Proposal For Sabbatical Leave Under IDRC Sabbatical Awards

By:	Onno W. Purbo
	Independent (Freelance) Information Technology (IT) Writer
	Jl. Swadaya IV/21, Cempaka Baru
	Jakarta 10640, Indonesia
	Tel/FAX:	+62 21 420-4701
	SMS:		+62 811 85 2542
	E-mail:		onno@indo.net.id

A Glimpse on My Background
Leaving the Indonesian civil servant and retired lecturer in Electrical Engineering Department at Institute of Technology in Bandung, a maverick no less driven by a plain & simple vision to see an Indonesian knowledge based society, has been spending most of my time writing thousands articles, papers, and 30+ books on practical Internet technology mostly in Indonesian language as well as active in 100+ Indonesian mailing lists in attempting to educate the Indonesian on IT. All of my articles are copyleft-ed & can be freely downloaded from the Internet. Unfortunately, such activities have driven my time so precious with tightly scheduled seminars, talkshows, & workshops in many places & cities in Indonesia as face-to-face interaction is still a potent strategy in convincing people.

I believe people, not technology & not funding, are the key to successful development. Access to knowledge would be priceless.

Proposed Mission for IDRC Sabbatical Awards
•	Documentation of best practice in deploying community based Internet infrastructure in Indonesia, focused on WiFi based wireless Internet & Internet Telephony.
•	Seek possible doors & network for expanding the lesson learned to other developing countries.
•	To get the maximum bang for the bucks, the ultimate aim is to seek best possible ways / strategies in helping the deployment of community based Internet infrastructure in developing countries at lowest possible cost to reach a maximum possible mass.

Proposed Objectives / Outcome
•	Writing & published books on (1) practical aspect in deploying WiFi based community based Internet infrastructure &  (2) Internet telephony in Indonesia (developing country).
•	It is suggested all books / workshop material produced may be put copyleft-ed in public domain on the Internet as well as published as low cost pocket book, TataMcGrawHill might be an example of such publisher.
•	Policy study devoted to the evaluation and strategic forward planning of part of the program under Program Partnership Branch (PPB).

Proposed Major Strategies

Enrichment on ICT Background in Developing Countries
•	Interaction / volunteering to work at IDRC in Singapore to feel & to see the actual PanAsia networking activities with other developing countries.
•	If at all possible, I would like to involve in a couple of workshops / seminars / work in other developing countries to see, to interact, to feel the best possible strategies suited for other developing countries.

Putting the materials in English
•	Books & workshop materials on practical WiFi based community-based infrastructure & Linux based Internet telephony deployment for developing countries will be written in English. Since, my home laboratory is heavily equipped for experiment & material preparation, it would be best to perform such activities at my home base in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Involve in IDRC strategic forward planning
•	Having slight exposure on other developing countries, I do hope to be able to work at IDRC HQ in Ottawa especially in policy study devoted to evaluation and strategic forward planning of part of the program under Program Partnership Branch (PPB).

Proposed Timeline

Putting the materials in English
•	2-3 months in Jakarta, Indonesia
o	To write books & workshop materials on practical WiFi based community-based infrastructure & Linux based Internet telephony deployment for developing countries.

Enrichment on ICT Background in Developing Countries
•	1-2 months at IDRC Singapore
o	To feel the actual PanAsia networking activities with other developing countries.
•	Flexible time
o	To involve in a couple of workshops / seminars / work in other developing countries.

Involve in IDRC strategic forward planning
•	1-2 months (September-October 2003) at IDRC HQ in Ottawa
o	To devote on evaluation and strategic forward planning of part of the program under Program Partnership Branch (PPB).