Much of rural India lives in what can be termed "Media Darkness"- Where people do not have access to facilities like television or radio, and in some places, there's no access to newspapers either. Lack of access to information has been one of the impediments to development, in turn, further alienates the rural sector. In a bid to breach this vicious circle, an initiative called Project i-Shakti has used technologies to provide information based on demand, via a network, to villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Hindustan lever limited (HLL) began a programme for rural empowerment called project Shakti. Project Shakti aims at creating enterpreneurial opportunities in villages all over India so they do not need to rely on agriculture alone for their livelihood. Most of the individuals who have registered with the programme are women, and are called the Shakti entrepreneurs.

"When Unilever developed an interactive dialogue technology, we considered its purposeful implemenatation and integration with Project Shakti. Thus was born Project i-shakti. We decided to begin the venture in AP as the state had already initiated an e-Seva programme, and we tied up with them to launch the services we had conceived under i-Shakti," says Rohit Harirajan, head of the project.

The i-shakti venture seems simple enough when stated out aloud: it is a kiosk-based interactive dialogue system that contains a computer terminal and offers free informational services aimed at education and community development in rural India. The aim of the project is to create an IT-based rural information service so that the population bas access to critical information via the Internet, such as updates on farming practices and hygiene. In view of the fact that Andhra Pradesh (AP) has a total of 7.500 predominantly agriculture-based villages, the task at hand was monumental.

YonEarth interactive, a Mumbai based IT-enabled marketing solutions company, was hired to design, develop and manage the venture. "Every one knew it was an extremely uphill task," says Vivek Marolli, Director, YonEarth Interactive. "lt was completely untreaded territory. Making such an ambitious project work in far-flung villages across rural India, under difficult conditions such as sporadic power supply, heat, dust, poor computer literacy and almost non-existent or very slow Internet connectivity, would indeed be a challenge. We had to design a system that would beat all these barriers and work in ways that were never thought possible before."

After a study of the requirements for the project, and a year spent on designing and building the software, the system was ready to be launched. While building the ICT-the Integrated Circuit Technology-the aim was to have a villagers get their hands on a computer rather than employ a kiosk owner as the interface between the technology and the user. Hence, the project emphasised on using a voice-and video-based system, and uses "rich media"-software designed using Macromedia Flash-besides being database, driven, so that all the intelligence can be built on it.

A voice system would eliminate the necessity for the user to read off the Screen, hence making it easier for an illiterate user. It was also important to have a system that would allow the central servers to connect to these kiosks through the barriers of poor Internet connectivity, and enable large volumes of rich media files and information to go back and forth between the Mumbai office and thousands of such kiosks on an everyday basis. Finally, the users had to be taught to use and understand what they stood to gain by using the system, besides being trained to use the mouse and keyboard.

Each i-Shakti kiosk is owned by an individual, and it comprises a desktop PC system that operates independently of all other kiosks on the network. but is connected to the central server to which it can synchronise data through a dial-up connection. The i-Shakti software needs to be installed on PCs with suitable configurations.

Once deployed on the PC, it acts as a kiosk, and the owner of the kiosk is expected to synchronise the data and transfer it to the central server once a day. The kiosk owner also helps new users register and guides them when they use the system. The central server communicates to thousands of such kiosks through a specially-developed Compressed Data Synchronization-based Dialogue Technology, which allows the kiosks to work in offline mode. This reduces the cost of operations to the kiosk owner, and at the same time, he can connect to the Central Server every day for two-way data updates. Technical support teams, which have been set up all over AP, also monitor and solve any problems on the kiosks within the state. For every forty kiosks, there is a technical manager who tackles any problems that the kiosks face.

Currently, every one of the i-Shakti kiosks in AP has various channels of interactive rich-media information created by culling various sources such as opinions of agriculture experts, the Internet, and government agencies, on topics such as health, agriculture, animal husbandry, education, employment, women's issues, and entertainment. As a registered user, one can visit the i-Shakti kiosk in his village six days a week and access information and services. Since there are experts who are a part of the project-some on a payroll and some voluntary-the villagers can also post questions on a query mailing System.

How is such information critical to the villagers? Well, most villages are isolated and independently-functioning entities, and they rely on their existing means of information and resources to aid their everyday activities. This implies that in case of an illness, they have access only to a local doctor, and possibly no chance at a second opinion. With i-Shakti, the villager has access to information that comes to him from a recognised government source, and is an authorised voice-most of the experts on the panel of i-Shakti are people employed with various agencies all over AP. For example, the expert on wheat might be an agricultural scientist at the University of Vijaywada. Besides, the information is free, and one can gain insights in any develoments in a particular section such as health or employment right from the kiosk in his village.

The i-shakti system us designed as an easy to use, "talking" voice-based system in Telugu, the state language. All information on various topics is in the form of audio or video, and the user does not necessarily have to read off the screen. The graphical user interfaces are designed such that icons speak when a mouse is scrolled over them. Once a user knows what area he wants information on, he can click the relevent icon for further information.

For example, on the agriculture icon, there are subsections titled Wheat, Paddy, Cotton and so on. Once a user scrolled over an image of, say Cotton, a voice announces the name of the crop in Telugu. He can then click on the Cotton icon to access information on types of cotton, seasons for growth, pest control, fertilisers, and so on.

"We have avoided making the Internet available to the villagers to keep costs down. The Net is only used to synchronise data and mail it to the office in Mumbai. We monitor each and every bit of information that is passed back and fourth and between user, expert and kiosk owner. Even this data comes in during the synchronisation. Hence, we can keep a tab on everything from our office in Mumbai and run things efficiently," says Marolli.

How each members uses the data is also tracked and recorded. The system is constatntly monitored for the most frequently visited sections and the duration of the visits. Based on usage, there is a Lucky draw each month for the person who uses the system most efficently. Besided, relevent offers and rewards are given to other user who use the system efficiently. For example, if a member visit the Education section regularly, he might be offered a discount on stationary or books. This offer directly appear on the computer screen when the user log in, and this system encourages members to use the system. Besides, the fact that the information is free is an incentive by itself.

In less than six months since i-Shakti launched in September 2005, the network has grown to about 970 kiosks in 21 districts in Andhra Pradesh, with a registered customer base of 1.5 lakh users.

One of the kiosk owners, Shantamma, says, "The programme has created a stir ever since it began. We have people from all age group using the system. Practically all are registered users and we have six to seven users coming in everyday".

The system is designed such that it can be set up and configured for use in different languages. The groundwork has been laid to take the intiative forward," says Marolli.

The people of Nallagonda, AP, where the first kiosk was set up, are not unaware of the oppertunity that is at their doorstep today. Provided with resources, these people are apt to make the best use of them.