press release - Bridging Other Divides
October 4, 2006Another press release from my friends over at the NCC:
"Bridging the digital divide is just the means to bridge other divides confronting our society today," says Secretary Virgilio L. Pe�, Chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT).
Addressing the participants of the Philippine Summit on the Information Society (PSIS) at the Manila Hotel last September 9, 2005, Pe� said that divides are common in many countries. Among those he mentioned were the divides concerning the economy, society, education, generation, gender and marginalized people.
He added that if we are to transcend into an Information Society, where vast opportunities are available for everyone, we should start to address how to bridge these different divides.
An example which he mentioned is the economic divide, which exists in every society. For ICT to meet this divide in our country, Community Electronic Centers (CeCs) are being set up in barangays. The CeCs will allow ordinary people to access various useful information from the Internet. The challenge in meeting the digital divide is in motivating the rural folks to go to the CeCs and to train them to use the computers, with ease and facility.
Pe� said that the answer in bridging the digital divide is not just installing computers and connecting them to the Internet, but in focusing on how ICT could be used in the flagship programs of the government.
As CICT chairman, he said that the Commission has developed its long-term strategy towards an e-enabled society. And this is in the areas of easy access to the Internet, human capital development, information infrastructure development, government service and world-class competitiveness.
Pe� emphasized that CICT is focusing more, not just in developing the use of ICT in the country, but in helping the nation move towards being an Information Society.
The recently-held PSIS was the culmination of the series of seminar-workshops held this year in the cities of Manila, Cebu and Davao. These are all in preparation for the country's participation in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis on November 2005, where the Philippines will present its position on Internet Governance.***
Enslaved by technology?
It may have been the bucolic atmosphere – Pililia and the surrounding towns of Eastern Rizal can evoke the sensations of a bygone era. Or maybe it was my involvement in our community theater production of William Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, of which we will hear more anon. The director of the play, Prof. Natividad “Tita Naty” Crame-Rogers, still active at 80 years of age (she has since turned 82), contributed further, with her stories in between rehearsal breaks, of both her experiences in theater and in her first job, as a pioneering PAL flight attendant.
As we were preparing to convoy from Kapitolyo, some of us were making last-minute voice calls or sending text messages to check on such details as transport arrangements and to follow up on stragglers. That triggered yet more reminiscing from Tita Naty: “Back when we were going on our cast outings, all the arrangements were set weeks in advance. None of this last-minute texting or calling and scrambling for transportation or attendance.”
Later, as we were traveling to the Mabanta farm in Pililia, one of the cars in the convoy took a wrong turn somewhere so someone there had to use his mobile to say “To speak troth, I have forgot our way.” Again, Tita Naty sighs, “The map should be the only guide we need,” implying that all the driver had to do was read the map more carefully. Later, after some of us had arrived at the farm, we found that one of the cars that came later couldn't navigate the road because it didn't have enough traction. Again, the cell phone to the rescue – the owner called, and a 4-wheel drive vehicle went off to pick them up.
IT Volunteer openings
- One of my mailing lists announced paid IT volunteer openings in Africa. 'Paid' might be something of an exaggeration, since they're giving out what they refer to as a stipend, amount not specified in the invitation. The openings I saw required fluency in French so I don't expect many takers from hereabouts. There should be other openings that require only English. Click on the banner below to check them out. BTW, volunteering is one of the topics I want to cover in the near future, not just as yet another blog post but a call to action.
