Information Society Innovation Fund

Sri Lanka has made a major commitment to bring the Internet to its people via the Nenasala (telecentre) and SchoolNet projects, among others.  Many schools and telecenters in various parts in Sri Lanka have internet connectivity, but with fairly low bandwidth (currently generally 128kb/s) which is shared by 10-20 computers.

e-Mail, and e-mail based collaboration, are critical Internet applications which provide high value to users.

The Sri Lankan public are literate in the Sinhala and Tamil languages, but are not generally conversant in English.  A localizable web-based email would be of immense help for Sri Lankans who cannot use English.

In this context, we aim to provide a fast, full-featured and easy-to-use e-mail service to such users.

Expected outcome of the project

Enhancements to a web-based e-mail system for low-bandwidth situations and which is localizable.

1. A flash-drive-based email client (localized) that will work with the system
2. Availability of local language user assistance
3. Deployment of (enhanced) server software on the hosting server and client software at the pilot sites
4. Trained pool of staff and end-users at pilot sites