ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter I argued that community radio, as practised in the case of the Kothmale project in Sri Lanka, embodies almost all the elements of an alternative, low-cost approach to making the Internet available in rural areas (as this alternative was described in Chapter 3). I also noted, however, that in many developing countries, mainly, but not exclusively in South Asia, this type of broadcasting was not yet accepted by the authorities of the state. For this reason (and in circumstances where information needs to be transmitted over distances that fall outside the reach of community radio), an alternative mode of access to the Internet is required. Basic telephony is the obvious candidate, partly because it requires no greater number of user capabilities than the radio and partly because it is accessible to the majority of the population in countries such as India, if, that is, one can believe the estimates provided in Chapter 3. As noted by Richardson (2000) however, the scope for combining basic telephony with the Internet in rural areas has as yet scarcely been realized, even with respect to basic extension activities in developing countries. Yet, as he rightly suggests (2000: 19), this
is an area where the telephone can be married with Internet tools very effectively . . . For example, a handful of trained extension experts, backed by agricultural researchers and networks of input suppliers, marketing organizations and others . . . , could provide prompt and accurate voice answers to questions they receive from farmers over the telephone. Initial agricultural knowledge and information needs assessments could determine key information needs and knowledge gaps that would generate frequently asked questions. Well-researched answers to probable frequently asked questions could be present in an on-line web-based database available to the
extension experts, regardless of their physical location. As such a service develops, frequently asked questions can be tracked and additional researched answers added to the database. Very specific questions with answers not in the database would be referred to other extension experts or the agricultural research community for followup and reply to the information requestor. An on-line list of experts, their specific fields of expertise, availability for fielding questions, email addresses, fax numbers and telephone numbers would be instantly available to information providers through the database.
