Shantanu Oak

09:48 am - Digital Content and ICT

Someone asked me this question:
What is your Vision of Digital content for Development and how do you think ICT (Information Communication Technology) tools can be used towards this end at large?

Ans:
Digital content is very crucial for any development, let it be economic, social, educational or personal. There are 2 points to note though, a) The digitization method should not be proprietary, it should be free, open source. b) It should be available to the public at an affordable rates. Let's see an example of this. If I want to know more about a medicine or a disease like malaria, what were my options in the good old days?
a) Go to Public / private library and become a member by paying fees and filling lengthy forms.
b) Take help of the Librarian to find the section/ book on the subject.
c) If the book is available (and not already taken by some other knowledge seeker), stand in a queue to register it in my name so that I can take it home.
d) Remember to return the book in 7 days, or else be prepared to pay hefty fine.

Fast Forward: today, I can read wikipedia entry on malaria on my mobile!

In the very old days, the only way to seek the knowledge was through human interaction. The one who "have" knowledge was called "Guru". Most of the gurus took utmost care not to digitize the knowledge in any form so that they can keep their supremacy and bad guys won't get hold of it.

As the technology is progressing, it can play an important role of eliminating the supremacy of "Gurus" and "Paper". In a truly ICT driven digitalized world one can live happily with minimum interaction with these two supreme powers. Paper / books will still be important for the people who are not part of digital revolution due to ignorance, poverty or stigma.

Current Mood: thoughtful