Vol. II: Shaping Information and Communication ... - IMA,ZLW & IfU

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developments in the Third World. Quite a few of the volunteers are journalists, or have media
backgrounds. Some have experience in IT, while this is not always the case.
Implementation Strategy
Bytes for All, through the efforts of one of its volunteers, an expatriate Indian living in USA,
started an initiative to get computers from the US to his home country. This led to an
agreement with the Greenstar Foundation, under which Bytes for All would promote
Greenstar’s village community run e-commerce site [www.e-greenstar.com] and in turn
receive a percentage for all purchases that are done through the site, which would be used to
buy computers for rural schools in Bangladesh.
The project, which began initially as an experiment initiated by just two people, over time
evolved into a techno-creative platform, from which 16 volunteers from across South Asia,
numerous supporters and readers, pool their individual resources and work on issues that
focus upon “IT for Social Changes”. Albeit its amorphous nature, growth tendency and
development pattern which is rather unpredictable and uncontrolled, the project has so far
succeeded in accommodating expert opinions and contributions from a large cross section of
people from different walks of life, which many other organizations with far greater resources
and funding have till today failed to achieve.
Impact
When a cataclysmic earthquake struck Gujarat, the emergency email account
[gujarat_reachout@bytesforall.org] opened up by Bytes for All, offering services to trace
missing people through a HAM radio based network working in Gujarat benefited many. In
this initiative, Bytes for All collaborated with a team of 12 HAM radio operators, who helped
unite hundreds of families in the aftermath of the quake.
Bytes for All has brought out numerous issues concerning Public Health, Disaster Mitigation,
Non English Computing, Mass Education, and on e-Governance etc. as the focal topic in its
online Portal, and each month, an offline ezine also goes out to its readers. Through both
these ICT tools, Bytes for All has managed to bring into focus and highlight quite a few ‘often
unnoticed’ success stories from the region, a place where access to computers is still very
much of a class privilege. Some examples of such initiatives that after being featured by Bytes
For All have gained attention globally include: