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Fill in the blanks: the world awaits suitable e-content
THE LINES have been drawn up, the modems are in place, and a growing number of computer users are now comfortable with operating internet. But, that’s not enough. Where is all that precious e-content going to come from? What initiatives are underway to bridge the gap in different countries?
China is moving from developing just web information to working on e-content services, e-knowledge management and e-cultural preservation. In Indonesia, NGOs provided internet access to 2000 high schools, spawning the first high-school websites.
Philippines boasts of being the SMS (short-messaging service) capital of the world. Singapore offers its citizens a “gateway to all government services”
A new book, published in India, looks at what’s being done across the world to boost available e-content — or, put simply, converting traditional information into knowledge that is available through the digital domain.
“E-content is supposed to be the final frontier of all the initiatives from all corners of the world... which are working hard to join the Information Society. Efforts (are underway to) convert countries’ resources and services into the digital domain for global attention, consumption and the economic upliftment of not-so e-enabled countries,” says the book ‘E-Content: Voices From The Ground.’
It is co-authored by entrepreneur, editor, columnist and New Media specialist Osama Manzar of Delhi’s Digital Empowerment Foundation
The other co-editor Prof Bruck makes an interesting point. He says: “Technology does not inspire. Contents do. Post-industrial societies pay lots for equipment, gadgets and ‘tech things’. They pay far too little forstories, knowledge and insight. Hardware and software can be marketed globally. Content is tied to culture and language.”
There’s a wide gap in the comparisons emerging. Burundi, with six million population and 1000 internet connections, lacks even the basic infrastructure such as electricity and phone lines. (Burundi is not alone. E-content can, at best, be a distant dream for such countries for quite some years to come.)
Cameroon with its 16 million population, and just 100 websites, is “the country is starting from the scratch... everything has to be done”. On the other hand, there are others such as the Netherlands (“a country with an extensive content industry even before the advent of internet... three of the largest international publishers were located in the country...”).
There are lessons to learn from countries as distant as Italy and Ireland, and the former East Bloc. But, the ‘stories of the South’ — countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America — emerge from this book as being often inspiring, as they sometimes throw up valiant stories of battles against limited resources, and the daily struggle that is life.
Take the case of Brazil, with a website for journalists only, another from the post-office, one which allows registered users to create content (by ranking restaurants, hotels, movies, etc), and sites for blood-donation or specially for senior citizens. China’s site
Each chapter also begins with some interesting key stats. Take some telling figures from India. Population: over 1050 million. Internet connections, 7million. Phone lines just 20 million. Mobile connections/users 3 million.
PCs installed 5 million. ISPs 43. Websites 20,000 (in Indian languages), 130,000 (in English). Oddly, a country such as Indonesia, roughly one-fifth India’s size, has more Internet connections and nearly four-times more mobile phone users!
One weakness of this publication — it’s called Version 1.0 to indicate it is work-in-progress — is its lack of inclusion of a number of countries leaves yawning gaps, at least in the print version. For instance, in Asia, just five countries are covered, with two more in the “Arabian region e-continent”.
Co-author Manzar concedes that more countries should have been covered. “I could not find some suitable contact in Pakistan to do this extensive interview,” he concedes.
By sheer comparison of the reality in different parts of the globe, one gets a good idea of where we’re headed. Andy Carvin, a well-known name on ICT4D mailing lists from the Benton Foundation, makes some interesting points about the situation in the US.
The US, he says, probably produces more online content than any other country in the globe. But this is also a “curse” — there’s so much information being churned out, that they find it impossible to “sort through the morass of it all”.
Besides, a lot of content in the US is “driven by profit.” So, producers “will only create content that sells well to a mass audience ... that’s generally rather bland and not ground-breaking.” It also means that non-commercial content, as well as content of interest to smaller audiences — ethnic minorities, small towns or rural areas, etc — simply has less of a chance of getting produced.
Canada has an interesting attitude. It has “more institutions” than can be mentioned what enable e-content through critical ways. These include funding, collaboration or network enabling, and mentorship. In many other parts of the globe, we seem to believe this will happen by serendipity.
From Egypt comes a common Third World complaint: subject-matter specialists are often unaware of the value of converting their knowledge into e-content. Resultantly, they’re simply not motivated enough to do the job.
Gambia and Ghana are among the few countries where the local experts put the cost of software and hardware firmly on the agenda. This seems to be an issue many simply presume doesn’t exist. Ghanian expert Guido Sohne, the active-in-cyberspace and articulate freelance software developer, is a lone voice in this volume that talks about the importance of Free/Libre and Open Source Software. He calls FLOSS “an initiative needed... to accelerate the adoption of current technology...”
This book tackles a wide canvas by talking to a range of local experts. From the confident Mauritius (“we have the necessary ingredients to ensure a successful passage to this new world... the highest literacy... an enterprising spirit.. and a culture of innovation”) to the 32-million strong Sudan, suffering from the woes of a typical Asian-African-LatAm nation. (Comments the expert from Sudan: “The availability of most of the material necessary for creating content on the Internet is in English, a language which deprives a large proportion of the real content-creators from expressing themselves directly”).
Co-author Dr Bruck
Ireland reminds us: “Without inventive and creative people, there is no e-content. Without commitment, there are no results. Without careful planning, management and patience, projects fail. Many projects fail because they are far too ambitious and unsustainable.”
And another from Italy: “Modern governance is not just about delivering services. The notion includes democratic and cooperative policy formulation, citizen and civil society involvement, transparent and participative implementation of policies as well as continuous independent evaluation of results. However, these aspects are still terra incognita for the vast majority of e-solution providers.”
In December 2003, e-content experts from 36 countries gathered in Dubai to select 40 best e-content practices out of more than 800 nominations from 136 countries. This was part of the UN’s World Summit Award formed under the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society). Many of the experts’ views are from those who attended this meet. An interesting insight into what’s happening in different areas of the globe.
The writer
