Cyber Quiz-7: Providing the Internet Service: The World of the Internet Service Providers
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The following six quizzes in the cyber quiz series have already been published:
Cyber Quiz-1: The Internet
Cyber Quiz-2: The World Wide Web
Cyber Quiz-3: Check Your Email
Cyber Quiz-4: Browsing the Web
Cyber Quiz-5: Have Data? Will Search
Cyber Quiz-6: Check the Blog
Here is the 7th quiz in the series.
Enjoy it.
Happy quizzing!
Dr D.C.Misra
New Delhi, India
Email: dcmisra[at]hotmail.com
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CYBER QUIZ–7: PROVIDING THE INTERNET SERVICE: THE WORLD OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
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Providing Internet access at the desktop of a Web surfer, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have a crucial role in a chain of services, which make a problem – free surfing possible. For a typical surfer the dial - up connection continues to be the only form of Internet connectivity in India though broadband connectivity is making rapid strides. Let us check.
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1. How many Internet service providers (ISPs) are there worldwide?
2. Which are top ten Internet service providers (ISPs)?
3. (a) What types of licenses are issued to the Internet service providers (ISPs) in India and how many licenses have been issued to the Internet service providers (ISPs), and (b) How many Internet service providers (ISPs) are active in India and how many Internet service providers (ISPs) have applied for setting up their own international gateways?
4. Which are Top Ten Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in India?
5. (a) What was the total number of Internet subscribers in India in 2000 and what was the share of public sector ISPs in it, and (b) What was the total number of Internet subscribers in India in 2004?
6. Which were top five Internet service providers (ISPs) in India going by the number of Internet subscribers in (a) 2000, and (b) 2004?
7. Which are the first five most popular Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
8. What are the (a) cost of Internet customer acquisition in India, (b) extent of accumulated losses of Internet service providers (ISPs) in India, and (c) Total estimated investment made by ISPs in India?
9. (a) Which are the top three Internet service providers (ISPs) in Asia, and (b) Which is the largest Internet service provider (ISP) in Asia?
10. First there were Internet service providers (ISPs), then application service providers (ASPs), and now there are management service providers (MSPs). What then are MSPs?
11. How many root servers manage the Internet traffic and where are they located?
12. Now that private operators have been permitted in India to set up international gateway for the Internet, how many gateways are being planned by 26 licensed gateway service providers (GSPs)?
13. It is neither Karnataka, nor Andhra Pradesh, nor Maharashtra, then which state in India has the highest number of Internet service providers (ISPs)?
14. The subscriber value for (a) Dial up, (b) Cable, and (c) Mobile Internet connections were (a) $2,567, (b) 1,085, and (c) $450, respectively in February 2001.What were the respective values in August 2001?
15. What is common between (a) WorldNet, (b) IBM Global Network, (c) MCI, (d) Netcom, (e) UUNet, and (f) PSINet?
16. (a) What is common between (i) Vsnl.com, (ii) Mantraonline.com, (iii) Sify.com, (iv) Now.com, (v) Spectranet.com, (vi) Netcracker.com, (vii) Dishnetdsl.com, (viii) Mtnl.com, (ix) Tatanova.com, and (x) Caltiger.com, and (b) Which Indian Internet service provider (ISP) went bust in 2002 by incurring accumulated losses of Rs 37 crore?
17. What are the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines on quality of service (QoS) norms for Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
18. (a) In Internet, which is a network of networks, what is the difference between adjacency, reachability, and connectivity, and (b) What are active and passive measurements in network traffic?
19. What are the following: (a) oversubscription, (b) latency, (c) link utilisation, (d) mononumerosis, and (e) ping?
20. What is the number in India by end of December 2004 of (a) Internet subscribers, (b) High Speed Internet connection (<256>256 Kbps), (d) Minutes of Use (MOU/subs/month), and (e) ARPU (Rs/sub/month)
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ANSWERS TO CYBER QUIZ– 7: PROVIDING THE INTERNET SERVICE: THE WORLD OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
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1. About 14,000 / 15,000 out of which some 8,000 are in the United States.
2. 1. America Online – 22.8 (24.0), 2. United Online – 6.6 (6.9), 3. Comcast 6.5 (6.8), 4. Eartlink – 5.2 (5.7), 5. SBC – 4.7 (4.9), 6. Road Runner – 3.9 (4.1), 7. Verizon – 3.3 (3.5), 8. Cox – 2.4 (2.5), 9. Bell South – 1.9 (2.0) and 10. Charter – 1.8 (1.9) (Figures indicate subscribers in millions while figures in parentheses indicate market share in percentage) (Source: http://www.isp-planet.com/research/rankings/usa.html, accessed: February 13, 2005).
3. (a) Three. 1. Class A – National, 2. Class B – Regional, and 3. Class C – Local; Only 225 applications were received out of which licenses were issued to 175 applicants as follows: – National - 5 per cent, Regional- 6: 25 per cent, and Local – 60 per cent. As on quarter ending September 30, 2004, there were 188 Internet service providers (ISPs) in India out of which 50 had Category A license, 80 Category B and 59 Category C licenses (one ISP has B and C licenses). See TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India): The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators July-Sept’04, New Delhi, the Author, December 2004,Table 3.1 from which above figures have been compiled, available:
http://www.trai.gov.in/indicator17dec.pdf (accessed: February 12, 2005), and (b) About 70; About 25.
4. 1. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) (A - All India) - 16,78,617, 2. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) (B - Mumbai and Delhi) – 9,49,405, 3. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) (A - All India) - 9,35,426, 4. Sify Ltd. (A - All India) – 7,71,787, 5. Data Infosys (A - All India) – 2,48,397, 6. Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd. (RCIL) (A - All India) - 2,19, 212, 7. Bharti Infotel Ltd. (A - All India) 1,04,166, 8. BG Broadband India Pvt. Ltd. (B - Surat SSA, Mumbai) – 75,275, 9 HCL Infinet Ltd. (A - All India) 45,577, and 10.Shyam Internet Service Pvt. Ltd. (A - All India) 45,247 (Note: 1.Figures are at the end of December 2004, 2. Figures at the end of each entry indicate the number of subscribers, and A and B indicate the type of license).
(Source: http://www.trai.gov.in/report22mar05.pdf, accessed April 1, 2005).
5. 8,43,000 as on March 31, 2000. The public sector ISPs had a share of 4.75 lakh subscribers and private sector ISPs had a share of 4.68 lakh subscribers in it. As in mid-June, 2000, however, the total number of Internet Subscribers in India was 12 lakh with private sector ISPs surpassing the public sector ISPs by 1.5 lakh subscribers, and (b) 53.21 lakh as on quarter ending September 30, 2004 (Source: TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India): The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators July-Sept’04, New Delhi, the Author, December 2004, http://www.trai.gov.in/indicator17dec.pdf (1 lakh=100,000) (accessed: February 12, 2005).
6. (a) 1. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) (3.43), 2. Satyam (1.51), 3. Department of Telecommunications (DOT) (0.96), 4. Dishnet DSL (0.71), 5. Bharti BT (0.70). (Data as on March 31, 2000) (Figures are in lakh), and (b) 1. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) - 14.94, 2. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) - 9.85, 3. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) – 9.15, 4. M/s Sify Ltd. - 7.25, and 5. Data Infosys - 2.26 (Figures are in lakh; 1 lakh = 100,000) (Source: TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India): The Indian Telecom ServicesPerformance Indicators July-Sept’04, New Delhi, the Author, December 2004, p-5, http://www.trai.gov.in/indicator17dec.pdf (accessed: February 12, 2005).
7. 1. America On Line (AOL) (2.2 per cent), 2. U U Net (0.6 per cent), 3. @ Home (0.6 per cent), 4. Road Runner (0.3 per cent), and 5. Planet On Line (0.2 per cent) (Figures in Parentheses indicate the percentage of Web surfers) (Data as on June 8, 2000) (Source: http://websnapshot.mycomputer.com).
8. (a) Rs 250 per customer, and (b) The accumulated losses of 140 operational Internet service providers (ISPs) in India as on November 2001 added to Rs 1,350 crore, according to the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI). (Source: The Economic Times, Editorial, May 22, 2002), and (c) Rs 6,600 crore (1 crore= 10 million) (Source: http://www.ispai.com/overview.html, accessed April 1, 2005).
9. (a) 1. Reach, a Hong Kong – based ISP, 2. Dacomnet, a Korean ISP, and 3. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL), earlier a public sector and now a Tata group company, according to the UK-based network specialist NetConfigs Ltd. The VSNL has been ranked as the third best ISP in Asia and 29th in the world from among a total of 11,000 ISPs globally, in an independent survey conducted on efficiency, maintenance and linkages with other networks, according to NetConfigs Web site. (Source: The Economic Times, New Delhi, September 29, 2003, Monday, p-11)., and (b) Pacific Internet (CEO: Nicholas Lee) with a revenue of $ 15.2 million in the first quarter of 2000.
10. They help monitor, measure, and report on performance of networks and companies.
11. 13.They are located throughout the United States and in Tokyo, Stockholm and London. These computers are controlled by universities, corporations, government agencies and research centres.
12. 101 (Source: The Indian Express, New Delhi, October 7, 2000).
13. Gujarat, according to a survey by Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB). Gujarat has about 40 Internet service providers (ISPs).
14. (a) $ 927, (b) $ 323, and (c) $ 450, respectively (Source: www.isp-planet.com). Note: The subscriber values are continuously declining.
15. They are among the largest national and regional Internet service providers (ISPs) in the USA.
16. (a) They are all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in India, and (b) Wipro’s NutKracker. It had a subscriber base of 1,12,000. For all practical purposes it is being shut down. It is being merged with company’s fluid power business. The combined company has been renamed as Wipro Fluid Power Limited effective March 1, 2002 with Azim Premji as its Chairman. (Source: The Economic Times, New Delhi, March 13, 2002).
17. (a) For Dial – Up users – (i) Activation time of 6 hours, (ii) Access within 30 seconds, (iii) Probability of accessing ISP node – 80 per cent on first, 90 per cent on second and 99 per cent on third attempt, and (iv) Only one in hundred attempts should fail, and (b) For Leased Line users – (i) Latency not to exceed 300 msec for OFC and 800 msec for satellite link, (ii) Packet loss not to exceed one per cent, (iii) 99 per cent link availability, and (iv) Rebates for blackouts.
18. (a) Two networks are said to be adjacent if there is at least one link directly between them. A network is said to be reachable from another network if there is a path between them. Reachability is one-way. Two networks are said to be connected if there is a path between them that provides reachability in both directions. (Source : Nevil Brownlee and Chris Loosley 2001, www.keynote.com), and (b) Active measurements are performed by sending test traffic into the network while passive measurements are carried out by observing normal network traffic so they do not perturb the network. Both of them are commonly used to for measuring network traffic flows.
19. (a) It is a ratio of total distal capacity to proximal capacity, total distal capacity being average customer capacity of access provider and proximal capacity being the capacity of transport provider, (b) Time delay in an event to take place, for example, time taken by a packet to travel along the physical links. A widely used measure of network latency is round-trip time (RTT), (c) Throughput for the link expressed as a percentage of access rate, throughput being the rate at which data is sent through the network and access rate being maximum data rate (Rates are measured in terms of bits / bytes / packets per second ), (d) Coined by Cindy Bickerstaff, it is undue focus on a single measured value, and (e) Packet Internet Groper, a utility to determine whether a specific Internet protocol (IP) address is accessible. Ping sends an Internet control message protocol (ICMP) echo request packet to a specified (server) host, and the server sends back an ICMP echo reply packet. The ping program displays the time taken for the round trip. (Source: http://www.keynote.com and Margolis 1999).
20. (a) 5.45 million, (b) 0.66 million, (c) 0.047 million, (d) 275, and (e) 167 (Source: http://www.trai.gov.in/report22mar05.pdf, accessed: April 1, 2005).
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* While reasonable care has been taken to compile the quizzes, neither the author nor the publisher is responsible for accuracy of information. Readers are, therefore, advised to consult authoritative sources before acting on any information contained here. Reproduction of material given here for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited. The material given here can, however, be reproduced for non-commercial and educational purposes, particularly for students and teachers provided due credit is given to the author.
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© Dr D.C.Misra 2005 Beta Version April 1, 2005.
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Cybe Quiz Group on Yahoo!
Check the Cyber Quiz Group on Yahoo! ( http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz) - an online think tank on ICTs - created by me on May 28, 2004 and owned by me since then.
Dr D.C.Misra
January 21, 2005
Dr D.C.Misra
January 21, 2005
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Cyber Quiz: Book Review-3: Keniston and Kumar (eds.) (2004): IT Experience in India by Dr D.C.Misra
Cyber Quiz: Book Review-3: Keniston and Kumar (eds.) (2004): IT Experience in India: Bridging the Digital Divide, New Delhi, Thousand Oaks and London, Sage, 194 pp
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This rather slim volume* on India’s information technology (IT) experiences in bridging the digital divide is a collection of 10 updated papers by eminent contributors originally presented at a Workshop on “Equity, Diversity, and Information Technology (EDIT) in Bangalore, Karnataka, India edited by Kenneth Keniston, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Human Development and Director of Projects, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Deepak Kumar, Deputy Editor, softwaredioxide.com.
In the first introductory Chapter 1: Introduction: The Four Digital Divides, Keniston provides an overview raising basic issues confronting information technology (IT) including questioning the trade off between investment on IT and other basic needs like education, health, etc. and draws attention to four digital divides: the first divide, which exists in each country, namely, between the rich (technology included) and the poor (technology excluded), secondly, the linguistic and cultural divide between English language and Anglo-Saxon culture and the rest, the north-south divide,
In Chapter 2: Towards a Knowledge System for Sustainable Food Security: The Information Village Experiment in Pondicherry, Balaji et al. urge for recasting of the new agricultural paradigm in India to secure “the triple goals of increased income, increased jobs, and increased food.” (p-37). Their conclusion that “Content creation to suit local needs is the key element” is a truism though is likely to be overlooked in project design with often-disastrous consequences. They also incidentally note that the coastal and fishing village of Veerapattinam received information on wavelengths in the next 24 hours downloaded from the web from a US Navy site (http://www.nemoc.Navy.mil). In the light of the Asian Tsunami Disaster of December 26, 2004, it would be instructive to know if the villagers indeed receive any warning of the impending tsunami waves.
In Chapter 3: Liberalization of Indian Telecom: Regulation in the Era of Convergence (For Information Infrastructure and Services), T.H. Chowdary describes the decisions and the decision-making process in the rather complicated information and communication technology (ICT) sector in India. This complication arises from two facts: the revolutionary and evolving nature of “convergence of technologies” and the turf wars that have ensued between various players as a result of progressive liberalization of the sector. The author describes evolution of various telecom policies in India.
In Chapter 4: Information Technology to Support Diversity in a Global Economy, Professor Pat Hall of Open University, United Kingdom makes an unexceptional plea that “information technology, and in particular the Internet should be available to all peoples in their own mother tongue, whatever that might be and however small that community (p-71). He argues that technology can help people bridge the gap between local communities and the global economy (p-72). More evidence, however, is needed to lend full support to leaned professor’s premise as prima facie a community should have a reasonable size for securing any social or governmental support.
In Chapter 5: Telecom and Regulation Scenario in India, Ashok Jhunjhunwala and Bhaskar Ramamurthy, both of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras (now Chennai), urge for providing special policy dispensation for rural connectivity primarily basing their policy prescriptions on the unique success of public call offices (PCOs) in India in providing telecom services to rural India and replicating this model for Internet connectivity. They then describe their own efforts in this direction, particularly their n-Logue achievement and urging India (may be along with China) to take a lead in the development of wireless technology.
In Chapter 6: An Agenda: Electronic Government for the Poor, Dr P. D. Kaushik of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, in a rather lengthy contribution, focuses on e-governance for the poor, typically dealing with the role of e-governance in collection and dissemination of information for anti-poverty programmes, describing in the process the ways and means of providing rural connectivity and creating a knowledge base. He concludes by observing that “Info-communication technological developments cannot end poverty but they are crucial element of a successful anti-poverty strategy.”
In Chapter 7: Digital Development, Deepak Kumar, co-editor of this volume and Deputy Editor at softwaredioxide.com (formerly of Express Computer, a business weekly) divides his contribution in two parts. In the first part, he makes over-arching observations on themes like emerging “micro-multinationals” (which are multinationals from day one), the definition and many dimensions of poverty including its relativity, and C.K. Prahalad’s proposition for treating “poor” as a market (asset) (his book on the subject has also come out since then). In the second part Kumar draws different conclusions synthesizing various contributions made in this book declaring in conclusion the arrival of the “discipline of digital development.”
In Chapter 8: Science, Technology, and the Politics of Computers in Indian Languages, Harsh Kumar, who directs the IT operations and initiatives for Western Railways in Mumbai, describes the intricacies involved in Indian language computing including existence of different types of keyboards (C-DAC, DOE, Remington and Godrej, comparing and contrasting with one developed by his organisation, the market for software in Indian languages and the work done in Bharatbhasha, a not-for-profit organization started by him in 1997. various conclusions drawn by Harsh Kumar are based on sound footing.
In Chapter 9: Collaborative Creation of Digital Resources in Indian Languages, Rajeev Sanghal, Professor at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad and Head of its Language Technologies Research Centre (LTRC), Akshar Bharti, a group on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Vineet Chitanya, also of LTRC, rightly emphasize the need of availability of affordable computing (they suggest use of free software, GIST terminals and sharing of the resources) as well as availability of resources in Indian languages (for example, digital content - text, images, information, etc) advocating collaborative efforts by way of shramdan (donation of labour) in digital development and lexical resources in Indian languages.
In the last, Chapter 10: The Bangalore Boom: From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation, Annalee Saxenian, Professor at the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California at Berkeley, who is a familiar figure for any one who has tried to understand the Silicon Valley phenomenon as she has done commendable work in monitoring its evolution and characteristics extensively, points out to the success of Indians in Silicon Valley and urges the policy makers to learn from the success of Taiwan, “where brain circulation was critical to its shift from a peripheral source of cheap labor to a global leader in computer hardware.” (p-170).
Overall, the publication of this compilation of workshop papers on digital divide, reasonably priced, is timely. The compilation helps us to understand the existence of various types of digital divides and the nature and extent of different challenges posed in any attempt to bridge the digital divides. The eminent contributors also offer useful suggestions, which can help in narrowing the digital divides. It would be difficult to call the ongoing information and communication technology (ICT) revolution a “revolution” if it bypasses the masses in the developing world. Hence the urgency to tackle the various issues of digital divides competently pointed out in this book under review.
Dr D.C.Misra
January 16, 2005.
Cyber Quiz: Book Review-3: Keniston and Kumar (eds.) (2004): IT Experience in India: Bridging the Digital Divide, New Delhi, Thousand Oaks and London, Sage, Publications, 194 pp, © Dr D.C.Misra 2005
__________________________________________________________________
This rather slim volume* on India’s information technology (IT) experiences in bridging the digital divide is a collection of 10 updated papers by eminent contributors originally presented at a Workshop on “Equity, Diversity, and Information Technology (EDIT) in Bangalore, Karnataka, India edited by Kenneth Keniston, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Human Development and Director of Projects, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Deepak Kumar, Deputy Editor, softwaredioxide.com.
In the first introductory Chapter 1: Introduction: The Four Digital Divides, Keniston provides an overview raising basic issues confronting information technology (IT) including questioning the trade off between investment on IT and other basic needs like education, health, etc. and draws attention to four digital divides: the first divide, which exists in each country, namely, between the rich (technology included) and the poor (technology excluded), secondly, the linguistic and cultural divide between English language and Anglo-Saxon culture and the rest, the north-south divide,
In Chapter 2: Towards a Knowledge System for Sustainable Food Security: The Information Village Experiment in Pondicherry, Balaji et al. urge for recasting of the new agricultural paradigm in India to secure “the triple goals of increased income, increased jobs, and increased food.” (p-37). Their conclusion that “Content creation to suit local needs is the key element” is a truism though is likely to be overlooked in project design with often-disastrous consequences. They also incidentally note that the coastal and fishing village of Veerapattinam received information on wavelengths in the next 24 hours downloaded from the web from a US Navy site (http://www.nemoc.Navy.mil). In the light of the Asian Tsunami Disaster of December 26, 2004, it would be instructive to know if the villagers indeed receive any warning of the impending tsunami waves.
In Chapter 3: Liberalization of Indian Telecom: Regulation in the Era of Convergence (For Information Infrastructure and Services), T.H. Chowdary describes the decisions and the decision-making process in the rather complicated information and communication technology (ICT) sector in India. This complication arises from two facts: the revolutionary and evolving nature of “convergence of technologies” and the turf wars that have ensued between various players as a result of progressive liberalization of the sector. The author describes evolution of various telecom policies in India.
In Chapter 4: Information Technology to Support Diversity in a Global Economy, Professor Pat Hall of Open University, United Kingdom makes an unexceptional plea that “information technology, and in particular the Internet should be available to all peoples in their own mother tongue, whatever that might be and however small that community (p-71). He argues that technology can help people bridge the gap between local communities and the global economy (p-72). More evidence, however, is needed to lend full support to leaned professor’s premise as prima facie a community should have a reasonable size for securing any social or governmental support.
In Chapter 5: Telecom and Regulation Scenario in India, Ashok Jhunjhunwala and Bhaskar Ramamurthy, both of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras (now Chennai), urge for providing special policy dispensation for rural connectivity primarily basing their policy prescriptions on the unique success of public call offices (PCOs) in India in providing telecom services to rural India and replicating this model for Internet connectivity. They then describe their own efforts in this direction, particularly their n-Logue achievement and urging India (may be along with China) to take a lead in the development of wireless technology.
In Chapter 6: An Agenda: Electronic Government for the Poor, Dr P. D. Kaushik of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, in a rather lengthy contribution, focuses on e-governance for the poor, typically dealing with the role of e-governance in collection and dissemination of information for anti-poverty programmes, describing in the process the ways and means of providing rural connectivity and creating a knowledge base. He concludes by observing that “Info-communication technological developments cannot end poverty but they are crucial element of a successful anti-poverty strategy.”
In Chapter 7: Digital Development, Deepak Kumar, co-editor of this volume and Deputy Editor at softwaredioxide.com (formerly of Express Computer, a business weekly) divides his contribution in two parts. In the first part, he makes over-arching observations on themes like emerging “micro-multinationals” (which are multinationals from day one), the definition and many dimensions of poverty including its relativity, and C.K. Prahalad’s proposition for treating “poor” as a market (asset) (his book on the subject has also come out since then). In the second part Kumar draws different conclusions synthesizing various contributions made in this book declaring in conclusion the arrival of the “discipline of digital development.”
In Chapter 8: Science, Technology, and the Politics of Computers in Indian Languages, Harsh Kumar, who directs the IT operations and initiatives for Western Railways in Mumbai, describes the intricacies involved in Indian language computing including existence of different types of keyboards (C-DAC, DOE, Remington and Godrej, comparing and contrasting with one developed by his organisation, the market for software in Indian languages and the work done in Bharatbhasha, a not-for-profit organization started by him in 1997. various conclusions drawn by Harsh Kumar are based on sound footing.
In Chapter 9: Collaborative Creation of Digital Resources in Indian Languages, Rajeev Sanghal, Professor at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad and Head of its Language Technologies Research Centre (LTRC), Akshar Bharti, a group on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Vineet Chitanya, also of LTRC, rightly emphasize the need of availability of affordable computing (they suggest use of free software, GIST terminals and sharing of the resources) as well as availability of resources in Indian languages (for example, digital content - text, images, information, etc) advocating collaborative efforts by way of shramdan (donation of labour) in digital development and lexical resources in Indian languages.
In the last, Chapter 10: The Bangalore Boom: From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation, Annalee Saxenian, Professor at the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California at Berkeley, who is a familiar figure for any one who has tried to understand the Silicon Valley phenomenon as she has done commendable work in monitoring its evolution and characteristics extensively, points out to the success of Indians in Silicon Valley and urges the policy makers to learn from the success of Taiwan, “where brain circulation was critical to its shift from a peripheral source of cheap labor to a global leader in computer hardware.” (p-170).
Overall, the publication of this compilation of workshop papers on digital divide, reasonably priced, is timely. The compilation helps us to understand the existence of various types of digital divides and the nature and extent of different challenges posed in any attempt to bridge the digital divides. The eminent contributors also offer useful suggestions, which can help in narrowing the digital divides. It would be difficult to call the ongoing information and communication technology (ICT) revolution a “revolution” if it bypasses the masses in the developing world. Hence the urgency to tackle the various issues of digital divides competently pointed out in this book under review.
Dr D.C.Misra
January 16, 2005.
Cyber Quiz: Book Review-3: Keniston and Kumar (eds.) (2004): IT Experience in India: Bridging the Digital Divide, New Delhi, Thousand Oaks and London, Sage, Publications, 194 pp, © Dr D.C.Misra 2005
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