What is a Virtual Village

The present proposal will develop a pilot project to initiate two virtual villages, in which the potential of ICTs will be harmonized with the traditions and the development of the rural community. It is planned to be based upon the ongoing Sarvodaya Telecenter project, which started as an ICT4D pilot project in 1997. Sarvodaya already has 7 Community Telecenters and are functional as ICT nodes for community development. The present proposal will develop an extension to the two selected Telecenters in order to establish two 'Virtual Villages' equipped with wireless technology which will further enhance the use of ICT for development within a traditional village environment.

Two 'Tele-huts' will be established in each village near a 'village-community-bank'fCBO office (community based organization), and they will be networked (externally) to the District Telecenters. Wireless networks will be established within each village (internally). Village Access Points (VAPs), three 'static' ICT points at a temple, a school, and an ayurvedic practitioner, and two 'mobile' ICT points, will provide access to women, farmers and entrepreneurs. The ICT network will be made functional as a supporting mechanism to the on-going community development work.

Two academic research studies, on ICT technological aspect & socio-anthropological aspect, will be conducted based on the performances of two virtual villages. The technology research team will concentrate on the aspects of adaptability of networking technologies to the rural environment, adaptability of open source technologies, technological bottle-necks etc. The socio-anthropological research team will study the aspect of response patterns of diverse community groups, including gender, behavioural changes and impact made by ICT on the community life. The replicability and sustainability of the project concept will be closely monitored. It is expected that the research findings will be disseminated to the policy-makers and other development workers.