ICT4D

Indian Aakash Tablet PC vs OLPC

2011-10-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

Early this month India launched touch-screen tablet PC, which is known as “Aakash”. That is priced at just $35 compared to its counterpart OLPC which was originally priced at $100 and then increased to $180 - $200 later. The Aakash has been developed by UK-based company DataWind and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT - Rajasthan).

Mr. Kapil Sibal, the minister of the Indian Human Resource Development Ministry hopes Aakash will give digital access to students in small towns and villages and end the digital divide in India.

But it is too early to say how the Aakash will be received as most cheap tablets in the past have turned out to be either poor performers or expensive eventually (what happened to OLPC). Any laptop should meet the demand of its target audience. Following table shows the comparison of Aakash and OLPC;

Consideration	Aakash Tablet PC	OLPC
Technical
Display	7” colour LCD/TFT	7.5” Dual-mode TFT
RAM	2GB	1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive	32GB	Internal 4GB microSD card
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 (2), Ethernet port	Wireless networking interface
Operating System	Android	OS build on modified Fedora Linux kernel
Processor	Unknown	1 GHz
Other
Target Audience	Students of 504 Universities and 25,000 Colleges in India	Primary level kids (5 - 15 years) around the world
Unite Price	$35	$180

One which has balanced the price and the features to fulfill the needs and wants of its target audience would be the most successful and sustainable laptop in the world.

-Sameera

Facebook opens an office in Colombo, Sri Lanka?

2011-05-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of http://www.gossip9.com/

What you see on the picture is a tiny shop in capital of Sri Lanka. The shop owner has named his shop as “Facebook”. What made him to do that?

Sri Lanka is a country with an area of 65,610 km² and population of 21,283,913 (by 2011). As per International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reports, there were 1,776,200 Internet users as of Jun 2010, a penetration of 8.3%.

Usage of Facebook in Sri Lanka

Currently (April 2011) there are 894,240 Facebook users in Sri Lanka, that means;

- 4.2 % of the Sri Lankan population is on Facebook

- 50.3% of the Sri Lankan internet users are on Facebook

Though the impact is debatable, Facebook has become a term which is good enough to name an IT shop on the corner of the street.

-Sameera.

ICT4D – D for Dog

2011-03-10T02:46:00.000-08:00

Even though it sounds funny, the negligence of the primary stakeholders or the beneficiaries has been a key factor for the failures of the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) Projects.

Giving wrong tool for the right people as well as right tool for wrong people would not lead to fruitful outcomes irrespective of the resources pumped for such projects. So we need to employ real “Development” practices to minimize such outcomes.

Some reasons for intentional negligence;

- Negative influence from politicians/bureaucrats

- Malicious intentions of organizations/companies/funders

- Malicious intentions of individuals who are involved in such projects

Blaming politicians or anyone else listed above wouldn’t help to change the situation. Right development practices such as;

- Being transparent

- Managing stakeholder engagements

- Involvement of primary beneficiaries from the inception

- Proper communication with all stakeholders

would lead to better results from the ICT4D initiatives, delivering real development through technology.

-Sameera.

Not Just Talk - Mobile Services in Poor Countries

2011-02-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

Clever services on cheap mobile phones make a powerful combination—especially in poor countries

COUNTERFEIT drugs can make up around a quarter of all those sold in poor countries, according to some estimates. They provide a lucrative and lethal business, against which most consumers are powerless. “If your anti-malaria pill is made of any old white powder, you may not survive,” says Bright Simons, one of the founders of mPedigree, an advocacy group from Ghana.

Mr Simons is not just fighting with words. Late last year mPedigree launched a mobile service in Ghana and Nigeria that could make a dent in the fake-drug trade. People buying medicine scratch off a panel attached to the packaging. This reveals a code, which they can text to a computer system that looks it up in a database. Seconds later comes a reply saying whether the drug is genuine. The service is paid for by pharmaceutical companies that want to thwart the counterfeiters. Hewlett-Packard runs the computer system and found a cheap way to print the scratch-off labels.

This is just one of many such services mushrooming in poor countries, using mobile-phone technology that once carried only humble voice and text messages. Rohan Samarajiva, the boss of LIRNEasia, a think-tank in Sri Lanka, calls it “more than mobile”. Jussi Hinkkanen, Nokia’s head of policy in Africa, says the mobile revolution is moving “from ear to hand”.

The number of users is still small: even among young people in South-East Asia (a tech-friendly lot) only 8% had used “more-than-voice” services, according to a poll by LIRNEasia. But the potential is exciting. Mobile phones are the world’s most widely distributed computers. Even in poor countries about two-thirds of people have access to one (see chart 1). As a result, such devices and their networks, though mainly still much simpler than in the rich world, have become a platform on which many other services can be built. This boosts innovation—just as smartphones and faster wireless data networks have led to an explosion of mobile applications (“apps”).

Classifying mobile services in poor countries is not an exact science. Richard Heeks, director of the Centre of Development Informatics at the University of Manchester, sorts them by their impact on development. One category is services that “connect the excluded”. In their simplest form they provide information to those who would otherwise be out of the loop. Farmer’s Friend in Uganda, for instance, sends out market prices and other agricultural information in text messages.

Such services have been around for some time, but they have become more common—and much more varied. Nokia now provides its Ovi Life Tools, a set of information services from weather to sport, to more than 6m users of its handsets in China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria. Esoko, a Ghanaian “communication platform”, in the words of Mark Davies, its founder, allows two-way communication: people and businesses in 15 African countries can upload their own market or other data, which then become accessible via the internet and mobile phones.
Mobile trading platforms are also in this category. At first most of them focused on agricultural goods: Dialog Tradenet in Sri Lanka lets farmers check market prices and text in offers, helping them to time their harvest to maximise income. But many, including Dialog Tradenet, have other things on offer. In India, Babajob.com lists low-skilled jobs. The most popular items on CellBazaar in Bangladesh are second-hand mobile phones. For people with some cash to spare, KenyaBUZZ, one of the larger local websites in east Africa, is selling tickets for cultural and sports events over the phone.

Mobile phones can also spread learning. In Bangladesh the BBC World Service Trust sponsors a service called BBC Janala that allows people on a few dollars a day to improve their English. After dialling “3000”, they can listen to hundreds of English lessons and quizzes, updated weekly. Mobile operators charge about two cents for each three-minute lesson. Since BBC Janala was launched in November 2009, 3.1m people have used it.

Researchers in South Africa working for SAP, a software giant, are trying to connect very small businesses, which make up a large part of Africa’s economy. One service lets craftsmen create a virtual job docket with a few texts or touches on a smartphone, even without mobile-network coverage. The information is uploaded to a computer system later. Another allows rural stores to order goods, saving time-consuming trips to city markets.

A second category of services includes those that cut out the middleman, or at least keep tabs on him. This is especially helpful in using government services. In the Indian state of Karnataka, corrupt officials would often demand a bribe before issuing landownership certificates, which farmers need, for instance, to obtain a loan. The Bhoomi project helps them directly, by using the internet and mobile phones.
Disintermediation is also made possible by mobile money. Services to transfer cash by text message have been around for some years. One of the most successful, M-PESA, began in 2007 in Kenya, where it now has more than 13m users. It is now used for salaries, bills, donations: few things cannot be paid for via a handset. Similar services can be found in more than 40 countries. Though not yet on the same scale, this seems to be only a question of time: in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, more people have a mobile phone than a bank account (see chart 2).
Other firms are extending the reach of mobile money. Software developed by Tagattitude, a French start-up, uses a handset’s sound channel to transmit money and will be used by several banks in Africa. A Little World, an Indian firm, has combined several pieces of technology to create a “branchless microbanking system” to allow people in remote areas to withdraw cash. A fingerprint reader identifies them and the sum is deducted from their accounts via a special handset. A small printer produces a receipt. The system already has more than 3m users in India. In Andhra Pradesh it directly disburses welfare payments and pensions.

The sound of the crowd, texting

A third, perhaps even more promising category is “crowdvoicing”. Ushahidi, founded by a group of activists in Kenya, is among its pioneers. After the country’s disputed elections in 2008, Ushahidi (which means “testimony” in Swahili) mapped reports about violence, most of them text messages, on a website. Now the organisation offers software and even a web-based service to monitor anything from elections to natural disasters. Similarly, text-messaging software called FrontlineSMS collects and broadcasts information.

Such techniques are increasingly applied in other areas, particularly health. Stop Stock-outs, another African group, has used Ushahidi to map where essential medicines are sold out. By checking whether a drug is genuine, users of mPedigree and another Ghanaian service called Sproxil provide real-time data about which illnesses are on the rise (and can be sent more information as needed). In Mali a company called Pesinet gets agents to send in the weight of newborn babies. If the figure falls below a certain level, the baby is examined more closely.
Then there is txteagle, which hopes to reward those willing to perform small jobs on a mobile phone. Its founder, Nathan Eagle, discovered that nurses in Kenya were much likelier to text in the stock levels at their blood banks if they were compensated with a bit of airtime. This got him thinking about whether other tasks could be “crowdsourced” in this way. Today firms use txteagle for translating words into a local dialect and checking street signs for a satellite-navigation service. Mr Eagle hopes that the service will spread far, in particular to Asia.

A fourth and last category hardly exists yet, but could prove the most important, says Mr Heeks: platforms that allow the world’s poor to “appropriate the technology and start applying it in new ways”. One small example is “beeping”: hanging up after a single ring. First used to signal that someone wants to be called back because of lack of credit, it has become a free messaging system. In some countries, street hawkers assign special ringtones to different customers, which are in effect free messages placing orders.

In rich countries, online stores for smartphone apps gave digital innovation a boost. LIRNEasia’s Mr Samarajiva hopes that something similar will happen in the poor world. An early example is AppZone in Sri Lanka. It allows developers to create, test and sell applications, while operators promote them to their customers.

The list will certainly get longer. Whether such services will be commercial successes is another question. Having looked at 400 mobile businesses, the Monitor Group, a consultancy, concludes that too many are dependent on donor money. Social entrepreneurship often muddles demand and need, says Jan Schwier of Monitor. The fact that an African smallholder needs prices for his crops on his mobile does not mean he will pay for them.

Not many services are set up to grow, says Brooke Partridge of Vital Wave Consulting, which advises businesses in emerging markets. Providers lack technology, money and market knowledge. “We don’t need more new services, but a better focus on commercialisation,” she says.

For others bureaucracy, taxation and bad regulation are the obstacles. In many African countries providers of new mobile services cannot deal with network operators directly, but must use intermediaries to get, for instance, a short code for customers to dial. Governments also use mobile networks as cash cows. A study in 2008 by the GSM Association, an industry group, found that the ratio of mobile-related tax to operators’ revenues in sub-Saharan Africa was 30%. Today the share is probably even higher. And regulators often limit competition, for instance by failing to license radio spectrum to new entrants. All this means that mobile communications are more expensive than they need be. “Price remains the major barrier to the growth of mobile entrepreneurship in Africa,” says Steve Song, a telecoms expert at the Shuttleworth Foundation, a think-tank in South Africa.

Talk of a “Development 2.0”—meaning a mobile-driven transformation of how poor countries develop—thus seems premature. But the potential of mobile services should not be underestimated. If they take off, they could transform lives and livelihoods, not just by connecting the world’s poor to the infrastructure of the digital economy, but by allowing them to become digital producers and innovators.
Fanciful? Maybe, but sceptics said the same about the potential of mobile phones in poor countries a decade ago. Just think what would be possible if smartphones and even tablet computers become as cheap and common in poor countries as mobile phones are today.

Courtesy: The Economist

Dialog tradenet won WSA Mobile Gold Award in the m-Inclusion Category

2010-12-17T03:20:00.000-08:00

Buying awards, stealing awards, organizers giving awards to themselves is common all around the world today. Some awards are given for some reason to product or service which has no use/users.

Anyway, Dialog tradenet won WSA Mobile Gold award under the m-Inclusion category. Is tradenet really inclusive service?

Yes, it is an inclusive trade information exchange which has converged multiple access technologies such as USSD, SMS, WAP, Voice (IVR/Call Centre) and Web (www.tradenet.lk), to reach all the socio-economic segments in Sri Lanka.

The World Summit Award Mobile is a global initiative within the framework of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), in collaboration with UNESCO, UNIDO and the United National Global Alliance for ICT and Development (ICT4D).

Commenting on Sri Lanka’s success at the WSA, Secretary to H. E. the President, and Chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation and of the UN-ESCAP Committee of ICT Experts for Asia & Pacific, Lalith Weeratunga, said;

“The World Summit Award for Dialog Tradenet is a testimony to the significant changes taking place in our country. The empowerment, Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) deliver to people, changes their lives and presents unprecedented opportunity for growth. This is why ICT and Access to Information are key pillars of the rapid development and expansion roadmap laid out by the government in the Mahinda Chinthana. As a government, we are thoroughly committed to making ICT an important part of our development story, and we will relentlessly support its growth and exploitation”.

-Sameera.

New Businesses for the Sustainability of Telecentres

2010-09-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

“My farther reads the news paper online, now he does not want to buy the papers” – some anecdotes tries to prove that Telecentres are fully integrated with rural societies and they depend on the Telecentres for various services.

In fact, if a person in rural Sri Lanka tries to read a news paper on line, he has to pay at least $ 0.5 whereas he can buy the new paper for around $ 0.25. It may be worth for a busy executive to read the online version of a news paper but may not be for rural folks.

Telecentres made the technology available for rural communities. So what?

The real issue was we didn’t have applicable content and services to deliver through Telecentres. So services such as Dialog tradenet (www.tradenet.lk) can make a real difference in terms of providing relevant services to the community while sustaining Telecentres with incremental revenue.

Three potential roles

Finding products or services at cheaper rates for the community in the area (used products, etc.). That could be even finding the raw materials for SME businesses.

Help entrepreneurs to find the market. Exploit the free advertising opportunity in tradenet. There is a potential of reaching a huge market of nearly seven million people (customer base of Dialog).

Playing the role of an intermediary/Broker. Most of the rural products and service sellers find it difficult to interact with modern markets. So telecentre operator can play the role of intermediary to bridge the gap.

-Sameera.

Dialog tradenet is a Truly Inclusive System

2010-07-19T07:19:00.001-07:00

Dialog tradenet is fully mobile integrated Buy and Sell portal in Sri Lanka. The automated SMS matching alerts to connect buyers and sellers is a unique feature which is available only in tradenet. That also provides agricultural commodity prices to farmers and others.

Dialog tradenet covers all the strata of the socio-economic pyramid. It has some means of access for every Sri Lankan, making it a truly inclusive system.

E - English S - Sinhalese T - Tamil

Web: http://www.tradenet.lk

WAP: http://tradenetwap.dialog.lk/

USSD: #977# (From a Dialog Mobile)

SMS: In all three languages

Voice: 977 (From a Dialog Mobile)

-Sameera

ICT4D Truth

2010-04-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

The concept of ICT4D is being abused by many people / companies / organizations for their own benefit. So now it is a challenge to convince people and get their support for genuine ICT4 Development (ICT4D) initiatives.

Following are some instances of fake ICT4D projects;

ICT4D projects to gain Political Mileage
ICT4D projects to get mere publicity
Projects just targeting Awards not real results
Projects to just please donors
‘D’ neglected ICT4D projects

Any organization, which implements ICT4D projects, could have many objectives, which is natural. But it is essential to give priority to people and their development if those are to be genuine ICT4D initiatives.

So, as development activists / ICT4D activists, it is our responsibility to highlight genuine ICT4D initiatives, give them due recognition and make them models for others to follow.

-Sameera.

Research on “Mobile Phones for Agricultural Development in Sri Lanka”

2010-03-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

With the exponential growth of mobile telephony in developing world, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the mobile phone has become one of the best channels to reach the rural farmers.

Here in Sri Lanka, already there are some mobile phone (telephone) based initiatives to provide the agricultural and other related services. In this research some of the existing initiatives were studied to understand the reasons for success/failure and new ways for improvements;

Following are three main initiatives studied;

1920 – Agrarian advisory service by Ministry of Agriculture
1919 – Government Information Centre, Telephone Service
GovSMS –SMS based Commodity Price Dissemination Service

The survey was conducted in Dambull (in Central Province of Sri Lanka) area with hundred (100) vegetable and fruit farmers and covered many areas such as; Agricultural information requirements of farmers, practical challenges, their existing information sources, their perceptions and expectations with regard to mobile telephony in agriculture, technical aspects, financial aspects, etc.

Hoping to share some of the findings here in the future.

-Sameera.

Telecentre Management Course by IGNOU

2010-02-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

“Telecentres are not sustainable; it is just waste of money”.

Let’s stop blaming telecentres, understand what went wrong and what went well. Let’s get things corrected. Now we should promote Telecentre Management as a profession not as just looking after some computers in a rural hut.

Starting a Telecentre Management Course is a really good and timely initiative by The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) together with other likeminded organizations.

Telecentre Management Course Contents;

CTCM-01: Fundamentals of Telecentres
CTCM-02: Understanding Community Needs
CTCM-03: Community Informatics
CTCM-04: Planning a Telecentre
CTCM-05: Telecentre Management Techniques
CTCM-06: Qualities of Telecentre Operators
CTCM-07: Basic IT Skills
CTCM-08: Content and Services in Telecentres
CTCM-09: Community Use of Telecentre
CTCM-10: Information Management at Telecentres
CTCM-11: Promoting Your Telecentre
CTCM-12: Assessing the Progress of Telecentres

It is good to hear that the course is going to be available in 10 international languages making it accessible to Telecentre Operators in other developing countries.

-Sameera.

Jaffna and Northern Province of Sri Lanka trying to Regain its Glory

2010-01-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

Recently I visited Jaffna peninsula and other Northern parts of the island. On my way to Jaffna through A9 road, which is now opened for civilians, I could witness the massive destruction in Kilinochchi and other small towns due to the long civil war.

Anyway that horrible war is over now, people have new hopes about their future and sustainable socio-economic development in Northern Province.

There is a very high potential in those areas. We will see so many investments flowing in to those areas soon. Conducive environment is being created in Jaffna and other areas. The literacy rate in the Northern Province is 92.5 present and finding human resources would not be a tough challenge for any investor.

Other infrastructure requirements such as road access, electricity, water supply, communication facilities are being developed. The tallest multi purpose telecommunication tower (172 m) in Sri Lanka is being built in Kokavil near Kilinochchi town.

The mobile phone subscribers’ growth from 11 million to 13 million during the last six months of year 2009 was mainly due to the new subscribers from post conflicted Northern and the Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

Hope new development initiatives in Northern Province will keep our innocent tamil children in schools instead of bunkers in the future.

Sameera

Dialog tradenet - Agricultural Commodity Prices via Mobile Phones

2009-12-24T03:31:00.000-08:00

Minister of Trade, Marketing Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs, Bandula Gunawardena, is addressing gathering at the launch on 22nd December 2009.

Dialog Telekom, a telecommunication company, together with Farmer Intelligence Services [Govi Gnana Seva (GGS)] has launched a service to deliver spot and forward agricultural commodity price information via mobile phones.

Dialog tradenet is a project initiated by the Dialog’s ICT4D team to go beyond the conventional entertainment focused Value Added Services and make a meaningful relevance of ICT to the all the segments of the society, especially to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). So everyone will be able to reap the dividends of ICT for their own socio-economic development.

Initially this will provide agri-produce price information from three Dedicated Economic Centres in Sri Lanka (Dambulla, Meegoda and Narahenpita). The scope of tradenet will be gradually expanded to industrial and service sectors also. GGS, as an organisation with the expertise on agriculture markets has joined with a technology expert, Dialog to make this initiative a success, by making it a win-win-win solution for all, including the poor farmers.

Among many other unique features, the usage of multiple channels/technologies to reach the end-users has made the system Affordable, Available and Accessible to the all the levels of the society including the BoP.

Call Centre : 977 (in local languages)

SMS : (in local languages)
Web : http://www.tradenet.dialog.lk/ (in local languages)
WAP : tradenetwap.dialog.lk
USSD : #977#

Moving farmers from subsistence agriculture to some level of agri-business will help them to come out of poverty. But for those poor farmers to actively participate in agri-business we have to create efficient agricultural markets with minimum information asymmetry.

-Sameera.

Mobile Phones for Teaching and Learning Science

2009-11-05T06:09:00.001-08:00

To learn about the diversity of leaves students have to pluck the leaves thus damaging the plants. A more interesting approach is where students collectively took photographs of leaves while observing them.

Currently mobile phones are banned in Sri Lankan schools. But recently a research study on effectiveness of mobile phone for teaching and learning science was carried out in central province of Sri Lanka by a PhD student together with Department of Education of the University of Peradeniya in collaboration with the University of Bristol, UK. Dialog Telekom (a telecommunication company in Sri Lanka) supported this initiative by means of providing technical expertise and other resources.

How will students use mobile phones if it is already banned in Sri Lankan Schools?

In this study it was emphasized that a mobile phone can be just used as another science laboratory equipment such as a test-tube or a microscope. That would minimize the disciplinary and other related problems which caused to ban the mobile phones in Sri Lankan schools.

Mobile phones are getting equipped with more advanced tools such as video cameras, audio/video players, etc. Also the handset prices are coming down day-by-day. So it is up to the users to use those for more productive purposes than destructive uses. I think teachers can educate pupils on how best they can use mobile technology even fulfilling basic human needs such as education rather than saying "no" to the new technology or trying to keep children away from the new technology.

Courtesy: Sakunthala Ekanayake

You can read more about the research study here.

-Sameera.

World’s First Wind Up Mobile Phone

2009-10-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

This will not be exciting news for Sri Lanka as it is a country which has nearly 80% of the households with access to the main electricity grid. But this would be very good news for other countries with poor electricity penetration in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Currently the above phone which is called “Ventus”, is in the prototype stage of development.

As per the TCL (http://tclproducts.co.uk/index.html), the company behind the development of this product, after cranking the phone for a minute, one can get four times that in talk time and it’s powered by a specially developed ultra thin dynamo.

Another interesting feature is that it also has solar panels incorporated into it so if you leave it in the sun it can be left on standby for extended periods of time.

Company has not revealed how near they are going to release it as a commercial product. But hope that would be a great news for people who walks miles to get their phones charged.

[Courtesy: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/]

-Sameera.

Stop Positioning Mobile Phone as a Mere Tool for Entertainment and KIT

2009-10-04T02:06:00.000-07:00

A recent TV commercial in Sri Lanka shows a girl gets a SMS to her phone and says;
“My boyfriend is sending me SMSs too, even after being on phone with me for hours”
The message from boyfriend: “you are beautiful”
She replies: “you are smart”

Most of the mobile operators in Sri Lanka try to position the mobile phone as a mere tool for Entertainment and Keep In Touch (KIT). They mainly target youth for their marketing campaigns.
This has led to various confusions and disadvantages for both mobile subscribers as well as mobile companies. A negative sentiment has been developed among the people and most of the people, mainly the people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) do not believe that mobile phone has a positive impact on their lives or livelihoods.

The impact of direct access to telecom on the ability to earn more using the phone or save a certain expense that would have been incurred without the phone (mean response) - LIRNEasia Survey

The wrong positioning of mobile phone in Sri Lanka has led to even worst policy decisions such as Government of Sri Lanka banning mobile phones in schools http://ict4d-in-srilanka.blogspot.com/2009/08/sri-lanka-bans-mobile-phones-at-schools.html
So, it is a need of the hour to understand the potential of the mobile phone in Development and position it at the right place. Also it is the time to introduce more and more Value Added Services which goes beyond the entertainment.

-Sameera.

Sri Lanka Bans Mobile Phones At Schools

2009-08-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

There are around 11 million mobile subscribers in Sri Lanka and the mobile penetration seems to be very high. It is not a surprise if this number reaches 20 million in another few years time.

In this context mobile phone would be one of the best information delivery mechanism when compared with other electronic media. So it has immense potential of delivering contents on agriculture, health, education, etc.

But this tool has been banned at Schools, why?

This sophisticated tool can be a tool of distraction in the schools. That is why it is already banned in other countries such as South Korea, UK, Philippines and France. This is very similar to what happened in Ethiopia, their Ministry of Education kicked of the OLPC from schools.

Any technology can be used for good or bad purposes/ constructive or destructive purposes. It depend on who use it and what purpose it being used. Best example is the computer, can be used to kill people as well as it can be used to save thousands of lives.

So what should we do? Say “NO” to the technology or teach the younger generation how to use it effectively.

-Sameera.

Nenasa TV – 1000 Schools to be Connected to Sri Lanka’s first Satellite Television Education Bridge

2009-07-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

H.E. the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, launched ’Nenasa’ - a Digital Satellite Television based Distance Education Bridge, managed and operated by the MoE and the National Institute of Education (NIE). ’Nenasa’ will connect 1,000 rural schools in Sri Lanka to high-quality rendition of the national curriculum, developed by the NIE over a digital satellite television broadcast medium.

This is another joint initiative of Dialog Telekom under the theme of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D). This would deliver rural children the quality education and would minimize the Digital Divide in Sri Lanka.

NenasaTV is a gift to the Ministry of Education and Sri Lanka’s student population from Dialog Telekom PLC. The project has been funded by Dialog Telekom as a part of its Corporate Responsibility programme under the theme of ICT4D.

Addressing the gathering, H. E. the President, said: “Our Government is making every effort to harness the potential of rural Sri Lanka, with special emphasis on enhancing educational facilities in remote regions including the newly-liberated areas in the North and East".

The NIE will develop contents for ‘Nenasa’, which in turn will be broadcast by Dialog to all 1,000 schools. ‘Nenasa’ will be dedicated towards broadcasting educational content and cater to the Ordinary Level and Advanced Level syllabus in Sinhala and Tamil. In addition, teacher-training and skills development would also be included in the programme line-up. These lessons will be supplemented by a Learning Management System (LMS) http://www.nenasa.lk/.

-Sameera.

ICT for Agriculture in Sri Lanka

2009-07-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

The agriculture sector in Sri Lanka employs 31.3% of the total labor force of the country, but its contribution to the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) is just 11.9% (Central Bank of Sri Lanka). So, basically one third of the labor force is utilized to produce the just over ten percent of the GDP.

This is just one side of the issue, but when we consider other issues related to this, such as large amount of government’s money spent on agriculture as subsidies (fertilizer subsidies, etc.) which can be invested on some other sector for better results, continuous poverty of rural people who are engaged in agriculture, etc. - it is clear that we have a issue of productivity within the agriculture sector and we need to address it immediately.

There are many factors (policy, legal framework, technology, knowledge, markets, research, etc.) to be considered while trying to improve the productivity of agriculture, but in all of them the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can definitely play a role of a catalyst.

Fortunately this has been understood, by the various stakeholders in the agriculture sector and as a result we can see many initiatives under the theme of ICT4 Agriculture today in Sri Lanka. As an attempt to bring all those different initiatives to one platform, Prof. Mangala De Zoysa (University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka) and some other likeminded people have organized the Sri Lanka’s first ever ICT4 Agriculture Conference (http://www.itfac.mrt.ac.lk/conference/), which is really a need of the hour.

-Sameera.

How Corporate America Really Views Africa

2009-06-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

The Conversation Behind Closed Doors

It is always good to know the attitude of U.S. investors on Asia and Africa, where most of the poor people live in the world.

Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populous continent after Asia, with a population nearing 1 billion. It accounts for 14% of the world’s population. More than 1000 languages are spoken across its 53 countries. In addition, Africa covers 20% of the world’s total land area and contains about 30% of its mineral reserves.

A qualitative survey was conducted by Baird’s CMC in partnership with U.S. Chamber of commerce with a group of 30 leading U.S. multinational corporations from which majority were among the U.S. Fortune 100 corporations. Following are some of the industries represented in the survey;

Agribusiness, Information and Communication Technology (ICT)Infrastructure, Media

The survey could reveal five main factors that influence the decision of U.S. corporations to invest in Africa;

Rule of law - rule of law does not prevail
Attraction - no sufficiently large middle class
Risk versus rewards - risk adjusted ROI
Supportive business framework - infrastructure ?
A welcoming environment - education and health of workforce

Going forward, how can Africa attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)? Can they follow Asia?

You may access the Executive Summary of the Complete Survey Report at http://www.usafricainvestment.com/summary.html

Courtesy: Baird’s CMC & U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Sameera.

The Role of a Telecentre in Poverty Alleviation

2009-05-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

Poverty indeed has many faces. Many of these faces remain unrecognized or out of focus as they are linked to other aspects of deprivation, such as isolation. The Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) initiatives such as Telecentres can start attacking this vicious cycle from Isolation. The physical and social isolation may, in turn, negatively impact on economic, health and educational status and make it increasingly difficult for poor people to take advantage of poverty alleviation strategies.

Poverty can be described as the inability of enjoying the minimal standards of living. It has many dimensions to it and one way it can be explained is by using the following diagram, the ‘deprivation trap’ (Chambers, 1983).

All the aspects (pentagons) are tightly interconnected/ interdependent and any development initiative has to be multidimensional. But depending on the development programme and the core competencies of the institution which is implementing the programme they will focus more on one or more selected areas. A Telecentre which can connect particular community with the rest of the world through the communication facilities can mainly focus on the “isolation” section and drive through it to alleviate poverty by finding solutions to the other areas such as powerlessness, vulnerability, etc.

Due to Isolation;

Little participation (not part of the mainstream)
Telecentre can give a voice to the community and let that to be heard to the local and regional decision makers

Less informed (not aware)
Telecentre can provide the up-to-date/real time information to the community

Few contacts with important people/institutions (such as markets, other services and extension workers)
Telecentres can link the community with markets, government offices, extension offices and let the community to get the information/services from those.
Telecentres can provide educational facilities through e-Learning/ distance learning, etc. Can provide market prices to the farmers and help others finding the employments in urban areas

Though the proposed approach for Telecentres is with more focus on “isolation”, there will be positive impact on other dimensions too. People will be empowered with information such as on micro credit facilities, markets and public services, allowing them to make decisions that are better informed. Once they have access to market prices, the middle man can not easily exploit the farmers. So the poor farmers are less vulnerable. They will be able to earn more and save more.

Physical weakness will be countered with more awareness on diseases and health problems, preventive actions, etc. Delivering health related educational programmes through Telecentres will lead to good health conditions among family members, and handle other issues such as frequent pregnancies, births and deaths.

Most of the poor communities are living in disaster prone areas, and more vulnerable to natural disasters. Telecentre will make them more resistant through early warning, etc. and minimize the negative impact of those. Powerlessness always leads to exploitation, but a more connected community is harder to exploit and will have the power to negotiate on terms such as labour and production.

-Sameera.

Can Telecenters become Disaster Early Warning Centers?

2009-05-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, it can be. Telecentre is a place rich with ICT

No, it is too much to expect from a Telecentre.

Most of the telecentres are located in rural areas; most of those areas are prone to disasters, natural or man-made. Telecentres located in those areas but still with ICT facilities telephone, internet, fax, etc. can receive a message from a central disaster early warning centre.

So if we have a simple mechanism to disseminate that information, may be using megaphones we can convert a Telecentre to Early Warning Centre in the village. Even after the disaster occurred, that Telecentre can continue a play a role of coordinating the relief work, impact assessment, finding missing people (http://www.sahana.lk/), etc.

How many of you have tried this? What went well? What went wrong?

Sameera
http://ict4d-in-srilanka.blogspot.com/

The Dark Horse of Sri Lanka’s ICT4D

2009-04-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

Appreciation: Pragathi Mahilal (1964-2009)

Sri Lanka’s relatively higher PC literacy rate (16.9%) is often erroneously attributed to Nenasala telecenter network, under World Bank’s e-Sri Lanka program. No doubt, Nenasalas have played a minor role, but Pragathi Mahilal, as the co-founder of three successful Information and Communication Technology (ICT) publications, alone contributed more to bridge the digital divide in Sri Lanka. In the eve of his untimely demise, I would be doing grave injustice to my dear friend Pragathi, if I leave the story of us launching arguably the most widely read local language ICT magazine in South Asia untold.

When Wijeya Newspapers, the leading publishing house in Sri Lanka decided to launch what it called a ‘Computer and Telecommunications’ magazine in Sinhala, in 1997, it hardly looked like creating history. The market looked limited. Nine out of every ten have not seen a PC – let alone used one, and those who used invariably were business executives. E-mails circulated only in private sector, that too rarely, and government did not know this ‘new’ mode of communication. Internet outside Colombo city areas was non-existent. Forget all that. The total number of mobile phones has not even crossed 100,000. (Don’t doubt that because I remember celebrating the milestone in our fourth issue, with one angry reader complaining we cooked the numbers to promote telcos! Today this number has increased by hundred fold to 10 million plus in an 18.5 million population.)

Publishing a local language computer/communication magazine for such a readership reminded Phillip Kotler’s text book example of an optimistic marketer, who identified a remote African population that never wore shoes as the ideal market with infinite potential to sell Nikes. Not sure whether his prospective customers ever wore shoes, but ours certainly started using PCs and reading ICT related stuff.

Lal Jayawardena, then General Manager and Siri Ransainghe, Editor, Lankadeepa were behind us always, offering their fullest support, but it was Pragathi and myself did the grunt work for the monthly 16 page tabloid ‘Pariganaka’ (meaning ‘Computers’) first launched in August 1997. Having other jobs to earn our bread and butter, we both could work part time. I was the one-man editorial – had to wait for two long years to get my first sub editor. Pragathi was responsible for everything other than content; which included printing, distribution, hunting for advertisements, promotion and running errands. One of Pragathi’s first tasks was to purchase every computer book published in Sri Lanka. We were looking for not just prospective contributors but also correct Sinhala technical terms.

It was not easy compiling a readable magazine for those who didn’t know the difference between a hard disk and a floppy. Pragathi’s commitment was the only consolation. He was the ideal colleague. I cannot remember ever having a work related debate with him. Always, it was the two of us together fighting with others. To every problem Pragathi had an innovative solution. When the press was down once, he immediately got the job done elsewhere and we manually inserted the copies overnight to Daily Lankadeepa. Sales agents complained about the few hours delay, but having heard our side of the story the management agreed we did the right thing.

I am not sure whether I was Pragathi’s boss or vice versa. That never was an issue. Between the two of us, and among the team that gradually grew, it was not important who did what. All shared the same goal. We also shared the credit and of course, blame. I point blankly refused running advertorials. That was the only way to avoid promoting dubious products. Particularly some computer training schools, offering courses with questionable quality eagerly looked for our endorsement. Instead of doing so, we exposed them. As the Advertising Manager, this did not make Pragathi’s life easier. He missed a client once in a while, but in the long run we cultivated few good clients without compromising our credibility.

Launching an IT magazine was not the only challenge Wijeya Newspapers offered us. While doing so we had to computerise the semi-manual publishing process. Till then the layout department for Sinhala publications didn’t exist. The only compuetrised part of the process was type-setting. Pariganaka was the first Sinhala publication at Wijeya newspapers to have its pages set in computers. We realized the intricacies, the hard way, after losing the pages of one whole issue. The staff were not trained to take backups. We had to redo it fully to meet the publishing deadlines.

Still within few years we showed results. This was what Digital Review of Asia Pacific noted in 2006: ‘Wijeya Pariganaka’ is a monthly Sinhala magazine exclusively covering ICT, published by Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. Since its launch in 1997, the magazine has blazed a new trail in nurturing indigenous traditions and talent to meet ICT challenges. While its editorials offer the perceptive analysis of ICT policies and practices, its combination of journalistic and instructional material have helped clarify and demystify the role of ICTs in economic, social and personal development. Because it does not engage in business promotion of individuals or companies, this magazine comes closest to a chronicle of the emerging ICT culture in Sri Lanka.’

The content progressively improved from basic computer science in 1997 (Parts of a PC, MS-DOS, Windows 95, What is Internet?) to more advanced topics. We gradually introduced lessons on computer programming. Visual Basic and Java lessons became instant hits as they were not offered even by most of the computer training centers of the day. Series on 3D animation graphics too was popular. One of our early readers later contributed even to a sci-fi movie. With the assistance of International Open Source Network (http://www.ison.net/) we also attempted popularizing open source software in Sri Lanka, but for some reason apart from Linux none of them became too popular.

Our hallmark, of course, was the policy oriented debates. We provided a platform not only for the ICT professionals but other leading decision makers and personalities to voice their opinions on ICT related issues. We interviewed surprised CEOs of leading banks for our issue on ‘Internet Banking’. Present Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga gave his first interview on e-gov efforts of the government to Pariganaka magazine. When contacted for an interview, Wimal Weerawansa was puzzled what we wanted to know from him about ICTs. His interview, published side by side with another with Ravi Karunanayake made ripples. Weerawansa’s statement that ICTs are only an extravaganza of the middle class started a heated debate instantly.

Saying Wijeya Pariganaka magazine created a new ICT generation is not an exaggeration. We opened the doors of technology to millions of young men and women, particularly from rural areas, who were not conversant in English. At a time ICT education had no state patronage, it was the only source of ICT knowledge. We discovered and told the story of Mahavilachchiya. We also revealed the news of e-Sri Lanka launch dedicating an entire issue. We even started the now famous Sinhala Unicode debate – by interviewing Donald Gaminitilake in 2003 – though it was later fought mostly in the blogsphere.

The sales record too has been impressive. After running two years as a supplement in a daily newspaper, it was in 1999 we were given the challenge to stand on our own feet. IT pundits were pessimistic. Even the most optimistic - media guru Edwin Ariyadasa was one - predicted a monthly circulation of 10,000 copies. We met that with the first issue itself, which Pragathi was largely responsible, while I was attending a one month training course in Singapore. (“I am taking a bath without water” was how he described the effort!) Not surprisingly, the sales dropped with the next few issues. With no precedents, we have misjudged the market. When it hit the rock bottom of 5,000 copies we even thought of discontinuing. Fortunately from then onwards the figures gradually rose, at a rate of 1,000 on average each month. By the time I left in December 2004, we had a print order of 42,000. I am told my successor, the young and energetic Palitha Amarasuriya, has increased it more than two fold and certainly doing a better job in content and quality. With no competition at horizon, Wijeya Pariganaka is the absolute market leader. Pragathi would have been proud of its achievements.

Pragathi also organized perhaps the series of first local language public IT seminars in Sri Lanka. It was all his – my involvement was marginal. Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake, the Chief Guest of our first seminar lauded Pragathi’s personal efforts. Prof. V. K. Samaranayake, Prof. Gihan Dias, Dr. Bandu Ranasinghe, Chrishantha Silva (present President of the Computer Society and one of Pragathi’s buddies), Edwin Ariyadasa, Gamini Gunawardena, S.M. Banduseela, Nalaka Gunawardena, N. P. Wijeratne and T. M. G. Chanrasekera (of ‘Antharjaalaya Obe Nivasata’ fame) were some of our resource personnel. All of them contributed voluntarily. The participants were mostly from remote areas like Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Hambanthota, Matara and even Vavunia and Ampara.

Pragathi also managed two popular IT publications in English. PCQuest was short lived as its editor, Anthony David Raju met with an untimely death – not too different from Pragathi’s. Then he tried resurrecting it as ‘IT-Times’ with Indi Samarajiva as editor. When Indi was discontent about the resources, Pragathi virtually begged him to continue, trying his best to sort out the differences. Even that did little to overcome some of the inherent problems all of us had to encounter, in an environment where publishing an ICT magazine was seen more as a Corporate Social Responsibility, rather than core business.

I doubt whether we exploited Pragathi’s full potential. Hailing from a village near Anuradhapura, it was a great achievement reaching the middle management level in the one of the topmost publishing house but I feel he still had much more to offer. It is sad that we could never use his energy in bridging the digital divide, for the benefit of poor rural children, particularly in his native North Central province.

‘Good Night – Sweet Prince’ was the title of the obituary I did for David Anthony Raju, founding editor of PC Quest eleven years ago. I guess it was not inappropriate for Pragathi too.

Courtesy: Chanuka Wattegama - LIRNEasia

Disaster Emergency Warning Network (DEWN)

2009-02-02T05:27:00.000-08:00

Sri Lanka’s First Mass Alert Emergency Warning System Launched

30 January 2009, Colombo: The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) of Sri Lanka, together with Dialog Telekom launched Sri Lanka’s first mass alert warning system – the Disaster & Emergency Warning Network (DEWN), under the patronage of Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights. DEWN was developed by Dialog in collaboration with its partners the Dialog-UoM Research Lab and Microimage, following research and development undertaken after the tsunami disaster of 2004. DEWN is controlled by the DMC and is an Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) initiative by Dialog.

How DEWN Works

The Emergency Operations Centre of the DMC has been given access to the secure DEWN alerting interface. When information is received by the DMC, the information is verified and alerts can be issued.

In a potential disaster scenario, the DMC will first use DEWN to alert the emergency personnel on their individual phones, and public alerts will be issued only when a threat is adequately verified. In addition to messages received on mobile phones, specially designed DEWN remote alarms will also be used to alert nominated emergency personnel.

SMS -> District Coordinators of the DMC (25 Districts)
SMS -> Members in the Key Contact Database (heads of different institutions such as schools, hospitals, police stations, etc.)
SMS -> To the DEWN alarm devices which are located at the community centers
Cell Broadcast -> to the General Public (DEWN Alarm device too supports CB)

Sameera.

Sustainability of Telecentres

2008-12-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

Note: My intention is not to promote any product, brand or company, but to promote sustainability of Telecentres.

On my way to Hambantota (A district in the deep south of Sri Lanka), I could see many Telecentres (Nenasalas). Out of those Telecentres some of them were with billboard as shown in the above image. Some others, which did not have those kinds of billboards, were closed and not operational.

I don’t try to come to the conclusion that those were closed simply because they did not have billboards provided by a private company.

But those billboards show us how far they have got integrated with other systems, for their own sustainability. Most of the Telecentres initiated with public funds or with funding from development organizations could be sustained through the involvement of the private sector.

Fortunately in Sri Lanka, the macro level policy decisions also have contributed towards the sustainability. Making a competitive environment within the telecommunication industry, adoption of new technologies such as Wi-MAX and HSPA are favorable for sustainability of Telecentres.

-Sameera.

The Role of a Telecom Operator in Poverty Alleviation (-in Sri Lanka)

2008-10-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

“A 10% increase of mobile phone penetration in a country will contribute to the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) growth by 1.2%” – Dr. Hamdoun Toure, Secretay General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Poverty can be described as the inability of enjoying the minimal standards of living. Poverty has many dimensions to it and one way it can be explained is by using the following diagram, the ‘deprivation trap’ (Chambers, 1983).

All the aspects (pentagons) are tightly interconnected and any development initiative can address one or more aspects of it depending on the programme as well as the core competencies of the institution implementing the programme. A telecom operator can mainly focus on the isolation section and drive their development initiatives as part of their business expansion.

Due to Isolation,
- Little participation (not part of the mainstream)
- Less informed (not aware)
- Few contacts with important people/institutions (such as markets, other services and extension workers)

Though the approach is with more focus on isolation, there will be positive impact on other dimensions too. People will be empowered with information such as on micro credit facilities, markets and public services, allowing them to make decisions that are better informed. Physical weakness will be countered with more awareness on diseases and health problems, preventive actions, etc.

Most of the poor communities are living in disaster prone areas, and more vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters. Communication facilities will make them more resistant and minimize the negative impact of those. Powerlessness always leads to exploitation, but a more connected community is harder to exploit and will have the power to negotiate on terms such as labour and production.

Sameera.

Sri Lankan Knowledge Economy

2008-08-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Economic System vs Free Education System

Throughout the last five decades the welfare oriented policies have helped Sri Lanka to leapfrog in terms of education and health sectors when compared with other developing countries in the region. Good health facilities and health indicators, very high literacy rate (over 90%) are can be shown as good examples.

But other countries in the region who might not have achieved those but have gone far beyond us in terms of economic performance seems to be doing better than us. Countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand are good examples.

So us to build and knowledge economy we need a fair balance of all the pillars, specially the good economic engine and good wheel set, human resources to take the country forward.

Sameera.

Role of Wireless Technologies in ICT4D

2008-07-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

When we try to apply Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the complex development process, one main challenge we face is the development of the necessary ICT infrastructure, especially in remote areas. Most of the ICT for Development (ICT4D) initiatives face the issue of sustainability due to the high cost of "last-mile connections".

As an example the Nenasala (Telecentre) initiative implemented under the e-Sri Lanka, ICT4D master plan in the country is facing many challenges of sustainability due to the connectivity cost as high as 30,000 LKR per month (for expensive wireless satellite connection). Newly introduced wireless last mile technologies such as Wi-MAX and HSPA can provide the same connectivity for a cost as low as 4,000 LKR. Dialog Broadband extended it services by providing low cost Wi-MAX wireless connections to some selected Nenasalas in different parts of the country.

When compared with wired connections, wireless is cheaper to implement and maintain specially in remote areas. So developing countries like Sri Lanka can get benefits of new wireless technologies and that would trickle down to all the citizens of the country. The fact that setting up wireless systems is so cheap has meant that its use has grown exponentially. As a result of this many have pinned their hopes on the wireless delivery of voice and data across Asia and other remote locations worldwide.

Mobiles Phones per 100 People in Sri Lanka (Source: TRC)

Wireless technologies play an important role in extending access to voice and data communications services to marginalized groups in society, especially remote areas in the country. The present rates of growth and levels of connectivity could not have been achieved without wireless in the access networks, for mobile as well as for fixed, and in the backbone networks. As per the World Information Technology Report, Sri Lanka has been positioned at the 66th place in the Network Readiness Index.

It is our hope that wireless technologies will continue to support uplifting Sri Lanka’s network infrastructure and allow people in the country to really reap the benefit of ICT and make national initiatives like e-Sri Lanka a successes.

Sameera.

OLPC Sri Lanka

2008-07-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

One Laptop Per Child in Sri Lanka

OLPC has become a hot topic, olpc initiatives are under way around the globe. It is always good to see what this OLPC is and what are the benifits Sri Lanka can gain, basically how it can be used for sutainable development.

Following are some thoughts about the OLPC, positive and negative, without going for radical "YES" or "NO".

Some positive aspects;

Can reach five children with OLPC when we reach one child with normal PC.
Inbuilt Wi-Fi mesh network capability is ideal for an eVillage.
Minimal power consumption (<2w)>
Rugged encasement and rubber sealed keyboard make OLPC resistant to water, dirt and hardy use by kids.
Can be used for peer learning within a homogeneous children’s group in a village or a children’s home, etc.
Good teaching and learning assistant

Some negative aspects;

Specifically designed for kids, so have to target only that age group (normal PC for everyone)
Cost of ownership is higher, initiatives like Nanasala tries to reduce the cost of ownership by promoting common/shared access.
Does not promote the sharing of resources
Does Sri Lankan every child need a his/her own laptop, can our economy bare it?

Sameera.

(500 - X)th Telecentre Launch (Nanasala)

2008-01-21T05:40:00.001-08:00

"One of ICTA’s top priorities includes completing the 1000-strong Nenasala network along with the support of the Presidential Secretariat." - ICTA

The Telecentre (Nanasala) is a very good way of taking the dividends of ICT to rural poor to bridge the digital chasm. We all should appreciate the efforts put in by ICTA to make it happen.

~BUT~

Have we achieved the expected results? How many of them are operating right now? That is why I called it 500 minus Xth launch instead of 500th launch. This is the high time ICTA should look back to see where things went wrong.

We are still in the process of learning "how best we can use ICT in the process of development", so we are not too late to get our self corrected. Let's make use the lessons we learnt and try do something more productive than running behind numbers.

Then, end of the day we will be able to achieve the ultimate objective the “knowledge society”.

Sameera.

With or Without Wires

2007-08-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Moving from wired technologies to wireless is happening all around the world. Wired and wireless technologies have their own pros can cones. Why people are moving towards wireless, what are the benifit of wireless technologies to third world countries or so called developing countries like Sri Lanka.

The recent examples are introducation of CDMA phones, WiMAX, etc. in Sri Lanka. People realised the difference. Those are less costly, why? The maintenance of a wireless network is comparatively less costly for the ISPs, so that benifit come to end user, they can pay less. But quality? the quality of a wireless connection may not match the quality of a wired connection all the time., but we pay less, so get less. In the future hope wireless may match the wired.

So let's use appropriate technology.

Man Behind The Success

2007-06-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Information and Communication Technology is penetrating all the civil societies today. People have got benefited through it, so they have realized the value of it. This is the reality from the bottom to the top of the society, that is why we see new concepts like Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) even at the policy level.

This is not something came-up in a day; it a result of continues efforts put together by so many people who wanted to see the Sri Lankan ICT industry where we are today. One key character who put tireless efforts during last few decades and made a tremendous service to the ICT industry and to the whole nation is Vidya Jyothi Professor V.K. Samaranayake.

According to a recent survey, the IT workforce grew by nearly 10,000 in the two years from 2004 and the projected demand shows an increasing trend with a total of 7,672 IT vacancies expected in 2007 alone. Maestro V.K. Samaranayake had realized this potential well advance and took measures to cater the future demand by forming institutes like University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) and initiating programmes like Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT).

The Government of Sri Lanka has honoured Prof. Samaranayake for his contribution towards ICT by the award of “Vidya Prasadini” in 1997 and the national honour “Vidya Jothi” in 1998.

Sameera Wijerathna

ICT4D in Sri Lanka

2007-03-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hi friends

Let's make this, another platform to discuss how we can best use the Information and Communication Technology for the Development of Sri Lanka. Specially, how we can use ICT as a catalyst in the process of development.

May be we can discuss the pros and cons of existing ICT initiatives, Technologies, Tools in Sri Lanka or even new ways of using it.

Sameera.