchid Room)

Sunday, 28th November 2004 0900 - 1700 Pre Conference Workshops (UCSC)

Wednesday, 1st December 2004 0900 - 1700 hrs - ASOCIO Officers' Meeting and General Assembly (Colombo Plaza Grand Ball Room) 0900 - 1500 hrs - Business Forum (BMICH Committee Room A and B)

Monday, 29th November 2004 0900 - 1030 Joint Inauguration of IITC/ICEG (BMICH Main Hall) Issue of Postage Stamp to mark the ICT week 1030 - 1700 Joint Sessions (BMICH Main Hall)

Thursday, 2nd December 2004 0900 - 1000 hrs - Inaugural Session and formal opening of ASOCIO Summit (BMICH Main Hall) 1345 - 1700 hrs - The 3rd ASOCIO Regional ICT Ministerial Dialogue (Colombo Plaza Grand Ball Room)

Tuesday, 30th November 2004 0900 - 1700 IITC Technical Sessions (BMICH Committee Room C) 0900 - 1700 ICEG Focussed Seminar on e-Governance Applications & Experiences (BMICH Main Hall)

1900 - 2200 hrs - Gala Dinner & 20th Anniversary Celebration (Water Edge) Friday, 3rd December 2004 0900 - 1700 hrs - Conference (BMICH) 1830 - 2300 hrs - Farewell Beach Party (Mount Lavinia Hotel, Paradise Beach Saturday, 4th December 2004 0900 - 1300 hrs - Application of IT in Apparel Industry (BMICH Committee Room A)

Wednesday, 1st December 2004 0900 - 1700 IITC Technical Sessions (BMICH Committee Room C) 0900 - 1230 ICG Sessions (BMICH Committee Room D) 1330 - 1700 e-Governance Workshops (BMICH Committee Room D)

1400 - 1700 hrs - Application of IT in Hospitality Industry (BMICH Committee Room A) Sunday, 5th December 2004 0900 - 1700 hrs - Application of IT in Banking and Insurance Industry (BMICH Committee Room A)

A LTERNATIVE D OCUMENTARY F ILMS

Beyond the reach Alternative Indian documentary is booming. There is a whole lot of creative output coming out of a wide range of film-makers, who have the skills and courage to tell the truth bluntly, just as it is. Films are becoming easier to shoot, the technology is reaching the hands of those who can use it. But there is one crucial part of this jigsaw that is missing. There is simply no distribution channel. India is still state-controlled. Longdominant television network, Doordarshan has little space to portray the reality of the vast majority of this country. Likewise, the growth of literally dozens of cable television channels has not opened up any more space either.

Far too rich, and growing fast For quite some time now it has become more than apparent that there is an immense output — both in quality and quantity — coming out from alternative Indian documentary films. Take the case of the ‘Kriti Film Club’ of Tara Apartments, at Alaknanda in New Delhi. (Email kritidpc@vsnl.com). They explain their idea thus: “The whole idea of the Kriti Film Club is to place thought-provoking cinema in a discussion group. This will not only help to deepen understandings on social and development issues amongst film makers and viewers, but more importantly create a space where students, activists, academician, development professionals, media professionals and friends can come together and interact through meaningful cinema.” A look at their listing of films gives an idea of the depth available. They have screened films relating to food insecurity in different parts of India (Harvesting Hunger, Krishendu Bose), the right to health-care (Aadha Aasman’ by Samina Misra), the impact of corruption on the environment (Bandits and Backhanders by Pradeep Saha) and much more. The point that needs to be accepted is that creativity is blossoming in the field of alternative Indian documentary. Take the case of

Indian alternative documentary film is simply too good to be trapped within an inept system of distribution or copyrights, that blocks it from finding its audiences and making its impact. 20

the Unit for Media and Communications, at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Just this single organisation itself has put out a rich collection of video productions, most of which are obviously still inadequately known about in the development, alternate and campaign networks in India. Let aside the mainstream. Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar (kpj@tiss.edu) recently sent across a listing, after a request from my end, which put together the films they had undertaken.

Such a small impact Is it not sad that such a large corpus of work should be so inadequately noticed and consequently have an infinite small impact compared to what was possible? Stalin K, a film-maker based in Gujarat, set up an electronicbased mailing list called Docuwallahs on Yahoogroups, aimed at networking alternative film-makers to share ideas and information. For technical reasons, the old Docuwallahs list is being abandoned, and a new one called Docuwallahs2 has been set up in its place. Today, other networks in India such as Vikalp and CAC-Delhi (both focused on combatting the problem of censorship in films) are also active quarters in building links among the alternative films. The next issue is, how is the potential of alternative films, boosted by newer and affordable technological solutions, tapped to effectively take forward the developmental agenda in India? Young lawyer Lawrence Liang of Bangalore, influenced like this writer by the potentials of alternate paradigms of creating and sharing knowledge, has argued elsewhere why documentary and alternate film makers in India could do well to think of starting to license their works under an ‘open content’ license. As one sees it, the current model of copyrights hardly helps the small player in the alternative space. While it brings wealth and power to the corporate world, the copyright model is yet to make a single film popular or earn anything significant for an alternate film-maker. Lawrence Liang argues, “Most documentary film makers do not live off royalty in any case. Their films are either commissioned or they earn some money from various prizes, invitations and the like.” Like the Free Software Movement, Indian alternative documentary film-makers are obviously still awaiting their own Richard Stallman, who can think of a suitable license that helps to make alternative films popular and widely-noticed. Indian alternative documentary film is simply too good to be trapped within an inept system of distribution or copyrights, that blocks it from finding its audiences and making its impact. Alternative documentary has immense potential before it. Can it turn these developments into an ally in their quest for a wider impact on far-greater audience? Frederick Noronha http://groups.yahoo.com/group/docuwallahs2, fred@bytesforall.org i4d | November 2004

Vol. II No. 11

November 2004

Information for development www.i4donline.net

e-Culture Website for Saskatchewan history In the city of Saskatoon, the Western Development Museum has launched a new website that documents Saskatchewan’s history. The website was originally intended as a resource for students and teachers. The site includes a multimedia gallery with movie and audio clips, more than 600 archival images, a timeline, lesson plans, curricular links and student activities. The idea for the site came as the museum was compiling information for its centennial exhibits, as Saskatchewan turns 100 next year. http://www.theglobeandmail.com

October 2004, to recognise and award the best e-Content practices in India. This award is the first of its kind in India, which emphasises the importance of content in bridging the ever-widening digital divide. This year the award was judged in the categories of e-Learning, e-Culture, e-Science, e-Government, e-Health, e-Business, e-Entertainment and e-Inclusion. The evaluation criteria was based on quality and comprehensiveness of content, ease of use, functionality, navigation and orientation, value added through interactivity and multimedia, attractiveness of design, quality of craftsmanship and strategic importance to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as well as United Nation’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). http://www.manthanaward.com

Digital divorce A row has erupted in the Muslim community over the validity of digital divorce. The issue came to the fore when Rahat Iqbal, living in the US, used e-mail to divorce his wife in Bareilly district. This used mode of talaq has raised questions, as triple talaq is very effective in Islam but the authenticity of the communication must be established, as anyone can misuse the method. His wife Rubab, has decided to challenge its authenticity. Sharp differences have erupted among the Ulema (clerics) over the validity of digital divorce, as e-mails did not contain any signatures. http://www.ptinews.com

Award for e-Content practices in India In India, the Digital Empowerment Foundation, a Delhi-based Non-Governmental Organisation, and World Summit Award in partnership with Planet Finance India, launched the Manthan Award on 10th November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

Staging hi-tech Ramlila in Delhi Ramlila, based on the Indian epic “Ramcharitmanas’’, went hi-tech in Delhi this year. It not only narrated the story of Ram and Sita, but also gave a glimpse of the country’s emerging position in the field of computer software and information technology. Computer-aided designs, laser technology and advancements in information technology were all used in the Ramlilas. One of the members’ of the organising committee informed that special software was developed to guide the laser arrows and give the impact of missiles hitting each other with a bang in the sky. One of the Ramlila Committee used special effects to make Hanuman fly in the sky. While electric trolleys would be used for the war between Ram and Ravana, hydraulic trolleys and “special” computer effects would be used to increase the size of the tail of Hanuman. http://www.tribuneindia.com

Selling Durga idol via Internet In India, during this Durga Puja, the clay sculptors of Kolkata’s famous Kumartuli quartier counted their e-Profits, as they struck the deals directly with devout idol buyers abroad, through the Internet. Accordingly, business-savvy descendants of renowned clay sculptors in the city took their breathtaking creations (made of lightweight materials such as fibre glass) to destinations in South East Asia this year, beyond Godess Durga’s traditional foreign bases in Britain and the US. The Internet was being preferred, as it helps bypass the middlemen. This year, Kumartuli craftsmen increasingly logged onto search engines like Google to find more buyers and getting in touch with Puja organisers all over the world via their websites. http://www.financialexpress.com

Newly launched website on historic images of Pittsburgh Photographs of Pittsburgh’s diverse workforce, steel industries, civic renaissance, and legendary jazz musicians are among those included in the new Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections website, launched on 13th September 2004, by the University of Pittsburgh’s Digital Research Library. The project, accessible at http://images. library.pitt.edu/pghphotos, is a collaboration between Pitt’s Archives Service Centre, the Library and Archives at the Heinz History Centre, and Carnegie Museum of Art. Established with a $242,157 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections is the single gateway to dozens of the city’s most important visual image collections, including the Charles “Teenie” Harris collection at the Carnegie, the Pittsburgh City Photographer collection at Pitt,

The i4d News

Indian president’ president’ss plan to have a v virtual irtual art gallery The Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam, has outlined a six-point plan to encourage art and sculpture in the country, specially among the younger generation and creation of a virtual art gallery with a digital walk. The need for a website was suggested so that people from different parts of the country can visit the gallery from their homes and students can draw inspiration from them. As part of this six-point plan, it was suggested that the gallery can undertake a project on cost effective preservation and renovation including the application of nano-technology as a means of preserving acquisitions of National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA). Kalam said there was need to have periodic seminars with new technology exposure and for creating a platform for the international art agencies, business visit and thus bring out the inherent potential of the nation’s artists which can pave the way for export of these artistic items. A proposed new wing with an area of 27,000 sq m, will offer generous display and working space, and will be equipped with state of art high technology support services in the form of central environmental control, CCTV and intrusion alarm system, automatic fire detection and protective system. The gallery has also tied with Hewlett-Packard for a special facility for print-ondemand for art works to be introduced shortly. www.hinduonnet.com

and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development collection at the History Centre. The site is a treasure trove for genealogists, architects, students, researchers, photo buffs, and anyone seeking a glimpse of the city’s rich history. In addition to its photographic collections, Historic Pittsburgh contains hundreds of digitised books relating to the region, an extensive collection of historic property maps, city census data, and a chronology of Pittsburgh’s history. http://www.pitt.edu

Digitising recordings of traditional Chinese music concluded The famous and unique field recordings of traditional Chinese music held by the Music Research Institute (MRI) of the Chinese Academy of Arts, are now easily accessible online for researchers. This has been made possible by a UNESCO funded project, which concluded recently. Some of the sound recording are already available online. Experts from the Austrian Research Sound Archives provided technical assistance, mainly in the selection and installation of the equipment. Experts from Austria and China worked together to set priorities for the sequence of materials to become digitised. http://www.unesco.org

Internet today is host to thousands of sites, chat rooms and e-mail lists catering to the faithful, spreading the word to the uninitiated, and providing an accessible forum of religious communication. http://abcnews.go.com

Gen Next of Siddi community revives ancient jungle dance The generation next of the Siddi community had Gujarat dancing to a new and more marketable tune. The goma, a folk dance that through its movements recreates the lion hunt, was performed by Siddis. Now the young Siddis have decided to form cultural groups to popularise this dance form. From digital publicity to street shows, they are doing it all. This is the first time the community, which has a literacy rate of 10 per cent is making an effort to make its presence felt. They have prepared two CDs of the performances. http://cities.expressindia.com

Now a website for Indian Catholic community

Digital library infrastructure based on Grid technologies

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) is giving visibility to the life and mission of the Church in their country and the world through a new Internet site. The site gathers and diffuses up-to-date information on the Indian Catholic community, as well as on the history, activities, and mission of Catholics of three rites - Latin, Syro-Malabar, and Syro-Malankara, who live here, and the majority of whom are Hindus. A new web page offers links to documents of the Holy See, of the CBCI itself, to a photographic archive and to a list of Catholics in India in the process of canonisation. The new site may be visited at www.theindian catholic.com.

The European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics Building (ERCIM ) has provided the framework for the setting up of an innovative IST (Information Society Technologies) 6FP funded three-year Integrated Project, DILIGENT. This project, which is coordinated scientifically by ISTI-CNR, involves 14 European partners and a number of international observers. These research institutions and companies will work together on the development of a digital library infrastructure, based on Grid-enabled technology, which will allow members of dynamic virtual organisations to collaborate by exploiting shared knowledge and physical resources. DILIGENT will be built by integrating Grid and Digital Library (DL) technologies.

http://www.zenit.org

Muslims can now perform e-Prayers during Ramadan Like all the major world religions, Islam has taken to the web on a massive scale. If many Ramadan rituals have gone unchanged through the centuries, the times are catching up with the world’s fastestgrowing religion. Now the Muslims can simply log on to their computers and with the click of a mouse, tune into a live or downloaded broadcast of the taraweeh prayers from the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Acting as a virtual cyber pulpit, the

http://www.ercim.org

Mobile phones have given boost to music downloads A growing market exists among mobile phone users for downloading content such as music and video clips. Digital rights management (DRM) is the mechanism for making that happen, not only in the high-profile sense of preventing piracy but also, more importantly, in terms of giving customers a simple way to buy content via their mobile phones. The music industry is i4d | November 2004

The i4d News increasingly looking for mobile services that enable users to download full-length songs to their mobile phones, and then listen to them on the move, or play them when they get home by transferring to another device such as a PC. Though a few such services are already commercially available around the world today, some more are set for launch. http://www.business-standard.com

Course on virtual world cultures for Kashmiri students ECU (East Carolina University) has partnered with the Azad Jammu and Kashmir University (AJKU) in Pakistan to expand its current Virtual World Cultures course. The course was created to reduce ECU students’ misunderstanding toward other cultures. A video communication system was created that works with regular Internet instead of satellite, so it is inexpensive for schools in underdeveloped areas like Kashmir. Classes at AJKU are held through videoconference. Students work for four weeks with video link and must e-mail their partner on a daily basis. At the end of the four weeks, the partners write a paper together on some similarity or difference they found in their cultures. The course is currently working with six international partners, China, Russia, Switzerland, the Gambia in Africa, Poland and Kashmir. http://www.theeastcarolinian.com

UNESCO’s digital arts award 2004 bagged by Sarai Media Lab Indian Sarai Media Lab and their winning project Network of No Des, were the winners of this year’s UNESCO Digital Arts Award. This year, with an aim to promote digital creation as an innovative artistic reflection on information and knowledge society, the UNESCO Digital Arts Award was bestowed in association with the 12th International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA 2004), organised on a Baltic Sea cruise and in the cities of Helsinki and Tallinn respectively (14-22 August 2004). On this occasion, Sarai Media Lab received 7000 US dollars, along with a three-month artistic residency in association with the Helsinki International Artist-in-residence Programme, HIAP. http://www.unesco.org November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

Miscellaneous Digital makeover of the Indian postal services The Indian post offices have reinvented themselves and offer a host of services to keep the postal department’s deficit under check. Its newly started services range from buying Nokia cell phones to electronic money transfers and even receiving prasad from a far-off temple. As regards its core business, the department has initiated new services like e-Post and business post. The e-Post service allows people to send letters to any part of the country via electronic mail for just Rs 10 a page. There are about 650 e-Post centres across the country where letters are scanned and sent via Internet. Electronic money transfer is another area in which the department is playing a role. http://www.business-standard.com

Indian e-Governance spend at Rs 2,200 cr As per an assessment made by Skoch Consultancy Services, of Indian projects, e-Governance spend is on the rise, at around 23 per cent per annum. From Rs 1,500 crore at the end of 2002, the spend on e-Governance has risen to Rs 2,200 crore. According to Skoch, Uttaranchal tops the list of projects with its ‘Aarohi’ computer-aided education programme in government schools. http://www.zdnetindia.com

TRAI’s attempt to boost rural telephony in India The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), releasing its consultation paper on

‘Growth of telecom services in rural India’, has termed the coverage of rural telephony services as ‘not satisfactory.’ The authority also highlighted that despite several attempts over the last 10 years, the gap between penetration of telephony in rural (1.7 per cent) and urban (19.7 per cent) areas is widening, and thus measures need to be taken to reduce this gap. The authority is exploring the possibility of either drastically reducing the spectrum charges in rural areas or completely removing it, to push the growth of telecommunication services. The paper recommends adoption of broadband kiosks (like the STD/ ISD kiosks) for voice telephony with support for input costs from the USO fund for a period of two to three years. Moreover, it was recommended that the government could run e-Education, e-Health, e-Agriculture, etc programmes through these kiosks. TRAI emphasised that more coverage of wireless services in rural areas and small towns was the key for future growth of the telecom sector. http://www.thedailystar.net

Now, SMS in Indian regional language In an attempt to target the 45-crore Hindispeaking population in India, Finnish telecom major Nokia, has launched out content and short message service (SMS) in Hindi on its range of 24 mobile handsets. The company is soon expected to launch the localisation initiative to other Indian regional languages. The company also announced the launch of its Hindi content portal, ‘Mera Nokia’, from which users can download news, astrology, ringtones, jokes and wallpapers from next week onwards. http://sify.com

Kimono-makers go digital in Japan In Japan, Kimono designer Yuko Iwakuma, is using some up-to-date tools, a computer and an ink-jet printer for making Kimonos. She designer relies on computers to make kimonos, with new designs, and then sells them on the Internet. The designs go far beyond the flower and bird designs of tradition, abounding with keyboards, playing-card kings and queens, puppies and apples. Moreover, the biggest attraction is their low cost of production. Digital design and ink-jet printing allow kimono makers to avoid excess inventory and relieve growing concerns about a shortage of skilled hand-dyers, thus bringing the price down. http://newsobserver.com

The i4d News

Zambia’ss disadvantaged communities reap ICT benefit Zambia is the first country in the world to get support from the International Institute for Communication Development (IICD)’s Small Initiative Fund (SIF), for enhancement of livelihoods of disadvantaged communities through use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). The IICD has been mandated to support initiatives in its focal countries pertinent to Catalysing the Creation of Local Content through ICTs (CCELC) programme of the Open Knowledge Network. The initial fund is the first of its kind where IICD is partnering with a private firm to manage grassroots projects. The initiatives will use basic ICTs such as computers, e-mail, Internet and digital cameras to create information products, capturing local knowledge and expertise, as well as exchange it and network with relevant actors to enhance and extend their current activities. http://allafrica.com

Education in S.Africa to focus on ICT In South Africa, new models of learning that are incorporating ICT, are changing the concept of education in the country. Such an initiative will help in creating both better job opportunities for students, as well as lead to enhancement of their technical skills. In addition, ICT could enhance the management and administrative capacity of schools. It is the goal of the Department of Education, that by 2013, every South African manager, teachers and students will be ICT capable. http://www.pretorianews.co.za

policy has been revised to redefine the framework within which the telecommunication sector will evolve towards the objective of promoting the development of Ghana, as a distinct and productive player in the global information society. Among other things, the highlight of the revised policy was, to ensure the universal access for all communities and population groups in Ghana to telephone and use Internet and multimedia service by the year 2010. Another feature was to ensure the connection of all schools, medical clinics and government offices and public and community broadcasting stations to advanced telecommunications services. http://www.ghanaweb.com

Rs.600 crore allocation for telemedicine in India In India, the Department of Telecommunication has allocated an amount of Rs.600 crore from the USO (Universal Service Obligation) fund to start tele-information centres (TICs) through out the country in 5,000-odd sub-divisional headquarters and towns, and another 70,000 villages that have a population of 2,000. With the establishment of these telecentres, people will not be required to go to big hospitals for consultation. TICs will have numerous other functions like tele-education, teleconferencing etc. http://www.thestatesman.net

Ghana’s revised ICT policy Ghana is steadily moving towards its goal of becoming an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub in West Africa. The National Telecommunication

Village Resource Centre project launched in India The Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has inaugurated the Village Resource Centre (VRC) project, a joint effort of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) to use satellite technology to improve the lives of villagers. VRC would eventually connect more than six lakh Indian villages. It works by using a very small aperture terminal (VSAT)-based network to link MSSRF with selected villages. Experts at MSSRF plan to provide the villages with information on suitable sites for drinking water, alternate cropping patterns and geo-referenced land records, among other information. It will also be used to impart education for students, and offer medical support to the villagers. According to an ISRO press release, each selected village could serve as a

hub for links to other villages. For example, each hub could be extended further using technologies such as Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), and wireless and optical fiber. http://www.southasianmedia.net

Using SMS for women’s rights in Africa Mobile phone users in Africa can now send SMS’s (Short Message Service text messages) from their mobile phones to sign an online petition in support of women’s rights. The move is part of a campaign urging African governments to ratify the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. This may be the first time that SMS technology will be used on a mass scale on the African continent in support of human rights. Initial testing of the SMS function indicates that it will be possible for mobile phone users to send SMS’s from many countries and mobile phone networks in Africa. Supporters can SMS the word ‘petition’ a space and then their name to +27832933934. SMS’s received will be automatically added to a list of names supporting the campaign and will be displayed with the petition on the website. http://www.pambazuka.org

ADB to provide assistance for ‘e-Rural’ in the Pacific The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will grant a technical assistance of US $ 230,000 to improve access of the Pacific rural areas to basic services through effectiveness of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The main challenge for Pacific governments is to deliver basic social services in remote rural areas. Based on poverty assessment studies conducted from 2000 to 2004, throughout the Pacific, the ADB found that poverty in the region is mainly about the lack of income opportunities and access to basic services, such as health and education, which are highly informationbased. According to the ADB, the technical assistance, starting October, would demonstrate ‘electronic rural’, or e-Rural, which is the use of ICT solutions in reducing the isolation of rural areas. It is hope that e-Rural will lead to enhanced access to basic services. The assistance would identify two demonstration locations, install e-Rural systems, implement e-Rural applications and establish a knowledge sharing platform and mechanism. http://news.xinhuanet.com i4d | November 2004

U NWALLED M USEUMS

Crossing boundaries Museum lovers heave a sigh of relief. Forget those hassled journeys. Just click on that little mouse by your PC and it will take you to any museum in the world you ever dreamt of! That is the magic of virtual museum, or call it online museum, electronic museum, digital museum, cyber museum. Werner Schweibenz and Andrews, of University of Saarland, Germany, in their book ‘Art Documentation’, have defined virtual museum as follows. The term virtual museum is “..a logically related collection of digital objects composed in a variety of media which, because of its capacity to produce connectedness and various points of access, lends itself to transcending traditional methods of communicating and interacting with visitors. It has no real place or space, its objects and related information can be disseminated all over the world.”

Interesting virtual museums of the world While exploring virtual museums around the world, we came across infinite websites. Here are some of the most captivating ones. We start with the virtual museum of Russia, ‘State Hermitage Museum’ preserving the collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Today the Museum is creating its digital self-portrait to be displayed around the world. The most interesting part of the site is its virtual gallery link called ‘Digital Collection’ which houses high resolution artwork images ranging from paintings, drawings, sculpture, furniture and carriages, to jewellery, ceramics, numismatics and other archeological artifacts. Then there is the ‘Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)’, harnessing the huge potential of Internet to preserve Canadian culture. Apart from regular links on events, contact information there are video clips available which are being aired on the History channel, National Geographic channel, Newsworld and so forth. Back in Asia, we have the dedicated ‘Asianart.com’ a platform showcasing all aspects of Asian art. With an ambition to offer a forum for scholars, museums and commercial galleries, the site displays highlights of exhibitions in public and private institutions and galleries, presents new discoveries by scholars and connoisseurs. The site has acted as a voice for many unnoticed cultures like those of the Nepalese and Tibetans. It hosts a link on Nepal’s Patan Museum along with a complete documentation of the concepts, construction and realisation of the new Patan Museum. The section titled ‘Patan Museum: Collections Highlights’ covers a long span of Nepal’s cultural history and some rare objects along with explanations of meaning and context within the living traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Another commendable work done by the site is the documentation of Lhasa (Tibet) Archive project. This is a pilot project started in 1996, whereby the ‘Tibet Heritage Fund’ organised, funded and supervised the restoration of ancient buildings and heritage in Tibet. November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

Following are some of the best examples of how virtual museums can immortalise a region’s rich cultural heritage and link its people to their past. The example of the Kabul Museum leads the rest here. March 2001, the Taliban in Afghanistan issued an edict to destroy all preIslamic statues and objects. What followed was perhaps the greatest loss in the history of preservation – destruction of the two giant Buddhas from the 5th century in Bamiyan, and other ancient historical statues in Ghazni. One of the Buddhas in Bamiyan was the world’s tallest standing Buddha. But culture lovers smiled again with http://www.afghan-web.com hosting a page on the contents of the Kabul Museum prior to its destruction from the 8th century B.C. to the late 19th century. Apart from these we have, all the other acclaimed Asian museums, like National Museum of Chinese History, Hong Kong Museum of Art, National Museum, New Delhi; National University of Singapore Museum etc; who have documented their preservation works on their respective websites.

Future Such endeavours of maintaining resources of information in digital forms induced UNESCO to issue the ‘Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage’ in 2003. (http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ file_download.php/09f4ffcbdaddeeb0ecdd3ac1a0662398 Charter_en.pdf ) So would we be seeing more of such museums or is it just a passing phase? Suzanne Keene Senior Lecturer, Museum and Heritage Studies, Institute of Archæology, University College London, UK, brings forth a set of pointers on the future of virtual museums. • The focus will sharpen on museums as collections of knowledge rather than of objects. • Inventories and catalogues will be available as a single resource, together with related information provided by libraries, archives, sites and monuments. • It will affect the way museum curators conceive their work and the ways in which the museum allocates its resources. It will need sophisticated databases and specialist staff. References • http://icom.museum/virtual_museum.html • http://vlmp.museophile.com/world.html#museums • http://www.afghan-web.com/kabul-museum/[kabul museum] • http://www.asianart.com/patan-museum/ • http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/bd about.html • http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/ Jhinuk Chowdhury, i4d jhinuk@i4donline.net

G RASSROOTS A RTIST

AND

E NTREPRENEUR

Traditional arts find new markets Miss Parimala in a remote village near Madurai district could have been unknown to many, as also numerous other artists, as they live and experience the “invasion” of the modern information, communication technologies. But, today she has been rapidly converted to a master craftsman, teacher and entrepreneur. Thanks to the world of e-Marketplace for culture and arts. It all began two years ago, when Parimala was just 20. As a budding artist, she would spend hours on end, to create works of art whose style and presentation though quite traditional, had a touch of modern flavour. Parimala, like scores of girls and boys in the village and nearby communities are adept in the art of painting on glass, and embellishing the paintings, often of Hindu deities, with semi-precious and precious stones. This style of art is known as Tanjore style paintings. They are done on glass, cloth, hand made paper and canvas. What is quite unique and exciting about Parimala’s work is that she has been able to create products that have been in demand, and being unable to cope with the volume of orders that she is now receiving. She has motivated her other friends and colleagues to join in the fray. She takes care of the quality of the productions. How did it all begin? Says Parimala, “One day we had a distant relative of ours visiting us in our village from Singapore. She was on holidays to understand how we are, and what are our career options. When she saw my interest in painting, she suggested that I prepare a digital brochure, which meant that I had to photograph all the work done so far, and then prepare a digital listing of each photograph. With a small description of the work done, I did not take much time to get organised”. “My aunt left back for Singapore, but asked me to send the brochure and details by email. For me, it was the unique opportunity to move into the world of digital communications. It was the best thing happened to me so far. I was able to send the email with some help from the nearby town’s cyber cafe”. She was able to gain rapidly the applications of ICTs for finding new markets, and that too in Singapore. At the other end, her aunt had set up a website, which showcased Parimala’s work. It was part of the activities that she was already engaged in. She runs a gift shop and already has many clients. When her clients were introduced to this grassroots linkage with the artist herself, it was received very positively. Orders began to pour in. All the productions that her aunt had personally carried with her were already sold out. Parimala continued to receive orders by email, asking her to produce in particular size or covering a particular theme. In fact, the rapidity of the orders

made Parimala move away from producing all the works by her. She began to ask her friends and classmates of the Arts school, to help her cater to the orders that she received. This opportunity provided Parimala to move away from being simply an artist to become an entrepreneur. Even though none of the members in this community own a computer, the nearby cyber café has proved to be a boon to the villagers. It has enabled the community to share its limited financial resources to harness the immense human potential. This has happened by taking full advantage of partnership and networking. These are the keys to Parimala’s success in becoming an entrepreneur. Lessons from Parimala’s grassroots experience • ICTs can be a useful tool for traditional arts and culture to be preserved, marketed and showcased for a global market. • Partnership and networking are critical tools for building the markets. • There is need for support from the client end to support such organised crafts people. • Further training on building capacities of local artists to respond to increased client demand and entrepreneurship training is critical for the success of an e-Culture project. • At the customer’s end, there is need for awareness and sensitisation so that the artists get the products at reasonable costs. Parimala is an example of how her work was accentuated using information and communication technology. Jayalakshmi Chittoor jchittoor@csdms.org i4d | November 2004

D IGITAL C ULTURE P ROJECT O VERVIEWS

Mores and media The sway of media on culture provides a broad pltform of selfexploration. Lot of initiatives has been taken up globally to upsurge the role of media in promoting intercultural understanding.

Reel Intercultural Dialogue Project Reel Intercultural Dialogue Project had been launched by UNESCO and the International Association of Film and Television Schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision - CILECT) in the year 2003. Reel Intercultural Dialogue initiative: “a youthful take on humanity and conflict - projecting the need for peace”. In April 2004, a series of five short fiction films were released through Internet and in a form of DVD under this initiative and the films have been directed to national and international media and secondary schools worldwide. These films produced by young students at cinema and television schools in Burkina Faso, India, Israel, Mexico and Romania, aim to increase intercultural understanding. The films present glimpses of conflict between communities and cultures, and also alternatives to cultural domination.

Aboriginal media project Since May 2003, the Victoria (Canada)-based Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) engaged in a communication-based project is an effort to challenge Canadians to move beyond their stereotypical assumptions of the South Pacific as island paradise.This Aboriginal Media Project, funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Primates World Relief and Development Fund, Anglican Church of Canada, United Church of Canada, and the B.C. Gaming Commission involves face-to-face dialogue to bridge the cultural gap, which are then shared through electronic and print media. Through articles, comic strips, and documentaries for radio and television, team members shared their experience in an effort to support intercultural dialogue and understanding. Under this project, three Canadian journalists within the Aboriginal media and a PPP staff person were sent to Fiji and Vanuatu, to explore the common experiences of colonization among indigenous peoples of Canada and the South Pacific. The PPP website shares the journalists’ stories with a global audience. The website carries a diary of the trip, and a series of story illustrations called “Red Flags Red Skin” about Fijian gold miners.

Showcasing Kutch craft India is home to a plethora of diversified and skilled handicraft workers – but undiscovered and untold. One endeavour towards narrating such budding tales is the Ahmedabad based SEWA, the Self Employment Workers Association, a trade union registered in 1972 for poor, self-employed and unorganised women workers. One of such story where SEWA brought alive an unheeded November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

‘Video SEWA’ is an honest and direct way of conveying women’s hope, struggle and achievements to policy makers and planners acitivity is that of the Kutch women handicraft workers. Located in the northern part of Gujarat, India, the ethnic community of the region specialises in different forms of textile-based handicrafts. Although, the craft from Kutch have acquired a prominent place both nationally and internationally, the craftswomen have never been the beneficiaries, a large chunk of the sales revenue ended up in the pockets of the exploitative traders. Thanks to SEWA which not only organised the craftswomen into the Kutch Crafts Association under the Government scheme called Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), but also hosts a Website ‘kutchcraft.org’. The site today acts as the direct marketing outlet for around 4,000 women artisans with direct access to the market and helps them get sustained work and income. Boosting Banascraft SEWA also showcased to the world the skills of women artisans of Banaskantha a village in Gujarat’s north western desert district by hosting the Website ‘banascraft.org’ on its homepage. The site today is the direct marketing outlet for around 10,000 artisans. Building on their traditional skills and rich reservoir the site displays local materials is Gaji, Mashroo, Bandhani(tie-dye) and vegetable block prints which are handspun, woven dyed and printed, shawls etc. Sewa video The association of 2,50,000 self employed women, connects its village members to the outside world through ‘Video SEWA’. An honest and direct way of conveying its women’s hope, struggle and achievements to policy makers, planners, legislators, politicians and others. Video SEWA not only is a tool for showcasing hidden traditional industry talents but also a medium for learning, education and development. It has appointed a team of 8 full – time video camera persons and producers, and another 20 part time members to produce videotapes on a wide range of issues. More than 200 tapes have been produced. Many are sold. And at almost every SEWA meeting and training, videos are replayed.

A P ROFILE O F S ARAI

A communicative intersection The Sarai initiative interprets this sense of the word “sarai” to mean a very public space, where different intellectual, creative, and activist energies can intersect in an open and dynamic manner to give rise to an imaginative reconstitution of urban public culture...

Shuddhabrata Sengupta Sarai, New Delhi, India shuddha@sarai.net

Sarai (www.sarai.net), a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi initiated in 2000, encompasses an inter-disciplinary research programme, a platform for critical reflection, a screening space, a convivial context for online and offline conversations and a media lab. Sarai (the space and the programme) takes its name from the ‘caravan-sarais’ for which medieval Delhi was well known. These were places where travelers could find shelter, sustenance, and companionship; places to rest in the middle of a journey. The Sarai initiative interprets this sense of the word ‘‘sarai’’ to mean a very public space, where different intellectual, creative, and activist energies can intersect in an open and dynamic manner. Our effort at Sarai in these past five years, since we began is to create an ongoing context for intellectual and critical engagement with the contemporary urban moment in South Asia. This necessarily includes an investment in thinking about, researching and actively practising e-Culture. e-Culture has been seen as the “integration of information and communication technologies into the primary processes of production, presentation, preservation and (re) utilisation of cultural expression”. (From ICT to e-Culture: Advisory Report on the Digitalisation of Culture and the Implications for Cultural Policy, Netherlands Council for Culture, The Hague, August 2004) Since, the middle of the 19th century the cities of South Asia set up social laboratories for Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Here, we mean ICT to be the technological means, which facilitate information exchange and dispersal - a domain much wider than a mere clubbing together of computers and other digital

media. New mechanical printing technologies, photography, cinema, and the parallel histories of telegraphy and the radio, and later, television - all of these ‘technocultures’ created new forms of communication. Consequently, urban spaces in India have for long been spaces of high information density. At Sarai, other than an investment in researching and reflecting on informal and improvisational e-Culture, we are also deeply investing in FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) initiatives. Sarai has an active and ongoing FLOSS research programme that is interested above all in localisation, pedagogy and crticial social usage of FLOSS products and processes. (http:// www.sarai.net/freesoftware/freesoftware.net) When we founded Sarai, the challenge before us was to cohere a philosophy where research and media practice could flow into each other. We were interested in the way in which we could see the urban space we were located in, begin to reveal itself to us as a dense communicative network. As a matrix (as crowded as the streets of the old quarters of our city) within which, new and old technologies and practices of communication, ranging from print to photography to film and the Internet were able to constantly renew a dynamic media ecology. This imperative to understand contested meanings and transmission within the The Sarai Cafe

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spaces opened out by e-Culture has taken several inter-related forms. It has first of all, taken the shape of an intensive research project called ‘Publics and Practices in the History of the Present’ (PPHP) which studies how different media spaces, networks and markets (cinema, cable, telephony, assembled computers and informal software markets) mark and shape the urban fabric. (http:// www.sarai.net/citylives/citylives. htm and www.sarai.net/mediacity/ mediacity/htm) Further, since 2001, it supported more than a hundred independent research and practice projects proposed by artists, media practitioners, researchers and academia from all over India. These have included support for India’s first published graphic novel, an audio-novella about growing up in depressed industrial suburbs, a cluster of new media art projects, oral histories of popular music, reflections on the public life of cities besieged by violence and research into the histories of free software, radio, early cinema, popular music, photography, printmaking. (http://www.sarai.net/ community/fellow.htm) We have also invested greatly in creating resources to enable a vibrant digital culture in Hindi and other Indian languages. This has meant not only content generation, but also working on creating open source support structures for the localisation of desktops and support to the creation of fonts and keymaps for Indian languages. (http://www.sarai.net/language/language.htm) All of these activities take place within the framework of an express commitment to enrich the public domain, and contributing to the ‘commons’ of contemporary intellectual and cultural life. The research projects feed into an evolving archiving impetus, and the reflective energies are channeled into a series of regular and occasional publications in English and Hindi. These include the Sarai Reader Series, which by now have acquired an international reputation for their foregrounding of key debates and discussions on themes such as - ‘The Public Domain’, ‘The Cities of Everyday Life’, ‘Shaping Technologies’ and ‘Crisis/Media’, by a large body of international scholars and writers. These publications, which are produced and designed inhouse at the Sarai Media Lab, are all available for free access and download from the Sarai website. (http:/ /www.sarai.net/journal/journal.htm) The discursive field around Sarai also includes a family of lists, including the Reader List and the Commons Law List, which are vibrant communities of discussion and debate. (http://www.sarai.net/ community/lists_info.htm) The research processes, reflections and investigations into contemporary realities animated by Sarai are complemented and echoed by a series of community based interventions and creative processes. An instance of this resonance is the Cybermohalla Project. This project generates a long term creative and interpretative context for digital reflection on the urban condition through a sustained engagement with working class young people associated with media labs seeded by us in collaboration with an NGO, Ankur. The labs are equipped with free software enabled computers and situated in underserved areas of Delhi. The practitioners associated with the Cybermohalla (CyberNeighbourhood) project - many of whom are school dropouts, some of them work in factories, and all live in conflict ridden, tough neighbourhoods - create digital works, animations and installation, November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

write texts, publish wall magazines and edit books and maintain discussion lists and blogs - in partnership with practitioners and interlocutors in Sarai. This practice embodies the creation and sustenance of a specific form of self reflexive and highly articulate urban e-Cultural practice that the Sarai initiative has given rise to. The expressions that have emerged from the Cybermohalla project as books, print objects, installations and performances are testaments to the creative vitality of a group of young people living in circumstances of extreme inequality and systematic violence. Today, the Cybermohalla project is an inspiration for a growing number of groups and initiatives in different parts of the world working in media, information and communication technology projects within a social dimension. (http://www.sarai.net/cybermohalla/cybermohalla.htm) An environment animated by the presence of e-Culture can find fruition through continuous public engagement. In the end, any form of cultural practice, be it analog or electronic, requires the rendition of ideas, interactions, discourses and processes into public forms. The Media Lab at Sarai is the conduit through which all the various processes at Sarai find public rendition. Here, a team of practitioners create new media works, design web and print content, produce installations, books, and CDs and animate the design/media processes of different Sarai projects. The Sarai Media Lab is a space that has enabled the production of works that have travelled to prestigious international contemporary art venues such as Documenta 11, the Walker Art Centre, the Generali Gallerty in Vienna, Ars Electronica in Linz, the Itau Cultural Centre in Brazil, and the Venice, Liverpool and Taipei Biennales. At the same time, the Sarai Media Lab remains attentive to the design of low cost such as stickers, posters, broadsheets, magazines and radio programmes that are situated in local and community contexts. It is also a site for experimental testing and research into usage conditions of various free and open source software dedicated to media and communications practice. (www.sarai.net/aboutus/spaces.htm ) Recently, the Sarai Media Lab produced ‘The Network of No_Des’ - an interpretative hypertext collage that grew out of collaborations between the practitioners of the Sarai Media Lab and the researchers of the PPHP project at Sarai. The Sarai Media Lab was awarded the UNESCO Digital Art Award for 2004. (http:// www.isea2004.net/mainframe.php?id=latestnews,)

I NSIGHT

AfricanCraft.com: Pride of artisans ‘AfricanCraft.com’ is one effort that is trying to help bridge the gap between the two worlds of artisans and western consumers. This innovative website showcases the work of craftspeople, artists, and designers and additionally hosts retail catalogues, all with an African theme.

Siiri Morley Elelloang Basali Weavers siirim@yahoo.com

“What makes us happy so much is the customer that we now have from overseas and all over the world because of your web set. So for that reason our tapestries are known and bought by so many customers and we also, are families with the world.” - Members of Elelloang in their thank you letter to AfricanCraft.com When one conjures up an image of Africa what comes to mind? Is it war, famine, disease, hopelessness and despair? How many people would imagine very opposing images of hope, art, and strength? How many would additionally think of the many artisans spread throughout Africa sustaining their families, communities and culture through the creation of handicrafts? Yet, these artisans are often invisible and disconnected— living in remote areas with a very little infrastructure and communication. Many artisans sit in their communities pondering the future of their craftwork. They are convinced that someone must want their work, but are unsure of how to find them. At the same time, increasing numbers of consumers are leaning towards fairly traded items. They want products that are representative of cultural traditions and contribute to poverty alleviation.

Connecting through AfricanCraft.com AfricanCraft.com is one effort that is trying to help bridge the gap between the two worlds of artisans and western consumers. This innovative website showcases the work of craftspeople, artists, and designers and additionally hosts retail catalogues, all with an African theme. Unlike so many online craft venues that sell anonymous items disconnected from their local context, African Craft.com is not about consumerism alone. It also celebrates and recognises the art and artisans of Africa. It provides visibility to the

skills and innovation of individual African artisans shows people throughout the world an alternative view of Africa. On the AfricanCraft site, under ‘Craftspeople’, you will find a link to the Elelloang Basali Weavers, a group that I am proud to work with in Lesotho. Elelloang Basali (Be Aware Women) is a women’s weaving business that specialises in fine hand-woven mohair bags, rugs, table runners and wall hangings. As volunteer with Elelloang, one of my main roles has been to help build capacity in terms of product development, marketing, and export of their weavings. With few overseas orders and limited local sales, the weavers wanted to, in their own words, “find the market,” but were unsure of how to specifically pursue and locate these abstract overseas clients. By November 2002, a website for the weavers was established that included a portfolio and detailed information on the group. This site has greatly supported Elelloang Basali’s efforts in building their export capacity and, in turn, has led to the success of a number of other efforts in grassroot sustainable development. Elelloang’s benefits from their partnership with AfricanCraft.com are indicative of the great potential and vision of the site, which is helping dozens of individuals and groups throughout the African continent. Their efforts are enormous in pushing African handicrafts into a global forum and helping them receive international recognition. In November 2002, after sending AfricanCraft, stacks of photos and information, their site was running and business began to change.

Business through Elelloang Basali home page The Elelloang Basali pages now includes a homepage with introductory information i4d | November 2004

about the weavers and their products that is a portfolio with sixty weavings that customers can order, a photo gallery of images of the weavers at work, our price list, a map, and Elelloang’s contact information. Any interested parties can email or write to the group directly with queries and orders. Put simply, their new “webset” (as they have named it) is extraordinary. A look at their humble beginnings and diverse range of work helps put this achievement into perspective. Still, the success of Elelloang is reliant on their ability to get their high-quality weavings into the hands of customers. Without the Internet, this was an enormous challenge. Since the inception of their website, the weavers have seen tremendous, tangible benefits. The objectives they had, in working with Africancraft.com were met and exceeded, as the site has led to connections never foreseen. The weavers have received inquiries and orders from individuals and shops around the world, including Sweden, Lebanon, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Most of these contacts came from people browsing the web who otherwise would have never known about the group. AfricanCraft.com has also facilitated new orders with Elelloang’s old customers, raising their confidence in the group and making it easier for them to see our new designs.

New excitements in Elelloang In Elelloang’s recent quest to build their new solar-powered tin-can weaving centre they have found donor assistance to be quite helpful, and this assistance has been easier to attract with their website. The site confirms that Elelloang is a well-established, serious group and they thus stand out among applicants. Photos of weavers give a face to the otherwise anonymous beneficiaries. Most exciting, however, was the trip of one weaver to the United States for an exhibition coordinated by the Kellogg Foundation. In August 2003, a group of Americans came to Lesotho to choose a group to represent the country’s weaving industry. They decided on Elelloang for a number of reasons, including their website, which inspired additional confidence, as it confirmed Elelloang’s ability to market themselves and follow-up with customers. Elelloang’s work stands out with its use of Basotho Litema designs. Originally, Litema patterns were drawn into the walls and floors of traditional Basotho homes (made from stone, dung and clay, with thatched roofs). As Litema becomes more scarce, due to the proliferation of cement block and tin roof homes, Elelloang has incorporated these designs into their portfolio. AfricanCraft.com has helped to document and celebrate these designs and will soon be home to detailed information and photos depicting Litema. This is an important contribution for the Basotho cultural heritage. The site has helped Elelloang to save time and money in soliciting new customers and support. As one weaver commented, “We used to send so many photos to our potential customers, usually more than twenty to each person. This took a lot of time and cost us a lot of money. We had to find the negatives, see how many photos we needed, and go to the capital [over 1 hour away] to print them. It was easy to make mistakes while labeling these photos. But it is better now because we can just tell customers about the website.” November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

“We are very proud about the website because everyone can see our work and we have received so many letters.” - Members of Elelloang Basali

Conclusion The success of AfricanCraft.com is largely due to two things: Firstly, the online bulletin-board and secondly, providing full exposure to each group. Perhaps the most important result of the site is one that is difficult to quantify, that of increased pride. In Lesotho, weaving is often seen as a low-status occupation, despite the fact it is sustaining families and takes great skill. For the women to see themselves online in a respectful and beautiful format is an extraordinary thing, as they feel that the website is like television or an international film about Elelloang. Artisans around the world are in need of support to sustain and evolve their traditional crafts. In a world where lifestyles and material goods are becoming increasingly homogenous and industrialised, handicrafts have the ability to give meaning to consumerism and, at the same time, sustain cultural identities and support struggling communities. Yet, historically most handicraft development projects have been inappropriate, as they are planned with a top-down approach. True development means empowering people and building capacity. In order for successful handicraft development to have a chance of success, the artisans must have a voice and be the project managers. Power and representation has to be in the hands of the grassroot ‘beneficiaries’ instead of distant development agents. A balance can successfully be met between artisans’ and consumers’ needs and desires if projects are pursued appropriately and carefully. Often, this balance has been found through the support and encouragement of fair trade ideals. An increasing number of Western consumers are leaning towards responsible consumerism and the marketability of fair trade shops is increasing. AfricanCraft.com is providing a forum for communication and discussion and is opening the way for artisans, development organisations, and customers to find their own solutions. They are humble in their efforts, yet they have created a venue for empowerment, fair trade, sustainable development, and links between two often distant worlds.

Rendezvous 27-28 S EPTEMBER 2004, S ALZBURG , A USTRIA

e-Culture horizons The e-Culture symposium held for the second time in Salzburg represents the annual gathering of leading thinkers brought together by the e-Culture Group of Salzburg Research1, to undertake specific themes in the area of research and technology development for the cultural heritage application field. The symposium took place at the foothills of Salzburg’s Mönchsberg. Key notes speeches, presentations and workshops looked at how cultural institutions can better plan, manage and finance digitisation projects, and add value to their communities by creating digital cultural experiences.

Visions of e-Culture But what will be the face of digital culture in the future? Key note speaker Marc Federman, the Chief Strategist of the McLuhan Programme in Culture and Technology of the University of Toronto2, provided the audience a fascinating and philosophical insight into his vision for the future of cultural experiences, a vision that he describes as the “ephemeral artefact”. In Federman’s vision, we are not merely spectators, or consumers of cultural artefacts, we are actually the creators. Today’s networked media, he argues, allows each one of us to actively participate in the creation of cultural ‘expressions’ which we perceive simultaneously and with immediate ‘proximity’. Gail Durbin, the head of the Victoria and Albert’s On-Line Museum3, provided examples of how partly this vision is already taking place. She believes that true added value can only be created if some power is handed to the visitor. The Victoria and Albert Museum has explored a variety of ways on how to place the user in the centre of engaging cultural experiences and ways to make the visitor the actual creator of cultural artefacts. One example is the project, ‘A Modern Icon’4 where the museum had acquired the chair of the famous Christine Keeler photograph, which became a classic sixties icon. Using a replica of this chair as a motif, people were invited to present themselves for a portrait. The resulting photographs are now part of the museum’s collection. Having learned about the move from digitisation to cultural experiences, symposium moderator John Pereira, Salzburg Research’s manager of the DigiCULT project5, opened a new session that presented promising new technologies, interfaces and actual applications to enable these experiences.

New technologies for e-Culture experiences The Semantic Web is one of these promising technologies, according to Ziva Ben-Porat from Tel Aviv University6 and Wernher Behrendt from Salzburg Research. They proposed a roadmap towards semantically enabled e-Learning spaces for cultural heritage content. Drawing on the results of the CULTOS project7, their presentation focused on the need to build productivity tools for

Symposium location, University of Salzburg. © Salzburg Research 2004.

authoring in the Semantic Web environment, and the infrastructure for sharing such standardised, ontology-based content. To further the development towards semantic-based systems, Alexander Wahler from NIWA Web Solutions8 highlighted the importance of providing innovative entry points to cultural content, such as, location based services that support nomadic e-Culture users. Bernhard Angerer from the Vienna based nonprofit organisation Polygon presented thecrystalweb9, a virtual museum sponsored by the renowned Austrian company Swarovski. The Salzburg Research e-Culture symposium provided the audience a rich and fascinating view on the transition from digitisation to e-Culture experiences. It presented emerging technologies and showcased applications that are moving towards the e-Culture vision. All presentations will be made available for download from the symposium web site; http://eculture.salzburgresearch.at/ References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Salzburg Research / e-Culture Group http://www. salzburgresearch. at/research projects_show_e.php?art=thema& search=eCulture McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto http://www.mcluhan.utoronto.ca Victoria & Albert Museum http://www.vam.ac.uk V&A Museum project: A Modern Icon, http://www.vam.ac.uk/ collections/photography/past_exhns/seeing/modern_icon/index.html DigiCULT project http://www.digicult.info Tel Aviv University http://www.tau.ac.il CULTOS project http://www.cultos.org NIWA Web Solutions http://www.niwa.at thecrystalweb http://www.thecrystalweb.org Reported by: Andreas Strasser, Salzburg Research, Austria andreas.strasser@salzburgresearch.at

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11 -12 O CTOBER 2004, J ERUSALEM , I SRAEL

Digitisation of science and cultural heritage

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem hosted a conference on ‘Digitisation of Science and Cultural Heritage’ on 11th and 12th of October, 2004. The meet was organised in association with the Jewish Agency for Israel (http://www.jafi.org.il), Ministry of Science and Technology (http://www.most.gov.il). The international initiatives like Minerva (http://www.miner vaeurope.org), EVA Conferences International (http://www.eva-conferences.com) and Judaica division of the Harvard University Library collaborated to provide an international dimension to the event. The conference focused on the creation of awareness among professional community in Israel and its policy makers for the opportunities and challenges of digitisation like: (1) Support for cultural diversity (2) Education and content industries (3) Accessible and sustainable heritage (4) The great variety and richness of digitised resources. The challenges faced by these agendas include: • The fragmentation of different approaches • Obsolescence • A lack of simple and common access for citizens • Intellectual property rights • A lack of synergies between cultural and new technologies programmes • Limited institutional investment and commitment to cope

Law, culture technology and copyright The first day of the conference was organised by the Israel MINERVA Working Groups (WG). MINERVA is a European Commission project for concerted policies in digitisation. This group dealt with law, culture technology and copyright. The dilemmas

November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

involved in this area were expounded. The solutions proposed and limitations inherent to the i-Commons project of the University of Stanford on copyright for digitised materials described. The WG also organised a workshop on ‘User Needs and Quality Framework for Common Access Points’ which showcased local projects and explored online accessibility as recommended by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Leading web presence providers in Israel discussed ways of implementing the 10 Minerva principles on quality of cultural websites (http://www. minervaeurope. org/userneeds/qualityprinciples.htm). Another workshop on ‘Good Practices and Competence Centres’ was organised which showcased some of the best projects in digitisation currently undertaken in Israel.

Future of European digitisation Pier Giacomo Sola, MINERVA coordinator, presented the future European digitisation policy and projects planned by the European Commission. Dov Winer, director of the eJewish.info initiative lectured on the ‘End of the Internet? Some consequences for the Old/New Jewish People’. He focused on the cultural consequences of the total convergence of the media, telecom and Internet. Adolfo Roitman, the curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls addressed the fascinating issue of the relation of one of the oldest documents from the Jewish and Christian traditions and the newest technologies.

Ongoing European projects showcased Projects supported by the European Commission in the area of digitisation of cultural heritage were also showcased :

PrestoSpace

Epoch

The project was moderated by Didier Giraud from the National Institute for the AudioVisual and coordinator of the PrestoSpace project. It associates the main European broadcasting authorities with research and industrial partners. It will provide the actual facilities and services for digitisation factories for audiovisual preservation. This was a landmark meeting for broadcasters in Israel - presenting the problems and discussing the advancement of a digitisation programme for their assets. (http://www.prestospace.org)

Epoch is a network of about a hundred European cultural institutions joining their efforts to improve the quality and effectiveness of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for cultural heritage. Training and dissemination are part of its mission and in the conference workshop several cutting edge technologies were showcased. (http://www.epoch-net.org )

Calimera Calimera assists local institutions (libraries, museums, archives) to apply and develop innovative technologies and strategies for serving ordinary citizens in their everyday lives. A substantial representation of Israel local authorities’ cultural institutions and umbrella organisations participated in the workshops led by Breda Karun from the National Slovenia Library and the Calimera project. (http://www.calimera.org/)

The Jerusalem declaration summary • To strategically integrate the coordination of digital heritage with its economic sectors of reference such as culture, education, tourism, technology, research etc; their policies and programmes; policy-drivers and their objectives in the enlarged Europe. • To effectively integrate regions with different know-how and experience. (http://www.minervaisrael.org.il//sectionPages/sectionPageDisplay. aspx?sectionPageID=183) Reported by: Dov Winer dovw@jazo.org.il

Innovating with technology for development GKP South Asia Regional Meeting 2004 13th October 2004, Chennai , India The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) held its third South Asia Regional Meeting in Chennai, India, on 13th October 2004. The focus of the meetings was on “Dimensions of Poverty and how we can use Technology to achieve Poverty Reduction”. The meeting, hosted by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) of India, brought together over 30 participants from GKP member organisations and specially invited guests, including representatives of regional organisations, bilateral and multilateral development partners, civil society, academia and the private sector. GKP meetings are a lot more than just a meeting of members of this global multi-stakeholder network of organisations committed to harnessing the potential of ICTs for sustainable and equitable development. Since 1997, GKP and its members have been assimilating the lessons learnt and debates on ICT for development (ICT4D) through various consultations and numerous ICT4D initiatives around the world at the national, regional and global level. The third South Asia Regional Meeting proved to be one such opportunity for members and participants to continue this enriching process, and they grasped it with tremendous enthusiasm. Participants engaged in extensive discussions and debates on core issues and concerns in achieving poverty reduction in South Asia and beyond. Intense knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas and perspectives were seen during the panel sessions on Multi-stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs) in ICT-enabled development, ICT and poverty alleviation: Models from South Asia and from other countries and regions, and sustainability and scaling up concerns with a focus on poverty reduction initiatives.

Several practitioners and researchers from within and beyond the region made presentations on issues of poverty reduction. Success stories of ICT programmes dealing with poverty reduction from the region were presented, and the experiences shared by participants brought out the wide ranging complexities of poverty reduction initiatives. During the meeting, key questions emerged and were debated on: • Should ICT interventions (in poverty reduction) aim at “Financial viability” like a business operation? • What should be the role of the “public commons” approach, which can address the social aspects of poverty such as empowerment and transparency in governance, which then can facilitate achieving economic viability? The presentations of the meeting can be downloaded from http://www.globalknowledge.org/sarm2004/

i4d | November 2004

27-28 O CTOBER 2004, N EW D ELHI , I NDIA

‘India@work’ summit

‘Let thy actions speak louder than thy words’ was the message from the recently held ‘India @ Work Summit’ organised by Skoch Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. from 27th - 28th October, 2004 . The summit was focused on the issue of delivering equality, growth and social justice using Information and Communication Technology (ICT). While the country tasted the success stories of e-Governance projects like ‘Bhoomi’, it also has some long forgotten projects like ‘Gyandoot’. So the contentious questions here were: What is it which is holding such endeavours back and where is the gap happening? While inaugurating the meet, the Petroleum and Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj Minister, Mani Shankar Iyer, spoke on the grassroot governance and how ICT can help.

Some emerging e-Governance stories The optimistic bit of the summit was the emerging e-Government case studies, showcased over a span of two days. It talked about Assam, which is littered with Community Information Centres (CICs) – the hub for e-Governance activities. Rajiv Gandhi Computer Literacy programme is another endeavour to bring about mass level computer literacy. The project aims to take at least 630 higher secondary schools across Assam into its fold in partnership with National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT). Uttaranchal’s project ‘Aarohi’, an e-Learning project for school children, is another success tale. Another remarkable project going on in Uttaranchal is ‘Shikhar’, covering the mountainous areas around Nandadevi, to diffuse knowledge of flaura and fauna resources around this area. Further, Gulshan Rai, Executive Director, Education and Research Network (ERNET), talked about the ERNET model, which connects premier educational institutions and research scholars and organisations via Internet. It also has a digital library with about 52,000 books accessible only to the ERNET inhouse/registered November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

users. In a recent development, the European Union offered ERNET to connect to the European educational grid. Moving on, ERNET also plans to extend this partnership to the United States. The portal is also in the process of migration into IPV6 backbone which will solve issues on content management. Further, University Grant Commission (UGC) is planning to enable content in the form of video clips. This entire content will be available on ERNET on demand. According to the ‘Skoch e-Governance Report Card 2004, the spending on e-Governance project has gone up by 25 per cent from Rs 1,500 annually in 2002 to Rs 2,200 expected this year. However, for every project that is working well, there are perhaps even more that have simply failed to take off. According to inputs received by Skoch round tables, at least 30-35 rural ICT projects are in doldrums today. The summit has brought up the issues, which such project face in the way of their rolling out and the possible means to counter such blocks.

Facing the citizen: Turning G to C 180 degree The Director General, National Informatic Centre (NIC), N Vijayaditya’s ‘Turning G to C (government to citizen) 180 degree’ perspective was surely a blockbuster in the meet. He talked about a situation where it is not the citizen but the government, which tries to fit into the lives of the citizens. Under his ‘re-orientation of G to C’ proposal, the government should act only as a facilitator where citizens would rely more on self-service. He calls for a total replacement of appropriate government with appropriate governance with citizen centric web enabled public grievances system, which will increase the receipt of appeals by the government.

Thriving in chaos Pankaj Agarwal (Joint Secretary, Department of Science and Technology), touched the most ticklish point. He agreed that today ICT is a major tool towards development which can bridge the gap between haves and have-nots. But the question here is, are we ready to accept the possibilities of errors that come with an ICT project? According to world reports, 85 per cent of ICT/e-Governance projects fail. Also there is too much of intermediation between the consumer of information and information itself.

What emerged from the summit? The conference ended with unanimity on one particular point, that is, Information Technology is only a means to achieve good governance and not an end in itself. Other points include: • Public-private partnership is essential. • Localisation of every project is very important. • Need the will in government for transparency in terms of G to C • Creation of an efficient communication organisation

4-5 O CTOBER 2004, N EW D ELHI , I NDIA

Nurturing the future A two-day workshop on 4th and 5th October 2004, on “Mapping the Neighbourhood” was conducted by students, at Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi. The students were from ten schools of Hawalbagh development block of Almora district, Uttaranchal, participating in Mapping the Neighbourhood programme. The Honourable Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology and Ocean Development, Shri Kapil Sibal was the Chief Guest and Prof. V. S. Ramamurti, Secretary, DST as the Guest of Honour. Other dignitaries present were Sh. Amithabha Pande (former Joint Secretary, Department of Science & Technology), Y.S. Rajan (Principal Advisor, Confederation of Indian Industries), Ms. Alka Malhotra (UNICEF Representative), Sh. Sambhoo Singh, Brig. (Dr.) R. Sivakumar and Dr. Bhoop Singh from Department of Science and Technology (DST). The first day of the workshop began with the students presenting their work through three presentations (overview, process and outputs) on the programme. After listening to the presentations, the Honorable Minister Shri Kapil Sibal highlighted the importance of such programmes not just for the benefit of the involved students, but also for the local community and for the entire country. He said, “The output of the project should not be measured in monetary terms- the returns are made on children…their learning there gain…”. The students presentations are available at www. neighbourhood-mapping.org. Prof. V.S. Ramamurty expressed his worries on the widening of digital divide with the development of technology. He pointed out three areas of prime concern, viz., a) access to technology b)finance and c)connectivity. He said, “Children are more technology savvy compared to their parents – hence children need to be the disseminators of technological knowledge. The children through this exercise are learning to use information technology in their daily lives. Mapping the Neighborhood is far more important than just a project. It is a development tool that can help all of us. According to him, the maps produced under the project could be of immense help for solving some of the local problems.” This was followed by an open discussion for the participants. During this, the future of the programme was discussed. Mr. Amitabha Pande said that the programme is still in its embryonic form and it has a long way to go before actually thinking about the use of its final output. Another important point discussed was the role of the indigenously produced maps in water management and rural sanitation. The students concluded the workshop with the note of thanks to Kapil Sibal, and other key people present. They also thanked CSDMS for relentlessly working with them. The afternoon session was a press conference, chaired by the honourable minister Shri Kapil Sibal, Brig. (Dr.) R. Sivakumar, and Shri M.P. Narayanan, President, CSDMS. The session had

participation of representatives from all print and electronic media. A documentary was first shown to the particiapants, which was followed by the presentations of the students. A discussion on the future of Mapping the Neighbourhood programme followed the presentation. Shri Kapil Sibal expressed his views to consider changing the status of the project to an long-term programme and also to look into the possibility of extending the programme to 30,000 schools, as has been desired by the President of India. On the second day, the students gave a presentation to Mr. Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India with some key people from CSDMS. The potential areas of growth for the project were discussed with him. In the evening, presentation was given to the key industry people and general public, which included CEOs of GIS companies, GIS professionals, school principals, secretaries and joint secretaries of important government departments at Rock Garden, India International Centre, New Delhi. The participants had different views on the programme but almost all of them agreed that the this is a good programme and it should be implemented in all the villages across India and should concentrate more on rural areas, as currently they do not have much information about their resources. Reported by: Satyaprakash, CSDMS satya@csdms.org

Mapping the Neighbourhood This is a programme, being executed by Centre for Spatial Database Management and Solutions (CSDMS), a Noida (Uttar Pradesh) based NGO, and has been sponsored by the DST. The programme is being implemented in Hawalbagh development block of Almora district, Uttranchal, since September 2003. (www.neighbourhood-mapping.org)

i4d | November 2004

ICT

AND

E DUCATION

Moving towards ‘global culture’ After ‘global village’, the next big thing is ‘global culture’. At least that is what seems to be on the cards with the way cultural heritage – collections of art, books, documents, photographs etc, are being digitised for international accessibility. If ‘global culture’ becomes a reality, educational research and study of heritage and culture will become something as it was never before: • Accessibility to libraries, museums and archives across the world will improve both quantity and quality wise. • Secure accessibility of resources with long-term preservation of complex digital exhibits. • Enable easy search and retrieval of highquality information on heritage.

e-Culture and education: The boon e-Culture has surely come as a boon to the study of culture and heritage. Apart from some of the above obvious benefits, the phenomenon has also enabled access to some of the rarest parts of world history, which otherwise would have been no where near approachability. Take for instance the ‘Virtual Vietnam Archive’ done by the Texas Tech University with an aim to preserve the record of individuals, provide greater understanding of their experiences and include records of veterans’ organisations. Moving on similar line is the Cambodian Genocide Programme (CGP) initiated by the Yale Centre for International and Area Studies, Yale University. Since 1994, the project has been studying the event to learn as much as possible about the tragedy. In yet another tryst, the Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC) along with the Indiana University is documenting various musical idioms and cultural expressions of Afro-American culture from the post-World War II era. It supports November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

scholars worldwide through Internet. Some of the collections of AAAMC are: IPR Documentary, ‘Black Radio: Telling it Like It Was’, Africana Encarta Encyclopedia comprehensive encyclopedia of Black History and culture on CD-ROM etc. Online availability of bibliography on specific subjects, online lectures, virtual visit to museums etc have become a regular practice among students. Another good news for culture students could be the fact that e-Culture also brings with it a host of career possibilities in terms of content creation/ writing for cultural websites.

e-Culture and education: The bane But as the world is, everything comes with a package of good and bad and the e-Culture and education pack is no exception to this rule. The first bane here is the question of authenticity. All the information on e-Culture might not be from known educational institutions so how would you decide the validity of the digital materials provided on the Internet? How would you ensure that all the sources of information are bonafide? Another crucial aspect is the control over such information’s intellectual property. The quasi-public status of university archives in many countries will complicate matters in future. For example, all items within the ‘Virtual Vietnam Archive’ are the copyright of the Texas Tech University. Although the university allows its usage for educational and other non-commercial purposes, there is no guarantee that this would continue for long. Another disturbing factor is the lack of localisation of the e-Culture projects, which makes the accessibility confined only to few English speaking students. For instance, there is no way a rural Hindi medium student can actually understand an online material on French history.

Focus of e-Culture projects But whatever said and done, e-Culture is seen as a vital tool to educate today’s youth so that they can initiate compilation of scattered cultural information through preservation of not only the told history but also the untold stories of tribal and marginalised cultural communities, thereby achieving inter and intra continental cooperation. Recognising this factor, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has initiated an online documentation of national treasures and cultural properties of the South Asian region which would create a regional databases on a single website. Further in order to save marginal communities and their cultures from moving into oblivions, the Asia Pacific Development programme has started a project on preservation of these marginalised communities – ‘Unsung Among Us’. The project is being carried out in the Indian state of Kerala situated in southern tip of Indian subcontinent.

Conclusion e-Culture has created new opportunities for learning and entertainment among schoolchildren and university students. Digital culture and digital means will be an essential component of heritage in time. But an optimal access will not come till we have provisions for transparent and fair copyright legislation and the removal of language barriers. Further, attention should shift from technology-driven to user-driven approaches through extensive involvement of content specialists outside the ICT field, such as those working in education, public relations and publishing. Maintenance of digital collections over time, through quality storage is another area that needs to be heeded. Jhinuk Chowdhury jhinuk@i4donline.net

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Bytes for All... Agriculture Some useful agriculture-related site • http://www.ipirti.com Indian Plywood Industries Research & Trg Inst • http://www.iijira.org Indian Jute Industries Research Assn • http://www.iiss.nic.in Indian Institute of Soil Sciences • http://www.iisr.org Indian Institute of Spices Research • http://www.iifm.org Indian Institute of Forest Management • http://www.icar.org.in Indian Council of Agri Research • http://www.cssri.nic.in CentralSoil Salinity Research Inst • http://www.iari.res.in Indian Agricultural Research Inst • http://www.icar.naarm.ernet.in Natl Acad of Agri Res Mgt • http://www.cpcri.nic.in Central Plantation crops Res Inst • http://www.cimap.org Central Inst of Medicinal & Arom Plants • http://www.cicr.nic.in Central Inst for Cotton Research • http://www.ciae.nic.in Central Inst of Agri Engineering • http://www.agricasa.org Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agri • http://www.cazri.raj.nic.in Central Arid Zone Res Inst

Content I Wikipedia Omi Azad (omi@ekushey.org) drew attention to the Wikipedia (a fascinating volunteer-compiled encyclopeadia) in Bangla. He says: “There aren’t many articles yet, so it needs new contributors because whoever was working on it before is no longer working on it. All the text there, is released under the GNU Free Documentation license; you can edit any page, without even registering (although it is recommended).” See http://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/. Several examples of Wikipedias in different stages of development: • http://ml.wikipedia.org/ - first stages of development; Malayalam language • http://kw.wikipedia.org/ - getting off the ground; Cornish language • http://hi.wikipedia.org/ - getting bigger; Hindi language • http://en.wikipedia.org/ - almost 360000 articles; English language Others have argued that the existance of a Wikipedia in a language is a huge boost to the amount of information in that language accessible on the Internet, and for some languages Wikipedia is their first encyclopedic resource ‘ever’. II Online social science journal Padma Prakash (nrprakash @vsnl.com) writes in to inform about the launch of ‘ojournal’. This yahoo group was started to facilitate the launching of an online multidisciplinary social science journal. III Greenstar Resources CD Jay Scholten (jpschtx@grande com.net) of Greenstar says his network builds solar-powered community centers for small villages. They

have conducted programmes in a number of villages, including the West Bank, Ghana, Jamaica, India, Tibet and Brazil. As part of each Greenstar installation, they provide a set of Greenstar Resources CD-ROMs, many of them localised to current language and cultures, so that people can learn about international development issues, ideas, tools and examples. The final programme will provide hundreds of documents and over 300 Mbytes of useful information, covering technology, health, energy, environment, education, culture, business and economics topics, along with a directory of development organisations around the world. Please contact Greenstar Research Director Clyde Musgrave (clyde@greenstar.org) if your organisation is willing to participate in the Greenstar Resources programme. http://www. greenstar.org IV Mailing lists: Linking up alternative voices to build greater awareness over issues that matter. Membership is free, this is a volunteer-driven initiative. Mailing-lists related to literacy, health, community-radio, education, environmental journalism, science writing, corruption issues, wildlife, and other subjects. Some active, others not. http://www. indialists.org/ http://wikiwikiweb.de/IndiaLists Some interesting South Asian mailing lists • ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zestcurrent • ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zestcaste • ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics/ • ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zestpoets • ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zestalternative • TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/talkzest

Infrastructure I Nepalese man honoured for connecting villages The story of Mahabir Pun high in the Himalayas just keeps getting better. He is the guy in Nepal who was determined to connect his remote village of Nangi to the Internet. Pun started in a village of 800 at 7,300 feet with no electricity and no phone. He collected computer parts and expertise from trekkers and from those who learned of his plan on a website he launched with the help of friends in the United States. He communicated with the outside world by e-mail, walking five hours down his mountain and then riding a bus for four hours to an Internet cafe. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/ 9719460.htm?1c II Bangla e-Gov for Development Bangladesh’s Ministry of Communication (MoC) set up a series of websites in 2003 to improve the flow of data from government to citizens. As a part of introducing e-Governance, the Ministry of Communication in Bangladesh launched four websites of its major departments to enable citizen access to government information. http://www.egov4dev.org/banglaweb.htm i4d | November 2004

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Bytes for All... Localisation

Free Software

Guntupalli Karunakar (karunakar@freedomink.org) updates us about the release of IndLinux Hindi 0.9 (Unnati). Download http:/ /www.indlinux.org/downloads/ This is primarily a KDE Hindi translation update release for Hindi translations done for KDE 3.2 including the reviewed translations from SARAI KDE Review Workshop.

I Free Software Workshop run for women The first ‘free software’ workshop run for women by women in the world? See a report from South Africa. It was held at the Women’sNet offices in Johannesburg form the 6-10 September. The workshop also inducted the new Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) walk-in Internet cafe recently set up in the Women’sNet offices. http://www.apc.org/english/news/index. shtml?x=26360

Education I dot-ORG In selected areas of India’s Jharkhand state, dot-ORG has begun implementing a pilot project to explore the use of digital ICTs, such as computers and digital cameras to promote culturally relevant educational content in the local language. http://www.dot-comalliance.org/newsletter/article.php?article_id=22 II Mapping School children in Uttaranchal map the state: Downloading complicated data from a satellite system on to computers and then disseminating it for local use is not exactly the stuff one would associate youngsters with. But this is what over 250 children from Uttaranchal state have done under a project initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). http://in.news. yahoo.com//041004/43/2h3km.html III Curriculum Vinaya Kasajoo (vinaya@wlink.com.np) informs that the Curriculum Development Board, Nepal is going to draft ICT curriculum for high school level classes up to Class 12.

Health e-Health-Care Athar Haq (haque@ehealth-care.net) is looking out for volunteers, either individuals or organisations, to work with their ‘eHealthCare’ across India. This is looking at a health card and online medical advice software and networking health centres for benefiting unprivileged mass of the district in India using Information Technology.http://www.ehealth-care.net/pc.htm

Internet standards in South Asia APNIC signs MoU APNIC (http://www.apnic.net/) has signed a MoU with the Internet Service Provider Association of India (http://www.ispai.com/). ISPAI and APNIC will cooperate to promote domestic and international Internet standards, infrastructure, and service developments; exchange information; provide assistance to each other in organising meetings, seminars, and conferences; and provide training opportunities for ISPs in India. It is expected that the ISP industry in India will benefit from a greater degree of regional industry cooperation. http://www.apnic.net/news/2004/1008.html November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

II Ubuntu, a promising new GNU/Linux distribution Called an “interesting new distribution that is based on the Gnome and Debian projects. Ubuntu Linux is the end-user-oriented distribution funded by Mark Shuttleworth’s company Canonical....Ubuntu Linux is a solution to a lacking niche in the [GNU]Linux ideaspace — a polished distribution aimed at novice users that is both free and community driven. If it helps to understand in terms of comparison, you can think of Ubuntu as a hybrid of the ideas of Debian and Fedora.” They will even post you copies for free! http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/9/28/211242/712 III GNU/Linux help centres in Kerala India’s southern state of Kerala was reported to have kickstarted GNU/Linux usage with 100-plus help centres, says a news report. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, in a low-key ceremony, launched a programme anchored by the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), where 107 computer training institutes spread across all 14 districts of Kerala have been beefed up as ‘Linux Technology Extension (LiTE) centres. Every centre would soon provide customers with practical help in configuring their PCs around the GNU/Linux operating system. http:// www.hindu.com/2004/10/22/stories/2004102209060700.htm

Miscellaneous I Technology for the masses UTTHAN-2005 is a seminar on technology initiatives for the development of rural masses. February 19-20, 2005 http:// www.adarshsamaj.org/seminar.html II Making films, making a difference Video Volunteers is a movement of people who believe in the power of media to bring the world closer together and cause people to take action. Working with the Creative Visions Foundation and Drishti Media Collective, Video Volunteers uses the now ubiqui tous video camera to accelerate social change at the most basic level: To fix wells, educate children, and fight for social justice and women’s rights. http://www.videovolunteers.org/ Bytes For All Readers Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/bytesforall_readers Compiled and summarised by Fredrick Noronha, Bytes for All (www.bytesforall.org)

for for for for for for for

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Diploma in Geo-Informatics (2 months full-time course in GIS, GPS and Remote Sensing) Data of commencement:

3rd January 2005

Last date for registration:

23rd December 2004

No. of Seats:

Minimum qualification:

Graduate in engineering/science/geography/planning for related fields/computer science or any other with some knowledge of mapping/computer application.

Building career in spatial technology

Placement/Career opportunities: Institute will provide placement assistance and arrange campus interviews with leading multinationals and domestic companies. Duration:

2 months full time (6hrs/day, 5 days a week)

Time :

10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Software:

AutoCAD Map ArcView/Arc GIS MapInfo Professional ERDAS Imagine

Fieldwork:

Plane Table Mapping & GPS Mapping

Facilities:

GIS Mapping data Remote Sensing Data Surveying Instruments Library Books GIS/GPS/RS One year GIS development magazine subscription

Course content may change without notice

GIS Institute G-4, Sector-39 Noida 201 301. U.P. India Phone +91-120-2502180 to 87 Telefax +91-120-2500060 Mobile +91-9811722403 Email info@GISinstitute.net Website www.GISinstitute.net

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on

Sri Lanka 29-01 December, 2004 International Conference on e-Governance (ICEG), Colombo http://www.iitc.lk

Australia

Germany

01 - 03 December, 2004 Pacific Telecentre Workshop Brisbane

19-20 November, 2004 Promoting Enabling Environment for Digital Development Berlin

http://www.connectingislandcommunities.com stuartmathison@fdc.org.au

http://www.unicttaskforce.org/seventhmeeting/

Belgium

India

07-10 December, 2004 VAST 2004 Brussels

18-20 January, 2005 Education for a sustainable future Ahmedabad

http://www.enamecenter.org/pages/ events_conference_2004.html

http://www.ceeindia.org/esf/index.htm

07-09 February, 2005 Map India 2005, New Delhi

Canada

The Netherlands 26 - 28 January, 2005 Summit for the Future - a European conference about the Knowledge Society Amsterdam http://www.clubofamsterdam.com/ press.asp?contentid=373&catid=61

Thailand 21-24 November, 2004 Libraries - Gateways to Information and Knowledge in the Digital Age, Bangkok http://www.alic2004.org

http://www.mapindia.org

27 - 02 July, 2005 ED-MEDIA 2005 Montreal

Italy 06 December, 2004 ESoCE-NET Yearly Conference 2004 Rome

http://www.aace.org

China 13-17 December, 2004 ICADL 2004 - Asian Digital Libraries Digital Library: International Collaboration and Cross-Fertilisation Shangai http://icadl2004.sjtu.eu.cn/

Czech Republic 11-14 December, 2004 IPSI-2004 Prague Symposium on Challenges in the Internet and Interdisciplinary Prague

http://www.esoce.net/p3.asp?file=YC2004/ industrial_forum_2004.htm

Russia

TNI@bs.dk

http://www.icmg.mgovernment.org/ europeanmg.htm

United States 12-14 December, 2004 Eradicating Poverty through Profit San Francisco

http://www.conf.cpic.ru/eva2004/eng/info/ default.asp

http://www.povertyprofit.wri.org

01-02 December, 2004 ECHOLOT2004 Audiovisual Heritage: Culturology, Archiving, New Technologies Moscow Tel/Fax +7 (095) 940 0284 http://www.conf.cpic.ru/echolot2004/eng/info/ default.asp

South Africa 20-21 January, 2005 A New Kind of Access Copenhagen

10-12 July, 2005 Euro Conference on Mobile Government Sussex University, Brighton

29 November - 03 December, 2004 EVA 2004, Moscow

http://internetconferences.net/prague2004/

Denmark

The United Kingdom

02-04 March, 2005 ICTS and Civil Society Conference Johannesburg http://www.radio.oneworld.net/article/view/ 76307/1

02-05 April, 2005 e-Learning 2005 Dallas, Texas http://www.144.162.197.250eLearning 2005glance.htm

01-05 March, 2005 SITE 2005 Phoenix, Arizona http://www.site.aace.org/conf

14-17 March, 2005 The Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Reilly Emerging Technology Conference (ETech), San Diego http://www.conferences.oreillynet.com/etech/

Get your event listed here. www.i4donline.net/events November 2004 | www.i4donline.net

I N F ACT

Culturing e-Culture •

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http://www.scp.nl/english/publications/summaries/9037700926.html

African Weaving (http://www.customflix.com/204747),

This web link consists of the abstract of the book ‘e-Culture: an exploration’ written by Jos de Haan, Frank Huysmans, 2002.

Arts of Ghana (http://www.customflix.com/204781) , •

http://www.ncaction.org.uk/subjects/art/ict-lrn.htm

Information about the culture of India as well as cultural heritage sites are available online. This site helps to discover Indian culture. In the homepage, the following information are listed, each of which have separate links to explore more: World Heritage Sites, India Luxury Trains, Erotic India, Rajasthan Heritage, Heritage in India, Heritage Tourism, Monuments in India, Temples in India, India Forts and Palaces, Pilgrimages in India.

ICT helps pupil learn in art and design by enabling them to develop their creativity and imagination through more sustained activities within the programmes of study. This site provides an overview on ICT statutory requirements, ICT opportunities, hardware and software. •

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june98/06ross.html The article ‘Information and Communications Technology in the Cultural Sector The Need for National Strategies’, published in D-Lib Magazine, June 1998 is available online.

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http://cidoc2003.adit.ru/english/paper.asp?nomer=73

http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/Culture/Resources/Texts/ CC-CULT(2000)49rev_EN.pdf?L=EN This link provides draft Guidelines on Cultural Work within the Information Society, under “New Information Technologies” Project, made by Council for Cultural Cooperation, Culture Committee in 21st meeting, Strasbourg, September 2000 is available online in this website.

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http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/itt/2003/00000006/ 00000001/art00005

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http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/ This is the official website of the University of Iowa. This link provides furthur links to DVDs on African art by Christopher Roy: African Pottery Techniques (http://www.customflix.com/204744), African Masks: Burkina Faso (http://www.customflix.com/204747),

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http://www.cdacindia.com/html/ihportal/index.asp The Indian Heritage Portal developed by C-DAC, India has captured the timeless heritage of India as reflected in her scriptures including the Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, Mahabharata and Dnyaneshwari, to name a few. Through the Indian Heritage Portal, users can access, retrieve, analyse, synthesize and disseminate information on the timeless Indian Heritage art and culture.

http://www.thinker.org/ This is the site to know about Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (FAMSF). The homepage of this site gives the links to know details about this museum. This museum is comprised of the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. It is the largest public arts institution in the City of San Francisco and one of the largest art museums in the United States.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=home This site is of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) that supports further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities to use ICT to support teaching, learning, research and administration. JISC is funded by all the United Kingdom post-16 and higher education funding councils. Among the services provided by JISC, the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) is one. AHDS is a national service, funded by JISC and the Arts and Humanities Research Board to aid the creation, use and preservation of digital collections in the arts and humanities. AHDS case studies are available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/_print_/creating/case-studies/index.htm .

http://carlos.emory.edu/ This is the website of Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The homepage consists of the links to the following: Information, Collections and Exhibitions, Odyssey online. Information provides the detailed address, hours (when and on which days the museum is open), admission rules, tour facilities, membership, directions and parking information, information on museum bookshop, other facilities like rental, programmes for adults, children and families, schools and teachers, information for Emory University students and faculty, volunteer opportunities, museum calender and departmental contact list.

http://hds.essex.ac.uk/g2gp/gis/index.asp This site consists of the contents of the book ‘A place in history: a guide to using GIS in historical research’ by Ian Gregory, published in 2002.

In this site, the abstract of the article e-Heritage in the Globalising Society: Enabling Cross-Cultural Engagement through ICT by Go F.M, Lee R.M., Russo A.P., published in Information Technology & Tourism, 2003, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 55-68(14) published by Cognizant Communication Corporation is available. •

http://icom.museum/ It is the website of International Council of Museums (ICOM). ICOM is composed of National and International Committees as well as affiliated and regional organisations. It has also provided a link to virtual library museums pages at http://icom.museum/vlmp/ that provides a distributed directory of online museums. From the same site, one can jump into the link http://www.inc-icom.org/inc-icom.html to know about Indian National Committee of the International Council of Museums. To know about virtual museums, the link http://icom.museum/virtual_ museum.html is most useful.

Culture and Digital Media: ICT tools for Monuments, CIDOC/ADIT2003. Paper by Ronchi Alfredo M. Italy, Milano, Politecnico di Milano - EC MEDICI Framework, Professor, is available here. •

http://www.cultural-heritage-india.com/heritage-tourism/indiaculture.html

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http://parc.cdacindia.com/ This website helps in empowering people of India through their use of information Technology solutions in Indian languages. This serves as a organised “Resource Centre” for the Perso-Arabic range of languages used in India.

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http://indiaculture.nic.in/ Ministry of Culture, Government of India was set up with the objective of developing ways and means by which basic cultural and aesthetic values remain dynamic among people. Their website showcases classical dances, folkdances, heritage sites, music of India. It also has statistics and downloadable forms available. i4d | November 2004

1 ST A N N U A L M I D D L E E A S T C O N F E R E N C E A N D E X H I B I T I O N O N G I S , G P S , A E R I A L P H O T O G R A P H Y & R E M O T E S E N S I N G

Map Middle East 2005

23-25 April, Dubai, UAE Al Bustan Rotana Hotel

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Geospatial Technology and Knowledge Economy

Come...Join us! Discover the Who, What, Where, How, Why and When of the Geomatics community in the Middle East!

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