Villianur, a few kms from Pondichery, was just another smallcoastal village. With almost no communication infrastructure, it was isolatedfrom the outside knowledge that could make a positive impact on theiragriculture-based livelihood.

Prof. MS Swaminathan, one of the architects of India’sgreen revolution, took up the challenge through his MS Swaminathan ResearchFoundation (MSSRF). Ably supported by the International Development ResearchCentre (IDRC), Canada, the project began in 1998 with a MoU between MSSRF &V Link, a Chennai-based company. They decided to use radio as the communicationmedium and chose Motorola Radios GM300 25W/12.5 KHz and GP300 with retrofittwo-way radio.

The project office at Villianur, is connected through fullduplex wireless link using Motorola GM300 to six-satellite centres up to 10 to15 kms away. This system allows simultaneous data and voice transmissionallowing people to stay in touch. Generic knowledge is transformed to becomeuseful in the local context. The value addition is through two dial-up accounts.The centre also functions as the hub of a local area network for data and voicetransmission covering the project villages. An EPABX, similar to the ones usedin offices for providing intercom facility, is the key instrument. Everylocation on the network, including the office at Villianur, is a node in this"intercom" network, which functions with VHF radio (full duplex)rather than copper wires as the medium of signal transmission. With the help ofregular modems, PCs can be connected to this network.

Through this project the rural residents without phone (ittakes three-to-five years wait for standard telephone lines) can go tosolar-powered village computer centre, for local news about the weather reports,marketing/price info, Govt. benefit schemes, entitlement data, pest &disease info. Fish density in the sea and movement direction, wave heights,daily market price, public wireless telephone and so on.

During the first phase, the volunteers have been trained inall the basic operations of using a PC running MS Windows 95. They are alsofamiliar with dispatch/receipt of messages using MS Exchange, the optimalprotocol for use on the analog wireless network. In addition, they have beentrained in composing documents on MS Word 97 (using I-LEAP Tamil fonts and thekeyboard layout developed by C-DAC, Pune). Training in elementary maintenancesuch as defragmentation of hard disk has also been provided. A small number ofvolunteers, on their own, have picked up the use of HTML; the techniques ofrecording voice in "WAV" format and the compression of files using"Realaudio" for ease of transmission of voice as an e-mail attachment.The trainers were the project staff with occasional help provided by the staffof the Informatics Centre.

The info centre is run entirely by the local people for theirneeds. They have a capacity to absorb new technology. The aim was to supplyinformation that rural villagers regard as useful.