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OCTOBER 14, 2003

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By Sarah Parkes

Bridging the Digital Divide
[Page 3 of 3]


Radio Days
The humble radio - this time locally-based, terrestrial service - is also a key element in the success of UNESCO's Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) programme. CMCs provide an innovative combination of low-cost, low-power community FM radio stations and telecentres supplying anything from basic telephony all the way up to full phone, fax, photocopying and Internet facilities. UNESCO's first CMC was established in Kothmale, Sri Lanka back in 1999, and since then, the success of the radio/IT technology mix has seen seven further CMCs set up around the world, from the Caribbean to Africa to Bhutan, with 11 more planned by the end of the year.


"The reason for our focus on integration of the two technologies is simple," says Stella Hughes, head of the Media and Society Section of UNESCO's Communication and Information Sector in Paris. "It's only when the Internet and ICTs are combined with community radio that all members of a community -- irrespective of the language they speak or their level of education -- can fully participate in identifying, accessing and exchanging information that's relevant to their real-life needs."

Interestingly, Hughes and her team have found that radio can serve as a highly effective bridge across the digital divide by providing a form of Internet access to those who are reluctant, or unable, to dial-up on their own. Known as 'radio browsing', the concept revolves around community presenters using the Internet as an information resource for topical, listener-driven programmes. "Basically," explains Hughes, "a listener or presenter proposes a topic for a forthcoming programme - say a health issue like AIDS. Listeners then submit questions in any format - phone, fax, email, post, or simply by stopping and asking the presenter on the village high street. The presenter researches the topic off-air over the Internet, and then presents the information he or she has sourced from the web on the programme. By overcoming language, access, generational and cultural barriers, radio browsing is proving a very successful way of bringing the power of the web to the community at large, and is also helping reinforce community awareness of the web as a good information resource."

To further enhance the effectiveness CMC resources, UNESCO has developed CDs covering areas like farming practice and health and hygiene in several languages, including minority African languages like Mandinka, Pular and Wolof. The organisation also places strong emphasis on local content development, and to this end recently launched a new Multimedia Training Kit designed to help people develop the skills needed to make best use of newly-available technologies. Created in partnership with organisations like the Association for Progressive Development, OneWorld International, Radio for Development and others, the kit is conceived as a set of interchangeable building blocks. Modules will include topics like 'presenting on radio' and 'writing for the web', and will be available in English, French and Spanish.

Where access to the airwaves proves difficult, UNESCO is also actively developing work-arounds that exploit advances in ICT technology. One example is a women's community cable radio network, which uses computing technology to produce and disseminate programmes made at the Budhikote Community Multimedia Centre 100km east of Bangalore to 750 surrounding households. The initiative of a number of local women's self-help groups who found themselves unable to obtain a traditional community broadcasting licence, the network is helping impart information in two local languages on issues like sericulture (silk-worm farming), organic agriculture, child and reproductive health, and micro-credit programmes.

If the problem is lack of a reliable electricity supply to power radio and ICT services, Hughes' team also has answers - from a suitcase-sized FM broadcast studio that runs off solar power or a standard car battery, to a prize-winning thermal power system from French developer Serras Thermoelectrics that uses heat energy generated by oil lamps to power a radio or WorldSpace DSR receiver, or even recharge a mobile phone.

The suitcase radio is the invention of Wantok Enterprise's Ron Robbins, a retired Canadian electronics specialist who spent much of his career setting up communications systems in remote regions stretching from the glacial wastes of the Yukon to the sweltering Papua New Guinea jungle. A tiny fraction of the cost of a standard broadcast transmitter, the systems range from US$3,750 for a 30-watt unit up to US$4,775 for the most popular 100-watt system, and have a range from 15km up to 60km or more, depending on local geography. Robbins says a car battery interface was chosen because it represents the only global universal voltage, adding that solar-powered operation is favoured in most developing regions, where sunshine is often the one resource that isn't in short supply.

Fixed Ideas
With so many innovations based around newer technologies like PDAs and satellite networks, the one ICT that seemed destined to be left out in the cold when it came to rural development was the simple POTS telephone. Thanks to developments in call processing technology, however, even the humble bakelite handset is now being given a new lease of life through programs like Voxiva, a health management system that allows remote medical staff and authorised personnel to submit disease monitoring reports over an ordinary phone line.

Community health professionals log onto the project's Alerta messaging system using a PIN and access card with codes for different diseases, then enter information about outbreaks or disaster incidents directly via the keypad. Like E-Post, the innovative combination of old and new technologies is proving highly beneficial, according to Voxiva Project Director Paul Meyer. "One of the real problems in bridging the Digital Divide is that people tend to focus on connectivity and forget applications," he says. "We wanted to develop a more inclusive approach that used ICTs - old and new - to address important information flow problems."

Set-up with the backing of the New York-based Markle Foundation, Voxiva has been running in Peru for around 18 months, and seems certain to be extended to other developing countries in the near future. In addition to phone-based input, the system supports voicemail attachments and Web-based input, as well as online analysis and visualisation of health information. "By deploying a low-cost phone-based technology that extends Internet-like functions and information to poor and rural communities in the developing world, we believe Voxiva represents a great model for the successful use of ICTs for development goals," says Meyer.

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Text © 2003 Sarah Parkes. Parkes is a Contributing Editor for the ITU Telecom World 2003 Daily Newspaper
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