'DOCOBEIT RESONE

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:WHO* . Erdman, 'AnnTITLE IsiginatiVe Use,- flohbrOadcasi Technology Directs

SOCial.Services tO Isolated Audiences.INSTITUTION A4encylet International Developient (Dept. of

State;, Washington, D,C. Clearinghouse on DevelopmenttomitAidation.

-OUR DATE Sep. 61110TE 18p.4DOR1it CIT Development Copmunication Report; n35 Sep 1981

!DRS PRICE .spal/pcol Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Communications :Satellites,; *Developing Nations:

Edicational Radio: Information Utilization:*International Programs: *Program Evalutiion: *RuralDeveropment: Scripts: *Social Services

ABSTRACTThe keynoteirticle in thiS.issue summarizes some of

lihel.essons 'learned after a. decade of using satellites for publicAservice,.-and after.filie-Years Of experimentation with information-teOhnOlogies designed for specialized audiences: Consubity serviceprosiaas in the Appalachian Mountain and Rocky /fountain regiOns andin%the state o.:!, Alaska area evaluated, and a series o2 observationsore, made suggesting reasons for' the success or failure of theseSatellite projects. The report also includes an outline of projectsIthded b? the teledoimunications demonstration program and lists the*se of the grantee, the technology used, the service rendered, andlEhiv:end-aser of that service: Other articles in this issue pro#de:(1).'a diicussion of satellite communications in rural Peru, (2) aSlossarY of: the language-Of teleconiunications, (3) some practicalguidelines for radio scriptwriters and. planners, (4) an examinationof cOmiunications utilization ,in encouraging a hybrid cocoa fataingTrOgra; in Nigeria,. and (0 a dilkussion of the use of interactive4edia byi the Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) program toSend information on energy to reguegitors, primarily in developing

' countries. INER)

IR 009 786

***********************************************************************Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EOUCATION

EOUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

?If The: document has, been reproduced as

receercd horn the person or organization

originating it.0 Minor changes have been made to improve

reproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated in this doce.

ment do not necessarily reptasent off Kul NIE

position or policy.

IMAGINATIVE USE OF NONEROADCAST TECHNOLOGY,

DIRECTS SOCIAL SERVICES TO ISOLATED AUDIENCES

by

Adn Erdman

Development Communication Report

No. 35

September 1981

2

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Imaginative Use of Nonbroadcast Technology DirectsSocial Services to Isolated Audiencesby Ann Erdman

The rush to apply.expertmentalnew technologies to the socialproblems of the 70's has left ins-tory enough and evidence enough

for the public service community to learn val-uable lessons. The following article draws ona decade of using satellites for public service,and on over five years of experimentationwith other information technologies for spe-cialized audiences.

Today, everyone is aware that satellite-delivered communications can span tremen-dous distances. The increased interest in tele-phone and in videoconferencing, the phe-nomenal growth in computer networks, andthe increasing use of cable television to carryvaried consumer communication services, allattest to the new technologies' ability to cuttime and cost and offer greater informationvariety than ever before.

What is not yet well known is that these" nonbroadcast technologies" have increas-ingly become more accessible and less expen-sive as modes of information delivery. "Non-broadcast" is generally considered to refer totransmissions intended for reception by aspecific audiepce rather than for direct recep-tion by the general public. Nonbroadcasttransmissions often require decoders, anten-nae, or other devices to receive and convertSignals for use by the specific user or sub.-scriber. Thus, satellites, cable television,microwave, telephone, subcarrier radio andTV channels, and other telecommunicationssystems which deliver signals to specific audirences are considered nonbroadcast technol-ogies.

During the decade of the -70's the availabil-ity of commercial satellites, new cable sys-tems offering 80 or more channels, and high-capacity computer networks all held promisefor offering the public a dazzling array ofnew communication systems for specializedneeds at relatively reasonable costs.

Recognizing this potential, the formerU.S. Department of Health, Education, andWelfare (HEW) began to examine ways tech-nologies could be used for distribution ofsocial services, which have been estimated tobe as much as 75 percent information-trans-_fer in nature. The prospect of reaching ruralpopulations with satellite, and urban popula-tions with cable, appeared especially promis-ing. Of particular interest to service-pro-viders was the possibility of using telecom-munications to distribute continuing educa-tion services, public awareness and consumerassistance messages, and information andreferral services for public assistance.

In tile early 70's there was keen national in-terest in putting technology to work forpublic st:rvices. When the National Aeronau-tics and Space Administration (NASA) askedthe Department of HEW to sponsor commu-nity service experiments aboard an Applica-tions Technology Satellite, ATS-6; HEW sawin the invitation a unique opportunity. Ademonstration devised to test the concepttook place in 1974 in three distinct geographicareasthe Appalachian Mountain andRocky Mountain regions, and 'the State ofAlaska. The demonstrations resulted in ex-perimental projects that provided in-servicetraining for teachers in the Appalachian area,,career education for junior high schoolstudents in the Rocky Mountains, and in-structional programs for village schools inAlaska. Health experiments included two-

,way consultation-at-a-distance with physi-cians for patients in rural Alaska, and in-struction for medical students in stateswithout medical schools. A health project ofthe Veterans Administration facilitated ex-change of medical information betweenremote hospitals and urban medical teachingcenters.

Evaluation of this satellite demonstrationprovides interesting insights into the initia-tion of technology projects in general and of

satellite projects in particular. Many of thelessons learned apply to the Third World aswell as to the developed world. On.the plusside, the demonstration may be considered tohave been successful in four respects:

1) the technical aspects of the projectworked well, demonstrating that satel-lite service was useful for reachingremote communities isolated from nor-mal radio (in the generic senseaudio,video, etc.) reception by distance orgeographic barrier;

2) projects initiated in Appalachia andAlaska became so essential to the social.services programs that sufficient sup-port was secured to lease commercialsatellite time for the services. The tran-sition from experimental to commercialsatellite systems was relatively smooth;

3) the Public Service Satellite CorlSofticim(PSSC), an organization de,signed to

o identify potential-social service users ofsatellite communications and to facili-tate their access to transponder (satelliteusage) time, was established, and has

(continued on page 2)\

In this issue. . .U.S: Experimental:Projects

Us.Notibroadcast Technology 1

Satellite Bolsters RuralComMuniCations in Peru

Glossary:" the Languageof,TeleCOminimications 4

Wriiingriortilueational Radio 6CominiiniCatOr's Checklist 8Co_ cna,andtOrkrthinications

in IiigerikVolunteeri and Satellite

Send.technical AssistanceOn File atiERIC 13'UN Film on Women's Roles 14

Agricultural Information Services :16

A publication of the Clearinghouse on Development CommunicationSupported by the Bureau for Science and Technology of the U.S. Agency forintemational Development

2

(continued from page 1)succeeded in developing a substantialuszr community;

4) the Corporation for Public Broadcast-ing was convinced by the experiments tomove ahead with a satellite network forinterconnection of all public broadcast-ing stations. The satellite network isnow operating an effective system.

On the other hand, the failure of theRocky Mountain project to sustain interest inand support for continued operation, was adisappointment to demonstration planners.This failure is generally attributed to theproject's inability to establish an institutionalbase of support. The prime contractor. afederation of states, proved unequal to thetask and was subsequently dissolved, leavingno permanent institution with responsibility,interest, or resources to maintain the services.

In addition, poor maintenance of equip-ment and lack of technical assistance toteachers, facilitators resulted in disappoint-ment with the services provided, and failureto sustain demand. These problems were aresult of a combination of factorsdefectiveTV sets, difficulties of sers icing remote sites,and other management concerns common tocommunications projects, many of which can.

be forestalled to a large extent by effectiveearly planning. Unfortunately for this proj-ect. adequate lead time for planning was notavailable.

Three ,servations which may help plan-ners avoid similar implementation problemscan be h.ade about this project:

Obseivation #1: Projects intended forlong-terni operation must insure that localcommuaities consider the proposed servicenecessary, that they accei t the technology,and are prepared to ucal with implementa-tion problems.

Observation #2: Reliable equipment andeffective maintenance policies are essential toefficient project performance.

Observation #3: Adequate training andsupport are critical to the effectiveness of on-site facilitators and acceptance of the serviceby end-users.

Interest in nonbroadcast communicationsgenerated by the ATS-6 experiments resu:tedin an HEW request for amendment c f legisla-tion (the Communtcattons Act of 1934) toallow the Department to provide grants orcontracts for the application of nonbroadcasttechnology to the delivery of HEW services.Congress eracted such legislation in 1976,

establishing a Telecommunications Demon-stration Program that subsequently awardedgrants totalling $3 million to 15 projects,which ranged from a computer/telephonesystem for the deaf in Boston to a microwavesystem for migrant farm worker services inCalifornia. 1Vhile the discussion here ad-dresses only problems encountered in im-plementing the demonstrations, it is impor-tant to note that the projects eventuallyAchieved a success rate of 75 to 80 percent inreaching their collective system and servicegoals.

Several problems common to these proj-ects were associated with equipment, institu-tionalization, and utilization. We will lookbriefly at these problems to make a few fur=ther observations.

The Demonstration Program required thateach project propose an innovative use ofnonbroadcast telecommunications for thedelis ery of health, education, or other socialservices. Projects were also required to assessthe needs of the target population, assurethat the proposed project addressed thoseneeds, and pros ide assurance of local sup-port for the project after government fund-ing ended.

(continued on page 5)

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Rural Communications Project in Peru UsesSatellite to Serve Rerniite Jungle Areas

by Richard Martin

Isolation and lack of communi-cation are obstacles to develop-ment of potentially productiveareas in many countries. A good

example is Peru, where that country'sgovernment has recently been directing newdevelopment resources to areas of its interiorthat have previously been virtually inac-cessible. An ambitious program is under wayto encourage the development of commerce,agricultural production, and essential publicservices in the country's rich northeasternjungle region. As a result of these efforts, theregion has begun to attract settlers from lessproductive parts of the country, and it is

hoped that eventually the area will producelarge quantities of food products needed inthe rest of the country.

To support this effort, the PeruvianNational Telecommunications Company(ENTEL-Peru) and the :VS: Agency for In-ternational Development (AID) are develop-ing an experimental, low-cost rural telecom-munication project in the eastern jungle de-partment of San Martin. In the past, this de-partment's remoteness has been d major ob-stacle to development. Commercial agricul-ture on a regional scale has been slow todevelop, and public services such as educa-tion and health care function sporadically,with little effective supervision or support.

Telephone service came to the region'slargest city, Tarapoto, in 1979 with the in-stallation of a communication satellite earthstation. Operating through a quarter of a sat-ellite transponder leased by ENTEL from IN-TELSAT, this new station provides the firstreliable telephone service between Tarapotoand the capital city of Lima. Utilization ofthe new service has been high and continuesto increase rapidly.

ENTEL is providing similar "DOMSAT"services to six other remote cities throughout,the country. All of the ground stations usedso far have been large INTELSAT-B typestations, costing $800,000 or more each.

The stations are proving to be an econom-ical solution to the problem of providingtelecommunication services to those remotepopulation centers that generate a largevolume of telephone traffic. However, be-cause of their high cost, they can do little toalleviate the isolation of the many small com-munities where most of the people of the re-gion live,

The ENTEL-AID project is an effort to ex-tend ,7ommunication services beyond the re-gion's cities to the rural farming communities

in the region. The project will link sevencommunities in a field test of the cost-effec-tiveness of rural communication services.The experimental communication network,designed to minimize costs, will consist of acombination of three small, thin -route com-munications satellite earth stations, eachcosting less than a fourth of what the largerINTELSAT-B earth stations cost. Complet-ing the system will be village radio telephonesand land telephone lines. System design, in-stallation, operation, and maintenance arethe responsibiiity of ENTEL-Peru. AID isproviding electronic equipment, user train-ing, and evaluation studies.

The project has a number of unusual fea-tures, the most important of which is its pub-lic service focus. Although the project is be-ing implemented by a telephone company,preferential access to the system will be givento government development program staffworking in remote health posts, ruralschools, and agricultural extension offices. Inmost villages, a separate telephone line willbe provided for the exclusive use of develop-ment workers, and special low tariffs will bedeveloped for these users. ENTEL-Peru hasestablished a separate office in its head-quarters to manage the project, with a staffthat includes sociologists and economists. Itis expected that this office will become a per-manent Office of Development CoMmunica-tion, encouraging the company to designservices appropriate to the needs of ruralcommunities and public service user..

Wide Variety of ServicesAnother unusual feats... of the project is

the variety of communication modes that willbe available to users. In addition to tradi-tional person-to-person or station-to-stationservice, the system will permit conferencecalling among three or more sites. In somesites, speakerphones will be used so thatgroups can participate in these "decentral-ized" meetings. The system will also be ableto relay instructional radio programming tolocal radio stations in the project area for re-broadcast to the general public.

Before the communication network beginsto operate in early 1982, planners will inter-view public service users and develop a util-ization plan combining various specific appli-cations. The communication network willmake it possible for Peruvian developmentministries to provide reliable support servicesto staff members working in the field.

Project-sponsored activities using the ex-

7Cq

perimental communication network will in-clude such areas as inservice training for ruralprimary school teachers, medical advice forvillage health paraprofessionals, and cot- di-nation of travel and distribution of suppliesfor agricultural extension agents.

The project is a test of new kings of com-munication equipment and, more impor-tantly, of new institutional arrangements forproviding communication services to remoterural treas. It will be carefully evaluated interms of costs, revenues generated, utiliza-tion of the system, and impact on the deliveryof social services and or the pace of eco-nomic activity in participating communities.

The Peruvian rural communication serv-ices project will have an impact far beyondthe seven participating villages. NeighboringAndean countries are being invited to ob-serve the project and participate in the proj-ect evaluation. Evaluation data and otherproject information will be provided to tele-communication planners, development min-istries, and international funding agencies.The experiment, if successful, will provideexperience, models, and cost-effectivenessdata that will .help other countries analyzetheir own rural telecommunication needs andplan services that are reliable, economical,and responsive to development needs.

(This article was adapted huh permissionfrom the June 1981 issue of Uplink, thenewsletter of the AID Rural Satellite Pro-gram.)

Richard Martin is an education specialist in theAID Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Learning About Water:Kit and Action Guide

This year marks the start of the United Na-tions' International Drinking Water Supplyand Sanitation Decade. Dying the Decademany groups will join forces to help provide"clean water and adequate sanitation foe allby the year 1990," the lack of which gravelyaffects human health and productivity andseverely impedes development progress.

A kit has been produced to provide allthose who will be involved in the Decade withbasic information and action ideas. It con-tains a "Decade Dossier" outlining dimen-sions of the need and Decade strategies foraction, four case histories on water/sanita-tion activities; a "Decade Action Guide"with suggestions and examples of specific ac-tivities for various Decade participants, awall sheet and a set of phcto sheets il-lustrating ke:, Decade themes, and a listing ofether information materials available.

The kit is available from UNDP Information Section,Palais des Nationsf CH-1211 Geneva 10. Switzerland. orfrom UNDP, 1 United Nations Plaza, Ncw York, NY10017, USA.

Reprinted by permission from Development Forum, Vol.IX, No. 2.

3

Glossary: The Langdage of TelecommunicationsThe language of telecommunications is changing as fast as the technologies of telecornMunications.In this glossary, we have attempted to define some of the most commonly used terms in the specialized world of computers and

telecommunications.Because the language is constantly evolving, there may be those readers who disagree with certain definitions given here. To

those who disagree with a definition, we want to make it clear that we do not claim perfectionwe do not even anticipate having the last

word. Write to us! Let us know what you think, and we will publish glossary updates at intervals.Note: the terms marked with an asterisk (*) are words which are commonly used in several ways. The definitions given here are limited to

their use as they apply to the new technologies.

AM: Amplitude modulation. (See Modula-tion.)

Analog: Representations which bear somephysical relationship to the original quantity:usually electrkal voltage, frequency, resis-tance or mechanical translation, or rotation.Contrast to digital.

'Artificial Intelligence: Compunr systemswhich perform functions normally associatedwith human leasoning and learning.

Audio Teleconference: See Teleconference.

Bandwidth: The maximum frequency(spectrum) measured in Hertz or cycles persecond, between the twlimiting frequenciesof a channel.

Baud: Bits per second (bps) in a binary(two-state) telecommunications transmission.

Binary: The basis for calculations in com-puters: a numbering system having only twonumbers, typically 0 and 1; a base system.

Bit: One binary digit. The smallest part ofinformation with equally likely ialues or.states, "0" or "1," or "yes" or "no." Inelectrical communication systems, a bit canbe represented by the presence or absence ofa pulse.

Broadband Communication: Communica-tions using high frequency signals (e.g., 6MgH, the bandwidth of a TV channel). Videoteleconferencing is a broadband medium.

Byte: The group of bits, processed or oper-ating together, needed for one character.

Cable Television: The use of a broadbandcable (coaxial cable or optical fiber) to delivervideo signals directly to television sets. Cur-rent systems may have the capability of trails-mating signals in two directions.

CATV: Cable television or community an-tenna television.

Carder: ()Electromagnetic signal with aconstant amplitude and frequency.

Central Infice: ()The local switch for atelephone system; sometimes referred to as aClass 5 Office, or a wire center.

Channel: ()In communication, a singlepath or section of the electromagnetic spec-trum which is uniquely assigned for a par-ticular use.

Chip: ()A thin silicon wafer on which elec-tronic components are deposited in the formof integrated circuits.

Coaxial Cable: A metal cable consisting ofa conductor surrounded by another conduc-tor in the form of a tube which can , arrybroadband signals by guiding high-frequ, ncyelectromagnetic radiation.

Communications Satellite: Satellite used totransmit voice, data, and program signals.

CPU: Central Processing Unit. The com-ponent in a stored program digital computerwhich performs arithmetic, logic, and Controlfunctions.

CRT: Cathode Ray Tube. A video displayvacuum tube used in television sets and com-puter display terminals.

Data: ()The raw information within acomputer system.

Digital: A function which operates in dis-crete steps as contrasted to a continuous oranalog function, Digital computers manipu-late numbers encoded into binary Ton-off)forms, while analog computers sum contin-uously varying forms. Digital communica-tion is the transmission of information usingdiscontinuous, discrete electrical or electro-magnetic signals which change in frequency,polarity, or amplitude.

Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS): A satellitesystem designed with sufficient power so thatinexpensive earth stations can be used for di-rect residential reception.

Dish: ()A parabolic antenna that is the pri-mary element of an earth terminal.

Downlink: The transmission from a satel-lite to an earth station.

Duplex: ()A transmission in which signalscan go in both directions simultaneously.

Earth Terminal (or Earth Station): Equip-ment on the ground used to send and/or re-ceive satellite communications.

Electromagnetic Radiation: A form ofenergy including radio and tight which propa-gates through space in the form of oscillatingelectric and magnetic fields or "waves."

End Loop: A communications circuitwhich extends from the customer to the localswitching center. 6

End-User: Ultimate consumer of a service.

Facsimile Transmission: The' electronictransmission of pictures, charts, graphs, etc.from one place to another by radio, tele-graphy, or telephone.

Fiber Optics: Communications techniquebased on a laser transmission that uses afiber, or thread-like material, which carrieslight the way copper wires carry electricity.

Floppy Disc.:. A small, flexible disc carryinga magnetk medium in which digital data arestored for later retrieval and use.

Footprint: (*)That part of the earth's sur-face where a particular satellite's signal canbe picked up. A footprint can cover one thirdof the globe, but will usually be less.

FM: Frequency modulation. (See Modula-tion.)

Frequency: The number of recurrences of aphenomenon during a specified period oftime. The measurement unit of electrical fre-quency is the Hertz.

Geo-Synchronous Communication Satellites:Orbital space vehicles which appear to be sta-tionary over one point above the equator,permitting the use of less-expensive earth sta-tions without tracking equipment.

Gigahertz: (GHz) Billion-Hertz (cycles per''second).

Ground Station: See Earth Terminal.

Hardware: (*)The electrical and mechanical"body" or equipment used in telecommuni-cations or computer systems.

Headend: Cable system site that houses thespecially d;,signed equipment needed to re-ceive, process, and originate signals for acable system.^

Hertz: (Hz) The unit of frequency. OneHertz is equal to one cycle per second.Named in honor of Heinrich Hertz, first todetect such waves in 1883.

Input: The data that is entered into thecomputer; the act of entering data.

Interactive Media: A two-way telecommu-nications system that permits viewer responseor participation. interactive allows direct ex-changes among people via one or more com-munication channels.

Interface: The place at which two systems(such as a computer and its supplementaryequipment) meet and interact with eachother; the means by which the interaction ismade (e.g., an "interface card.")

International Telecommunication Union(ITU): An international organization affil-iated with the U.N. which allocates radio fre-quencies through mutual agreement and co-ordinates telecommunications interconnec-tions. Founded in 1865, it is the world'soldest such cooperative6rganization.

Xi !obeli!: (KHz) Thousand Hertz.

Logged In: (')Connected to a computer.

Magnetic Disc: A form of. computer mem-ory in which data are storci in a magnetic a-ide that coats aplastic or metal disc. The dataare recorded and played back (read) by mag-netic heads which traverse the rotating discunder programmed control.

Megahertz: (MHz) Million Hertz.

Memory: (*)The computer's informationstorage capability, also called "storage."

Microchip: An electronic circuit with multi-ple solid-state devices engraved throughphotolithographic or microbeam processeson one substrate.

Microcomputer A set of microchips whichcan perform all of the functions of a digitalstored program computer. (See Micro-processor.)

Microprocessor: A microchip, which per-forms the logic functions of a digital com-puter.

Microwave: High-frequency radio wavesused for point-to-point transmission.

Modem: A device which is used for inter-facing (or matching) different functions of acommunications system.

Modulation: (')The process of modifyingthe carrier to impress on it the characteristicsof another signal by changing its amplitude(AM), its frequency (FM), or.its phase (PM),or by turning it on and off in a predeterminedpattern (pulse code modulation).

Multiplex: The ability to transmit severalsignals from different sources to differentdestinations over a single chanuel at once.

Narrowband Communication: A commu-nication system capable of carrying only afew voice channels or relatively slow-speedcomputer signals.

Nonbroadcast: Transmission directed to aspecific audience. Also called narrowcast, itcan include cable TV, satellite, teletext, etc.

Off-Line: Method of operation in which adevice is no directly connected to a telecom-munications system or operating computer.

On -Line: A method of operation in which adevice is directly connected to a telecommu-

-Y-

this glossary was compiled with the help of a variety ofpeople and sources. The primary print source, fromwhich several definitions arc reprinted with permission,is a program booklet prepared for a syMposium "Com-munications in the Twenty-First Century,"sponsored byThe Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Ad-ministration, the University of Virginia, in cooperationwith The Annenberg School of Communications, Uni-versity of Pennsylvania and the Annenberg School ofCommunications. University of Southern California.The Symposium, funded by Philip Morris Incorporated,was held in April, 1081, in Richmond. Virginia.

nidtions system or an operating computer.

Operating System: A set of instructions fora computer which permits it to run variousprograms and handle scheduling, control ofprinters, terminals, memory d^vices,,etc.

Optical Fiber: A thin, flexible glass fiberthe size of a human hair which will transmitlight waves capable of carrying vast amountsof information.

Output: The information generated-by acomputer.

Packet Switching: A technique of switchingdigital signals with computers whereby thesignal stream is broken into small ,packetsand reassembled in correct sequence at itsdestination. There are many variations usedin data networks, in satellite communication,and for secure voice communications.

PBX: Private Branch Exchange; a tele-phone switching office.

Simplex: Transmission in only one direc-tion at a time.

Slow-Scan Television: A technique of plac-ing video signals on a narrowband circuit,such as a telephone line, which results in apicture changing every few seconds. Usefulfor transmitting still pictures.

Software: The instructions which direct acomputer program. Any written materials orscript, including flims, videotapes, etc., foruse in a communications system, or the pro-grain produced from the script. (See Hard-ware.)

Teleiommunications: The use of v:;re,radio, optical, or other electromagneticsignals to transmit or receive signals, sounds,or images.

Teleconference: A meeting where partici-pants in different locations are linked by atelecommunications system. Can be audioteleccinference (voice only) or video telecon-ference (where participants see one anothervia TV). Satellites represent a successful com-munications medium for teleconferencing.

Teletext: Broadcasting service using severalotherwise unused scanning lines betweenframes of TV pictures to transmit informa-tion which is displayed on the

Transponder: The equipment on a satellitethat accepts the signal sent from earth andafter amplifying and changing the frequency,sends it back to earth for reception.

TV: Television.

Uplink: The transmission from an earthstation to a satellite.

Videotex: Service similar to teletext exceptthat information is delivered by telephoneand can be used in the interactive mode.

(continued from page 2)

Other requirements included standard pro-visions for responsible administration, staff-ing, fiscal management, and a self-evaluationof project results. The innovation require-ment led three projects to propose the designand development of hybrid equipment. In allthree cases, technical problems causedserious delays in project implementation,leadh4, to the following observations: '

Observation #4: Projects that plan to usehighly specialized equipment must be pre-pared for implementation periods that areabout 50 percent longer than projects which.use readily available equipment. They mustalso allocate abode- average budgets for staffeducatioa and equipment maintenance.

Again, as with the Rocky Mountain satel-lite demonstration, several projects whichfailed to secure other funding collapsed whengovernment assistance ended. Generally,their problems were staff problems, a verydifficult area to assess prior to project imple-mentation. Retirement, resignation, andpoor management ability prevented three

t projects from becoming operational.A fourth projcct was foreshortened by un-

anticipated problems in obtaining regulatoryapproval of its system design. It thus lost sec-ond-year funding that would have substan-tially altered its prospects of becoming self-supporting.

Observation #5: Project staff must be care-fully selected with respect to their dedication,to project success, their management experi-ence, and their ability to make substantialcommitments of time (about three years) to aproject.

Observation #6: ;Projects dependent ongovernment or other outside support shouldhave short- as well as long-term goals, so asto be able to show a record of incrementalgains if funding is foreclosed prematurely.

Observation #7: Appropriate regulatoryclearance for proposed use of radio spectrummust be obtained prior to initiation of anytelecommunications project.

(continued on next page)

5

6(continued from page 5)

In ordet to succeed, nonbroadcast tech-nologies must promote user acceptance andreliance on communications services and, asa result, develop audiences willing to- supportcontinued operation. One of the most dif-ficult problerhs of communications projectsis that of striking an equitable balance be-tween development of the technical systemand development of its public service com-ponents. Systems must function smoothlyand users must receive needed information ina timely manner to make the system viable.Both are equally important to the attainmentof project goals.

Observation #8: Projects must allocatesubstantial resources to assure that systemsattain their service goals and develop user ac-ceptance and support,

Finally, it is interesting to observe that thenonbroadcast technology most heavily util-ized in the denionstration projects was tele-phonic communicationone of the oldest,most reliable, and most accessible telecom-munications systems in the U.S Most proj-ects used some form tsf telephonic com-munication to support their service or to actas its primary carrier. While we are seeingrapid development of satellite and cablesystems, telephonic and brpadcast servicesare still the most widely accessible com-munications media, and systems that pig-gyback on these signals or otherwise niakeuse of their ubiquity probgbly have thegreatest chance for long-term service arid im-mediatrsuccess. This in no way diminishesthe importance of cable, satellite, and otherdeveloping systems; it only suggests thatavailability and familiarity are perhaps ofgreater importance to the social services

which seldom have the capital to supporthigh-risk ventures. Thus, we conclude.

Observation #9: Organizations consideringthe application of nonbroadcast technologyto the delivery of public or social service pro-grams should look first at the most accessi-ble, familiar, multipurpose communicationssystems available in their immediate area,and then, if necessary, enhance these systemsto meet the needs of the target audience withthe most reliable and appropriate of the newtechnologies.

Anyone desiring further information onprojects sponsored by the Telecommunica-tions Demonstration Program should notethat the program is now administered by theU.S. Department of Educaticii. Informationmay be obtained by writing to:

Telecommunications ProgramU.S. Department of EducationWashington, D.C. 20202 USA.

Ann Erdman is an Educational Telecommunica-tions Analyst with the U.S. Department of Educa-tion

Radio Instructional Programs: Some PracticalGuidelines for Scriptwriters and Planners

by Esta de Fossarft

In today's world of universaland constant communication,radio is still one of the most ef-fective ways of sending out in-

formation to a great many people over widedistances. In the United States, we are in-clined to think of radio as usefdl for musicand commercials and for very little else; butin many other countries of the world, par-ticularly Third World countries, radio re-mains an important medium of education.To use radio effectively for education re-quires an understanding of the strengths andweaknesses of the medium, and an under-standing of the methods of structuring andscripting radio instructional programs.

Most people assume that anyone whoknows a subject well can automatically write,a radio script for it. But good writing clodnot come automatically in any medium,perhaps least of all in radio, where the sub-tleties of the medium must be understood aswell as, if not better than, the subject ma'itself.

Instructional radio must always reflect itsraison d'etre. to instruct. A radio scriptwritershould therefore constantly remember thescript's purpose, its measurable instructionalobjectives, and its audience.

The entertainment value of an educationalscript should be subliminal, almost acciden-tal. Good education can be intriguing with-out being "entertaining" (in the contempo-rary sense of the word). Because a good edu-cational radio script should convey the sameenthusiasm, integrity, and fasOination as agood classroom lesson, it is essential that theradio scriptwriter truly appreciate the subjectbeing taught.

The Nature of RadioRadio is the medium of visual imagination.

It presents no actual pictures of its own, butinvites Ifs listeners to ptovide their own "pic-tures" in much the same way as reading does.The luxury of imagining pictures has beenlargely lost in our television-saturated age, ashas our ability to listen attentively. The writerof a good radio script, therefore, mustchoose his or her words as carefully as a poetto attract the listeners' attention and en-courage them to "put themselves in the pic-ture."

Because it leaves so much to the listener'simagination, radio is a highly personal

medium. The listener enters into a one-to-onerelationship with the radio voices, as if in-dulging in conversation with them. A goodradio script takes advantage of this intimacy

to encourage lisseners to feel a sense of per-sonal involvement.

Constraints in Writing for RadioBecause radio relies on only one of the

listener's senses to receive all of the informa-tion, complex ideas must be broken down in-to small concepts and reiterated in a varietyof ways. It is useful to keep in mind that:

characters must be clearly recognizable bytheir voices rather than by their physicalappearances;

names of characters must be used morefrequently than they would be in normallife, or in visdal presentations;emphasis and emotion must be carried bythe voices or enhanced by accompanying"mood music."

While characters can be portrayed very ef-fectively through voice, the setting presentsanother problem In a visual presentation,the audience knows immediately when the ac=tlud has moved from one place or scene toanother. In radio, a scene change has to beindicated by a musical bridge, by ambientsound effects, or by an indication (preferablysubtle) from one of the characters that theaudience is now required to imagine itself inanother place.

The Need for RestraintAt the same time, however, a radio pro-

gram must avoid "medium overkill." Thereis a tendency, particularly in inexperiencedproducers and writers, to over-use sound ef-fects and music. Too much sound can be asdistracting to an audience as too little. Soundeffects and music in radio production shouldbe as appropriate and as subtle as visual im-agery in a good film or television production.

In the same yen, it is particularly impor-tant for instructional radio to avoid using toomany words. Indeed, almost ironically,words need to be used more sparingly thanthey might be in visual presentations, or thanthey would be in a classroom lesson. It is alltoo easy for listeners to become swamped bya sea of words and miss the message in theWords. The skill of any educational scripting,be it for radio, television, or textbook, lies inmaking the instructional message clear, butnot so blatant as to be boring.

The Needs of the Audience

ex-

perience (both with radio and with the sub-

An understanding of the audience is essen-tial. The writer deeds to know the age, the ex-

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ject being taught), and the ethnic and culturalbackgrounds of the audience. He or she mustalso know the educational methods to whichthe audience is accustomed.

It is advisable for the scriptwriter(s) to sitin the classrooms for a number of sessionsbefore beginning to formulate any ideas ofhow the finished script might be put together.Good educational scriptwriters are like goodarchitectsthey might have all sorts of ideasfor designing beautiful buildings, but theymust keep in mind the function of the build-ing the; have been asked to design, and bewilling to tailor their ideas to the needs /ofthat function.

Some Practical Guidelines

Restrict thee number of charactersusedtwo or three at one time is enough.Too many characters confuse the au-dience, and it is very hard to establish anyreal identity for each character in, say, ahalf-hour format.

Restrict "hard core instruction" to themain characters. If you wish to use peri-pheral characters in story lines or for songsand games, let these be supplemental to themain teaching message. Students are ac-customed to accepting the main instruc-tional message from an identified "teacher."This does NOT mean that the character(s)giving the instructional message have toappear in the program as teacher(g).

Use "signature music" to announce theentrance of characters and to introducevarious segments. Radio listeners count onmusical cues to set the scene for what is tofollow.

Present the lessons in a recognizable, butalterable, format. An instructional radioseries should see itself as an oral textbook.A good textbook uses a well-designed for-mat, so that students using it soon learnthat, for example, each lesson begins witha vocabulary lesson; followed by a story;followed by a practice exercise; followedby a summary. Similarly, the radio lessonsshould be structured around a clear for-mat. Within that format there is room forconsiderable variation, and there is noharm in occasional divergence from theformat, but it is unfair to expect a student(of any age) to glean the lesson from an ir-regular mix of ideas.

Balance the format, making sure to com-bine strong teaching sections with "relaxa-tion" sections of games, music, reinforce-ment, etc. For certain types of programs, itis highly effective to create what I call a"di:Mut/donut hole" format, where the"donuts" are the tight instructional piecesand the "holes" (equally edible) are therelaxation or reinforcement times. The

holes can be lifted and used time and againin many programs, as children love to heartheir favorite songs or games or storiesover and over again. (Donuts are small,round, sweet breads with a hole in the :nid-dle of them.) This type of format alsomakes it easy to make changes in a pro-gram that has been found wantingitmeans perhaps the replacement of anumber of donuts or donut holes withouthaving to restructure and re-record thewhole program.

Keep sound effects subtle and appropriate.Don't be tempted to throw in a mutedtrombone every time a eharacter yawns.Finally, if you want your radio instruc-tional script to be a success, make sure itgoes from your scriptwriter into the handsof a producer who knows how to use themedium of radio, and to actors who aretrained in radio delivery!

Since the advent of television; there hasbeen a tendency fcr us to forget the sense ofhearingexcept for soaking up backgroundmusicand concentrate almost eausivelyon sight for receiving inforniation. The ears,however, give as direct access to the brain asdo the eyes, and radio should never be con-sidered a little brother of television, or alesser medium of instruction. Correctlyunderstood and effectively used, radio can bethe gateway to extended knowledge formillions of people throughOut the world.

11/

Esta de Fossard is Director of Adult Education atWCET Channel 48 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her back-ground is in radio instructional writing, a field inwhich she has been active both nationally and in-ternationally.

Landless Villager PutsVideo to Dramatic Use

Is video useful in communica-tion for development? It de-pends on how it's used. AnilSrivastava of the Centre for the

Development of lastructimaal- Technology(CENDIT), New Delhi, India, tells hoW, heand his colleagues took a chance which'helped villagers to communicate honestly. Hewrites:

Videt, fascinates me. I know it to be an ap-propriate technology for communication fordevelopment. It is a more manageable andaccessible technology. With little trainingpeople can learn to handle the equipment,and as they can see for themselves what theyare recording on tape, they tend to learn fastfrom the experience. People tend to partici-pate in making videotapes. And with everypassing month the equipment and the con-sumable material are becoming cheaper.

7'

I would like to mention our SaharanpurComniunity Video Eqoipment. We did notthink that we had the answers and we did nothave an ideology which seems to fit the situa-tion. We felt that perhaps video was a chan-nel, a platform for a dialogue with the com-munity or within the community. They willhave to decide what to do, we are just goingto be the extension of thq hardware. Theproblem is that this kind of work takes a longtime to yield any results. A person involved inthe problems of his community can .instinc-tively present it much better. He gets to theheart of the matter while the 'outsiders' fum-,ble around.

This was apparent to us the very first daywe brought the portapak to the village wewere working in. After recording the prettyimages of rural countryside and poverty, weran out of ideas. There came an old man, aMuslim and a grandfather with his grand-daughter in his arms. He was a landless_laborer in his fillies._He-peered-intattie view-findercpbiiiii-c1 the camera at the tree and the

,children and then when we played back whathe had just recorded he was amused. He wasa little more daring. He asked us whether hecould take it and use it. I do not know whatgot into us but one of the group said `goahead.'

Hc vanished for more than an hour and wethought that was the last we would see of theportapak that we had borrowed in the firstplace. But he came back as he had run out ofthe tape and wanted it player' tack. Whatthis landless laborer had done was that hewent around accosting better-off farmers andasked them what they thought of the prob-lems of poor landless laborers like him, whatthey are doing about it, and so on. It was arevelation for, as if peeling an onion, layer bylayer, he brought out the core of hypocrisy.They all wanted to help their brothers butwhat can they do, there is not enoughkerosene and the diesel and fertilizer and so itwas obvious from the 'interviews' that noone is going to do anyrthing for the poor, it isthey who must help themselves. I could nothave made that program nor could my col-4leagues because we would have been too im-patient. We would have superimposed ourviews.

(The Centre for Development of Instruc-tional Technology is a non-profit society,founded in 1972, which believes that com-munication accelerates social change. CEN-DIT works mainly in villages enabling peopleto use media for their own development.)

CENDIT. C11 Communn) Centre. Saidairung De.clupment Area,New MIN 110016. India

Reprinted by permission from Action,World Association for Christian Comn.uni-cation Newsletter.

0.

A Communicator's Chet list, Educational Evaluation Methodol-

1ogy: The State of the Art, edited byRonald_ A. Berk (Baltimore: TheJohns Hopkins University Press,

1981), 168 pp. US $15.00 hardcover.

Many present-day books abogevaluationare deeply rooted in the U.S. experience. Thisis rarely acknowledged explicitly but is im-mediately obvious to the reader who tries tointerpret results or advice from the perspec-tive of another part of the world. The U.S.framework is especially pervasive in booksabout educational evaluation, almost all ofwhim assume a federally organized systemand a huge enterprise involving, millions ofdollars annually.

Education Evaluation Methodology: TheState of the Art, edited by Ronald A. Berk, isa collection of articles that were presented ata 1979 symposium at Johns Hopkins Univer-sity. The authors are recognized authorities.in the field and their presentations are all ofexcellent quality. However, the articles varyquite considerably in usefulness to practicingevaluators outside the U.S. context.

The editor defines evaluation as "the proc-ess of applying scientific procedures to collectreliable and valid information to make deci-sions about an educational program." Henotes that the definition "reflects the tradi-tional quantitative paradigm of evaluation asopposed to the qualitative paradigm" and,indeed, the contributions focus on quantita-tive methods for assessing program effects.

Individual authors have interpreted theirtas!. differently. Some have assessed broadlythe state of their assigned area, while othershave explored in depth a problem that stemsparticularly salient. Some have tried both.

Anthony Bryk and Richard Light contrib-ute a chapter on "Designing Evaluation forDifferent Program Environments" that very

briefly surveys some key design issues. Theydistinguish, three types of program environ-mentregular school district, discretionary,and demonstration programsand then limittheir-discussion to demonstration (pilot) pro-grams. I found both the general discussionand their examination of an issue of par-ticular interest to themassessing impactwhen services are highly individualizedtoobrief to be of much use. However, I

thoroughly endorse one of their general con-clusions:

The task of evaluat:an design has be-come a complex effort imposing muchmore than just technical decisionsabout fitting appropriate methods toevaluation questions. We are now talk-ing about a process involving impor-

. .

cant political and social dimensions, aswell as technical and fiscal resourceconsiderations (p. 29).

The chapter on "Measuring Program Ef-fects" by Nancy Cole and Anthony Nitkosuffers from the kind of schizophrenia notedabove. Some sections provide an excellentgeneral discussion of crucial issues that mustbe addressed in choosing tests to measureeducational outcomes. Other secti'ons pro-vide an interesting but often jargon-laden ex-amination of particular aspects of test bias.Those for whom the more general material isparticularly useful and relevant are likely tofind the discussion of test bias heavy sting.

In Chapter 3, William Cooley, LloydBonds, and Bor-jiin Mao confront a tech-nical issue"Analyzing Multi-Level Data."The -chapter_ addresses the problem of thelevel at which data should be aggregated (stu-dent,'classroom, school, district) using acausal modeling framework. It is well writtenand will be illuminating to those who worryabout such problems.

Robert Linn presents a useful discussion ofanother technical issue"Measuring Pre-test-Posttest Performance Change." This isan extremely important area because pitfallsattend all the commonly used methods formeasuring growth in achievement and, de-spite considerable discussion of these prob-lems in the literature, the methods are usedunthinkingly in many evaluations.

Wolf's chapter.on "Selecting AppropriateStatistical Methods" is, in my view, the leastsatisfactory in the book. He seems to viewthe process as (a) taking place entirely afterthe data have been collected and (b) consis-ting largely of trying to decide whether to useanalysis of variance, analysis of covariance orregression analysis. I have no quarrel withmany of his major points: the analyst shouldbecome thoroughly familiar with the data setby looking at descriptive statistics and scatterplots, each dependent variable should beanalyzed separately, and so on. But the en-tirely ad hoc character of the discussiondisturbed me.

Lois-Ellin Datta talks knowledgeably andcomprehensively about using evaluation re-sults, very much in the U.S. context. Finally,Daniel Stufflebeam tells us about the "Stan-dards for Evaluation of Educational Pro-grams, Projects and Materials."

So, who is this book written for and who islikely to find it useful? The editor (who, bythe way, provides helpful introductions toeach chapter) hopes that the book will serveas "a handbook for practicing evaluationmethodology issues and problem areas."

10

Well . . . a tall order. There is much of in-terest to any of these groups of readers butnot too much for any one group. I suggestyou ask your library to buy the book. Andhow about readers from other parts of theworld? I particularly recommend thechapters on test design (Chapter 2) andmeasuring performance change (Chapter 4).Most of the other material will take somecareful' thinking to make it applicable situa-tions around the globe.

Review d by Barbara Searle, an educational evel-uatg in the Department of Education of theWorld Bank.

Electronic Colonialism: The future'of Internati6nal Broadcasting andCommunication, by Thomas L.McPhail (Sage Library of Social Re-

search, Vol. 126. Beverly Hills, CA: SagePublications, 1981), 288 pp. Price: hard-cover, US S20; softcover, US $9.95.

Thomas McPhail is professor of MassCommunication and Journalism at CarletonUniversity in Ottawa, Canada. The book isthe product of his work at UNESCO during theyears 1978-80, and the book is at its bestwhen the author describes the Belgrade andParis UNESCO General Assemblies he at-tended. Some of the internal machinationsand politicking about people's careers makeinteresting reading. McPhail devotes the firstpart of the book to a description of what ismeant by the "new world informationorder" and "development journalism."These are sections that may benefit anovitiate to the debate.

But the book bogs down immediately in aresurrection of the Four Theories of the Pressdebate formulated by an American, WilburSchramm, and colleagues in 1956. To theWestern press, freedom is inviolate; if weallow freedom of., the presseven to thevoices we abhoreventually the truth willout. This is the classic libertarian and Jeffer-sonian concept of the press. It assumes, ofcourse, that everyone has access to massmedia channels. Indeed, at the time of thewriting of the First Amendment, the ownersof the press in North America were individ-uals. The book misses the chance to evaluateThird World contentions concerning the in-fluence of corporate-owned media today.

McPhail's book disappoints on severalcounts. We should expect any new exegesis ofthe "new international information and com-

munication order" (to use the proper I NESCO

term) to be both accurate and balanced. BLit4111 nis attempt to be even-handed on the op-

posing viewpoints, McPhail loses the sub-stance of the debate and presents a flaccidanalysis.

McPhail makes his strongest point duringhis discussion of development journalism. Henotes that the Third World move for "development journalism" (directing the infor=non resource toward national development) should not be so casually denigrated bythe Western press, which secs this as the firststep toward censorship. After all, he pointsout, the Western press, too, is a development,press and has, in fact, "successfully de-veloped itself into an ideological arm of thecapitalistic and free enterprise .,ystem."

The errors in attribution are unfortunate..There arc, additionally, many typographicalerrors-7:a good example is "the preestablish-ment sentiment of the estern media" for"pro- establishment1 A number of notedscholars' names sir7 misspelled, and,the U.S.International Communication Agency -In1980 is referred to by its farrier name, theUnited States Information Agency. Were itnot for the errors, this book could be mom-mended for undergraduates and newcomers'to the debate.

Reviewed by Howard H Frederick. a doctoral stu-dcnt in international communications at theAmerican University, Washington, D.C.

Bringing 11, omen into the Commu-nity Development Process: A Prag-matic Approach. Marion FennellyLevy. (Westport, CT., 1981, Save the

Children), 47 pp.

This 47-page handbook discusses Save theChildren's experience and efforts over thelast 15 years to involve women in the pro-grams provided ivy the Save the Children

_Federation in the developing world. Thebook, which begins with a refreshingly can-did appraisal of Save the Children's assis-tance to women in recent history, covers agreat deal of matenal in a thoughtful manner.

To the organization's credit, Save the Chil-dren took a hard look at its programs and itsown internal organization and staffing pat-terns and realized the benefits women derivedfrom its development efforts usually came asan afterthought. Women were invisible ex-cept when seen as an appendage to thehungry mouth of a child, or as a vehicle tocarry water, or as a purveyor,of medicine.Moreover, there were virtually no women de-velopment professionals on the field staff of 'the organization, a lack which tended to re-inforce the invisibility of women.. When eco-nomic development programs were promoted

by Save the Children in villages with subsis-tence:based economies, the participants,trainers, organizers, and chief, beneficiariesof the newyr9grams were typically men, andit was clear that the newly generaied incomeearned by these men was rarely, if ever, usedfor their families.

The handbook describes how Save theChildren came to these hard realizquons and'.what remedial steps they took. The authorchronicles the changes in staffing in the orga-nizational structure, and discusses how thechanges complemented attempts to designprograms specifically for the benefit ofwomen, Case studies for women's programsin Upper Volta, Colombia, Honduras andInek.nesia are presented.

Save the Children should dearly be laudedfor its courage in asking difficult questionsand its willingness tc challenge traditionalcultural attitudes Loward women in the devel

.°ping world. Perhaps the only 4.riticism thatcan be made of this paper, and it is a rela-tively minor one, is that the case studies pre-sented are not as candid as they could havebeen about the results of the programs. Uponclose reading, the case studies reveal that theprograms raised expectations of women andvery little elsecertainly they had little sig-nificant impact on their economic subsis-tence. After organizing women into commu-nity clubs, providing suppo.t for skills train-ing in traditional home-centered activitiessuch as cooking and sewing, and offeringminimum financial assistance, Save the Chil-dren led the women to t,elieve they could gen-erate income. While tile organizing and train-ing were successful, the economic develop-ment goals often failed because there was nomarket for the products. The conclugion of-fered for the failure was not that the designof the program should be altered, but thatthe women should have known more aboutmarketing and management in the first place.

This work is a valuable one and the lessonslearned will undoubtedly be put to good usein the future. It is a sensitive attempt to makepalpab'e changes in the liv es of women in thedeveloping world. It should be read by allpersons concerned with development issues,and is highly recommended'.

The booklet includes a bibliogfaphy onwomen in development in the Third World.

Available for U.S. $2.00, plus US $.50 forhandling, by writing the Public InformationDepartment, Save the Children Federation.Westport, Connecticut 06880 USA.

Reviewed by Arlene Horowitz, a program assistantin the Clearinghouse on Development Communi-cation.

Note: Illustrations for Development. re-viewed in DCR #34, is available from theAfrolit Society, P.O. Box 72511, Nairobi,Kenya.

9 1

Women and Media in Asiavehted byTimothy Yu and Leonard L. Chu,(Center for Communication Studies,The Chinese University of Hong

Kong, Hong Kong, 1977), 251 pp. US S5.00.

This book is a:report of the Asian Consul-tatioti on Women and Media, a seminar heldin Hong Kong in 1976. The meeting wassponsored b: the Center for CommunicationStudies of the Chinese University of HongKong for Lommurmation edutators and pro-.fessipnal journalists of As'`,vn countries. Thereport lriclurics alt the papers plemtC4 at theConsultation Spd a summar, pf the discus-sions. No attempt has been made, however,to synthesize'the main lines of the discussion.

.The reader is presented with raw mater4a1 andasked to plow through unzavied. Fortunately,each paper is short and 4.pritiss. which makesthe task easier. Nevertheless, one wishes thatthe editors had set the meeting in its properperspective and helped us capture its srvit..

When looking at the Conkultation's agen;.,da it is important to remember that it tookplace in 1976. This as only a year after In-ternational Women's Year and the MexicoCity United Nations Conference on Women,which for the firsi time brought women'sissues to the attention of the4,general publicthroughout the world. In 1976, consciousness.raising was only beginning. discussions werepassionate, and the limits of the debate wereless defined. Agendas therefore tended to bewide open and to cover a lot of territory.

In this compilation, the first two series ofpapers consisrof factual presentations on thelegal and social.) status or women in variousAsian countries and on thetituation with re-gard to access to education and employmentin mass media. Today, one would probabi,not devote' as much time to this backgroundinformation. In the last five years, the poolof knowledge on women's issues has greatlyincreased so that such basic facts and state-ments-of-the-situation are less useful.

The papeS on education and access tomedia focus almcst exclusively on media as acareer for women: do women have equal op-portunities for training, employment, andadvancement in the media industry? Not sur-prisingly, it is generally found that'althougheducation opportunities are improving, jobprospects for women in the media are not asgood as those for men. Although the 1981reader may be impatient with what now seemto be generalities, it is clear on reading thediscussion in these papers that they provokeda lively exchange on such issues as womenand work in general, the difficulty for womenof assuming both career and family responsi-bilities, their ability to carry out the same as-signment as men, prejudices, attitudes,stereotyping, etc.

(continued on next page)

ti

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(continued from page 9)

The second part of the Consultation con-sisted of four position papers which tried tocover several areas: portrayal of women'srole in the media, women's contribution tonational development through mass media,opporlunities for training women for, mediacareers and widening their involvement. Inthese papers the debate was at times broad-ened from the "media" level to the "com-munication" level but there was generally lit-tle time to probe. Issues such as the role ofcommunication in development, media as anagent of change and a consciousness-raiser,the contribution that women can makethrough the media, and mass communicationas a social process were raised but not an-alyzed in any'depth.

,The. worldwide influence of the UnitedSlates in both media and women's issues isvery much in evidence throughout the book.One notes that of the 17 persons who pre-sented papers during the consultation, 13 re-ceived training in the West. II of them in theUnited States. This is obviously a source ofconcern to the Asian participants and itshould be noted by Ar.:ericans who train spe-cialists from other countries. Participants re-marked that scholars trained in the Unitedstates often did not know how to apply theirknowledge to the Asian situation, and thatmodern mass media techniques were too of-ten imported from Western countries withoutsensitivity to the local situation. Asian com-munication students therefore face a doublechallenge: educating themselves in a differentculture and then adapting their knowledge totheir own environment.

The problem of transcultural influences isalso evident with regard to the women'sMovement itself. During the discussion, theparticipants revealed the difficulty they hadin understanding the development of themovement in the United States, and in fi 'd-ing the parallels and the differences iu the sit-uation of women in the United States andAsia.

In the end, the book provides some valu-able historical material both on the subjeCt it-selfAsian women in the mediaand onhow the issue was approached as little as fiveyears ago. It was used extchsively in theworldwide study on-"The Portrayal and Par-ticipation of Women in the Media" whichwas prep ied by Margaret Gallagher ;JrUNESCO (Paris, 1970) and therefore consti-tutes a prima in this field. Its main weaknesslies in its attempt to cover too much - groundtoo quickly, without attempting either tofocui' on main points dr to give a sense ofdirection for future study or action.

Reviewed by Line Robillard Heyniger, consultanton international and women's issues, Montreal,Canada; international associate, Women's Insti-tute for Freedom of The Press, Washington, D.C.

Small is PowerfulMicrocomputers .and. microprocissors

today are small enough to gt intopocket, cost between USS 100-300, andeau run on §mall batteries. They are alsoon the drder.of 20 times fatter and thou-sands of times.more reliable than the earlymodels firstdeveloped in 1946.

The advertising of IBM (International'Business Machines) gleefully points outthat an equivalent an in the automobileindustry would put the price of a RollsRoyce luxury sedan at about one nickel(USS 0.05) in 1981.

The key development was the integratedcircuit. Transistors are components of anelectric circuit used to amplify, detectorswitch the flow of electrons. Their devel-opment in 1947 transformed electronics,as they made vacuum tube circuitry large-ly obsolete.

Current innovations continue to packmore and more circuitry onto chips. In 10years, manufacturers expect to cram morethan a million components into theirunits. With the addition of informationprocessing capacities--computing funs -'ions to silicon integrated circuits, themicroprocessor is created.

Instructions on how a microprocessorwill shunt electrons within the myriad ofcircuits, to perform logic functions suchas calculation. are established before-hand. Function determines design andmanufacture. This is cdYlcd programming,and it is in the programming of micro-processors to apply their enormous flexi-bility for handling information that thefuture of microelectronics lies for devel-oping countries.

Reprinted by permission from the IDRCReports, Vol. 10, No 1.

(continued from page 13)

From Mexico comes a timely newsletter, inSpanish, Shuesis It:format:1w, published bythe Institute Latinoamericano de la Comuni-caciOn Educativa. Regional news about train-ing courses, institutional activities, policyissue;, and communication books in Spanishis regularly provided. Subscription infor-mation may be had from ILCE, ApartadOPostal 94-328, Mexico 10, D.F., Mexico.

Mentioned in these pages earlier, VideoEducativo Rural (VER), published' inSpanish, in Lima, Peru, continues to be auseful vehicle for sharing the experiences ofvideo used for education an'd training in ruralLatin America. Users are urged to participatein the network. Contact CEPAC, ProyectoPER 76/003, PNUD-CENCAA-FAO,Apartado Postal 4480, Lima, Peru, for fur-ther information.

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"Women and the Media" is the focus ofISIS International Bulletin number 18. Ar:ticks on issues such as the image of women inthe media, women and pornography, andmedia as manipulation, do a good job of rais-ing consciousness in an area that is receivingincreasing attention worldwide. For informa-tion on tAis issue of the Bulletin, contactISIS, Case Postale 301, CH -1227 Carouge,Switzerland.

The International Women's Tribune Cen-tre has published an interesting newsletter, inEnglish and Spanish, on Women and Media.Project information, lists of organizations,titles of appropriek books and periodicals,production resources, UN policy news, andother useful information is presented at livelyfashion. The Centre is located at 305 East46th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017, USA.

1 hose of our subscribers who read Spanishmay be interested in two series among thepublications from the Fundacidn para elDesarrollo de la Region Centro Occidental deVenezuela (FUNDECO). One series of I 1publications is on Social Communication andDevelopment (Comunicicion Social y Dinar-rollo), the other scribes of 15 publications is onSocial and Edudational Research -(Investiga-clan Social y Educativa), from which we havesampled two: Invest:pc:dr: sobre Radio-Foro cotno Mt;todo para Lograr Participa-clot: Can:pent:a y una Efectiva,DtrulgacuinAgrfrola and AnOhsts de Contentdo de losMet:safes Agricola; In la Prensa yyRadtoVenezolana y su Unlidad Seglitt los Cam-pesutos del Estado Afonagas. Both.of jhesestudies show a thorough knowledge of com-municatici theory, diffusion of innovation,conceptual models, and participatory re-search, and have useful bibliographies ofSpanish works in these ,fields. A publicationand price list may be obtained fromFUNDECO, Apartado 523, Barquisimeto3001-A, Estado Lara, Venezuela.

Also available in Spanish are the papersfrom, the First Colloquium on EducationalTelevision in Mexico (Primer Coloqui, deTelevision Diddctica en Mexico), sponsoredby the Academia Mexicana de la EducaciOn,and held, in Jdne 1980. Among 12 interestingpapers are one on,Mexicois new Rural Televi-sion Network, one on the Mexican experienceusing television for literacy, and one on the'costs of educational TV. Mexico is obviouslyconcerned with providing and improvingbasic education for all its population, as wellas .with, relating education to productionneeds and skills. The papers collected herereflect this concern, and should be welcomed6y other Lhtin countries with similar goals.

Available for US$6.00 front the AcadentiaMexicana de la Educacion, Cefro SanGregOrio No. 6, Mexico 21. D.F., Mexico.

By Judy Brace

Introducing Hybrid Coccia to Nigeria:Communications Help Persuade Farmersby C.A. Ogunmilade -

This article examines the adop-tion of hybrid cocoa in Ondostate in Nigeria. It identifies themotives that led to the decision

to adopt the new crop and discusses some ofthe problems that were Jncounterell In theprocess. It also illustrates the process and im-pact of communication, and examines .therole of the change agents in the whole process6f diffusion.

Ondo State, formally Ondo Pros ince, isone of the 19 states that were created inNigeria in 1976. 1r has an area of 18,165square kilometers and a population of about2.J million, mostly farmers. With its tropica:climate, it produces more than 60 percent ofthe Nigerian cocoa. Cocoa is the mainstay ofthe state's economy, and is second only topetroleum. :is Nigeria's largest export.

Before the introduction of the hybridcocoa in the state in 1954, the farmersplanted native cocoa. The trees yielded abun-dant fruits for eight to ten years after plant-ing, but productivity quickly declined there-after. The old cocoa trees became tall, andthe scattered fruits on them were very diffi-cult to reach during harvest. In the threeyears from 1950 to 1953, production droppednoticeably, and income of both the farmers

- and the government fell. The governmentwas concerned, and took action.

The then-Minister of Agriculture and Nat-ural Resources for the Western State of Nige-ria, who incidentally came from the state,undertook acsocoa tour of the West Indiesand Brazil in 1954. He and his colleaguescame back to Nigeria with sample fruits,tures, and demonstration packages of another type of cocoa, known as the ''hybridcogoa,'! for which the Ondo State of Nigeriais .well known today. What was responsiblefor the ultimate decision to adopt the hybridcocoa, a,cibp that up to 1954 was foreign toNigeria? Were alternatives considered? Werethere models to guide the government in itsdecisions concerning these issues? What roledid cdmmunication play an the process?

Fist, there were many models to choosefrom, and most of the experts in the Ministryof Agriculture and Natural Resource, archi-,tects of the innovation, had studied in Italy,Brazil, the United States, or Canada. Theirinitial approach was similar to the Research,Development, Diffusion,, Adoption Modelpostulated ty Clark and Guba. The govern-ment asked the Cocoa Research Institute ofNigeria (CRIN) to look into the problem oflow yields frog native cocoa, perforni experi-

_,\ ments,ori both the old andihe new crops, andadVise the gove?nment on its findings. The

'Institute did expefimentsend concluded that:

the hybrid cocoa would do as well as thenative cocoa in Nigeria., that it would mature,,in three years as opposed to a minimum offive years for the Nigerian cocoa; that thehybrid was bigger and more productive; andthat it could capture the world market in thefuture.

There were also suggestions thatfarmers should be given loans to reactivatetheir own cocoa, crops which had beenpassed on from generation to generation.Some planers considered the hardship theinnovation would bring to the old farmers,and there were government. functionarieswho were skeptical about "this foreignerfrom Brazil." At this time, the campaign hadnot got to the farmers. However, gover".nentdecisions on the matter, aia its eventual fol-low-up, combined many /principles, models,and forms of communicatIons, each useful ata particular stage. At times, a combination ofseveral of the models was used.

Communications CampaignFarmers were made aware of the nevi

cocoa through the rediffusion programsbroadcast on a speual frequency, govern-ment Information vans, mobile cinemashows, through head chiefs and councillors,and at times in churches and mosques. Thegovernment first performed the experimer.tson its demonstration farms, planting theseedlings and nursing them for about amonth before transplanting them. Films andpictures of the processes of planting andgrowth were then shown in all the local townsand 'villages, and farmers were in turn en-couraged to make their own nurseries. In ad-dition, half-hour programs on agriculturewere presented on the radio rediffusion threetimes a week to create awareness, sharpen theinterest of the farmers, and highlight the ad-Vantages of adopting the hybrid cocoa. Indi-viduals and groups were contacted and dis-cussions went on at the village level. In effect,no single model was adopted exclusively, andinterpersonal communications were stressed.

Initial Osistance to-,New CropInitially; the innovation encountered a lot

of resistance.. There was opposition fromfarmers above.:he ay of 45 who were nolonger strong enough to cultivate new crops.They wanted the government, to reactivate,their old coups instead. Other oppositioncame from the few rich farmers, whoseprestige was based on their control of thelargest holdings of cocoa in their respectivevillages. They feared that in the "new age,"when everybody would have to start fromscratch, their positions would be threatened.

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Equally difficult for the farmers was theidea that the dying cocoa trees should be cutdown and replaced with hybrid cocoa seedsor seedlings. The farmers considered not only-the hardship that such deliberate cuts wouldentail, but also the "psychological pain" ofdestroying what was handed down to themby their fatherscrops they wanted to handover to their own children some day.

In Ondo State, there were several cate-gories of adopters. The innovators were few,but very influential. They were, curiously'

,enough, teachers and other professionalswho considered farming a hobby. The earlyadopters were the opinion leaders. Both the_innovators and the early adopters were mo-bile, cosmuoolitan, athentarous, and opento external influence.

Roles of Different GroupsMore remarkable in.the process of change

was the role of the formal and the Informalgroups. These group members were not, theearly adopters, they came in late but formedtne majority. They were mostly farmers and,very often, they made far-reaching politicaland economic decisions. The groups betweenthe ages of 25 and 35 were unique. Theywanted success, and shared common goals,attitudes, and approaf.hes to life. When theyheard about the hyt.id cocoa, he invitedthe Ministry officials to educate them aboutthe new product. The agricultural assistants,who were really the change agents in the dis-tricts, rook over from there. They made dem-onstration beds in the villages, and plantedthe new cocoa seeds and nursed them. Earlyin the morning and again in the evening,farmers were invited to watch the Agricul-tural Assistants. They would ask questions,and would take some seeds away for plant-ing. The State Ministry cf Information wasvery useful too. Information workers tookbeautiful pictures of the new crop, and dis-played posters to emphasize the advantagesof adopting the new,coccia.

(continued on page 14)

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.4.

Technical Assistance Spans the Pacific:VITA Volunteers Share Energy Information by Satellite

by Gary Garriott

For more than twenty years,Volunteers in Technical Assis-tance (VITA) has sent informa-tion on low-cost technologies by

mail to thousands of requestors, primarilyfrom the developing countries, as well as pro-vided on-site consultancies and projectmanagement. Approximately 4,000 volunteerexperts throughout the world contribute theirtime to these activities. Recently, VITA hasbegun experiments which involve sending in-formation by interactiwt media to supple-ment mail services in the hope that immediateinformation transfer will be more timely,and, therefore, more likely to be used in ac-tual development activities.

Teleconferences Highlight NeW ProgramOne such experiment currently being pur-

sued by VITA is a series of two-way audioteleconferenpes on renewable energy technol-ogies beamed to potential users in the Pacificregion via the PEACESAT system. PEACE-SAT is a consortium of government andeducational institutions that employsNASA's, Application Technology SatelliteATS-I, launched in the 1960's and now dedi-cated to public service use for its remaininglifetime. Approximately 20 ground stationsthroughout the Pacific have been installedlinking such locations as Saipan; Lae, PapuaNew Guinea; Wellington, New Zealand,Rarotonga, Cook Islands, and other siteswithin these general boundaries. Since ATS-Iis a high-powered, global beam satellite anduses uncomplicated VHF (very high fre-quency) transmitting and receiving equip-ment, earth station equipment is inexpensiveand several earth stations have :ken installedfor under a thousand dollars each. Portableoperation from remote rural areas is also pos-sillle.

Volunteers Coordinate ConferencesUnder its AID-supported Reneivable Erier

gy Program, VITA has thus far used homeOffice staff and volunteers located through-out the geographical U.S. to produce, andcoordinate a series of conferences on the fol-lowing topics: solar hot water heating,wood gasification, woodstovts, wind-electricsystems, and bio-gas. Second conferences onwind-electric systems and cookstoves havealso been held. Depending on the location ofstaff and volunteers making presentations,either conference calls or simple long-distance calls are made to the uplinkingground station terminal. The calls representthe only cost to. VITA (other than mailinglitergure).

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Experience thus far shows that it is quiteeasy for even first-timers on the con fercncenetwork to get used to the idea of communi-cating via satellite with people 9,000 milesaway. Only "simplex" operation is possible;that is, one person talks at a time and mustend his or her transmission with "over toSuva," for example. Sessions are "chaired"by whatever terminal initiates the conferenceor by the terminal where the VITA partici-pants are. "Chairmen" request reactions andcomments from participating terminals inturn. Since PEACESAT is relatively unso-phisticated in terms of hardware, the needfor frequent repetition and signal checks andthe informal nature of the sessions them-selves provide an unthreatening environmentin which newcomers almost instantly feel atease.

Future topics are selected during confer-ences themselves or during weekly schedulingsessions. A former VITA employee, now atthe University of Hawaii, is an operator atthe Honolulu terminal and provides neces-sary logistical continuity with stations andVITA as well as feedback on the usefulnessof the material presented. Uplinks are ac-complished through PEACESAT terminalsin Santa Cruz or Honolulu. A quasi-privatestation in Florida has also been used for ac-cessing the network, and VITA is studyingthe possibility of acquiring a low-cost term-inal of its own if conferences continue over along period of time.

Preplanning Vital to SuccessSince the sessions are primarily technical in

nature, experience jo date indicates that pre-conference written materials are essential to agood exchange of inforMation. Topics areusually set a month in advance to allow timefor pre-conference mailings of subject mate-rials. Terminal managers distribute this tech-nical material to interested parties (thus far,mainly mid-level government officials andplanners, development technicians, and uni-versity personnel). Participating VITA staffand volunteers have also previously studiedthe material. Typically, a conference consistsOf short three- to five-minute presentationson the subject by staff and volunteer experts(together with other Pacific conferees whomay already have expertise on the topic) fol-lowed by questions and answers. Post-con-

' ference information is also forwarded to par-ticipants when appropriate.

A continuing concern is how to assure tha.participants are able to use the informationfor construction of actual projects. One wayseems to be to encourage active participation'

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of groups that have a particular technologicalfocus. For example, a Pacific-wide Women'sInterest Group has begun a series of confer-ences on smokeless s:oves that only requireslight modifications for greater efficiencyand reliability. Increasingly, the women pro-vide the VITA staff and volunteers with tech-nical information that they did not previouslypossess, information which is then made partof VITA's technical library for reference anddistribution to future Pacific island re-questors.

Focus on Specialized ObjectivesVITA is also designing conferences with

specialized objectives. One type will be for"advanced" participants who are alreadyknowledgeable in a certain technoiogv andneed specific and specialized informatic I. Inaddition, "Resource Acquisition Seminars"will provide administrators with the knowl-edge of existing foreign development re-sources. VITN recently surveyed over 500 or-ganizations v.orldwide that promote the useof appropriate technologies and found thatin addition to information (primarily onother projects), short-term technical consul-tations and financing (particularly in small,manageable amounts) were important forproject implementation. We believe that suchseminars on how to tap resources will helpPacific planners put together appropriate re-source packages for their development needs.

VITA hopes that the current teleconfer-ence series will provide Pacific governmentsand groups with timely information on p-newable energy in an immediately useable,low-cost formcertainly growing and criticalconcerns of energy-dependent island econo-mies. The vast expanse of territory, rising airfares, and mail service delays will increasinglyenhance the value of teleconferencing as analternative to jet travel.

Basis for Replicating ProjectIn this light, it is indeed unfortunate that

there are presently no low-cost alternatives toPEACESAT when ATS-1 finally dies or is re-moved from service, possibly within a year.There is obviously a sound basis for replicat-ir16 the PEACESAT expel-knee in publicservice sectors of other developing countriesas long as operating costs can be kept lowand hardware uncomplicated. The marriagebetween low-cost renewable energy technol-ogies and "appropriate" satellite confer-encing teohnologies, is natural, and, we be-lieve, one that could have wide applicationfor struggling economies everywhere.

To obtain further information contact:VITA Inc., 3706 Rhode Island Ave., Mt.Rainier, Maryland 20822, USA.

Gary Garriott is a senior technical advisor at VITAwith a special interest in renewable energy andtechnology transfer.

On File at ERICInternational communication problems,

the effects of television dependence on poli-tical'views, and developments in the area ofbroadcasting satellites are addressed in the re-ports reviewed in this column. All are avail-able in microfiche from the ERIC DocumentReproduction Service (EDRS), P.O. Box190, Arlington, Virginia 22210, USA. Someof them tire also available in paper copy.

The Media Crisis. Miami, Florida:World Press Freedom Committee, 1980,

114pp. (ED 193 715)Those who have been Involved in

UNESCO debates on the media ind on theNew World Information Order offer com-ments on the proposals of the MacBrideCommission, a group appointed byUNESCO to study the problems of interna-tional communications. Specific topics ad-dressed include (1) the right of access to

,Ovate and public sources of information; (2).special protection for journalists, (3) licens-ing of journalists; (4) employmet t of jour-nalists by intelligence agencies of any coun-try; (5) a proposed international center forstudy and planning of information and com-munications to be established withinUNESCO; (6) private ownership of newsmedia; (7) problems created by advertising;and (8) taxing of transnationals. Availablefrom World Press Freedom Committee,Miami Herald, I Herald Plaza, Miami, FL33101 (postage only), or EDRS in microfichefor 91¢ or paper copy for18.60 plus postage.

o Becker, Lee B. and Fruit, Jeffrey W.The Growth of TV Dependence. Tracing

the Origins of the Political Malaise. Paperpresented at the.annual meeting of the Inter-national Communication Association,Acapulco, Mexico, May 18-24, 1980, 29pp.(ED 196 082)

A heavy dependence on television news hasbeen linked by research witn lower levels ofknowledge about the political system andnegative evaluations of that system, i.e.,political malaise. This paper uses data fromthree different sources to examine moreclosely the shift away from print toward,dependence on television for news, to deter-mine the linkage between needs and depen-dency, and to determine changes in thelinkage between needs and dependency overtime. In general, it is expected that an ex-amination of the needs of the audience willreveal some causes of the increaseddependence on television. It may be thatviewers watch television in part to avoid con-flict, yet the conflict included in news pro-grams is the very thing producing theirfrustration. Available from EDRS inmicrofiche for 91r or in paper copy for $3.65plus postage.

Curran, Alex. Direct' BroadcastingSatellitesMyth or Reality. Paper pre-

sented at the annual meeting of the Interna-tional Institute of Communications, Ottawa,Canada, September 8-11, 1980, 14pp. (ED192 405)

Pointing out that, contrary to expecta-tions, there is still no fully operational directbroadcasting satellite system 23 years afterthe launching of the first satellite, Curranposes several questions. Is there a perceivedneed for such a system? Is the technologyavailable at cost-effective levels? Has thattechnology been adequately tested? Wouldthe system create more problems than itwould solve? He suggests that there is a needfor direct broadcast satellites to serve largi.areas of low population density,, and that theavailability of the technology at cost- effectivelevels has been demonstrated by experimentsand studies; e.g.. low power-level satelliteshave proved to be especially cost effective inCanada. He cites three satellite launchesHERMES, serving Canada, the U.S., andAustralia; URI, serving Japan; and ANIK-B,serving Canadaand discusses new projectsbeing considered in nine _uuntries. He con-cludes with a look at some problems arisingfrom the fact that satellite signals cross na-tional borders. Available from EDRS inmicrofiche only for 9K plus postage.

o Maeda, Jiro. Direct Broadcasting Satel-lites in Japan. Paper presented at the an-

nual meeting of the International Institute ofCommunications, Ottawa, Canada, Septem-ber 7-11, 1980, 26pp. (ED 192 404)

This discussion of the development and useof broadcasting satellites in Japan describesthe medium-scale experimental broadcastingsatellite, YURI, which was launched byNASA it. 1978. Experiments with YURI inseveral different areasbasic technologies inthe broadcasting satellite system, satellitecontrol technologies and operational controltechniques, and the reception of radio wavesfrom a broadcasting satelliteare reportedto have shown favorable results and to havesuggested that practical applications ofbroadAsting satellites are technically feasiblewithin the foreseeable future. A recommen-dation is made to the Space Activities Com-mission of Japan that an operational broad-casting satellite be Idunched in 1983, prior tothe planned launchings of space platforms in1985 aild 1990. Objections of commercialbroadcasters who fear disruption of regionalbroadcasting by broadcasting satellites arealso presented. Available from EDRS in mi-crofiche only for 91e plus postage.

Barbara B. Minor, Publications Coordinator,ERIC aearinghonse on information Resources,School of Education, Syracuse University,Syracuse, New York 13210, USA.

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Keeping Current:Periodicals to Note

We would like to draw our readers' atten-tion to some of the communications peri-odicals that are received in the Clearing-house.

URTNA Review; Revue de l'URTNA is abi-annual French-Engash communicationsjournal, published by the Union of NationalRadio and Television Organizations ofAfrica (URTNA). This organization pro-motes, develops, and coordinates radio and .

television activities in Africa. The Reviewfeatur_es organizational and conference itifor-mattpn, and a recent issue contained alengthy report on rural radio in AnglophoneAfrica with useful, country-specific informa-tibif. For subscription information, contactURTNA Reviey, 101 rue Carnot, B.P. 3237,Dakar, Senegal.

Interface is a bi-annual journal, in English,published by the Department of Commuaica-tion and Journalism, Osmama University,Hyderabad 500 007, India. The journal triesto strike a balance between academia and thecommunity, international communicationissues and national media concerns. Contactthe Editor at the above address for subscrip-tion information.

Also from India comes the interestingmonthly bulletin of the Research Institute forNewspaper. Development, RIND Survey. Itcontains technical printing and equipmentinformation, discussions of policy issues, andbook reviews. For subsimption information,contact CGK Reddy, 38 Pantheon Road,Madras 600 008, India.

A newsletter that can be relied on to giveclear coverage to current Issues of interna-tional communication policy is the Chronicleof International Communication. Publishedmonthly by International CommunicationProjects, Inc., in cooperation with TempleUniversity's School Qf Communication andTht.ater, the Chronicle regularly provides in-.fotmation on transborder data flow, the de-bate on the New World Information Order,education issues and conferences, as well asbrief book reviews. Subscription informationis available from !CPI, P.O. Box 2596,Washington, D.C. 20013, USA.

An informative and carefully edited jour-nal is Media Development, published quar-terly by the World Association for ChristianCommunication, in London. Recent lead ar-ticles have focused on alternative news andinformation services, the New World Infor-mation Order, and Latin American grass-,roots structures of communication. Goodcoverage is given to media's use for socialservice throughout the world,-and abstractsin Spanish are frequently provided. WACCoffices are at 122 King's Road, London SW34TR, England.

(continued on page 10)

Focus on WomenThree years ago, the report froman international workshop heldin Bangkk by the Asian andPacific Centre for Women

and Development stated that the media were"actively contributing to corroding the digni-ty of women. . ."

A new film produced by the United Na-tions (UN) Department of 'Public Informa-tion reviews the image of women as shown infilm and TV in India, Egypt, and theDominican Republic. The film takes a strongstand against injurious stereotypes and sup-ports effprts by women to assume responsi-bility for the improvement of their own lives.

India's vast film industry perpetuates thenotion that women's happiness comes from"submission to the right man." In the devel=opment of this theme, Indian films tradition-ally provide escapism and vicarious material-ism,as well -as predictably happy endings.Their content does nothing to enhance thedignity of women. Not suprisingly, thetechnical functions of film production restexclusively in the hands of men. Only now isthe National Film Institute of India begin-ning to train women in camera, sound, light-ing, editing, and other technical skills.

A paradox exists in Egypt's busy world oftelevision production. Because radio andtelevision salaries in government broad-casting are lower than those in the press or inother countries' broadcast media, a largeproportion of the jobs are held by women.Electronic engineering is considered a

"feminine" profession, broadcasters areusually women, and the head of the country'sTV programming is a woman. All the morestriking, then, is TV's perpetuation of oldstereotypes of the role-of women, a diet feddaily to an audience of one million families.A social researcher interviewed in the filmdiscusses her study of women's images por-trayed, and finds that in the immenselypopular soap operas, when the husbandstraysthreatening the stability of thevenerated familythe disruptive' cause is

typically a female univernity student or aworking woman.

In striking contrast to the first two, thefinal segment of the film shows programmingby, for, and about women who are makingan effort to change and improve the condi-tions of their lives. It features a TV programshowing women making decisions and takingcharge. Although the weekly, half-hour show,"Diferentes pero lguales," presents manypublic service types of activities (see DCR1125, January 1979), the film documents onlyOne: a group of rural women who have pooledtheir resources (without the support of themen of the community) to buy a herd ofgoats. Their determination gives them newconfidence and skills. to

Reviewed by Judy Brace

Focus On Women (color, 16mm, 28 min.)is available in English, Spanish, and French.In the U.S. it can be purchased for US $300from the United Nations, Room 807, NewYork, NY 10017, USA, attention Ms. Brook:Landis; to rent, it is available for US $30from the New York University Fihn Library,27 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003,USA. In Canada, the film is available fromMarlin Motion Pictures, 47 Lakeshore Rd.East, Port Credit, Ontario, Canada LSGIC9. In other countries, to borrow the film,contact a United Nations InformationCenter, or any of the UNDP fihn libraries.

(continued from page 11)

At the adoption stage of the process of dif-fusion, the change agents were very effective.They came from the Yoruba land, spoke thelanguage of the people, interacted freely withthem, understood the intricacies of their so-cial system, and were prepared to respectthem. The farmers in turn gave respect andrecognition to the Agricultural Assistants.

However, all was not smooth sailing. Itwas not easy for them to work with individ-ual farmers. First, there were only a fewchange agents, and part of their time wasspent making field reports at their Ministryheadquarters. Second, the farmers them-selves were not easy to find except on week-ends. Most of them slept on the farms fromMonday to Friday; others went to the farmsvery early in the morning only to return lateat night. The change agents could not meetthem on the farms because,. at certain timesof the year, the bush paths were risky, muddy,and impassible, and the farms were far apart.

Laggards and Reluctant Old MenThe opinion leaders were very effective.

They were part of the system, much respectedand loved, widely traveled, and they had em-braced the innovation much earlier. Sincetheir new crops were doing well, they had lit-tle difficulty in convincing others, exceptthose who were lazy, to follow suit. The lazyfarmers and the old men were the greatestheadache for the agents. The latter stuck totheir native cocoa until lesser yields drovethem to frustration and unhappiness. Themembers of this group could be rightly refer-red to as the laggards.

1960 was a crucial time in the adoption ofthe hybrid cocoa because some of the earlyplantings had started to bear fruits on a largescale. People began to s'ee that the hybridcocoa was better, and the young farmerswere taking more money home than theelders who had earlier dominated the market.Tongues started to wag.

Mobile vans, mainly organized and fundedby the Ministry of Information, mountedcampaigns of words and posters in all the im-portant places in the state. Pictures of farm-ers nursing the young plants, spraying the

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cocoa pods, and enjoying the fruits of richharvests, were made available. Programssuch as Cooperative Half Hour, Agbe OnijeOjumo ("The farmer who works hard willeat every day"), and Exe Agbe ("The farm-er's gain"), came up regularly on the rediffu-sion networks.

Lives Changed By New CocoaThe new crop was better from the stand-

point of yield, quality, and productivity.What were some of the effects of this im-provement? Students who had earlier suf-fered as a result of lack of funds could go,back to school. New and beautiful housessprang up to replace some of the old dilapi-dated ones. People acquired transistorradios, and later, televisions. Farmers couldnow buy what they needed, and more peoplehad money. New businesses, such as trading,and arts L.n.d crafts, developed. As peoplebecame more mobile, social interaction in-creased.

Traditionally, the few young men that hadcocoa had inherited it from their fathers. Theold men ruled the towns and villages becausethey controlled the source of wealth, andthus had influence and power. But by the1960's, the old order had changed, yieldingto the new, and this was evident in almostevery aspect of life.

However, the adoption of the innovationbrought with it many social problems. Steal-ing became niore common. Young men whohad no cocoa resorted to theft to meet thechallenge of the new situation. Litigationabounded as a result of arson, publicfighting, and seduction of other people'swives. Many young men became reckless as aresult of drunkeness, and had fatal accidentson their vehicles.

Perhaps most significant was the erosionof the traditional system of settling disputesand quarrels at the feet of elders. Elders nolonger had power, because they did not con-trol the purse strings. Young men took theircases to court, rather than presenting thembefore the elders.

Some of the above-mentioned points wereindirect but very important effects of the in-novation. However, for most people., formost organizations, and even for,the govern-ment (by way of more revenue), the adoptionof the innovation brought about positivechange. Without the use of a persuasive andcoordinated communications campaign,which in this case relied primarily on inter-personal communications, it is doubtfulwhether the new cocoa could successfullyhave replacedthe old in such a short time.

Di. C.A. Ogonmilade is a Senior Lecturer in theDepartment of Educational Technology, Universi-ty of He, Ile-lfe, Nigeria. His special interests arein production and utilization of, audiovisualmaterials acd management of media resources.

(continued from page 16)

As we have seen, agncultural informationis needed by a wide range of users, from ad-ministrators and financiers to research scum-fists and extension workers. Frequently it isnot practicable for international services tobe aimed directly at these user groups, partic-ularly in the case of the farmer himself, theend-user of much agricultural information.

It is instead necessary to have intermedi-aries who are responsible for repackaging theinformation in line with local needs and con-ditions. For example, the role of the exten-sion officer or agricultural adviser in trans-ferring the results of laboratort a"ci fieldtrials into tangible benefits cannot be toohighly emphasized. Such benefits include in-creased crop yields and improvements in thewell-being of the rural population. Theagent's local knowledge of ecological andsocial constraints is invaluable in selecting theappropriate information and presenting it inthe appropriate way.

Specialized CentersIn recent years many specialized agricul-

tural information centers have been estab-lished in developing countries. These consistof the information departments of both theinternational centers financed by the Consul-tative Group on International AgriculturalResearch ( CGIAR) and research or trainingcenters set up by regional or national govern-ments. These information centers havetended to concentrate either on one specificcrop (or small group of crops) or on the par-ticular agricultural priorities of their countryor countries in their region.

These centers are ideally placed to act asintermediaries, accessing internationalsystems and selecting, reprocessing, and re-packaging material for dissemination to theirown users. This pfocess should not only in-clude the usual setecti-, e dissemination of in-formation and retrospective march services,but also such tasks as the regular productionof specialized collections of abstracts or in-dexes as is done by the Cassaw. 1rJurmationCenter st the Centro Internacional de Ag-ricultura Tropical (C1AT) in Colombia, andthe Agricultural Information Bank for Asia(AIBA) in the Philippines.

The production of newsletters and bulk-tins, the organization of translations and thedistribution of up-to-date reviews on specifictopics for extension workers can also be use-ful and much-appreciated functions of thesespecialized centers.

The establishment of national, regional,and international information networks isessential for their successful operation. Thisis an area in which fruitful collaboration be-tween developing and industrialized coun-tries should be sought. However, it shouldalways be remembered that the system

developed must be appropriate to the needsof the users and the conditions prevailing inthe country in which it will be used.

In some developing countries computersystems have been successfully established,but a :omputer should not be used just for itsown sake. All too often grandiose schemesfor interconnected networks have been pro-posed, and sometimes even implemented,without any basic information science

groundwork to discover who is the user, whatare his or her needs, and whether the systemwill provide answers in a usable form. It is farbetter, in some cases, to develop simplesystems based on photocopies of contentspages, such as the East African LiteratureService and the CIAT. Contents Pages inAgricultural Science. These are effective andare extremely popular with users.

AGRIS, CAB, ATAOf the many information services avail-

able, only one attempts to serve all usergroups with a "comprehensive inventory ofworld-wide agricultural literature," and thatis the FAO International Information Systemfor the Agricultural Sciences and Technology( AGRIS). Other services have more limitedaims. They may provide "a world agricul-tural information service" covering materialof "scientific importance" as does the Com-monwealth Agricultural Bureaux (CAB) or,as in the case of Abstracts on Tropical Agri-culture (ATA), "a selection of material ofpractical interest to agricultural developmentand extension workers in tropical andsubtropical areas."

Many suppliers also offer selective dissemi-nation of information (SDI) services. This isanother way in which the data base may bebroken up into smaller sections more relevantto a specialized center's needs.

Bibliographies and reading lists, compiledeither on specific request or as a series ofpublications from the major suppliers, canalso be extremely useful products forspecialized centers.

The alerting function of international serv-ices is all very well, whether by means ofjournals, specialized bulletins, SD's:bibli-ographies or magnetic tapes, but what theuser really wants is information; a biblio-graphic reference alone often will not suffice.The data base supplier can help in two ways:by including informative abstracts in hispublications, and by providing a documentdelivery or photocopying service.

AbstractsWell-presented, informative abstracts can

replace the original documents to some ex-tent. This is an extremely important aspect ofthe provision of information in the develop-ing countries, but even in industrializedcountries users prefer SDI services which -in-clude abstracts to those which do not.

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SummaryInternational information services must

support the specialized centers and promotetheir development into real "centers of ex-cellence," so that they become the place inthe world for information on their specializa-tion. (This is already the case with a numberof them.) In many instances, improvementsin internal and external communications andcoordination of services within countries orregions are vital if national and regionalcenters are to achieve these aims.

Agriculture will maintain its priority posi-tion in the economic and social developmentof most Third World countries and the needfor information services will increase. It isonly by close cooperation between develop-ing and industrialized countries that thischallenge can successfully be met.

The organizations mentioned in this articlemay be Luntatted at the following addresses.

AGRICOLA: The United States Departmentof Agriculture National Agriculture Li-brary, Beltsville, Maryland 20705 USA

AGRIS: FAO International InformationSystem for the Agricultural Sciences andTechnology, AGRIS Coordinating Center,FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100Rome, Italy

AIBA: Agricultural Information Bank forAsia, The University of the Philippines,Los Banos, Philippines

ATA: Abstracts on Tropical Agriculture,Koninklijk Instituut Voor de Tropen,Asdeling Agrarisch Onderzoek, Advisoryand Documentation Division, Mauntskade63, Amsterdam, Nether:ands

CAB. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux,CAB Secretariat, Farnham House, Farn-ham Royal, Slough, SL2 3BN, England

CGIAR: Consultative Group on Interna-tional Agricultural Research, Secretariat,1818 H St. N.W., Washington, DC 20433USA

CIAT: Centro Internacional de AgriculturaTropical, Apartado Aereo No. 67-13, Cali,Colombia, SA

Peter Thorpe Is the head of the Agricultural Infor-mation and Documentation Section, Departmentof Agricultural Research, Royal Tropical Institute,the Netherlands. This Article is taken from a paper.contrifiutedto the Fortieth Congress of the Fed-eration international de documentation (FID),held in Copenhagen in August, 1980.

Excerpted and reprinted by permission from AgrIfildturallInformation Development Bulletin. vol 3. No, 2,published by the United Nations conomis and SocialCommission for Asia and the Pacific.

15

Information Systems

New Resources for Agricultural InformationBeing Developed Around the Globeby Pe;::: Thoipe

In place of a "Dileoma m Country X" for this issue, we are reprinting an article fromAgricultural Information Development Bulletin.The author presents a communications prob-lem familiar to many: where can people m developing countries with scarce library resourcesturn for information; in this case, agricultural information? The author then, in effect,responds to that question by discussing information systems, offering practical suggestions,and furnishing a list of information resources.

Note: DCR cannot continue its "Dilemmas in Country X" feature without contributionsfrom readers. We. urge subscribers wilhng to share development communication dilemmasfrom around the world to send their dilemmas to DCR. As always, anonymity will be pre-served on request.

The acquisition, processing and dissemina-tion of information is an essential part of thedevelopthent process.

Different kinds of information are re-quired by many different kinds of users: gov-ernment administrators, development bankofficers, factory and plantation managers,training and extension workers, university.staff, research scientists, development con-sultants and, last but not least, farmersthemselves. They all need the right informa-tion, at the right time, so that the right deci-sions can be made.

The introduction or further expansion ofinformation services in developing countriesis.beset by a number of problems, the mostimportant of which are identified below.Personnel

In most developing countries there is cur-rently a great shortage of trained library andinformation scientists. Fortunately, interna-tional organizations, such as the Federationinternational de documentation and UNESCO,have realized this prublem and have giver. itthe priority it deserves in their programs.

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DevelopmentCommunication Report

A fundamental problem in many cases isone of attitudes. For example, the informa-tion scientist is frequently mistaken for anuntrained library clerk by users; all too oftenthis feeling extends to management and isreflected in low status and salariesfactorshardly, likely to attract newcomers to the pro-fession.

CommunicationEven in the industrialized countries, in-

formation services in agriculture have to dealwith numerous small research stations, train-ing centers and so on, scattered throughoutthe country, often well away from centers ofpop-illation and national library resources. Indeveloping countries this problem is fre-quently exacerbated by poor telephone andpostal services and inadequate road or raillinks.

This isolation not only delays postal andother communications, but it is also difficultfor young, newly trained informationworkers to develop their full potential as theyare cut off from their peers in this way.

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OrganizationThe uncoordinated, piecemeal develop-

ment of government institutions and fre-quent reorganization in many developingcountries have resulted in duplication of ef-fort and dissipation of resources. The "coor-dination of all services involved in the provi-sion of information" as laid down in theUNESCO National Information System(NATIS) guidelines proves extremely dif-ficult when information dissemination is thetask of so many different ministries and _departments.Resources

Despite recent impro.velaents in libraryholdings in some places, most developingcountries suffer from a lack of easy access tomany important books and journals. When ajournal is available it may well only be held inone or two libraries in the country.

Another problem is language. The domi-nant position of Europeao language publica-tions in tropical agricultuie tends to create alanguage barrier for many users in develop-ing countries where translation facilities areusually not easily available.Finance

The severely limited financial means ofmost libraries and information centers in de-veloping countries is self-eviden, The prob-lem is made worse by the exchange controlregulations of many countries and the rela-tively high cost of journals, books, and infor-mation services from the industrialized coun-tries.Role of information services

It is against this background that we haveto consider the role of the international infor-mation suppliers. In fact, the picture is

generally not quite as bleak as it has beenpainted, since usually not all these problemsare equally severe in all countries.

(continued on page 15)

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