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Outreach in India

A United Nations-sponsored organization is using kiosks to advance the cause of literacy and reach the world's technologically unconnected.

February 19, 2002

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The numbers are staggering. According to a United Nations statistical study on world literacy rates, it is estimated that in 21 nations worldwide at least 40 percent of the adult population (15-year-old and up) is illiterate. And in another 19 nations, at least 40 percent of all adult women fail to meet basic literacy standards.

For every Latvia - which enjoys a 99.8 percent literacy rate - there is a country such as Burkina Faso, where a 1997 literacy study done by UNESCO found that 66.1 percent of males adults and 85.9 percent of females adults are illiterate.

In one of the world's most populous nations, India, the problem is acute. The country's 2001 census revealed a population of 1,027,015,247, including nearly 870 million people over the age of six. Of that group, 34.62 percent - more than 300 million people - are illiterate.

Dealing with literacy is a special challenge for Dr. Rashmi Mayur, the Indian-born, Harvard-educated director of the UN-sponsored International Institute for Sustainable Future. Splitting his time between Bombay and New York, Mayur has devoted himself to finding new avenues for encouraging literacy.

One solution that has him optimistic about the future involves electronic kiosks. Working with computer manufacturer IBM, telecommunciations firm Ericsson, and SyberSay Communications Corp., Mayur's organization is in the process of deploying five kiosks in villages around Mumbai, India.

Envisioned as a way of stimulating literacy, educational, and business opportunities, Mayur is confident the kiosk program will eventually spread throughout India and then to other countries in need of literacy services.

On the surface, it would seem odd for a kiosk, which usually relies on the user's written language comprehension to be successful, to serve such a role. But Mayur said kiosk technology combined with SyberSay's voice recognition technology makes sense.

"One hundred percent literacy may come, but we don't need to wait for that," Mayur said. "The question here is how do we take a leap, and how long should these people wait. If voice communication is able to do the job, why don't we expedite it."

Breaking the ICE

Known as the Information, Communication, and Education (ICE) Center, the kiosks are intended as a literacy vehicle as well as a bridge linking Indian villages to the rest of the country.

Mayur estimates there are 600,000 villages in India, many of which do not have advanced technological capability. The centers are run off wireless systems, allowing the kiosks to be deployed even in the country's most remote locales.

"In the ICE system, you have the availability of communication linkages in rural areas," he said. "There are 600,000 villages in India, and about 60 percent of them are disconnected. Having a wireless system makes it easier to be connected."

The kiosks are designed to meet a number of functions for each community, including remote education, government planning, communication, and empowerment for women and children.

"When you build a kiosk it can serve more than one purpose," Mayur said. "You can have education, you can have weather forecasts, you can have business opportunities. Now a businessman does not have to go to the villages around him one after another to sell his mangoes and bananas. That's a real advantage.

"The ICE makes it easier for these people to be connected to towns all around, and thereby they can (reach) their market," he added.

Steve Puthuff, SyberSay chairman, said India's business and political leaders have supported the project, making it easier to move ahead.

"The local governments and the federal government are all behind this, and so are the software centers in India," Puthuff said. "They are all very interested in developing information kiosks."

According to Mayur, Puthuff - who was awarded the Indian-based Priyadarshini Global Award in 2001 for his work on the project - and SyberSay are a perfect fit for the job.

"These are some of the great visionaries in the area of IT," he said. "I've met so many people working in IT, and Puthuff is probably the most visionary person I have met."

A natural voice

One of the keys to making the project work is finding a way to remove literacy and language barriers. Which is where voice-command recognition comes into play.

"They speak a tremendous amount of English over there; English is their second language," Puthuff said. "They have hundreds of native dialects, but we are interested in bringing the village-to-country concept together in one basic language."

"It's not an insurmountable mission," he continued. "It's very appropriate to do voice command and control."

Added Mayur: "The world has been centered around the natural voice for years. Natural voice is the best way for humans to communicate."

Communication on the ICE kiosks is made possible through SyberSay's system, which includes a headset and microphone that connects directly into the kiosk. Users speak into microphone and the kiosk identifies the dialect, launching the system.

Once launched, the voice-activation system continues to guide users through the variety of services available. The program eliminates the need for outside help, Puthuff said, which is critical because of its remote location.

"Our system requires no teacher," he said. "It has an embedded virtual teacher. You don't even need to know how to use a computer because it's voice activated, which brings it down to its simplest level."

Mayur stressed the importance of launching the project in India's isolated villages, saying that was where the greatest need for literacy and advocacy services exists.

"Two-thirds of the people of the world live in villages, in poor countries," he said. "Among the two-thirds, 70 percent are totally disconnected. The first beneficiaries (of the project) will be poor people and people who are in businesses. Most importantly, the people who would benefit are people who are totally deprived of literacy, education, and communication."

Kiosk consultant Francie Mendelsohn pointed out that multi-language kiosks - even ones that do not utilize voice-recognition programs - have enjoyed success.

"One short-term success came about 10 years ago when South Africa held elections for the first time after apartheid ended," said Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates. "The information there had to be translated in 10 or 11 languages. There was a touchscreen and you (touched the screen) for what language you spoke and it spoke back to you."

But before anyone gets excited over the concept of voice-recognition capabilities in kiosks, Mendelsohn warns that the concept will face a tough road gaining universal acceptance in a number of applications.

"If you're talking about health services forget it, finances forget it, a lot of government applications forget it," she said. "In the past, voice recognition has not lived up to the hype. If you have a head cold it's going to misunderstand what you say.

"For (Americans with Disabilities Act standards) they could be great Â… in time we'll be able to speak and say `Give me the forms for a disability claim,' and it will happen," she added.

The Western mandate

In March of 2000, President Clinton paid a visit to India, where he launched the Rajnidhi information kiosk, which brought web connectivity to the village of Nayala. His mandate was made clear: Use the existing technology to make life better in India.

"We're doing exactly the same thing that Clinton suggested - kiosks for the rural areas of India," Mayur said.

Mayur said that reaching area such as the villages in India is more important than ever because of the international imbalance in communications services.

"If you're looking at it from the western world, the picture changes completely," he added. "Seventy-five percent of all the communications in the world are serving only about 1.3 billion people, in the rich countries. Two-thirds of the people of the world live in villages, in poor countries."

Making it pay

Mayur is realistic about the financial challenges of bringing electronic, wireless kiosks to some of the world's poorest regions. He said that right now there is no expectation of an immediate financial return from the kiosks.

"It's going to be all investment for the next year or two, then there will be funding (revenue)," he said.

Each kiosk costs about $25,000 to $30,000 to produce, Mayur said. He said the participating companies have donated equipment and expertise to the program. As the program expands, the non-profit organization will be seeking revenue - through charging for certain kiosk services - and financial assistance to help fund the expansion.

"There will be some sort of aid, either the United Nations or someone else," he said. "We'll get the money there to develop the other kiosks."

If successful, the kiosk program will continue to expand throughout India. Mayur projects deploying kiosks in about 100 villages over the next three years.

Once the kiosk project expands in India, Mayur envisions a worldwide expansion, reaching areas that are underserved, either by technology or literacy programs.

"This project is one that can reach out to these people," he said. "We'll take it to Ghana, to Uganda, to Kenya, to Peru. This is the way we're moving."

Those paths generally follow a road of illiteracy. As far as Mayur is concerned, that is the right road to take.