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Importance, impact of ICT
discussed at NASIS Courtesy
of By M K
Anwar
More than 35 lecturers
were invited for NASIS including six from abroad to deliver several topics
and discuss issues connected with the information society from different
perspectives. Among the broad range of
topics and issues covered were human resource capacity development in the
country. An important factor mentioned was the involvement of people or the public
as the core in implementing ICT. Education plays an important role in
increasing ICT knowledge among people in the country. As the government
embarks on its e-government projects, demand for ICT literacy among civil
servants is on the rise. A high ICT literacy will ensure efficient delivery
of public services. The need to engage the
private sector as a player in ICT was also discussed during one of the NASIS
sessions. The development or implementation of ICT is not only the
responsibility of the government but needs the involvement of other sectors
as well. As His Majesty said in his titah during the launching of NASIS, to
establish an information society in the country needs the commitment and
cooperation of everyone. During Session 4, which
touched on contents and applications, topics on e-banking or e-commerce in
the country were discussed. The use of e-commerce in In e-banking meanwhile,
its uses are said to be still small partly due to the lack of confidence by
the public on this service despite the use high tech security system or
software. Mr Matthew Martin, Chief Operating Officer of HSBC in his talk said
that HSBC's secure servers have a very high standard of security and that to
date, none of it has ever been infiltrated by any hackers. Also discussed was
bridging the digital divide. Here the problem of ICT access was highlighted
and compared on a country-to-country perspective. The need for more
development is needed in rural areas was pointed out. The digital divide gap
present between the young and old was also discussed. Ethical dimensions of
the information society were also discussed. While the positive aspects of
ICT cannot be denied, it can also be used negatively especially if it
involves illegal activities. Here the panel of experts discussed ways to deal
with the negative aspect, including enforcement of the legislation or
regulations concerning the illegal use of ICT. A softer approach involved
education and the need to include ICT ethics in school curriculum. Parents
are also important in dealing with this. The NASIS summit was
aimed at providing participants the chance to discuss and exchange views on
the efforts towards the development of e-Strategy and realising the vision
towards an Information Society in NASIS ended yesterday
but the e-Applications expo will continue until September 10.
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