hi xchanger,
this project is about combining internet radio  with lowtech nodes for
better accessability. sounded interesting enough to fwd it here...
manu
-- 

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Manu Luksch 
http://www.AmbientTV.net
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From: Frederick Noronha <fred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Subject: [GKD] Community Radio and the Internet in South Asia
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The issue of television has been raised on this forum. In much of South
Asia, even radio has not been allowed to grow as it should have. Below
is an interesting article. May one add though that Dr Mehta's views have
since moved forward on this front, and he is working on more advanced
versions of the ideas below. Recently, a meeting was held in Mumbai
(Bombay) to study the feasibility of a 'community radio station' run
through cable satellite networks within existing laws. A copy of this
debate is available at
http://www.egroups.com/docvault/netradio/26thJanNotes.doc There has also
been discussion on the cable-based radio station at
http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/radiocracy.htm Dr Mehta is expected to
take part in the Commsphere meeting in Chennai (Madras) in India at this
month end. -Frederick.



RADIO MARRIES THE INTERNET, TO MOTHER THE POOR IN SOUTH ASIA
By Frederick Noronha

BOMBAY (India): Heads we win, tails you lose. Campaigners trying to give
a voice to the common Indian on the airwaves are taking no chances. If
the Indian government still continues to dither on opening up the
airwaves to the commonman, there are other options being eagerly tried
out.

For long, radio has remained a government monopoly in this country. Now,
the sector is being opened out to commercial firms, strictly with an
emphasis on entertainment.

Community radio -- which could have immense potential in this diverse
country where education is a crying need -- has so far consistently been
sidelined. This has been the case in much of the rest of South Asia too.

Now, some interesting initiatives are underway.

Dr Arun Mehta, a Delhi-based communication engineer and activist, has
some interesting ideas that offer both a technical and a legal solution.

His plans include an experiment that will spread community radio using a
mix of traditional radio and the Internet, thus bypassing government
laws that till date prohibit direct broadcast by citizens through
community radio stations.

As Dr Mehta puts it: "The Indian government has been almost paranoid in
its control over  the electronic media. While TV has enjoyed a modicum
of private enterprise via satellite broadcasting, radio has almost
totally remained in government hands."

Recently, the Government offered some loosening of its hold over radio.
"(But as expected there have been) stringent regulations relating to
ownership and content. (Non-governmental or non- profit organisations)
will hardly be able to afford to set up radio stations with substantial
reach," he adds.

In this context, his proposal seems ideal: delivering community radio to
millions via the Internet.

Its advantages are global reach, low costs for the broadcaster, and
freedom from government regulation. Its major disadvantage is that the
listener needs access to a computer connected to the Internet.

While the new Internet policy in India is expected to trigger massive
private sector investment in the Internet, little of that money will
flow towards rural areas in the normal course, where purchasing power is
low and most are non-English speakers.

"Audio applications such as Internet radio and telephony have the
potential to change that, as they do not require the ability to write,
and are equally accessible to people speaking any language," argues
Mehta.

But, for them to take off, they must be able to reach the masses, which
cannot happen as long as each listener is expected to have a PC and a
telephone. He suggests to use the Internet-for-radio in a manner that
makes such broadcasts available to the poor.

How? By using technologies already put out globally by companies such as
Real Networks (www.real.com) which have developed software that allows
radio broadcasting via the Internet.

Unlike the "elitist" Internet, large numbers of poor could be reached
out through such a proposal, as Mehta explains.

In this scheme, each village would contain a community information
center, containing a mutimedia PC connected to the Internet. This, of
course, could be used for many different purposes.

On this community PC, a Real Audio or equivalent server could be
installed, which in effect would convert this PC into a radio station,
which people could use to tape and disseminate audio content.

There are at least two ways to provide low-cost access to Internet radio
broadcasts. In the "dumb" approach, the output of the sound card on the
computer can be fed to an amplifier, and distributed over ordinary
copper wire to surrounding houses, each of which only needs a
loudspeaker.

In the "smart" model, audio signals could be distributed from the
community PC using either twisted-pair telephone wires, or the coaxial
cable used by Cable TV operators.

So what? Since there will be no 'broadcasting', such community radio
stations could simply bypass current restrictive laws.

Installed in each house in the village that wished to receive radio
broadcasts, would be a small Internet radio, consisting of a simple
embedded microcomputer, a loudspeaker, a microphone and a couple of
buttons for channel selection.

While the dumb radio would only allow the listener to listen to a single
broadcast set at the community center, the smart radio would allow
choice, as well as the ability to interact.

"Such a smart device does not yet exist. But the technology that it
would be based on is well-known," says Dr Mehta, underlining the
ingenuinity some Indians have shown in propping up untypical solutions
to long-term problems.

Basically it would need a stripped down computer, containing no
keyboard, storage devices or monitor. It should be possible to design
such a device such that in large quantities it can be made for $30 or
possibly even much less. In a few years, it should be possible to make
similar wireless radios at affordable prices too.

This radio, of course, would not just be able to receive audio content
produced at the local community center -- via the Internet, it could
receive broadcasts from all over the world.

Thus, each community would be able to set up its own radio station with
multiple channels, that people could receive worldwide.

So the microphone in the smart Internet radio could allow people to
participate in talk shows and in audio conferences, as well as reap the
benefits of Internet telephony. This would help people who migrated out
of India to stay in touch with their families.

This model is similar to that of Cable TV -- only much, much cheaper --
and could well be called Cable Radio.  In this manner, existing
governmental laws would not be violated, and hundreds of millions could
be reached out to via an affordable technology.

Says Mehta: "We want to do is to showcase appropriate technologies for
the environment -- the things people are not doing but should be doing.
For example, the dissemination of information from the Internet over the
radio. Radio is the only thing the poor can afford. Nothing else is that
cheap."

Radio is something where poor people can access the software. "If it
were a local radio station producing their own content, then that is
tremendously empowering," he points out.

There is no restriction on receiving Internet content, whether through
the phone line or through satellite. Interestingly, short range
broadcast within the village through cables strong across the village,
which can cover a range of 30 metres or more from the cable.

"We are going to make it happen. It is not that difficult. Plus there
are a lot of initiatives in the country to take bandwidth to remote
parts of the country, at least upto the district level," says he
confidently.

Meanwhile, some interesting reports are coming in from the island-nation
of Sri Lanka too, south of India.

At Kothmale, in the central part of Sri Lanka and three hours by bus
from the capital city Colombo, a community radio serves a target area of
20km radius, which includes a number of rural towns such as Gampola,
Nawalapitiya and Thispane.

It is being implemented by UNESCO in collaboration with the Ministry of
Posts, Telecommunications and the Media, Sri Lanka Broadcasting
Corporation, Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and the
University of Colombo.

The project uses community radio as an interface between the Internet
and rural communities.

Inaugurated on April 30, the official opening took place after three
months of trial period during which a WEB site database
http://www.kirana.lk was developed and community volunteers were trained
to handle various elements of the project.

There are three basic features in this project, which combine new
information technologies with conventional radio medium.

* Radio programme to "Radio Browse" the Internet (information
interpreted in local language). Here, the community radio broadcasts a
daily two hour radio programme, interpreting in the local language
information from selective Internet sites. Listeners can direct queries
to the radio station to find specific information from the Internet.

* Community radio functions as a mini Internet Service Provider to the
community with free Internet access. Besides its own "Internet Cafi" the
community radio has provided two free Internet access points at Gampola
and Nawalapitiya community libraries. This makes the Internet accessible
in rural areas too.

* Community database development: The community radio also develops its
own computer database (http://www.kirana.lk ), deriving information,
which are often requested by community members, from the Internet. This
database attempt to solve the problem of non-availability of packaged
information in the Internet suitable to rural needs.

The project intends to address a number of challenges faced in
introducing the benefits of communication technologies to rural areas
which are common to many developing countries.

Radio is therefore playing a role in tackling the lack of access to
computers and the Internet in rural areas!

NOTE: Dr Arun Mehta can be contacted at B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New
Delhi-110024. Phone (+91) 11 6841172 or 6849103. His web-site is
http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta (Third World Network Features)