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Will the internet change India?
18th Nov 1998 Joseph Roberts @email.unc.edu
Hello I am conducting some research into the global expansion of the internet, and could use some input from people who actual use it. Do you think the expansion of the internet will promote any postive social-and economical change in India? Some people say that the free flow of information across al national boundaries is the key to delivering the benefits of new technology to all levels of society. Others say that the internet is nothing more than a vehicle of western neo-imperialism. In that, the dominant language used on the internet is English, and web technology, for the most part,is developed and exploited by western corporations. On the other hand some people see the internet as a powerful tool of communication and education. It has the potential to reshape society and bring conflicting societies together in a open forum were they can settle their differences without the use of violence. Do you think that any of these things hold true for the internet in India? What will the future of the internet be like in India? Why do you use the internet? Any input about the internet in India would be most helpful. Thanks and peace be with you.
19th Nov 1998
N_UdhayShankar @maaln.satyam.net.in
The internet, and indeed Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC) in general, have the potential to alter the way a society communicates with itself. I have observed this at first hand with BBSes, mailing lists and newsgroups. However, when the lateral information flow made possible by CMC combines with physical -world relationships, you have a tool for changing society that is extremely powerful in its import. See, for example, my piece on BBSes at http://www.arachnis.com/udhay/articles/art-bbs.html and on online activism at http://www.arachnis.com/udhay/articles/art-activism.html Udhay -- Udhay Shankar N team IndiaUpdate http://www.indiaupdate.com/
19th Nov 1998
Srinath Srinivasa @usa.net
Dear Joeseph, Here are my views-- comments welcome! Internet in India: I have been very interested in this topic since some time now. It was mainly because, when I came to Germany to carry out research on city information systems, I realised that some notions like electronic commerce, web, etc., meant something very different to me than to the researchers here. Let me talk about some fundamental stuff before going on to the topic of the internet, per se. Futurists like Alvin Toffler classify human civilization into three main eras or "waves". The agriculural revolution, the industrial revolution and the information revolution. Each era has brought with it tremendous amounts of changes-- right from the large community groups, down to the level of a family. Work habits, life styles, community behavior, town/city structures, have all been affected by the prevalent paradigm of civilization. In that sense, the internet-- which is an offspring of the information revolution-- has had deeper roots in the industrial paradigm. Computers were actually invented to help manage industries that were getting too big to manage. And it follows from that observation, that, many of the usages of computers and the internet have all been influenced by the life style paradigms of its creators. India, like any other third world country, missed the second wave of civilization-- at least, it was not in the forefront of such a civilization. I do not want to go into the causes of why this was so-- but it is not hard to verify from history that most third world countries of today were mainly providers of raw materials (from minerals, to flora and fauna, to even bonded labor) to countries where the industrial revolution was taking place. The benefits of such a revolution-- like infrastructure, finished products-- were mostly confined to the places where the revolution took place. But now, the information revolution is again crossing boundaries and reaching out to everyone. However, along with the technology, also comes life styles of the creators. For example, the other day I heard someone remark "Oh Bangalore! Everybody is a software engineer over there, working for a multi national". With increased numbers of software engineers and increased inflow of dollars there have also been increased consumerism. People are buying more cars, more air conditioners, more shampoos, more this, more that-- somewhat akin to the lifestyle of the US. It is all very well-- it seems to do good for the economy-- however, Bangalore, unlike any US city, does not have paradigms from the second wave to support it. What I mean is, there are no roads to cater to the increased-car-usage-lifestyle, there are so waste handling mechanisms for the tremendous amount of waste created by consumer goods, there is not enough electricity for catering to the increased demand... To give an analogy-- the west is something like a three storeyed building, with all three storeys (corresponding to each paradigm revolution) being more or less the same size. But India, is like a three storeyed building, where the first storey is strong, the second is very weak and the third is growing stronger! So the only way to prevent a collapse is to strengthen the second storey by utilizing the first and the third. It means, the information revolution has to be efficiently tapped to help in areas like education, coordination, communication,... and to finally build a strong system. Electronic commerce in India should NOT mean just another online bookstore, grocery store or music shop on the internet, and connectivity to information should NOT be limited to the software engineers or to only those who can afford a Pentium and a telephone. I still do not know how *exactly* IT can help in strengthening this second floor-- that is what my research is about anyway-- but what I do know is that computers and internet and the information revolution in general, has a very different meaning in India than the US. And oh yes, our end goal CANNOT be "life style of an American for everybody"-- it would mean an increase of more an 1000% in energy and recourses from 900 million people! Information Technology has to be used to develop a much more efficient system of interaction and which is much more friendly on earth. America and India: Well, your friend has had his views, and it is up to you to decide whether to visit India or not. Just to make some fundamentals clear-- if you find something disgusting and distressing-- like poverty or pollution or filth or whatever, remember that it is not out of choice that people and things are that way. India is a very different country with very different requirements and life styles and historical problems, than the US. And believe me, the challenges faced by India are tremendous. I was once commenting on how clean the trains looked here in Germany. But what I had failed to notice that the trains and the stations were also almost always empty. One day however, I happened to travel on the day the vacations started in the university. The train reminded me very much of any train in India. It was full, people were sitting on the floors, the compartment was noisy, the toilets were dirty, the conductor was cranky... and to think that the number of people in the train, were not half of what a typical train of the same type in India would carry. India has much more population than the US, much more languages spoken by its people than probably the entire of Europe, much less area and so much more population density, and on top of all that, it has missed 300 years of industrial revolution! What can you expect?!! With so many cards staked against it, I think India is doing just superb! I hope you enjoy your stay in India. Comments Welcome Srinath
19th Nov 1998
P srini @hotmail.com
Hi With reference to this discussion on use of internet as a active medium there has been numerous occasions when it has been used by prominent activist groups at historic occasions. 1). During the Russian yelstin crisis a couple of years back activists from russia were beaming information to the west through IRC (internet Relay chat).. 2). During the recent Indonesian student uprising, prominent student activists were online with indonesians abroad and also were exchanging information among themselves via internet 3). Prominent dissident leader in China i dont remember the name, is known to be under house arrest but he is in constant communication with fellow activists..This news item had made the rounds when Clinton visited China.. On a humanist note: Internet outdid itself in its means, in the following incident.. A lady in England had posted a small note on to a bulletin board about her plan to commit suicide before actually committing the act. A student in US came across this message of distress from te bulletin board and alerted the authorities in US who in turn contacted the police in UK and they were able to reach the lady and resce her in nick of time.. This is true story which made the headlines .. Internet has an unlimited potential in terms of a medium of communication as is illustrated in the cases above. At the same time it is a double edged sword and could be misused easily as this of communication is easily accessible to groups good, bad equally alike to get the word out.. As a positive medium, this medium has already been used quite effectively by Indians already on a number of occasions. a).During the Nuclear blackout by USA against india during the actual N-tests, scores of indians got their viewpoints across the internet on various forums..Most popular of them being on the CNN where around 4000 opinions were placed within a span of a week.. b). For the past five years a number of watchdog organizations related to India have been active on internet keeping track of any incident of misrepresentaion of our country. Call for Action notices from such organizations as Action-India,WIN etc. in such cases asked for active participation from all internauters related to India who felt bad about such instances of misrepresentation. The issue of misrepresentations have ranged from small instances of a local radio station in US admitting politically incorrect language against indians to incorrect representations of Indian map in the CNN website. c). In one instance when the newsgroup soc.culture.indian.jammu-kashmir was being created, Indians across the world have successfully contributed to creation of enough votes required in majority to get the group going. there was a lot of opposing votes then. So sailing was not smooth. All the above goes on to prove the point that the answer to the question whether internet will change India, is a strong YES. Positive activism is one of the fronts of the millions of fronts ,which will gain strength from the internet in India, notably among which will be the spread of a sort of demographic equality across the world as opposed to the US-orientedness of the real world.. thanks.. -srinivas p Web Architect http://www.samilan.com - Home of SAIR, biggest search engine for India http://www.indianmythology.com - A budding site on Indian mythology
20th Nov 1998
Ravi Talwar @blr.vsnl.net.in
Joseph Roberts wrote: > Hello > > I am conducting some research into the global expansion of the internet, > and could use some input from people who actual use it. I use the internet most days, about quarter hour to one hour. Mostly for email, and accessing specific web sites which deal with subjects of my interest. While I got connected to the internet (TCP/IP) only about six months back, I have been emailing since three years. > Do you think the > expansion of the internet will promote any postive social-and economical > change in India? Yes, of course. Particularly if the recently announced initiative by the Tamilnadu government is allowed to be implemented by the bureaucracy, and proves a success. As you may be aware, this state govt. is planning to set up internet "booths" all over the state, where the public can get on the net at subsidised rates. The maximum use would be to communicate with govt. departments, to check on progress of files, even fill in forms (in Tamil, of course). This would save a lot of time all round, and make governmental functioning that much more transparent and accountable. > Some people say that the free flow of information across > al national boundaries is the key to delivering the benefits of new > technology to all levels of society. I don't know about technology. I can't see commercially significant technology being offered free. But just interacting with people from different backgrounds can be enormously liberating. On the internet, one is involved. The newspapers and TV, on the other hand, are uni-directional conduits of information and disinformation. > Others say that the internet is > nothing more than a vehicle of western neo-imperialism. In that, the > dominant language used on the internet is English, and web technology, for > the most part,is developed and exploited by western corporations. Whatever the intentions of the neo-imperialists, they will not succeed in controlling the internet, of that I feel sure. > On the > other hand some people see the internet as a powerful tool of > communication and education. It has the potential to reshape society and > bring conflicting societies together in a open forum were they can settle > their differences without the use of violence. Do you think that any of > these things hold true for the internet in India? What will the future of > the internet be like in India? Why do you use the internet? Any input > about the internet in India would be most helpful. > > Thanks and peace be > with you. > > Somehow, I get the feeling that this new medium is well suited to the Indian > ethos. We will take to it like ducks to water. With best wishes, Ravi Talwar
23rd Nov 1998
Vani Murarka @manaskriti.com
