|
AI and Society Summaries of papers to be published
Information and Communication Technologies:
Perspectives and their Impact on Society
Dietrich Brandt and Klaus Henning
Notes for a critical reflection on Emilia-Romagna
and Bologna
Francesco Garibaldo
KNOWLEDGE NETWORKING IN CROSS CULTURAL SETTINGS
Karamjit S Gill
Networks of Science and Technology in India:
The Elite and The Subaltern Streams
Dr. Ashok Jain
Entrepreneurial Innovations in Gujarat
Dhawal Mehta and Bhalchandra Joshi
Learning Organisations-The Process of Innovation
and Technological Change
V.P.Kharbanda
Entrepreneurial Spirit of the Indian Farmer
Kavita Mehra
Role of Universities in IT Education in
India
Abhai Mansingh
An Indigenous process of
pedagogic innovation: a case study on curriculum development
Pratibha Jolly
Convergence, the University
of the Future and the Future of the University
David Smith
Multimedia Archiving of
Technological Change in a Traditional Creative Industry: A Case
Study of the Dhokra Artisans of Bankura,
West Bengal
David Smith and Rajesh Kochhar
Information and Communication
Technologies, Organisations and skills: Convergence and Persistence
Francesco Garibaldo
Back to top
Information and Communication
Technologies: Perspectives and their Impact on Society
Presented at the EU-India Network Workshop,
University of Aachen, June 2000, Revised version to appear in
AI & Society, Springer- Verlag, London , 2002
Dietrich Brandt and Klaus Henning
Department of Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering
(HDZ/IMA),
University of Technology (RWTH), Dennewartstr. 27, D 52068 Aachen,
Germany
Phone: +49 241 96 66 25
Fax: +49 241 96 66 22
Email:Brandt@hdz-ima.rwth-aachen.de
Summary
The most fundamental changes of information
exchange and communication in society today have been caused
by the fast and thorough penetration of all facets of life through
networked computers and mobile phones which both will soon merge
with our traditional TV. In this report, these developments
will be discussed on four different levels: individuals,
groups, organisations and networks. Furthermore contradictory
developmental patterns are considered: Global versus Regional
Development, Enterpreneurship on different Scales, Data Availability
versus Data Security, Reality versus Virtuality, Education,
and the Ethics of Multimedia and the Internet
Information and Communication: Past, Present,
Future
The most staggering technological developments
during the last decades in terms of information and communication
have been the wide-spread use of mobile phones and in parallel
the networked PCs linked to the web and soon also to be linked
to TV. We are expecting these technologies to merge soon into
one decentralised mobile network for everybody. These technologies
have presently the strongest impact on society world-wide. Hence
they will be discussed here in some detail.
An earlier version of this paper was presented
at the Professional Congress on Information and Communication
during the World Engineers` Convention, Hannover, Germany,
19-21 June 2000. The Convention was organised by the German
Association of Professional Engineers (VDI). This paper
integrates the views and contributions of both the International
Programme Committee and the participants of the Congress, as
well as its web-based Discussion Group. Furthermore it refers
to the work of the Committee on Social Impact of Automation
within the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC),
and also the EU-supported Project EU INDIA Cross Cultural
Innovation Network.
Back to top
Notes for a critical
reflection on Emilia-Romagna and Bologna
Presented at the EU-India Network Workshop,
University of Aachen, June 2000, Revised version to appear in
AI & Society, Springer- Verlag, London , 2002
Francesco Garibaldo
Fondazione Istituto per il Lavoro
Via Marconi 8, I - 40122 Bologna
Email: f.garibaldo@ipielle.emr.it
Summary
In these notes for a critical reflection
on Emilia-Romagna and Bologna, a brief description of the
most recent developments of regions is given taking into account
the impact of global business on regional processes. The example
which is the basis for this discussion is the region of Bologna,
Italy to analyse these developments, several theoretical concepts
are used which reflect the wide-spread commitment of different
authors to this common cause of concern.
Recent developments in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna
have helped this region to become one of the top ten regions
in Europe. The paper discusses the problems and the critical
issues that a region whose economy is based upon small and medium
enterprises must face today in a scenario of globalisation.
The main problem we have to deal with is a
problem of analysis which can be summarised as follows:
Regional society, and Bologna is no exception,
being in the leading group of the strong and successful European
regions, finds itself going through a typical crisis of
maturity. We can distinguish between different historical
periods, in a given system such as a sector, a region, etc..
These periods vary from a situation of stability to situations
of changes that dynamically readjust the equilibrium, and reach
as far as situations of structural dis-equilibrium among the
forces at play. In these latter cases we see the crisis of the
old model. If we turn our attention to Emilia-Romagna it becomes
clear that today’s situation is one of the crisis of
maturity and not merely one of adjustment.
To put it differently, there is no convergence
between the strategies of the different actors, at every level
i.e. macro, meso and micro. Such a convergence is only possible
when and if some general values are shared and a certain degree
of reciprocal trust can be achieved, and this depends both on
the action of government itself and on what is commonly defined
as governance. It means a system of government which
is based on the presence of many different powers operating
autonomously but within the framework of a system of rules and
institutions. Such a system allows all the actors, taken as
a whole, to define step-by-step and by means of conflicts and
negotiations, a dynamic equilibrium of the forces at play. Furthermore,
such a convergence largely depends on a set of intermediate
institutions and artificially created rules allowing the system
to achieve virtuous and viable conditions. This set of intermediate
institutions and rules are what I call a ‘new class
of public goods’.
I have used the expression strategic convergence
consciously to mean that, in my opinion, the crisis of maturity
cannot be faced by trusting the regenerative capacities
of the system as it is now. In other words, there is no spontaneous
solution or, to use a kind of language that is fashionable today,
there is no market-led solution to this crisis. It means
that we need to follow a pathway of strategic readjustment which
must not be dictated and planned by a Big Brother, whether public
or private. The pathway to be followed is thus born from the
interaction between strong political and cultural projects,
as well as from the regional government and the local governments.
It also needs to include the social and economic actors who,
by means of struggles and breakaways, within a given framework
of reference, negotiate and realise a virtuous growth pathway.
The given reference framework is indispensable,
in the first place because, as the Nobel prize-winner Amartya
Sen (1997) has well argued, there are reasons behind such developments
that cannot be traced back merely to economy. It means on the
contrary that a problem will become a priority for the simple
reason that its non-resolution has the strength to break
the whole economic and social framework, thus making policies
(which in themselves are reasonable) totally senseless. These
priority problems must dictate the economic agenda and not vice-versa.
This is what is happening, e.g., through unemployment and social
inequality, but this is also true for public order or transport
safety.
In the second place, such reference framework
is needed because the open nature of the social systems does
not imply their total indeterminacy; that is, not every course
of action that can be hypothesised is feasible. There are constraints
of social and practical coherence. For example, the possibility
of great flexibility in the management of the labour resources
cohabit with the need to create a knowledge-based society; or
else it may result in the non-availability of some of its members
- which thus limits the possible courses of action according
to coherence frameworks.
Back to top
KNOWLEDGE NETWORKING IN
CROSS CULTURAL SETTINGS
Presented at the EU-India Network Workshop,
University of Aachen, June 2000, Revised version to appear in
AI & Society, Springer- Verlag, London , 2002
Karamjit S Gill
School of Information Management
University of Brighton, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
Email: k.s.gill@bton.ac.uk
Summary
Knowledge networking in the cross cultural
setting here focuses on promoting a culture of shared communication,
values and knowledge, seeking cooperation through valorisation
of diversity. The process is seen here in terms of creating
new alliances of creators, users, mediators and managers of
knowledge. At the global level, knowledge networking is about
a symbiotic relationship between local and global knowledge
resources. This focus is informed by the human centered vision
of Information Society, which seeks a symbiotic relationship
between technology and society.
It is now widely accepted that our societies
are now facing a paradigm shift- a shift from industrial society
to post-industrial (information society) and a transition from
information society to knowledge society. In this age of the
Knowledge Society, it is argued that the knowledge economy
replaces the production economy and knowledge becomes a new
economic resource. The evolving nature of the meaning of knowledge
over centuries signifies the place of knowledge as a crucial
determinant in the evolution of societal innovations. Each shift
in the meaning of knowledge has coincided with a new innovation,
be it an industrial, technological, organisational or social
one. This is illustrated in the change in the meaning of knowledge
from knowledge as ‘being’ and skill during
the pre-industrial era to knowledge as technology during
the industrial revolution, to knowledge as 'production resource'
during the Productivity Revolution, and to knowledge as 'organisational
resource' during the Management Revolution. We have come
a long way from knowledge as being a 'private good' to knowledge
as being a social and economic 'resource', and a traded commodity.
The shift from industrial society to knowledge society changes
the nature of the relationship between society, knowledge and
technology. This shift affects in a fundamental way the role
of ICTs for the distribution of knowledge, the development of
network economies, networks of social innovation and networks
of co-development.
The notion of co-development here refers to
the interdependence between local and global socio-economic
systems, and is informed by two human centred notions, subsidiarity
and ‘Valorisation’ of diversity The notion of subsidiarity
refers to bringing science and scientific knowledge nearer to
people with the hope of fostering inter-dependence between the
local and the global. The notion of 'valorization' here refers
to common/global knowledge networks which build upon the commonalties
of local knowledge bases while sustaining local diversities.
These notions are rooted in the idea of the symbiosis between
human and the machine; between technology and knowledge, and
in this particular case a symbiosis between the 'objective'
knowledge and the 'tacit' dimension of knowledge. This symbiosis
recognizes the essential contribution of the 'objective' knowledge
as a global resource for knowledge transfer and development.
However, it emphasises that sustainable development depends
upon the local capacity for acquiring and interpreting new knowledge
and then absorbing the transferred knowledge for practical use
within new application contexts. This in turn depends on the
level of interdependence between the local knowledge and global
knowledge. The notion of the ‘symbiosis’ is intertwined
with the dialectical notions of the ‘cause and purpose’
and that of the ‘diversity and coherence’.
At a recent conference in Brighton (Sept. 99),
Cooley expressed a deep concern about the way the globalisation
is shaping the industrial society towards a machine-centred
system in which machines becoming more like people and people
becoming more like machines. The time may come when there has
to be developed a ‘Turing Test’ so that we can tell
one from other. Cooley asserts that we do not require a convergence
of the attributes of the machine and the different attributes
of a human being but rather we should set out to create a human-machine
symbiosis. Symbiosis is central to the discussion on sustainable
development. In this developmental perspective, we should view
technology or the organisation as a tool rather than a machine.
However, for this idea of the symbiosis to take shape we need
to question the underlying assumptions of science and technology
which is the engine of globalisation, affecting deeply the society
in transition from industrial society to knowledge society and
in many developing counties from agricultural societies to knowledge
societies. We need to be aware of the danger of the two notions
of scientific rationality the notion of the ‘one best way’,
and the notion of the convergence theory. There is a danger
that in following the logic of convergence, we may be tempted
to treat diverse and disparate situations with mathematical
precision, and make them converge them into a universal entity
in the tradition of the one best way. This may lead us to see
diversity and the idea of the alternative as hindrance rather
than assets to local-global cohesion and interdependent development.
The challenge is therefore to develop a human-centred framework
for sustainable development based on the valorisation of diversities
and seek a harmonious transition to knowledge society.
The human-centred tradition promotes the liberation
of human creativity- the pivotal element in liberating the human
imagination and creativity. It is crucial that we emphasise
what people can do rather than always stating what they can’t
do. Cooley points out that we need to recognise that predominantly
science and engineering proceeds on the basis of a defect model.
In production we are looking at something that is wrong. That
permeates through the whole way that we think about it. This
destructiveness of always looking at what people can’t
do, tend to promote development strategies and solutions in
the mechanistic tradition. However, we should recognise that
"The futures are out there in the setting of a coastline
before someone goes out there to discover it. These are not
pre-determined shapes and contours". The futures have yet
to be built by us. We do have choices. We can and need to make
use of these choices.
Back to top
Networks of Science and
Technology in India: The Elite and The Subaltern Streams
Presented at the Human Centred Systems
Workshop, University fo Brighton, July 2001. Revised vesrion
to appear in the AI & Society Journal, Sprinfer Verlag,
London, 2002
Dr. Ashok Jain
Emeritus Scientists
Institute of Informatics and Communication
University of Delhi South Campus
New Delhi 110 021, India.
Email: ashokjain_du@yahoo.com
Phones: 91-11-4103938, 6882237
Telefax: 91-11-4103938
Summary
The paper investigates the structure and functioning
of the Science and Technology (S&T) system in India as it
has evolved in the post-independence period (1947 onwards).
The networks of entities involved in S&T actions, the paper
argues, can be categorised, in terms of adopted approaches to
agenda and priority setting and accounting for actions, in two
streams. The origins and expansion of the two streams is traced.
One the ‘ Elite’ stream (high profile and visibility
linked to big industry) adopting what the paper has generically
termed as the ‘Nehruvian’ model of development is
shown to have emerged as a dominant network. The other socially
powerful ‘Subaltern’ stream (less visible, closer
to ground realities and linked to village and cottage industry)
adopting the ‘Gandhian’ model of development still
remains dispersed and outside the consideration of high level
decision making bodies. The paper stresses the importance of
moving the support and attention from the dominant stream to
efforts that attempt a synthesis between the dominant and the
subaltern. This paper discusses the science and technology (S&T)
system in India as it has evolved during the post-independence
period (1947 onwards). The focus is not on S&T activities
per se; it is on the social and cultural dimensions of the system
(culture here refers to approaches to issues and priority setting,
methods of resolving conflict and so on. Discussion is based
on the concept of S&T Innovation Networks (STINs).
Innovation manifests as change and Innovation
Networks refer to entities such as individuals, groups, organizations
and practices interconnected to cause change towards a purpose.
These networks are not of the type one in familiar with say
in telecommunications or in railways, they are a mix of humans
and non-humans with different sort of identities. The behaviour
of these networks in a given social, cultural and economic context
gives rise to innovation or change. Individual entities in a
network may relate to their own micro-purposes or development
agenda. The society at large, however, identifies a network
with a common macro purpose. Different networks are viewed as
working for different macro purposes.
In India a discourse on macro purposes in the
media and other public forums (proxies for articulations by
society) usually takes place in terms of the divisions in which
the Government articulates the country’s socio-economic
development agenda, for example through activities related to
industry, commerce, health, education, agriculture etc. Development
through S&T activities is one such category of purposes
concisely stated in the Scientific Policy Resolutions adopted
by the Indian parliament on March 4, 1958.
"The Government of India has decided that
the aim of its Scientific Policy will be to foster, promote
and sustain by all appropriate means, the cultivation of Science
and Scientific research in all its aspects- pure, applied and
educational and, in general to secure for the people of the
country all the benefits that can accrue from the acquisition
and application of Scientific knowledge" (The Scientific
Policy Resolution, 1958).
Science and more generally Science and Technology
(S&T) being a distinct category of socio-economic purpose,
S&T Innovation Networks (STINs) become an identifiable set
of networks. The society perceives these networks working for
social and economic change through S&T activities. To investigate
these STINs we take recourse to a disaggregated representation
of the micro purposes of entities constituting these networks.
The micro purposes being, contributing to scientific knowledge
per se, technological innovations, and promotion of industry
or services. Entities involved in these three regimes of micro
purposes are interlinked, happenings in one influencing those
in the others. In practice, each regime picks up signals of
its choice from the other regimes and for legitimisation of
resulting actions forms its own supportive constituency
We wish to show that the S&T system in
India has gradually grown into two streams. One stream connects
the established and institutionalised S&T capabilities to
organised industry through entities embedded in a culture generally
projected as modern and closer to the practices prevailing in
industrialised economies. This stream that is dominant has acquired
the character of an elite STIN.
The other stream that we call the ‘subaltern’
stream consists of entities that are dispersed and connect S&T
capabilities of smaller groups to distributed and unorganised
production units; the term subaltern is adopted from writings
on the history of colonialism in India. Entities in this stream
are embedded in culture that is sensitive to local community
practices. Interconnections between the entities of this stream
however are not yet strong enough to be considered as constituting
an innovation network.
We shall first explore the genesis of the two
streams and then examine the formation of the elite STIN. In
the end we shall indicate the possibility of forming a more
comprehensive national STIN through synergy between the two
streams. It is recognised that the human centred systems movement
originating in Europe and the EU-India Cross Cultural Innovation
Network project is also concerned with the issue of synergy
between the two.
Back to top
Entrepreneurial Innovations
in Gujarat
Presented at the International Woprkshp/Conference
on , GLS, Ahmedabda, December 2002. Revised version to appear
in the AI & Society Journal, Springer-Verlag. London, 2002
Dhawal Mehta and Bhalchandra Joshi
Director, GLS Institute of Business Management , Ahmedabad,
India.
Email: glsibm@wilnetonline.net
Principal, City Arts College, Gujarat Law Society, Ahmedabad,
India.
Summary
Gujarat has been identified as an enterpreneurial
hub of India primarily due to innovative behaviour of Gujarati
enterpreneurs. This has led Gujarat to be known as a model of
enterpreneurial innovations. This model of enterpreneurial innovations
has been developed from the study of entrepreneurs in a variety
of industries from the region and several industrial clusters
of enterprises in Gujarat. The study points to the transformation
of many communities, particularly the Patel community which
was traditionally an agriculture community into manufacturing
class is a new emergent in Gujarat’s industrial scenario.
Gujarat, better known as entrepreneurial hub
of India can be considered as a major centre for innovations
happening at the grass root level with strong cultural influence.
The enterprising behaviour is largely attributed to typical
culture comprising of traditions, values beliefs and attitudes
of the region and can be of great interest in light of cross
cultural innovation model. Gujarat model of entrepreneurial
innovation is identified on the basis of innovative behaviour
of Gujarati entrepreneurs resulting from their entrepreneurial
orientations. The model is developed from the study of entrepreneurs
in a variety of industries from the region and several industrial
clusters of enterprises in Gujarat.
Gujarat is one of the developed states in India
with a population of about 51 million people. It has a strategic
location which gives it an easy accessibility to the Western,
Middle-East and African markets. It has a longest coastline
among all states in India 1600 Kms., dotted with 1 major, 11
intermediate and 29 minor ports. Mundra, a recently commissioned
port offers 15 meters of permissible draft, the maximum in India.
Gujarat is well equipped with rich heritage of entrepreneurial
skill. With a population of about 5 per cent of India, Gujarat
accounts for about 10 per cent of India’s gross national
product. The co-operative sector in Gujarat has a major share
in dairy processing. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation,
(Amul) has become a formidable player in the dairy processing
with nearly 40 per cent of the market share. This Federation
is a major innovation in organisational structure and it successfully
competes with major multinationals in dairy products. It breaks
a major myth that only private sector is capable of creating
a competitive advantage. Amul Ghee, Shrikand or Gulab Jamun
is now available in more than 2000 stores in US and U.K. after
just eight months of the launch of these products. In 1999,
Amul has launched its products in Gulf markets covering Dubai,
Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar. This is indeed a
great achievement for a milk marketing federation of farmers’
co-operative societies .
Back to top
Learning Organisations-The
Process of Innovation and Technological Change
Presented at the International Woprkshp/Conference
on , GLS, Ahmedabda, December 2000. Revised version to appear
in the AI & Society Journal, Springer-Verlag. London, 2002
V.P.Kharbanda
National Institute of Science, Technology and Development
Studies
Pusa Gate, K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110 012,
Phone: (+91-11)5765380; Fax: 5754640;
E-mail: kharbandavpk@yahoo.com
Summary
In the present scenario of globalisation,
knowledge has become the prime factor of production for competitive
advantage. This calls for acquisition and utilization of knowledge
for innovation and technical change on a constant basis, which
is only possible in a ‘Learning Organization’. Innovative
activities of a learning organization are influenced by three
main factors 1) Internal learning; 2) External learning; and
3) the innovation strategies decided upon by the enterprise
management. An assumption has been made that, particularly in
developing countries, absorption and adaptation of technologies
i.e. indigenization takes place through a process of ‘Learning
by Doing’. Taking this into consideration, this paper focuses
on a few case studies carried at NISTADS, New Delhi, India,
on small enterprises in the formal as well as traditional sector,
highlighting the learning process in an organizational context
and how it brings in innovation and technological change at
enterprise level. The study brings out that learning environment
in an organizational context is an indispensable process to
be innovative and building up capabilities for technological
change. This in turn also calls for strong networking of the
enterprises with the academia, R&D institutions, and other
enterprises, to create knowledge clusters. This builds up a
strong case for network approach of learning organizations not
only at the regional level but also at the Cross-Cultural level
for constant innovation and technical change.
Over the last few years, knowledge as a prime
factor for production and competitive advantage has gained importance.
It has become indispensable to maintain competitive advantage
through constant innovation and technological change, thereby
creating high value added products. This capability to bring
in Technological Change (TC) and innovativeness is directly
proportional to generating and application of knowledge and
thus the enterprises, which excel in this, are also likely to
dominate high value added global markets. As generation, acquisition
and application of knowledge (both formal as well as tacit)
is a continuing process, a ‘learning enterprise’ is
likely to lead the race for technological competitiveness.
Technological Change (TC) in an enterprise
emanates basically from three sources, i.e., 'learning by doing'
process, import of technology and formal R&D. While in developed
countries formal R&D is the major input for TC, in developing
countries TC occurs mainly through import of technologies and
by learning processes, which may be formal or tacit. This is
because most of the enterprises in developing countries do not
have the capabilities to create frontier technologies/ innovations,
which require a well-developed R&D infrastructure. As such
this is true for most of the small enterprises particularly
in the traditional sector in developing countries including
India. These enterprises start off by implementing technologies
borrowed from outside, which is followed by incremental changes
through the learning process. This learning process takes place
at the shop floor of the enterprise through formal or informal
communication channels. While the formal communication channels
may be through educational training and retraining programmes
and official communications with fellow managers or workers,
the informal channels may be through communications with the
fellow workers or members of the family particularly the parents
to tap the more difficult tacit knowledge which may also be
not available easily. This kind of learning leading to TC, although
incremental, plays a very significant role in overall technical
advance and indigenous technology capability building in the
small enterprises particularly in the traditional sector in
developing countries.
A learning organization must take into account
all these activities in order to raise their innovative capabilities.
Further, operational capability of these components in a learning
organization is dependent on many macro and micro economic variables.
The macro economic variables, which are external, include suitable
national government policies and various regulation, role of
financial institutions and instruments for generation and import
of advance technologies. The micro economic variables, which
are internal to an enterprise, include formal educational background
of the workers, learning by doing, learning environment, training,
R&D intensity including financial inputs and entrepreneurial
capabilities. These micro-economic variables play a crucial
role in constant learning and building up of technological capabilities
at the enterprise level. In this context, the basic premise
of this study is to focus on a few case studies to explore as
to how the small enterprises in the formal sector or artisan
groups in the traditional sector in India are transforming themselves
into learning organizations to enhance their innovative capabilities
to the extent that these could compete effectively in the on-going
process of globalisation. This process of learning organizations
has been substantiated here by a few case studies taken from
the small-scale sector and traditional artisan sector in India
Back to top
Entrepreneurial Spirit
of the Indian Farmer
Presented at the International Woprkshp/Conference
on , GLS, Ahmedabda, December 2000. Revised version to appear
in the AI & Society Journal, Springer-Verlag. London, 2002
Kavita Mehra
National Institute Of Science Technology And Development
Studies
K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110 012, India
email: kavitamehra@yahoo.com
Fax: +91-11 5754640
Summary
The paper highlights entrepreneurial skills
of Indian farmers, informal channels of communications in the
socio-cultural setting of the village, the tacit knowledge,
and factors responsible for the adoption of floriculture in
the open field conditions. It illustrates that the diffusion
of new technology in a farming community is dependent on culture-based
communication and the tacit-knowledge driven entrepreneurial
spirit of a few.
Agriculture is the backbone of developing economies.
Agricultural development must precede or at least go hand in
hand for general economic development. In India, agriculture
is the largest economic activity and in the top position in
providing work and jobs to people. The main features of Indian
agriculture have been the low productivity and backwardness.
An attempt to fight out these problems, various programmes have
been undertaken by the Government of India. During 1960-61,
with the help of Ford Foundation, the ‘Package Programme’
or Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP) was initiated
in seven districts. During 1964-65, the new policy was put into
action when 114 districts were taken up for Intensive Agriculture
Area Programme (IAAP) which was for an intensive agricultural
development of selected areas. The "New Strategy"
for agricultural development was initiated in 1966, which in
essence called for the implementation of High Yielding Varieties
Programme (HYVP), in all the districts selected under IADP and
IAAP schemes. The strategy was concerned with higher productivity
of crops per acre, but with multiple cropping.
The Indian Government policies of applying
‘package programme’ give an impression in the literature
that the change was technology driven. However, the role of
extension services in the agricultural sector, including the
involvement of extension workers at the grass root level have
also played a crucial role. The diffusion of technology, through
networking of research centers and other government institutions
with the farmers, has facilitated the success of ‘Green
revolution’. The entrepreneurial spirit of farmers can
be regarded as a key to this revolution; perhaps they knew the
potential of their land and need for the adoption of technology.
The response of farmers in the use of HYVs and other inputs
had been enthusiastic. They were confident of their tacit knowledge
of farming and were willing to capture the opportunity for change.
The Green revolution has been interpreted as
the ‘wheat revolution’, since it recorded significant
and consistent increase in productivity in case of wheat only.
Some impact was of this revolution has been seen on other food
grain crops like rice and maize; but not comparable to that
on wheat crop. Apart from the impact of New Agricultural Policy
on restricted food grain crops, it was restricted to few regions
of the country, and was not a solution to the small and marginal
farmers. However, the technological change brought a shift in
the minds of illiterate but ‘scientifically informed’
farmers, making them realize the importance of high quality
seeds and other farming inputs for increasing the productivity
of same land. In the Indian history of agriculture, the role
of ‘green revolution’ is a landmark as it has made
India more than self sufficient in wheat grain production inspite
of continuous population growth. After this particular technological
change in food grain production, no other organised technological
change has been attempted for the common farmer at the Indian
Government level. The higher productivity of land gained by
adopting HYV seeds of wheat has now produced a saturation in
the benefits level to farmers. The ‘alert farmers’
of India have thus remained on the lookout for other opportunities
for higher economic returns. Popularity of floriculture sector
amongst traditional crop (wheat and sugarcane) growing farmers
appears to be one such case during the 1990s. The moment some
farmers learnt of the availability of imported bulbs of superior
quality flowers and the demand of superior quality cut flowers
in the market, they decided to venture into it. Though the focus
of Indian government was to promote green house cultivation
of flowers for export purpose, Indian farmers went ahead in
the business of flower cultivation by themselves without any
guidance and experience of growing exotic bulbs in open field
conditions. They started with small plots of cultivation for
experimentation. Once they succeeded in growing the crop and
sell it, they expanded the area of open field cultivation. Most
of them by now have devoted major portion of their land to floriculture
activity, and some of them have even gone ahead by taking more
land on lease for flower cultivation. We can thus say that the
farmers have acted as entrepreneurs.
Back to top
Role of Universities
in IT Education in India
Presented at the IEU-India Network Forum
on ICT and Higher Education, University of Delhi, December 2000.
Revised version to appear in the AI & Society Journal, Springer-Verlag.
London, 2002
Abhai Mansingh
IT in Society Division, Institute Of Informatics &
Communication,
South Campus, University Of Delhi
New Delhi 110021
Phone No.7667237
E-mail: abhaymansingh@yahoo.com;
smansingh@home.com
Summary
In the wake of information technology revolution,
the paper describes the changing role of universities to promote
IT education in India to generate qualitative and competitive
manpower in the face of mushrooming of private institutions
in the field of IT. The rapid growth of private teaching initiatives
reflects inadequacies of the public educational system to the
need of emerging IT environment, especially considering the
high prices charged by the private training. It is pointed out
that the emerging knowledge society and the economy is not going
to be based on IT alone, but it will depend on the development
of both infotech as well as basic research in domain areas.
Any policy on IT education should ensure that basic disciplines
are not to be ignored. Universities should develop new and innovative
programmes for students from different basic disciplines to
give training for high-end jobs. To promote IT education a new
innovative concept of earning while learning has been introduced
recently. Highlights some of the initiatives started by Delhi
University to modify / improve the course programmes for IT
education looking at the needs of the industry.
The invention of the tiny transistor in 1948
has truly transformed human society today. That invention gave
birth to a new era of electronic machines based on transistors
and resistors of which today’s computer are only the most
recent manifestation. These fifty odd years have witnessed a
speed of technological transformation that almost defies imagination.
Indeed, today’s computers compare to their progeny half-a-century
ago like human beings compare to apes, from whom we evolved
several thousands of years ago.
The recent convergence of the capabilities
of modern computers with telecommunications has further revolutionized
the technology for Information Communication and Storage (popularly
called Information Technology). As a result, any computer of
a network today can access information stored in any other networked
computer anywhere else in the globe (the Internet). One indicator
of the speed of technological developments in this area is the
fact that time on the internet is often measured in "Web-years"
- four of which make one calendar year!
It comes as no surprise that this phenomenal
technological change has been so rapid that the society has
not yet been able to fully understand and absorb it and its
implications. This is true not just in developing countries
like India but also in industrialised countries where the penetration
of computer technology into the society is far deeper. In fact,
based upon the experience of industrialized countries, there
are strong grounds to believe that we are still witnessing only
the tip of the proverbial iceberg as regards implications of
the new technologies both at an economic level as well as at
broader levels of society and culture.
The rapid technological changes -- poorly comprehended
by even educated people in our society -- along with large-scale
wealth creation and commercial dynamism in the Information Technology
(IT) sector are raising critical challenges for our universities
and the education system. These include commercial exploitation
of students and individuals ill-informed of the new technologies,
declining importance of the basic sciences in our educational
output, and a virtual marginalisation of the university system
in the explosive growth of the IT sector. Each of these is detrimental
to our society in the long run. How should universities, with
their special role in society, react to these challenges, and
what role can the University Grants Commission(UGC) and other
government agencies play in developing a meaningful response
to these challenges is the subject matter of this paper.
Back to top
An Indigenous process
of pedagogic innovation: a case study on curriculum development
Presented at the IEU-India Network Forum
on ICT and Higher Education, University of Delhi, December 2000.
Revised version to appear in the AI & Society Journal, Springer-Verlag.
London, 2002
Pratibha Jolly
Department of Physics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
110 007
Tel: 91-11-7666804 (work)/91-11-6212289 (home)
email: pjolly@vsnl.com
Summary
We describe our attempts at curriculum development
at the undergraduate level working within the constraints of
a large traditional university system. Curriculum reform is
described as a three-step process of product innovation, accommodation
and assimilation. In a dual pronged strategy, students are constructively
engaged in investigative projects and assigned specific tasks
for one, giving them a flavor of creative research and two,
development of curricular products. The process of transfer
of pedagogic innovations into the formal classrooms is enhanced
by a teacher training program that aims to provide experiential
learning of research-based innovative teaching practices, catalyze
process of reflection through classroom research and establish
a collaborative network of teachers.
Nowhere are the contradictions in India more
evident than in the state of its science education; nowhere
the challenges more. On one side, the nation revels in the spectacular
advances it has made in the field of science and technology,
the competence of its scientific manpower, the creativity and
native intelligence of its people. On the other side, classrooms
with the distinction of producing the third largest scientific
work force in the world lie in a state of morass. Barring few
exceptions, tertiary classrooms even in premium colleges and
universities cannot withstand scrutiny. Science education in
India has by and large stood immanently frozen at its historically
traditional roots even five decades after independence. Overstressed
by the sheer number of students, infrastructure deficiencies
and support services, most institutes have little motivation
to ponder over intricacies of curriculum development and quality
in education. A nation on the move, however, cannot rest its
laurels on accomplishments of its prodigious few. It needs formal
education systems that unleash, nurture and sustain the inherent
talent of its burgeoning masses to ensure large scale change
and quality input in all facets of its development.
Altering inert educational systems with firmly
entrenched practices is a complex task. A community act, it
involves many actors. At the outset, it requires an honest appraisal
of objectives, the learning environment and criterions that
assess learning outcomes. Alternate plans need structural changes,
new curriculum materials, teaching strategies, instruments for
assessment, mechanisms for dissemination and pilot trials. All
this can not be done in isolation from the key players: the
students and the teachers. Thus the foremost requirement for
ushering change is an understanding of the social dynamics of
human development.
In this paper we describe our experiences in
developing alternate teaching scenarios working within the constraints
of a large traditional university system. The emphasis is not
as much on the theoretical details of materials developed as
on the processes of innovation and change. To better portray
the magnitude of the task first we outline the ecological framework
of our university and describe its set of practices. Then we
trace the evolution of our work within the larger perspective
of one, curriculum development and two, professional development
of teachers as a community of action researchers.
Back to top
Convergence, the University
of the Future and the Future of the University
Presented at the EU-India Network Workshop,
Bologna/Urbino May 2001. Revised version to appear in the AI
& Society Journal, Springer-Verlag. London, 2002
David Smith
School of Art, Media and Design
University of Wales College, Newport
Email: david.smith@newport.ac.uk
Summary
This paper deals with some of the education
and training issues which arise from the Council of Europe Culture
Committee Draft Recommendation on Cultural Work. It commends
the general tenor of the document, and in particular its attempts
to chart some future career trajectories. However, it argues
that the draft itself is incomplete without explicit reference
to art. The role of the arts in relation to the Cultural Industries
is discussed with specific reference to Wales and the Welsh
economy. One set of possible fusions of Art and Technology are
illustrated by reference to digital arts courses in the University
of Wales College, Newport.
The paper questions the ability of the current
university system to respond appropriately to the complex demands
of an Information Economy. It argues that the new relationships
between creative subjects and technology implicit in the Draft
Recommendation require new thinking about the nature and purpose
of universities per se. In particular, attention is drawn to
the growing involvement of the private sector in higher education.
It is argued that it may not be appropriate to think of the
‘university of the future’ in terms of current public
sector and quasi public sector institutions, but rather in terms
of an emporium, based on an international trade in educational
services, and with the ‘University’ as we now understand
it occupying the functions of licensing, quality assurance and
cultural custodianship.
Back to top
Multimedia Archiving of
Technological Change in a Traditional Creative Industry: A Case
Study of the Dhokra Artisans of Bankura, West Bengal
Prepared for R &D project on Multimedia
and Artisan Enterprise of the EU-Indian Innovation Network project.
Revised version to appear in the AI & Society Journal, Springer-Verlag.
London, 2002
David Smith
School of Art, Media and Design, University of Wales
College, Newport
PO Box 179 Newport NP18 3YG UK
Email: david.smith@newport.ac.uk
Rajesh Kochhar
NISTADS (National Institute of Science, technology and
Development Studies)
KS Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110012, India
Email: rkk@nistads.res.in
Summary
This article deals with a process of technological
change in the traditional cire perdue (dhokra) brass-making
craft as it is practised by one group of families in Bikna Village,
near Bankura in West Bengal, India. This change was initiated
and coordinated by the Indian CSIR (Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research) agency NISTADS (National Institute for
Science, Technology and Development Studies). It involved replacing
an ancient traditional but inefficient metal-foundry technique
with another which is almost as ancient but more efficient.
The impact of this apparently simple change on the dhokra practice
has been both profound and rapid.
Research and development carried out at UWCN
suggests that that multimedia technologies make it possible
to develop adequate representations of skilled performance mediated
by the craftsman him- or herself. Particularly valuable in this
respect is the capacity of multimedia systems to use a full
range of modalities of description, including video, sound,
still image, conventional text and technical diagrams. This
technology makes it possible to present very complex information
in a variety of formats and contexts. The study is therefore
part of a wider exploration of the potential capability of multimedia
as a tool for ethnographic research.
The name ‘Dhokra’ or ‘Dokra’
was formerly used to indicate a group of nomadic craftsmen,
scattered over Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh in India, and
is now generically applied to a variety of beautifully shaped
and decorated brassware products created by the cire perdue
or ‘lost wax’ process. The craft of lost-wax casting
is an ancient one in India, and appears to have existed in an
unbroken tradition from the earliest days of settled civilisation
in the sub-continent. The traditional themes of these cast metal
sculptures include images of Hindu or ‘tribal’ gods
and goddesses, bowls, figures of people or deities riding elephants,
musicians, horse and rider figures, elephants, cattle, and other
figures of people, animals, and birds.
There has never been a detailed audio-visual
record of the craft, and this current report aims to fill this
gap in the record. It documents a period during which the people
of Bikna are adapting their traditional way of working to the
demands and possibilities both of a new technology and a new
commercial environment. It therefore provides a unique contemporary
record of a historic living tradition undergoing rapid and fundamental
change.
Although there is a small but increasing demand
for dhokra work from urban Indian families, as well as in the
tourist trade, the craft is threatened with extinction. Most
of the remaining dhokra communities are extremely poor, and
their economic condition has caused many families to leave the
craft to find wage employment in local manufacturing centres
or in metropolitan centres such as Kolkata (Calcutta).
Back to top
Information and Communication
Technologies, Organisations and skills: Convergence and Persistence
Prepared for the R &D Activity on
Multimedia and `Cultural Industrries of the EU-Indian Innovation
Network project. Revised version to appear in the AI & Society
Journal, Springer-Verlag. London, 2002
Francesco Garibaldo
Fondazione Istituto per il Lavoro
Via Marconi 8, I - 40122 Bologna
Email: f.garibaldo@ipielle.emr.it
Summary
This article, first of all, supports the idea
that the undeniable process of ICT based technological convergence
implies the social, cultural and business unification of the
world of media and culture. The poor performance of the megamerger
is a clear indicator of the unstable ground of the convergence
hypothesis. Secondly it argues in favor of co-operation between
different expertises, skills and cultures to make multimedia
products or to supply multimedia services, instead of creating
from scratch a brand new class of hybrid skills and professions.
Thirdly a variety of new possible and realistically achievable
professional profiles in cultural industries and institutions
are illustrated. Eventually a set of public policies, in the
light of a new role for cities and regions, are developed.
My starting points are firstly, the very low
political status of a public discussion more concerned with
the labour implications of ICT than its business or technological
aspects and secondly, the risk of purely reactive policies in
this field. This perspective implies a critical analysis of
three main issues concerning globalisation, convergence and
new organisational patterns. The reason why this article will
re-examine the key point of the actual international debate,
namely the convergence hypothesis, is that a strong bias over
this key analytical point can be found in strong technologically-based
policies as those presented in the Green Paper on Convergence
issued by the European Commission (1998).
Back to top
|
