Category Archives: Accessibility
Privacy is a public concern
March began interestingly for me this year, with two big meetings back-to-back, in Panglao, a tiny island in the Philippines. The first was with Privacy International, the London-based public service organisation. It has worked tirelessly for over two decades to … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Blogroll, broadband, Broadcast, Communication, Community, connectivity, Democracy, development, Education, energy, governance, Holistic, Internet, Media, Privacy, Security, social processes, technology, UID
Rules and Misrules
At the very tag-end of 2008, an extraordinary event took place. India’s Parliament met for a stormy Winter Session, during which little of note was discussed, and little value was added to the fabric of society. And then, as the … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, broadband, Communication, Community, connectivity, Democracy, development, Education, governance, Internet, Media, Privacy, Security, social processes, technology, UID
Studying the Foundation
The UIDAI project is arguably one of the biggest initiatives, in both scope and cost, undertaken in independent India, without any of the expected norms of prudence (oversight) and democratic consensus. Variously estimated to cost anywhere between Rs 40,000 and … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Communication, Community, connectivity, Democracy, development, governance, Privacy, Security, social processes, technology, UID
Doing less with more, or, fossil fools
…this post is about spectrum, and energy. Odd combination. Eager readers of my tireless prose might wonder, since I have already posted here about alternate energy conversion routes, and about spectrum, at length (friends assure me it is entirely too much length, in fact. As Garth Brooks put it, I’ve got friends). Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Blogroll, broadband, Communication, Community, development, energy, Fossil Fuels, Radio, social processes, Wind Power
Size matters
The FM band remains tightly in the control of the government and the revenue generating private sector, with applications for the common good either poorly served, or not at all. Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Broadcast, Communication, Community, Democracy, development, Media, Narrowcast, Radio, Security, Self-help
Primative Communication
For quite a while, many years, I would say, I have assumed speech to be a pretty level playing field factor for HCI (vis-a-vis human computer interface design), and much of the work Arun and I have done, even the … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Communication, Community, development, Holistic, Interfaces, Media, social processes, technology
Money doesn’t Grow on Trees
“One could make this argument [with TRAI]“, says my friend Dr Arun Mehta, “that the people who need it most are being denied mobile phone value added services.” We have been discussing, on the India-GII mail list, the enabling of … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Communication, connectivity, Democracy, development, governance, Privacy, Security, Smart Cash, social processes, technology
Missing the Woods for the Trees?
An interesting new study has kicked off in Belfast, Ireland, says this news item. Under the broad aegis of the Queen’s College project called SEMAINE, SAL, the Sensitive Artificial Listener, will be designed to sense the unspoken (ie non-verbal) signals … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Communication, Community, connectivity, development, Holistic, Interfaces, Media, social processes
Less Power, More Power
A Little Energy Goes a Long Way Somehow the concepts of ‘less is more’ and ‘small is beautiful’ do not ring out loud and clear in the community networking environment. Perhaps they are just too obvious: however, I suspect that … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Blogroll, broadband, Community, connectivity, Democracy, development, energy, Internet, Intranet, Privacy, Radio, Security, technology, Uncategorized, Wi-Fi
Email and Security
Reading over my shoulder? People who do a lot of email (I don’t do a lot, not by corporate standards, but I’m not exactly an online recluse), are increasingly concerned by the lack of privacy in this area of communication. … Continue reading
Filed under Accessibility, Blogroll, Community, connectivity, Democracy, development, Email, governance, Internet, Intranet, Media, Privacy, Security, social processes, technology
