| The rapporteur and the secretariat were
working hard to produce a comprehensive report
of the EGM, but not everything passed the strict
editorial process. On the lighter side, reportedly
- Dr Onno has hardly any
time to sleep as he and his team in Bandung
work day and night to connect Indonesia to
the Internet. The results are visible and
bandwidths impressively increasing. Bandwidth
on the airliner's conveyer belt was however
too narrow and Onno temporarily lost his luggage
on the way back.
- Dr Pichet and his NECTEC
know how to promote networking in the Thai
government: they get ministers, MPs and other
key decision makers hooked to the Internet
and provide them with training, after which
asking for money for instance the ambitious
school net project becomes a little bit easier.
Dr Nagabhushanam's NIC seems to have similar
strategies in India and with a very high-level
connectivity already.
- Dave Roarty (Rapporteur)
will be busy in pursuing clients first servicing
(and no doubt sooner or later also client-server)
strategies in his ABS Perth offices. He left
with us a copy of an impressive booklet about
the Australian ideas "Clients First, the challenge
for Government Information Technology. Information
Technology Review Group, March 1995", which
is full of recommendations worth looking at.
The Newsletter will get back on this in the
next issue.
- As result of his visit
to Bangkok, Mr Senanayake's CINTEC is integrating
government information systems in Colombo
with new ideas and the Editor and colleagues
thankfully drinking excellent Sri Lankan tea.
- Singapore will be comfortably
positioned among the OECD countries (as of
January 1996) in the use of office automation,
not least because of the NCB of Mrs Chin (Chairperson)
and Mrs Lim.
- Daw Marlar Tin and Mr
Regmi were given a tour by Dr Charoon (Technical
Consultant) in the Internet. Expect AIT's
mobile Internet demonstration kit to take
the first opportunity to travel to Yangon
and Kathmandu.
- Mr Ibrahim showed
his skills, of which his MAMPU can be proud
of, in preparing a country study within two
days after being called to stand in. As impressive
was UNDP in Kuala Lumpur in providing a ticket
to him in such a short notice. Which made
everybody happy
ESCAP wants to promote
intraregional cooperation in information systems
development in the public sector
In his opening address to the Expert Group
Meeting to Review Computerization Development
in the Public Sector, Mr Adrianus Mooy,
the Executive Secretary of ESCAP observed
that the gap between the haves and the have-nots
in information technology (IT) society had been
widening during the past decade. Such technologies
as powerful personal computers, local area,
wide area and global networks, and wireless
telephones had become tools for daily work and
entertainment in many developed countries. In
contrast, many of the less developed countries
were lacking the basic telecommunication infrastructure
and had not made a start in developing shared
information systems between various government
departments. The Executive Secretary expressed
caution about technological leapfrogging as
an instant remedy for the situation.
While reviewing the reasons for the sluggish
rate of computerization in many governments,
Mr Mooy referred to the nature of modern information
systems, which facilitated information sharing
and promoted transparency in management, but
at the same time caused institutional frictions
among the decision makers. On the positive side,
endless innovations, the mass production of
components and efficient distribution systems
had brought down the price of IT and made computerization
increasingly affordable. However, since the
lifetime of the equipment had at the same time
become very short, Mr Mooy encouraged the governments
to make provision for continual training in
order to utilize the capacity of the latest
equipment and software fully. He pointed out
that management needed to be far-sighted, trained
and aware of the major technological trends
so that information systems are built by using
technologies that are supported in the long
run.
The Executive Secretary hoped that the diversity
found in the region in applying IT in the public
sector could be translated into fruitful intraregional
cooperation whereby the more advanced countries
contributed to the development of information
systems in those countries that had just started
the computerization process. Although its resources
were limited, Mr Mooy said that ESCAP was an
appropriate forum for regional intergovernmental
dialogue in this vitally important field.
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