Archive for the ‘information delivery’ Category

What can Information Technology do for Development? Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

Information technology has the unique characteristic of being able to reach remote corners where other technology might not have reached. Many of these remote places, such as villages in developing countries of Africa might be quite undeveloped. Even such places can have the convenience of mobile telephony by setting up a few towers for wireless communication.

And countries like India have succeeded in bringing down the costs of cell phones and call charges to an extent that most people even in villages can afford it.

The issue is how to tap this phenomenon to bring development to the undeveloped areas. It should theoretically be possible to deliver education, healthcare, information and government services to every remote corner through wireless communications, supplemented with a minimum of local infrastructure.

For example, a recent news report from Bangladesh speaks of connecting all the 4501 unions – the lowest tier of local government – are now linked to the internet. The Union Information Centres will provide all government forms, public notifications and gazettes, birth and death registration information, passport and visa support, information on public examinations, new jobs, laws, health and agricultural, and disaster management among others.

Read the Coimbra Soft blog on using infotech for development in Africa.

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Adapting to Student Lifestyles Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Universities and colleges are adapting to the current lifestyles of students. For example, students are increasingly using smartphones that enable them to access email, organizer and the Web through the phones. Staff and students can tap the potential of this new device to exchange information and stay connected.

The Pierce College, for example, has developed a number of mobile applications and given them free to its students and others. With these, students can access:

  • Course lists, past, present and future
  • Faculty and staff directories, with contact numbers and details
  • Campus data, including campus overview and directions to the college
  • Pierce college blog

Students can quickly see:

  • Who their faculty members, advisors and financial aid specialists are
  • Their classes and schedules

The college found that students are increasingly using their smartphones to access the college website and portal. As such use becomes commonplace, it becomes possible to get many things done more easily and effectively. Conducting research, updating records and collaborating with peers all become easier. More work can be done when you can do things from where you are.

Colleges and universities that choose to deliver information and do other things with these modern devices tend to project an image of leadership and tend to attract better students.

Read about the Pierce College initiative at the Kansascity.com website.

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Posted in education delivery, information delivery, information technology, mobile web, smartphone applications | No Comments »

Information Technology Skills in Demand: The Trend Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

What IT skills will be most in demand in tomorrow’s world?

Universities are exploring the possibility of using the new generation’s fascination with smartphones to advantage. One university is handing out iPads to freshers to research whether and how these can be used for better education delivery. Another university is thinking of co-opting students to develop mobile applications for education.

In Estonia, citizens will be voting through their smartphones.

And of course, much of the Web surfing and e-mail has moved to smartphones.

One can hence conclude that a major skill in demand will be the skill to develop applications for mobile devices and deliver information through them. According to 2010 IBM Tech Trends survey, software professionals expect that application development for mobile devices will surpass all other platforms by 2015.

Another trend noticed by the IBM survey is that cloud computing will overtake traditional on-premise computing. This means a requirement for cloud computing specialists.

Another in-demand skill will be the ability to use social media effectively. Social media like Facebook and Twitter reach a vast audience and businesses will naturally be interested in using this reach to market their products and services effectively.

Business analytics skill to identify what is going on is another critical skill that will be in demand. Much more information is now available through media such as the Web and persons skilled in working with the new analytic tools will find themselves in high demand.

Read about the survey findings at PR Newswire.

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Posted in cloud computing, education delivery, information delivery, information technology, mobile web, smartphone applications, trends | No Comments »

Government Website Excellence Example: Rhode Island Government Site Saturday, September 25th, 2010

RI.gov, Rhode Island’s official website, has won top awards in two national competitions. It has been ranked among the top ten in Center for Digital Government’s annual Best of Web (BOW) competition for the fourth year. It has also received the Outstanding Achievement in Web site development and design from the Interactive Media Awards(TM) for its professional website design.

The BOW award recognizes innovative Government Web portals. Sites are judged for their efficiency, economy and functionality for citizen access. A look at the RI website can show clearly what these attributes mean.

The IMA award is based on design, usability, innovation and compliance with standards. Very few entries in the competition could meet the high standards of judgment applied. Again, the RI website shows how excellent design and usability can help the intended user, the citizen interested in getting a fishing license or knowing about his or her tax refund status, for example.

The RI website is developed and maintained by Rhode Island Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the eGovernment firm NIC. By making the services available online, the Web initiative saves paper and contributes to the green cause, to which the government is committed seriously.

See the news release at BusinessWire.

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E-governance Initiatives in West Bengal, India Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

E-governance Initiatives in West Bengal, India

The Department of Information Technology, Government of India, had initiated setting up Common Service Centers (CSCs) all over the country as a key component of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The aim is to provide high quality and cost effective voice, video and data even in remote rural areas of the country and to make government services available through these media. For example, people in the remote areas could now get different application forms and certificates over the Internet without having to travel to government offices located in distant towns and cities.

The remote service centers also allow people to pay utility bills for electricity, water and telephone without disrupting their day-t-day routines undertaking day-long travels. Areas proposed to be covered include healthcare including telemedicine, education, entertainment and other services.

Private sector and NGOs are encouraged to partner the government in this initiative. The Public Private Partnership model involves:
* Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) who operate the CSCs in their villages,
* Service Center Agencies (SCAs) responsible for divisions consisting of 500 to 1000 CSCs and
* A State Designated Agency (SDA) identified by the State Government for managing the implementation the program across the state.

The SDA for the West Bengal state of India is now turning its focus to mobile phones to deliver services in the sectors of utilities, education, emission control and agriculture. The government is seeking the help of different universities in the state to develop cell phone chips and other hardware to achieve this goal.

Read the report at Sify.com.

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Does Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Developments Contribute to Economic Progress? Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

A World Bank report has sought to analyze the impact of high speed Internet access on economic development in developing countries. The study found that ICT allows economies “to acquire and share ideas, expertise, services and technologies locally, regionally, and across the world.” ICT also contributes to integrating global economy.

Broadband accelerates knowledge transfer and technological diffusion and enhances the competitive advantages of fast-learning economies. Mobile phones based on wireless technology connect remote rural areas with the rest of the country. Their low costs make them affordable even for poorer sections of the community.

The increased connectivity enables not only sharing of information but also leads to increased economic activity. If people could conclude economic transactions with a phone call, instead of traveling long distances, economic activity becomes much easier and more frequent. It also becomes possible to deliver healthcare, education and other facilities to remote areas.

Rural business also benefits from the increased connectivity. Trading platforms such as Tradenet in Ghana enable rural farmers to sign up for SMS alerts for offers to buy or sell, connecting remote buyers and sellers. Information about up-to-date prices can also be obtained across all the markets covered.

Read the numerous other examples of how increased connectivity has benefited developing economies in the Information and Communication for Development (ICAD) report for 2009. The full report is available for purchase at World Bank Publications website.

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Posted in broadband network, communications, information delivery, information technology | 1 Comment »

The Digital Divide can lead to no Good Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Digital divide is a term used to signify the difference between different sections of people, or countries, in their ability to use modern digital technologies such as the computer, mobile phone and the Internet. Poor countries are more concerned with basics such as food and healthcare and they are not able to attend to “luxuries” like IT literacy. Even in developed countries, certain sections of the population are digitally illiterate and this leads to a digital divide between different sections.

What are the problems of digital divide? The major problem is that the digitally illiterate people are denied access to knowledge and information that are available to the digitally proficient. Lack of access to knowledge and information leads to missed opportunities for education and earning. The result will be an aggravation of existing wealth disparities.

The world’s, and individual countries’, economic development depends in a major way on the distribution of wealth. If people don’t have purchasing power, there will be no buyers for most of the goods and services produced; production of goods and services will not expand and the economy will stagnate. Purchasing power is created by distributing the wealth of the country as widely as possible.

There is also the issue that high inequality of wealth can lead to civil unrest and wastage of human resources. The world cannot hope to achieve stability so long as large sections of it are underdeveloped.

The issue is complicated by the fact that earth’s existing resources cannot support a living standard that is similar to the living standards in developed nations for all the world’s people.

Digital divide thus have implications beyond just an inability to use computers and the mobile phone. Projects such as Evoke are seeking to spread digital literacy in African countries that are seriously affected by the divide.

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Posted in education delivery, information delivery, information technology, sustainable development | No Comments »

Information Technology for Epidemic Control Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Information technology has led to globalization of people, with international travel increasing to unprecedented levels. Such free travel also brings with it the danger of spreading infectious diseases all over the world, wherever it starts. The spread of H1N1 influenza was an illustration of this danger.

Information technology itself has provided solutions to the new dangers. For example, people all over the world can access portals like Healthmap.org and see not only what diseases are prevalent in which country (and how serious the problem is) but also report any missing disease outbreaks.

Healthmap describes themselves along the following lines: “HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.”

Healthmap org is reported to have collected more than 87,000 reports from both informal and official sources during the two major waves of the H1N1 pandemic. Healthmap uses Google Maps technology and sources its news from various agencies such as proMED Mail, WHO, Google News and Wildlife Disease Information Node.

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Information Technology for African Agricultural Productivity Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

AfricaFertilizer.org website seeks to facilitate exchange of information about Soil Fertility, Fertilizers and good agricultural practices in Africa. Its goal is to become the standard reference site on matters of African agriculture for evey player in the field.

Food insecurity is a major problem in Africa owing to many reasons, including decline in soil fertility and rapid increase in population. To cope with the problem, Africa needs a Green Revolution that will push up agricultural productivity. The Abuja declaration of June 2006 advocated increased use of both organic and inorganic fertilizers to initiate the revolution.

African farmers, who are mostly poor, do not have adequate access to fertilizers. The Abuja declaration went on to advocate improving African farmers’ access to fertilizers. Farmers also need to be educated on proper fertilizer use and better agricultural practices.

AfricaFertilizer.org is a forum to disseminate and exchange information on different aspects of fertilizer, soil fertility and other agricultural issues in Africa.

Read more about AfricaFertilizer.org and African agriculture.

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