[chapter-delegates] Project submitted by ISOC BD

[Gene Gaines]

Hello Hakikur, Irwan,

I read your project document:
  Agricultural Production Monitoring and Control
  Using Web Based Solutions

I very much support this project, and volunteer to contribute
some of my consulting time to the effort.

There is good background and experience in the subject area in
other countries, and in the United States.

I have a comment -- a suggestion or perhaps one could say a
cricitism -- and will send that to you privately.

I can write 10 pages on this subject, but I will mention one
project of interest, successful throughout the United States,
before the Internet.

A company in Atlanta, Georgia, named Computone. I was so excited
when I heard about them that I went to Atlanta to visit.

Their first effort was to predict the market for farmers chicken
and egg production. This is of course a very large business for
farmers.

The company was able to collect information from well over half
the the commercial farmers that grow chickens to market or
produce eggs to market. Having the base information on
when/how-many chicks (new chickens) a farmer started to grow,
their system could predict when chickens could be ready to be
sold and in what cities -- so the system could predict chicken
 prices in each major city, making it possible for the farmers
each to have the information as to when price would be highest
and when low -- making it possible for the farmer, through
changing feed, to make the chicken growth slower or faster, thus
smoothing market prices, and he could truck his chickens to
another city where prices could be higher. Same approach for
eggs -- the farmer could make the decision how many eggs he
wanted his chickens to lay this week, and where he could sell
them for best price.

All this with an amazing terminal in a briefcase that farmers
in your countries could afford.  The terminals had input and
output capability to give all the information the farmer needed,
and all the information he had to input to the central computer,
all done in a short phone call.  This complete terminal U.S. cost
naybe $60 total.  Terminal does not require power, only access to
a voice telephone line.  Far more reliable than a PC today.

No, I am not dreaming.  If you are interested, I will see if I
can contact the man who was president (that part of company
closed long ago), I think he is a university professor in
Georgia.

There also are several state or local government projects in the
U.S. that have done good work in this area, and it should be
possible for you to obtain their applications for use in your
countries.  The state of Kentucky has done some great work.

It is exciting that several ISOC chapters may be able to
cooperate for this.

Gene Gaines
Sterling, Virginia USA



Friday, May 20, 2005, 1:42:49 PM, Hakikur Rahman wrote:

> It would be our opportunity to work together in similar project in this
> region serving with information for development, that I have been involved
> personally for the last six+ years. Now time has come to involve our ISOC
> members in this aspect.

> Irwan: You may create the distribution list, if assists and let us do it
> together.

> Veni: Thank you so much for the understanding. You are right, if we work
> together for our communities, the impact must be indicative.

> Best Regards.
> Hakik.

> At 05:21 PM 5/20/2005 +0300, Veni Markovski wrote:
>>Dear Hakik & Irwan -
>>that's what is valuable for the chapters today - that we can work
>>together, we can do good things and help our members and citizens!
>>
>>Congratulations!
>>
>>
>>v.
>>
>>At 18:30 20-05-05  +0700, Irwan Effendi wrote:
>>>Dear Hakik,
>>>
>>>It seems that Bangladesh and Indonesia is working on a similar project,
>>>please review www.isocid.net/proposal2.htm
>>>
>>>If you agree with me, we should establish a close link for idea and
>>>information sharing. How about creating a distribution list for all members
>>>participating in the two projects ?