Formation India | Region served India, Central india Headquarters Naya Raipur | |
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Purpose peace, democratization of media Type Non-governmental organization Profiles | ||
CGnet Swara is an Indian voice-based online portal that allows people in the forests of Central Tribal India to report local news by making a phone call. A portal freely accessible via mobile phone, that allows anyone to report stories and listen to them by giving a miss call. Reported stories are moderated by journalists and become available for playback online as well as over the phone.
Contents
Overview
Many of the estimated 80 million members of India's tribal communities lack access to any mainstream media outlets. This often poses serious barriers to their socio-economic development, as their grievances about government neglect and economic exploitation remain unvoiced. In addition, certain factions (such as the Maoist Insurgency) can exploit their frustration and isolation to violent ends.
To address this important problem, we have built and deployed CGNet Swara: a voice portal that enables ordinary citizens to report and discuss issues of local interest. To use it, they call a phone number using any mobile (or fixed line) phone. Callers are prompted to press "1" to record a new message, and "2" to listen to messages that have already been recorded. Once a message has been recorded from the field, professional, trained journalists, who access the system using a Web-based interface, review and verify the report. Approved reports are then made available for playback over the phone. The reports also can be accessed on the CGnet Swara website.
Technology
The software underlying CGNet Swara is open-source and freely available from an online repository. The system was originally developed as a project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently maintained with the support of Janastu, Microsoft Research India and several volunteers.
While the technology for building interactive voice services (IVR) has been around for a long time, what distinguishes CGNet Swara is the ability for callers to contribute information to the system. Most IVR platforms are designed for callers to listen to messages, but on CGNet Swara, they can also record their own messages for others to hear. Our platform includes a moderator's interface that enables privileged users to review the recordings, and optionally annotate or edit them, prior to making them public.
The CGNet Swara server can be easily replicated. The system requirements are:
A desktop computer running Linux and Asterisk. An Internet connection (for hosting the Web server). A telephony interface. We recommend the Topex Mobilink IP to enable calls via a cellular SIM card.We are happy to offer guidance to other organizations who are seeking to establish similar services around the world.