|
It is Thursday
afternoon, and villagers in Aampur are eagerly (and some,
anxiously) awaiting the weekly visit of Apu, whom the villagers
fondly refer to as "our smart friend on the bicycle." Some are
waiting to ask him questions about what sort of fertilizer they
should apply to their crops, and how much per hectare, others are
worried about the yield they can expect from their harvest, and
what prices they can expect. The villagers had posed these queries
in their own language during Apu’s previous visit and while Apu
had given them some answers, he had also promised updated
responses during this visit. A
few also had with them, samples of their well water for Apu to
test. These people had heard a rumor that the ground water in
their village had become contaminated and were obviously
concerned.....
Aampur could be just any
village in India, and Apu the wise, informed man, could be just
what the villagers all over India could do with for bettering
their lot. But can one harness something seemingly more urbane,
and a "non-human" device to serve the same way? Quite easily, if
one can envision Apu’s "bicycle" as a mobile facility containing a
computer with all the following features:
• A large and constantly
updated repository of information of interest to rural areas.
• A natural (multi) language
query and response facility.
• Sensors and related
instrumentation of various types relating to selected
health/medical screening and testing.
• Data logging facilities
for immediate (or occasionally, delayed) analysis and for
maintaining histories.
Such a mobile facility may
indeed soon be a reality. For this precisely is what forms the
focus of several innovative research projects that are now
underway at various hubs of Media Lab Asia (MLA) and at IIT
Bombay, the Maharashtra Hub.
|
| |
|
|
What is Media Lab Asia?
 Media Lab Asia is the
conglomerate of a number of regional laboratories in Mumbai,
Kanpur, New Delhi, and Chennai, that are today working in
collaboration with the Media
Laboratory at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and with
participating grassroots communities. Drawing on the MIT Media Laboratory’s
successful experiences in transmuting research into
widely-distributed, on-the-ground projects with strong industry
support, Media Lab Asia’s research is organized around four broad
Information Technology based products:
• A Digital Village to
create a digital ecology that maintains traditional values and
community structures while opening newer economic and expressive
opportunities• Tomorrow’s Tools
aiming to use digital intelligence to positively enhance
traditional handycrafts, agriculture, education, and healthcare.
• Bits for All
that explores new, cost-effective
methods of connecting every person on earth
• World Computer
which will create computers and systems software that transcend
existing barriers to bringing digital services to every one.
|
| |
|
