Activity Progress Report: Quarter- II (30th June 2000) 

Progress made in the Activities: 

The project activities started with receipt of first installment of funds on 5th April 2000. As per the agreement the first deliverable will be met on time with the establishment of model 'KnowNet-Grin' in IIMA campus. The prototype interface to be used for the multimedia database is ready for testing. Detail of the progress made in the project is as under: 

Touch Screen Kiosk: A prototype for touch screen kiosk has been developed and is in testing stage. It will subsequently become part for the model implementation of 'KnowNet-Grin' in Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad Campus. This touch screen kiosk prototype is a component of Deliverable 1 of the agreement. The CD for the same shall be sent after ensuring that it is fully executable. This CD is at present in two languages English & Gujarati, work on other language versions have started in some cases and contact being made in other cases. This CD has already been showcased in "Stockholm Challenge awards 2000" in which Honey Bee network was a finalist. (http://www1.challenge.stockholm.se/projects.asp?projectId=517) 

Work on Tamil & Hindi version is to start soon with discussions being in the final stage. They will form part of the multilingual multimedia database to be developed for the KnowNet-Grin. Speech recognition technology options for conversion of speech to text are being explored in other Indian languages. Although that seems very difficult. The other way round that is text to speech is also available in English but we are looking for similar support from some other venders in Indian languages. 

Infrastructure Development: In a step towards development of infrastructure to support the project, a Local Area Network (LAN) has been developed in the SRISTI office in Gujarat University campus where we have got 600 sq yards building. This is a step towards developing centralized data monitoring and updating system for easy and effective data handling. Besides other networking components a server has been purchased & some computers for the office have been ordered (9 no.) along with printer & office furniture. All the data is to be centralized and will be updated regularly. Later on this data could be web accessed, through KnowNet-Grin’s online network. Providing this data back to the people is the commitment of this project from whom this data has been collected over 11 years of work of Honey Bee network. The technology will be demystified to the extent that illiterate farmers will not only be able use it but would also be able to benefit from it in real time. 

Multimedia Database Development: Honey Bee network collaborators have been actively been involved in scouting and collecting innovations and documenting them. They have been entrusted the task of development of Multimedia Database of practices that they have accumulated over the years. These collaborators manage the regional issues of Honey Bee newsletter, namely Hindi (Sujhbhuj Aas Paas Ki), Tamil, Kannada (Hittalagida), & Pahari (Makhir) hence they will be developing multilingual databases, i.e. in regional languages. At present only four regional languages innovations had been taken up to be developed into multimedia database. These collaborators have been provided infrastructure, technical & financial support to fulfill the task. Methodology of documenting has been discussed with them in a meeting held recently, software solution support will be given to them for effectively developing and managing the databases. 

Recruitment: The project started with recruitment of a project coordinator, who is an Engg. graduate with post graduation in management from Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal. For recruiting of software professionals an advertisement was placed in TOI / Accent nation wide for 4 positions. In response to it 2500 application have come by e-mail & 400 applications by post. The process of selecting prospective candidates to be called for the interview is on and is expected to be complete by 15th August. Besides these, some of SRISTI staff have been engaged in analyzing and arranging data to be put up as part of KnowNet-Grin. 

Advisory Committee: Project advisory committee meeting has been called in the month of August 2000, some of the members who have agreed to be in the committee are Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IIT Chennai, Prof. S. Verma, IIMA, Prof Brij Kothari, Prof Vijay Sherry Chand, IIMA and Pradeep K. Dubey ( IBM lab at IIT Delhi). Advisory committee will provide suggestions in implementation of KnowNet-Grin, and also to decide upon the agenda for the workshop of stakeholders. 

Workshop Stakeholders in Project: A workshop is proposed for the month of September 2000 of all the stakeholders in the project. The objective of the workshop is to bring all the stakeholders innovators, investors, entrepreneurs, scientific community, researchers, on a common platform to share there understanding with each other and give more insight to increase the effectiveness of KnowNet-Grin. The workshop will provide a platform of parallel discussion between various stakeholders of the project this is a step towards 

Discussions: Discussions are on with some ISP's and corporate business houses which are going to set up fiber optic network in Gujarat, on possibility of KnowNet-Grin sharing their infrastructure and internet kiosks which they are going to set up across the state. These talks if successful will increase the depth of the project to a larger geographical area. The partnership will also be helpful in furthering the sustainability of the network beyond the project period. Work has already started with conventional telecom system for setting up the WAN, keeping the flexibility of upgrading the system in case our discussions as mentioned above are fruitful. 

Some of the on going negotiations are listed as below: 

Linkages/Partnership & Communication: (with other Organization & Gujarat Govt.) 

SRISTI is looking forward to partners in this project who will support this initiative and further its expansion from the present limits put up by the resources. Utilizing other network such as Internet kiosks (Internet Dhaba) to be set up by Gujarat Telecom is also being studied. In recent discussion of Prof. Gupta with the Chief Secretary Gujarat Govt, the Govt. offered SRISTI possibility of 50 such kiosks free of cost. This will further the networks reach to more distant places. Other private initiatives such as Reliance Industries are bringing up 500 kiosks initially and later 5000 kiosks in Gujarat. KnowNet-Grin looks forward to partner with them to effectively reach the grassroots. Contact with Reliance with them is being established. 

IBM Lab IIT Delhi has been contacted for providing some technology related solutions and one of there representative will be on advisory board of the project. A low cost technology option for converting television into Internet accessible as well as limited capacity computer is being explored. The vendor based in Vadodara has to demonstrate his final product in near future after completion of final testing. If such a technology is compatible with our rural surrounding, it will further augment our each to the remote areas. An ISP provider with a very wide network in Gujarat will be demonstrating their technological capability to take up some parts of the project. This presentation is scheduled to take place in last week of July 2000. 

Prototype development is in final stage of testing, the prototype for final testing on the model network in IIMA will be ready in first quarter of next month. Some of the software solution providers are willing to take up contract on some database related activities. A sub contract can be given to them after they demonstrate their capability for which a presentation has been arranged with them. They have also agreed to take up a demonstration project for development of multimedia interface at there own cost. National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad has agreed in principle to work for the development of design component of the Interface for Multimedia kiosk. A meeting with the Director of NID Dr. D. Koshy in this regard has resulted in NID's Multi Media & Animation & graphic design departments considering working with us for the crucial design component of the project. 

Remote Access Technology Options: Inaccessible sites are proposed to be linked utilizing remote access technologies such as VSAT using mobile kiosks. Its feasibility is to be studied in terms of economics of capital & operations cost. Other technological options that are understudy are Cordect technology of Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. This technology has been developed by Prof. Jhunjhunwala and is basically for cordless telephone connectivity in rural areas as well in cities. Its applicability for data transfer in rural conditions is being studied; hence this remains as a viable option. 

Work on Hand: WAN prototype for KnowNet-Grin is planned to be set up during next two months. This prototype will be tested for its ability to disseminate the idea through the multimedia touch screen kiosk, which have been developed and is being adapted for networking from stand-alone version. The successful testing of prototype will help us test its scalability at the state level network (in Gujarat first). Crucial components of interface are to be tested on this prototype. The development of design component with the help of NID is underway, which will also be tested simultaneously on this prototype and then both components will be discussed in the workshop of stakeholders for the ultimate users of the KnowNet-Grin, the innovators. 

Project Review: Project review report will also be available on SRISTI’s website, the url for same is http://sristi.org/knownetgrin.html  this will continuously be updated, as and when new activities are taken up in the project, irrespective of quarterly report submission schedule. 

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