Page:SELECTED ESSAYS of Dr. S. S. KALBAG.pdf/25

 ﻿________________

provide important guidelines for developing interactive computer lessons He was using computer (spectrum) in Vigyan Ashram since it's inception. He had also started using Internet through dial up connection in year 1995 in which it became available in India. The need to explore use of internet in education as well as for rural development lead him to search for alternative solution to the dial up internet connectivity. In Dec 2001, he collaborated with a company incubated by IIT Chennai tenet group providing Internet connectivity using Wireless in local loop technology. It was a commercial venture undertaken by Vigyan ashram. It had not only solved the connectivity problems of Vigyan ashram but 60 villages in remote areas of Rajgurunagar also got their first telephones and the Rajgurunagar taluka got internet connectivity for the first time. Dr. Kalbag found quite a few people sharing his thoughts on significance of most advanced technologies for least developed areas. Neil Gershenfeld, Director of Centre of Bits and Atoms of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT), USA was one amongst them. Neil Gershenfeld speaks about road beyond digital revolution and transition from personal computer to personal fabricator, which would not just make mechanical structures, but fully functioning systems including sensing, logic, actuation, and displays. Out of the six fabrication laboratories (FABLAB) installed by the Center of Bits and Atoms of MIT all over the world, one is in Vigyan ashram. FABLAB, an idea developed by Neil Gershenfeld, is basically a collection of set of computerized high-tech tools, which can be used to fabricate instruments of any utility and configuration. Neil Gershenfeld admits that the concept of FABLAB was partly inspired by the thoughts of Dr. Kalbag and the experiment of Vigyan ashram. Rural Development Through Education System 20