Manthan Awards: The Appetite Persists

Technology is critical, so is content for development and empowerment. The
digital divide is a stark reality, so is the need for delivery of content-based
products and services to fill in the gaps. Content innovation and creation is
pertinent, so is making it accessible, affordable and utilitarian. The spread of
technology is fundamental, and so is the medium and platform of content
delivery. These and many more were points of deliberations, debates and
appreciation during the Manthan-AIF Award 2006 event on India's best e-content
practices and Conference on 'e-Content & Sustainability', recently. 

Content: The Driving Force

The baseline of the annual event this year was that the ICT movement in
India and elsewhere shall remain a technology mystic and less tantalizing in the
absence of a clear cut edge in e-content creation, usage, delivery and utility.
Speakers threw light on various aspects and domains of the e-content subject
matter from vivid perspectives. The attempt was to drive home the point that
without content, all ICT efforts for development and empowerment shall be a
hollow exercise. No wonder then the issue forced Dr RA Mashelkar, director
general, CSIR to say: “Any ICT initiative cannot be stated to be great until
and unless it impacts the lives of the common man through quality and accessible
content delivery.”

“The award is a unique initiative in carrying forward the Information
Communication Technology movement in the country through the content route.
There are still so many things to be done to enable the common man to access
information and communication. Even if the RTI Act is a good instrument in this
direction, technology can be a great booster to further this mission,” said
Wajahat Habibullah, chief information commissioner of India.

Delivering her inaugural speech in the conference, Maxin Olson, UN resident
representative in India delved on various nuances of e-content. “I understand
content is the staple food to keep the soul and heart of ICT going. Without
supplying this staple diet in the right quantity, quality and in time, the
functioning of the ICT body for sustainability and growth is futile”.

For many, e-content relating to sustainability issues itself is a matter of
major leapfrog, where sustainability of any development is directly related to
how good the content and how well it is delivered using ICT tools and
application. According to RN Dash, secretary, Panchayati Raj, Orissa Government,
who was conferred the Manthan-AIF Award under the 'e-Inclusion and
Livelihood' category, “Poverty is directly proportional to the distance of
the poor from information”. The parallel sessions on various domains of
e-content across learning, education, livelihood, health, environment, rural
business, governance areas delved on issues ranging from network connectivity to
providing local solutions to local problems through localized e-content efforts.
The final outcome was a 'ten point' roadmap on as many as eight specific
categories of e-content, covering all vital segments of ICT application.

E is Empowerment

The message was clear. The vital stake for empowerment lies on how, what,
and for whom content is being prepared and rolled out for consumption and use.
Indeed the utility of any ICT intervention lies in its overwhelming and holistic
capacity to deliver and enable.

Certain issues emerged to the fore. The most obvious was whether ICT is
enabling its users to create content or not; whether ICT is empowering people to
create digital content, content which converts into economy and commerce, which
empowers the masses with information and knowledge and which enables the masses
to know their rights.

Revolving around content, the parallel sessions and their roadmaps focused on
the orchestrated need for key steps including bridging digital gaps across
communities, groups and content domains in learning, health, governance and so
on.

Innovation and Hard Work

The award also showcased hard work, diligence, quality and utilitarian value
vis-à-vis the emerging e-content practices in India. The winning and
appreciation list was a basket of creativity, sensibility, and sincerity in
digging out innovations. The event showcased the rich and innovative
creativities of e-content creators and their products that cut across 216 valid
nominations; 13 categories; 32 winners; five special mentions, and four
appreciations for community radio initiatives. Regional and cultural
representations were equally vivid-250 nominations from 24 states and Union
Territories and one from New York.

The award also churned out some interesting innovations and creations. The
computerized Braille transcription system developed by West Bengal-based Webel
Mediatronics (WML). The Kannada version of Logo, a programming language at the
school level to tap student potential and hone students skills. Then there was
Bhojpuria.com, that claims to be the world's first portal for Bhojpuri
speaking people. IndFauna, an electronic catalogue of known Indian fauna that
helps access baseline data of all Indian faunal resources at a single click of a
mouse. Another interesting project was the Prisons Management System (PMS)
solution developed by NIC, and implemented by the high profile Tihar Jail.

While Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttaranchal topped the list with 52, 31 and 13
nominations respectively, Nagaland, Pondicherry and Chandigarh had one
nomination each with the other states sharing the rest. This could mirror the
content movement churning in these states and their various ICT initiatives.
Category wise, e-Governance, e-inclusion and livelihood, e-learning,
e-education, were the top notch ones while e-health, e-news, e-entertainment and
a few others were the laggards.

The list of winners was interesting. e-governance had five winners, while
e-education had four and e-entertainment only one. Surprisingly, the jury
decided not to give any awards in the e-Science category due to lack of quality
work. State-wise, Maharashtra had the maximum of 11 winners. Kerala and
Pondicherry had one winner each, while states like Assam and West Bengal had two
winners each.

Equally apparent were the cultural and linguistic emergence of e-content
products and services. If the AnandaUtsav site in e-culture served its audiences
in both English and Bengali, the other picture is of Kannada Logo serving its
customers and users in the local Kannada language.

Taking a unique move, the Digital Empowerment Foundation chose to felicitate
the struggling yet unsuccessful community radio movement.

The Good News

Despite the inequitable spread of e-content across the states of India, the
overall trend seems to be pretty encouraging. And while there are miles to go
before India can boast of competing with the best in the world, the Manthan
Awards clearly indicated that things have started to change. Initiating,
operating and spearheading e-content practices and popularizing it need not be a
frustrating experience any longer. The good news is that there seems to be
growing demand in the country, including rural India, for ICT use and e-content
delivery that is just waiting to be explored and ploughed better for development
and empowerment needs.

Team DQ

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in