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Shahjahan Siraj
Website: www.machizo.com/siraj
Personal Statement | ICT Details | Recent Projects | Case Histories | Publications | Publications Page on MirandaNet
Personal Statement
I would like introduce myself as an ICT4D practitioner and multimedia designer in Bangladesh. I am initiator and Chief Executive of Machizo ( http://www.machizo.com ), Bangladesh ICT and Development Network. I have designed the official website of Drik, Banglarights, The Independent, Pathshala and Chobi Mela, and morethan 36 national and international websites. The Power of Culture: Bangladeshi Spirit" website is one of my favorites which is also translated into Dutch language. Moreover was involved with a number of multimedia and AV productions. More info at >> www.machizo.com/siraj
ICT Interests
I would like to use my knowledge, skills and experiences to build up a new dimension of ‘ICT leadership and advocacy’ and community development in Bangladesh by familiarising the use of computer, multimedia and the Internet to the village people, particularly to young generation. My initiatives will profoundly bring into play for poverty alleviation, world class multimedia content creation, assist to community development programs to rise up social awareness about democracy, good governance and true leadership.
Recent Projects
You will find my works list in these URLs:
Yahoo groups are online platforms for my online activism
Case Histories
In order to access of quality and relevance information to the people, I will launch responsible websites on e-learning, e-governance, e-commerce and similar porject in Bangladesh like Web Wise Wapping. The main target and subject of my multimedia productions and activities will the village people and life, covering agriculture products and market related information, flood and disaster management, HIV/AIDS and health consciousness, human rights and gender equalization, cultural heritage and social justice.
In order to harmonize the modern technology with indigenous culture, Bangladesh demands to establish ‘Info Center’ in each village, which can be also rural computer training centre. Computer and ICT related initiative could create large number of IT related jobs for rural educated youth, particularly for girls. Consequently, serious unemployment problem and migration village to city will be reduced. The rural e-commerce can bring the villagers to the Global market directly without interfere and exploitation of the middlemen. Regarding this, I will start advocacy and appeal to Bangladesh Government, UN agencies, IDA, NGOs and investors by research and publications. I have also plan to publish ICT promotional handbooks, newsletters and to run mobile display centres to introduce the computer and multimedia technology to rural elementary school students by car/ bus jointly with ‘UNICEF’, ‘Save the Children’ and other INGOs.
Publications
Unity saving the people
An Imam’s wife was seriously sick, must need to infuse blood AB+, is a rare group. Hopeless Imam begged the help of local MP to collect the blood. After announce around fortunately found only one donor who was a Hindu woman. When the Imam known the donor is non Muslim, he was disappointed and did not take the blood ….This is the common and abhorrence attitude of illiterate religious because of information gapping. But they are satisfied in their pray conditions and life style. They completely hate different religions and ideas’ people. The situation more crucial when militant groups kill the people by the name of religion, and make suffering and conflicts with others. This present situation of the world demands to lunch the new truth to make religious the people of religions. The attributes of the new truth should be unique combination of both internal and external essences, mind and body, religion and science. Science represents the external and religions stand for internal feature of truth. The truth only can be completed when external and internal; science and religion will be totally united to each other. Last two centuries science however the body of truth tremendously developed and expanded; but the religions that is to say. the spirit of truth could not grow as was needed. As a result there happen a big gap between science and religions, especially in Muslim world, the science had not been widely spread out. Not only fanatic groups of Jews, Muslim and Christian but also the secular leaders have uncompromising resentments with the religions, and are pleasing with the superiority that makes always agitation and unrest circumstances. Although we are living in the era of information but people of the majority world don’t know the values of Global family, the purpose of life. Both religious and non religious are moving with same mission to establish the ‘Peace and Prosperity’. To ensure the benefit of the Globalisation as well as the Global family for majority inhabitances, religious people can contribute more than politicians, educators and social leaders. But they are silences, most of case avoided and isolated. A true religious believer has no race, no country, and no boundary as don’t have the universal Parents, God. Originally we are all bothers and sisters, members of God’s Family. Our life motto should be ‘living for the sake of others’. We will be successful when will inherit God’s love, life and lineage, and take in mind God is our living Parents. The important information 90% world populations believe in God and religious. If we truly believe and practice ‘Global family values; one family under one God’ as part of our traditions, there is no power that would not can protect the ultimate goal ‘World Peace.’ However, the whole world is moving to establish the peace and happiness fighting with the degradation of human values! In this situation 'New Media' can provide all the facts; with the responsibility to prevent confusions and clear guidance for the betterment of individuals and leadership based on true love, responsibility and commitment. The internet and multimedia as well as ICT can play a prophetic role to promote the Global family values and can unit the whole world into a community. My desire to see the priests as an internet users, and establishment of community cyber café in religious institutes. If those cyber cafés would open for all, priest arrange online peace dialogue positively with another religions’ people centering on one God, better understanding and consciousness will not be so far. The global consciousness will be easily matured. Today’s world even our mind is divided based on religion and information. However divided individual, family, community, nation and religion should unite, which only possible by loving, serving and understanding others. In Bangladesh, priests never touch the internet; avoid the cyber culture and expand propaganda in sermon also, “Internet is a satanic culture, and is a trap of Jews-Christian to destroy Muslim young generation!...” Not only this but also there is hidden cultural conflict between parents and children about the using the internet. Middle class parents’ feelings, the internet is a pornographic media by which our children’s morality will fall down! But most of the parents and social leaders don’t have experience about the power of new media. They don’t know through the Internet any body can know anything, anytime from anywhere of the world! Last three years in Dhaka and divisional areas huge number of private cyber cafés have been established. More than 90% subscribers of those cyber cafes are young and teenagers. What they visit? This is truth almost 2/3 time of brewing in cyber café they visit pornographic sites, chatting or playing sex game. Very fractional number are used only web mail and job search engine. In Dhaka city’s cyber cafés places are very congested and safely cover by board that from your table you can't see another users. The providers are very talent to do business, insures the user’s privacy. Parents are very worried for dilapidation of their children characters. The religious leaders are also very in tension about the expansions of so called free sex culture. In early 1994 DrikTAP Bangladesh first electronic mail was set up with the vision to provide global network facilities to local and international development activist organisations. Within short time the situation has been developed. Now Bangladesh has almost 70 ISPs. Including the biggest NGO Grameen Bank, Proshika and BRAC has also own satellite connectivity. But the reality, all service providers are only focusing to the city area, not interested to the rural area, even though 80% populations of the country lives in village. All are reluctant and prominentting digital divide with poor and reach, village and city with the prejudice that village is not a profitable region. Even though there is a great prospect and need for ‘Rural Internet’ program as like as ‘Grameen Phone’. There are many challenges, we have to find the way - how the digital opportunity can be used to provide benefits to the rural poor? How can play important role to unite together the villager and city dwellers, poor and reach. The most crucial problem for Bangladesh is lack of ICT leadership and strategy both in Government and NGO level, which come from the lacking of technical knowledge and expertise of senior citizens who are policy makers and top of the society. Even though more than 90% people don’t know about Internet even haven’t seen computer yet! In order to harmonize the modern technology with indigenous culture, Bangladesh demands to establish ‘Grammen Cyber Café’ in each village, which can be also rural computer training centre. Computer and ICT related initiatives could create large number of IT related jobs for rural educated youth, particularly for girls. Consequently, serious unemployment problem and migration village to city will reduce. The rural e-commerce can bring the villagers to the Global market directly without interfere and exploitation of the middlemen. In order to access of quality and relevance information to the people, in Bangladesh need to launch responsible websites on e-governance, e-learning e-commerce in which the target and subject can be the village people and life, covering agriculture products and market related information, flood and disaster management, HIV/AIDS and health consciousness, human rights and gender equalization, cultural heritage and social justice. I have a dear vision and faith, in Bangladesh new media can play an successful role to build up inter-nation unity and tolerance, especially in political sectors by popularizing the patriotic slogan, “Unity saving the people, unity saving the nation.” From the beginning people of Bangladesh are suffering because of political leaders selfish thinking and non-cooperation attitudes. With out love and unity there is now success. We must need harmony between and among the extremes. But we only want to cultivate only one type of flowers either black or white, Muslim or Christian…!
Today’s the Global family has broken and divided for misunderstandings. God is crying and suffering since a long time by losing children. We have to eliminate our heavenly Parents’ sufferings. The absolute achievement of the human life is ‘Peace’ means the absence of conflicts between two entities as they interact in a harmonious partnership. When the extremes live together, there appear most beautiful scenarios as like as the unity of sharp mountains and valleys. By the proper use of internet and media we can promote and practices three qualities of the unity: participation, living together and inheritance. To make true Global family ICT opens a great opportunity for the people participation. Living together point toward sharing each other’s situation, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, wealth and poverty. The unity of the future world is characterized by interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. In the unified world we can recognize our independence with all people, indeed with entire web of nature. Through sharing universal values, humankind will be enlightened to pursue the holistic solutions of the world problems.
By: Shahjahan Siraj Dhaka. 07 November, 2003
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