Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 17:34:06 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun@mssrf.res.in> -----Original Message----- From: Geeta Sharma [mailto:geeta.sharma@oneworld.net] Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 4:40 PM To: Information Society: Voices from the South Subject: [is] OWSA and MSSRF launch e-discussion on InfoKiosks Dear Friends, We have the pleasure of inviting you to join a discussion list on "Information Kiosks in every Indian village by 2007 - a myth or reality?" ( http://www.dgroups.org/groups/infokiosks/ <http://www.dgroups.org/groups/infokiosks/> ) The need for accelerating the pace of ICT enabled interventions in helping achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Indian context makes it imperative to look closely at their potential to cover over six lakh villages in the country within a short span of time. Towards this end OneWorld South Asia and MS Swaminathan Research Foundation are hosting this online discussion over the next six weeks. The major themes for this email and web-based discussion are: Scalability, Sustainability and Collaboration. The Sectoral focus within each of these themes would be on Education, Health and Livelihoods. A summary of the discussions would be shared at two separate national workshops on technology and policy issues on the ICT4D initiatives. These workshops are tentatively scheduled to be held in Delhi, towards the end of June and early July 2004. This is an open debate, so any one can join. We would specially like to invite groups, individuals and organizations, policy planners and practitioners interested in technology, ICT and development issues to join us in these discussions. HOW TO SIGN UP Joining this discussion list is very easy! Just send a blank message to: join-infokiosks@dgroups.org On successful sign-up, you will receive an email giving you a password and other relevant details. Please note that messages to the list should be sent to: Infokiosks@dgroups.org Messages sent to the above address will be sent out to all participants in the discussion. If you encounter any problems, please contact the administrator of this dgroup by sending an email to Infokiosks-owner@dgroups.org We look forward to you active participation in this discussion list. Contact Us: This discussion list will be co-moderated by stakeholders working on ICT4D issues. The moderators for the initial phase include Nikhil Raj (nikhil.raj@oneworld.net) from OneWorld South Asia, Osama Manzar (Osama@manzar.info) of the Digital Empowerment Foundation, Senthil Kumaran, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (senthil@mssrf.res.in) and Jitendra Shah (jitendras@vsnl.com) VJTI, Mumbai. As the discussions proceed, we would invite more experts to lead the debate as moderators. Thanks and regards Geeta Sharma ICT Advocacy Manager OneWorld South Asia http://southasia.oneworld.net <http://southasia.oneworld.net> ------ For discussion archives visit: http://www.dgroups.org/groups/IS/index.cfm To join, send a blank message to: join-IS@dgroups.org To leave the list, send a blank message to: leave-IS@dgroups.org