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Community Radio for Social Development

Community Radio for Social Development. Balachandran C. Technical Architect Gram Vaani Community Media Pvt. Ltd. AIT, Bangkok. Community Radio Stations. Radio Stations that cater to the needs of groups of people with shared interests. Mandate of being for the people.

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Community Radio for Social Development

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  1. Community Radio for Social Development Balachandran C. Technical Architect Gram Vaani Community Media Pvt. Ltd. AIT, Bangkok

  2. Community Radio Stations • Radio Stations that cater to the needs of groups of people with shared interests. • Mandate of being for the people. • Typically, they serve the local community – say, a group of villages within 20 km radius of the station. • They try to fulfill needs in public health, economic, social and cultural spheres.

  3. Community Radio Stations • Health Lectures on Hygiene, Information on Immunization drives, Women’s health • Economic needs Job opportunities in the nearby cities, Provide knowledge on locally dominant economic activities (agriculture, weaving, fishing) • Political Local governance, Political debates • Cultural Preserving local dialects, art forms, oral tradition • Educational

  4. Distinguishing Features • Mandate of serving the people sets the agenda • Profitability takes the back seat • Restricted footprint for a given station • Community members play a major role in content creation. • Reliance on volunteers. • Rules and regulations tend to enforce these aspects in some countries. (e.g. India)

  5. Effectiveness In Rural Areas • Speaks the local language • Illiteracy is not a barrier • Physically accessible. Cheaper to access. • Employs local people, hence easier to approach them • Rural people are more likely to be heard • Access to radio sets in households or at the local restaurant / public place. • Mobile phones come with inbuilt radio receivers • Quick and easy access to the listeners during emergencies

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  7. CR Movement • Nature of the movement varies across countries • Three examples • Nepal • Thailand • India

  8. Nepal • One official language and about 90 more recognized regional languages. • There are currently about 150 active stations, which cover a significant part of Nepal. • No legal distinction between CR Stations and commercial stations. • Unifying theme is to promote social justice and social change.

  9. Nepal – Radio Sagarmatha • Radio Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) setup in 1997. • First in South Asia • Broadcasts in Nepali as well as many ethnic languages • Newari, Maithali, Tamang… • Emphasizes political freedom • Freedom of expression • Right to information for the citizen • Temporarily closed due to airing politically sensitive interviews. • Significant role in pushing Nepal towards democracy. • Nepal became a Federal Democratic Republic in 2008

  10. Nepal – Radio Sagarmatha • Very active, broadcasting for 18 hours daily, from 5.00am to 11.00pm. • Transmitting power has gone up from 100w to 1kw. • They have established a network of about 50 CR stations. • They claim a regular listenership of 2.5 million people, with programs being relayed to even more

  11. Nepal – Radio Sagarmatha • Outgrown its role of serving the local community. • They are very much still a CR Station. • Listeners are invited to walk-in to the station, and interact with the producers. • Palpable impact on Nepalese society • National Politics • Policy making • Sensitizing society to issues like gender inequality • Rescue and rehabilitation efforts – fires, floods and landslides (2002, 2008)

  12. Thailand • Constitution of 1997 laid the foundation • Number of CR Stations picked up after 2002 • The agency responsible for distributing broadcast rights was not yet setup, leaving a bureaucratic loophole. • Currently estimated to be more than 3000 • Predominantly rural • Political developments are expected to affect their functioning.

  13. Thailand • Made use of by environmental campaigns, anti-mining campaigns in Udon Thani • Rural empowerment • Political mobilization, Espousing democratic values • There are anecdotes about how it has spread goodwill across the Thai-Laoitian border • They have been effective in supporting minority ethnic communities, by speaking their language and voicing their opinions. • Emergency response and rehabilitation

  14. India • First laws in 2002 • Recognized Educational Institutions only. (Campus Radio) • By 2006 • NGOs and Civil Society Organizations with a good track record • NGOs must have been active for at least 3 years. • Not allowed to broadcast news. • Limitation on funding • Currently, about 50 GoPs (Grant of Permission) have been issued, the vast majority to educational institutions. • Country with 18 major languages, thousands of dialects spread over 600,000 villages.

  15. India • Namma Dhwani (2002) CMC • SHGs • Narrowcasting – cassettes, loud speakers, cable connection to classroom, direct to home • Put pressure on local government to solve problems related to drinking water, drainage and street lights • Women’s empowerment • First FM CR stations setup in 2008, • Radio Sangham (AP) – run by local women’s collective • Radio Bundelkhand (MP) setup by the NGO - Development Alternatives.

  16. Radio Bundelkhand • Financial support from NGO • Staff • Couple of people with professional experience • Reporters - young people, volunteers • Received training on interviewing techniques – not much on the technical aspects of content production • Subsistence agriculture practiced in the region. Programmes on agriculture are popular • Programmes on lives of people in the community, culture and heritage, job opportunities, Bundeli Idol • “We are not investigative reporters!”

  17. CR Movement in Developed World • Australia (450) • Sweden (150) out of 290 local communities • UK (150) in 5 years • Pacifica Network in USA (150) • Canada (90) • Shared characteristics – Access, Volunteerism, Diversity, Localism, Independence, Public Media

  18. Challenges • Policy • Bureaucracy in licensing • Financial sustainability • Capital, Operating • Training • Technical, Content creation • Ownership & Accountability • NGO vs. Community • How it influences the station – Voice, Agenda

  19. Operational Challenges • Sustaining volunteers • Maintaining Equipment • Unreliable Infrastructure • Internet connection • Power Supply • Quality sources of content • Language barrier • Lack of co-operation from local government bodies • Vested interests

  20. Social Challenges • Inclusion / Exclusion based on narrow definitions of community • Organizational Structure of the station affects its direction • Who has a voice in steering its direction? • Partisanship – ethnic, religious, casteism • Local culture • Medium used purely for entertainment

  21. How can technology help? • Participation • Increased • Equitable – rich/poor, literate/illiterate • Funding • Enabling commerce like an application for a market place • Suitable commercials • Interactivity

  22. How can technology help? • Bring CR closer to the people • Speakerphone booths – town halls, schools • Debates, games • Call-ins to the station • IVR for accessing content and leaving opinions/questions • Use internet for live streaming, offline access • Long distance Wi-Fi links, KioskNet • Need to keep it low cost!

  23. Speaker-phone booths in different areas and villages • Discussions • Antakshari • Games • Inter-village communication Panchayat School Meena community Gurjar community

  24. Gramin Radio Inter - Networking System (GRINS) Architecture

  25. Design Criteria • Fault tolerance • Hardware and software will fail • Rest of the system should work • Try our best to recover • Flexibility • There is no unique set of requirements applicable to all CR Stations • System should provide the best performance for available resources • Geographical distribution of resources • Connect to other CR stations, content providers, maybe even the local cable operator

  26. Service Oriented Architecture Widgets Providers Network Services

  27. IPC Controller Machine Server Node Stub Node Service Machine Server Stub Node

  28. IPC • Any addressable node implements IPCNode, has a unique name • Synchronous messages – RPC • Asynchronous messages • Persistent messages

  29. Sample Configuration UI Machine Controller Resource Manager Playout Service UI Service Servlet IPCServer SBC Preview Service Archiver Service Library Service Index Service Monitor Service Servlet

  30. Resource Manager • Availability of resources • Resource Table • Resource Name -> (Type, MachineID, State, List of holders, Persistent Requests) • Resource Reservation • Resource Interests – Notification • Link Monitor

  31. Services

  32. Playing Media Playlist Controller PlayoutProvider IPC Server Audio Service GStreamer API: play(file-id) Create IPC message PLAY file-id Forward the message PLAY file-id Create session and Invoke GStreamer API: play(filename) SUCCESS or FAILURE return value STATUS code STATUS code API: Callback(status)

  33. Archiving Media Controller Archiver Provider IPC Server Archiver Service Index Service API: startArchive() Create IPC message START ARCHIVE Forward the message START ARCHIVE Invoke GStreamer API: updateIndex STATUS code STATUS code API: Callback(status)

  34. Robustness • Need • Rural setting – lack of experts, difficult to reach • Approach • Error Avoidance • Testing, Extensive Logging, Log shipping for continuous monitoring • Error Isolation • Errors in one service should not affect functionality of others • Proactive Checking • Heartbeats • Diagnostics for hardware • Error Recovery

  35. Diagnostics • Network connections • Ping • Audio connections • Check for audio levels • Distortions • Give feedback (graphical) to the user.

  36. Error Recovery • Hardware Errors • Encourage users to use diagnostics before using the system • Network disruption • Timely detection • Important messages – Persistent messages • Service crashes • Wrapper scripts to bring them back up • Registration IDs for instances help in maintaining state consistency • Notifications • Content • Backup & restore

  37. Performance

  38. Hardware Configuration SBC

  39. Audio Errors • Noise • Clipping • Adjust gains • Clicks

  40. Audio Click

  41. ALSA Parameters • Sample Rate • 8kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz • Period Size • Size (in bytes) of data written to the soundcard at a time. • Buffer Size • Size of buffer expressed in the number of Period Size worth of data • Interface type • hw:0 • plughw:0 • default:0 Buffer Size Latency Size

  42. Data Path Archiving Sound Card ALSA GStreamer Playout GStreamer ALSA Sound Card Monitor SoundCard ALSA GStreamer ALSA SoundCard

  43. Audio Quality Audio Quality Clicks Latency IRQ Rates CPU Utilization Buffer Size Period Size Archiver Playout Monitor Encoding Resampling Archiver Playout Monitor

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