ICT and Real Empowerment

Oct 11, 2015 Features / Columnists, News

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By Lance Hinds
Sometimes, for very long periods, I get completely wrapped up in this world of information and communications technology and like many of my colleagues, forget myself. And so I delve into debates about open source versus proprietary software, which databases should be used or not be used for specific functions.

I continue to find ways to nag and harass my government colleagues about quickly moving towards telecom liberalization, drafting modern intellectual property and electronic transaction legislation, and by and large, building an enabling environment for the increased utilization of ICT for national growth and prosperity. I also have a passing concern about my long term prosperity as well.
I remember many years ago when a company called Unisys had a television advertisement with the closing slogan “we sleep, eat and drink this stuff”. I believe that applies to me with very little modification. I get up early morning with my head buzzing about what next I can be doing with technology. During breakfast I am watching either Bloomberg or CNBC as commentators wax about technology stocks and how these companies are performing. In the corners of my eyes I see my old aunt watching me and shaking her head like I am a lost cause. Commenting in technology based groups on Facebook and Google+ about the latest concepts and products is a daily ritual.
I own a technology company, so when you enter my office you are practically tripping over computers and related peripherals. As for me, I have a smartphone, tablet and laptops all inter-connected so that I can access documents, office information systems and project-related information systems on a 24-hour basis. For example, my phone rings and my tablet answers. Charming isn’t it? I comb through the dailies every day looking for opportunities and utterings by Government officials, to see how these can be turned into opportunities for the infusion of information technology for the betterment of all.
I go into stores innocently to make a purchase and end up sniffing around to evaluate efficiencies, and if they are using technology, and whether it is being used effectively. My dear friends have sometimes wondered aloud whether the goodly people asked me to do this in the first instance, and maybe I should just mind my own business. I of course have found that to be irrelevant to the matter at hand. So, like I stated before, I am an ICT practitioner, an evangelist, and I sleep, eat, drink and possibly sniff this stuff.
Reality, however, hits you like a bucket of ice cold water whenever you take time off to do some volunteer work in one of our many communities. The uncomfortable truth is that in 2015, my friends and I still live in what I would call rarefied air. Our mostly unfettered access to technology and its many benefits is simply not shared by all. The devices, software, the information that we use and take for granted that do not benefit a significant percentage of our society. I go into many community high schools and start by asking students how many of them have persistent access to computers and the internet. We only still have a few who raise their hands. There are still a lot of schools that do not have ICT labs to support students who may wish to sit the information technology examinations at the CSEC and CAPE levels.
My question therefore is whether my colleagues and I in the ICT community are doing enough. For years I have either written or spoken, calling on the policymakers to make the structural and institutional changes necessary to foster a more enabling environment for the growth of ICT. I have shown marked impatience when I believed the policy decisions required have taken second fiddle to what in my ICT-dominated mind are less important matters.   My struggle now is that if I am going to complain about what I perceive to be sloth in implementing the necessary changes at the national policy level, should I not be doing more on the ground to support or accelerate these efforts?
I now firmly believe that my intervention, and that of my colleagues, should begin at the community level. ICT must be effectively utilised to solve local problems. It has the overall ability to narrow the gaps between the served and the underserved communities, and can certainly provide better possibilities to empower individuals to better serve their immediate societies. It can also be used for various basic education and skill training activities, through both formal and non-formal mechanisms. Much work needs to done to reach the economically disadvantaged population who live in the rural areas. These include unemployed people, women and girls and out-of-school children, youth and adults among others.
The recent news about job losses in Linden as a result of the closing down of a Call Centre has been of particular concern. Part of our thinking therefore on the use of ICT for community economic empowerment, has to be the implementation of multi-purpose solutions that would provide the level of support and flexibility that lessens the impact when the demand for specific business services reduce because of external economic factors. The combination of being a service provider and a perennial capacity builder must be taken advantage of as much as possible.
ICT has the greatest potential to effect positive change in local communities and create opportunities when it is specifically adapted for local needs and priorities. The digital divide between the rich and poor threatens to increase already existing socio-economic disparities. It is therefore important to ensure that as much as possible, all groups benefit from the use of ICT in an increasingly knowledge-based society.
My friends and I have a lot of work to do.

(Lance Hinds is the President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is also the Chief Executive of the BrainStreet Group, an Information Technology and Content Development Company.)

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