<nettime> LINKS: New mailing list / India

[Frederick Noronha <fred@goa1.dot.net.in>]

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DEVELOPMENT / TECHNOLOGY New mailing lists from India

We take pleasure in announcing the recent launch of two new 
mailing lists, dealing with development / technology issues from 
South Asia. If you, or anyone you know, would like to subscribe 
to either mailing list, just send an email to fred@vsnl.com 
giving a brief self-introduction, and mentioning on which list 
you read this note. Thanks, Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist.

CR-INDIA: This list aims to campaign for the use of community 
radio as a means of non-profit, low-cost and pro-development 
communications in India and the other countries of South Asia. 
Radio holds out immense potential in countries like ours, but for 
long this medium has either been totally government-controlled,  
or opened to only big commercial players. Non-profit and 
educational organisations (including universities) could 
contribute significantly if they are given permissions to run 
their own stations. With the FM frequencies becoming available, 
thousands of low-powered frequencies can be opened up across the 
region. As we learn from the experiences in nearby Nepal (Radio 
Sagarmatha, etc) and Sri Lanka (Kothmale's experiment with radio-
browsing, etc) this list is being used to share appropriate 
information about how community radio can and is being used both 
in South Asia and elsewhere in the globe. 

BYTESFORALL: Welcome to South Asia. This talent-rich, resource-
poor, tragic-powerhouse  of immense software skills, finds its 
abilities recognised across  the globe. And yet millions here 
can't find the solutions that could make life a little less of a 
struggle. Likewise, software brains from the region are serving 
some of the biggest companies in the globe... But it also finds 
itself ironically unable to afford  the prices of 'legal' 
software that it very badly needs for itself.
Some of the most relevant software/Internet/computer/IT ventures 
in South Asia, ironically, fail to get the attention they merit. 
Attending to the needs of the poor doesn't make good business 
sense. bYtES For aLL is an attempt to swim against the tide. 
Through a website <http://www.bytesforall.org> and an e-mail 
based mailing list <bytesforall@goacom.com>, we hope to update 
interested readers about interesting ventures. Attempts that 
focus on people before profits. After being launched in July 
1999, this venture which is based entirely on volunteer 
participation, currently has its key supporters based in 
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and abroad. 

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                              The most fundamental way of helping 
                        other people is to teach people how to do 
                        things better, to tell people things that 
                         you know that will enable them to better 
                                  their lives. For people who use 
                        computers, this means sharing the recipes 
                         you use on your computer, in other words 
                               the programs you run.   -- Richard   
                              Stallman, Free Software Foundation.
                    *********************************************
                           Many of the best minds of our time are 
                          engaged in finding ways for the already 
                        wealthy to claim even more of the world's 
                           real wealth for themselves. -- David C 
                                         Korten yes@futurenet.org
                    *********************************************
                              [India, China] and other developing 
                           nations have the chance to rethink the 
                            meaning of being rural. If just a few 
                        political leaders were to reexamine their 
                          telecommunications agenda for the rural 
                          populace, poverty could be redefined in 
                          the digital age. -- Nicholas Nigroponti, 
                                         Director, MIT Media Lab.
                    *********************************************
                        The root of wealth or poverty lies in the 
                        ends we have in mind, not in the means to 
                           those ends.  If the hand is ready then 
                          finding the instrument of action should 
                          not be difficult. --Rabindranath Tagore 
                          (a legendary poet in Bengali literature 
                                    and a Noble laureate of 1913)
                    *********************************************

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