Data-aware environment for grass-roots development in village communities: A pilot study in Kapgari and surrounding villages

Abstract

We present an approach for building a participatory grass roots data-aware environment (DAE) to be used in socio-economic planning and development. As an illustration, we present the design and implementation of a DAE for a community of ten villages in a highly resource constrained drought prone area in eastern India. A DAE is focused on a small community and built using periodic family surveys, socio-economic analysis, simulations, machine learning and visualization. The local people participate directly in carrying out the surveys, analysis and interpretations periodically. DAEs targeting different communities, each customized to local conditions, can be integrated with available Information and Communications Technology (ICT) facilities. In this way an innovative micro-economic ecosystem can be built that generates feedback to regional and national stakeholders.