A Computer-based Knowledge Delivery System for Rural Communities – A Case Study using Beekeeping

Over the years a wealth of knowledge resources has been developed and collected in the Himalayan region, but very often the people who need these resources either don’t know that they exist or cannot access or understand them. Traditional methods of knowledge delivery are often not integrated with electronic sources of knowledge and means of transmission. The beekeeping project described here addresses the issue through preparation of multimedia information materials by domain experts and automatic generation of a browser to be used by people who have no training in computing. A data structure composed of multimedia objects (texts, images, video and audio clips) in a local language provides the input to a system that generates the browser. Local specialists with a basic knowledge of computing can modify and customise the system by adding new materials relevant to the local environment.