Random Thoughts on ICT

Dato’ Mohd Salleh Masduki (May 2005)

Introduction

As I reflect on my life and career in ICT I can truthfully say that I have been blessed. Like many things in life I got involved with ICT by chance – it was a serendipitous set of circumstances that brought me into the realm of bits-and-bytes.

In its early, young and exuberant life ICT brought birds of different feather together. So it was a happenstance that I was recruited by one of England’s major computer companies during one of their many road shows in the early 1960s – a time of flower power, great economic growth everywhere and thirst for experimentation in all spheres of life. So it was in such a social backdrop that I was thrust into the boisterous life of the programming communities of London, Bracknell and Reading – a life full of dreaded deadlines, programs (and programmers) going crazy; but always full of fun and comradeship.

We all know we have progressed well in our use of ICT. Looking back to the ‘60s I would never have thought it possible that one day it would be so easy to carry so much computing power in our pockets – just think of the PDAs and Smart Phones we use today. These devices and other embedded devices in our Microwave ovens; DVD players and so on are multiple orders of magnitude more powerful than the computers I used in the 1960s.

And we have embraced computers into our daily lives. Today, many of us take it for granted to read our daily quota of email messages, news feeds, web pages and a multitude of other information feeds before breakfast or at any other convenient point during the day. Some of us are already experimenting with developing smart homes where videos, music, and other information feeds, including security, can be broadcasted throughout the home without wires. With the fast emerging wireless broadband services coming online I would not be too optimistic to forecast that in the not too distant future we can “tune in” to any information feed we want, anytime anywhere.

But is this rosy picture the reality for all of us? Alas it is not! It is real to only a very, very small minority of us.

Yes, my home and those of my children’s are smart homes full of digital gadgets. Our homes are wired with fixed lines as well as having wireless connectivity. So regardless whether I am in my home-office, in the garden, or somewhere in town (or for that matter anywhere where there is a sufficiently speedy and robust Internet connection) I can be in touch with my extended family or do any other work I want done (so long as it does not require moving atoms from one place to another).

Yes, my grandchildren can use computers by the time they are two years old and have attention spans long enough to learn the alphabet, draw on computers and play computer games. By the time they are five they are able to surf the Net – which poses other sets of challenges.

Yes, I have many friends who share the same lifestyle. But sad to say we are a very, very small minority among the general population – even among the working population.

Why is it so?

I wish I know the true reason.

The conventional wisdom is that if we provide the infrastructure (connectivity, equipment, etc) and sufficient training, people would adopt the digital lifestyle like ducks to water.

We all know this is a myth. There are innumerable instances where the government and others with good intentions tried to provide this infrastructure and other prerequisites for the adoption of ICT in a community but the success rate is far below expectations. Yes, some members of the community would use ICT for email, surfing the Web and playing computer games. But is this all there is to it?
If sending and receiving emails, surfing the Web and playing games is all there is to the digital promise then I believe we are short changing ourselves.

ICT is the only non-specific tool available to us. All of our other tools have specific functions – a pen is for writing and not for stirring coffee (just taste your coffee after stirring it with your fountain pen), a car is for transporting one from A to B, and so on. But a computer will do almost anything you can program it to do.

So has our adoption of ICT been all for nothing?

Not at all! We have, to some degree, successfully harnessed ICT for the benefit of the corporate and other work-related worlds. Most of us use computerized accounting and administrative systems to help manage our businesses, CAD for those needing to design anything from office layouts to multi-million Ringgit buildings or infrastructure projects, CIM to manufacture anything from toys to robots, simulation systems for those wanting to study the weather or the human genome – but apart from spin-off benefits has the man-in-the-street gained from ICT?

Has ICT touched and enriched the general population?

I suspect not very much. Yet most know that information and knowledge is the key to wealth creation and power – whatever power means to the individual. To quote one of the many pundits on the subject:

“Information technology, together with the ability to use it and adapt it, is the critical factor in generating and accessing wealth, power and knowledge in our time.”

Prof. Manuel Castells.

Professor of Sociology, and Professor of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley

I believe the above quotation provides some clues to our question regarding the adoption and use of ICT among the general population.
As mentioned before, in most cases the introduction of ICT to the general population is based on the premise that if we can provide the infrastructure (wide-area and local-area networks) and the equipment (PCs, servers – if needed, modems/routers) then people would flock to the Internet and use ICT to enrich their lives.

This is clearly not enough.

ICT can only benefit us not because we are able to use it but because we are able to adapt it to our needs. In other words we need to find the answer to the question: What’s in it for me?

Only by determining the answer to this question can we harness ICT for generating knowledge, power and wealth for the individual and the community he lives in.

So, how do we determine the answer to this perplexing question?

Humans are gregarious by nature. We need to live in communities – not only for security, but also because we need to interact with others. We need to belong and behave in the community’s accepted norms.

Perhaps the adoption of ICT and the digital lifestyle will need to start at the community level. But how can we successfully introduce ICT into a community when so many attempts in the past have produced dreary results?

Very often the reason quoted for introducing ICT into a community is to bridge the so-called Digital Divide. But is there such a thing as a Digital Divide? Is it not just a different label to describe inequalities in the social, political, economic and technological conditions in a community?

So if the Digital Divide were an expression of inequalities in a community then surely Digital Inclusion would resolve these inequalities. So if Inclusion were the key word for the successful adoption of ICT and the digital life style then what would be the basic principles involved.

Basic principles

Community participation. This is of course common sense; but how often does common sense go out of the window in our haste to start and complete our projects. Very often insufficient time is taken to understand the needs of the stakeholders such as the community and gain their commitment and ownership of the project. Unless this sense of ownership is fully accepted by the community, the project will always be viewed as something imposed upon them by outsiders and alien to the community.

Instilling social vision. As discussed above ICT is a powerful instrument for knowledge development, wealth creation, and by extension a powerful engine for community development. If the community is able to visualize its social vision then ICT has the potential to become the community’s most powerful engine for all aspects of growth, be it economic, social, technological or political. But the realization of these concepts would not happen without help from skilled advisors, staff and the full commitment of the community.

Use and manage appropriate technologies. It is always tempting to put in place the latest and greatest technologies into a community. But is it appropriate the put in powerful multimedia-ready PCs if only dial-up connectivity is possible? Similarly it would probably not be appropriate to put in place complex knowledgebase systems if this is the first computerized system in the community.

Continuous life-long learning. Somehow this seems to me a foreign concept in Malaysia. In many other communities abroad learning is a life-long commitment. Men and ladies take a great delight to go to libraries, attend evening classes or surf the web in search of knowledge. It is only with a life-long thirst for knowledge that we can start to use tools like ICT.

Concluding remarks

These are just the dreams and ramblings of one man. But as many wise men have said: “Everything in this world starts with a dream. For only if one can dream it can one build it.” But the gap between dreams (or vision) and reality is a deep chasm. The challenge is to bridge this chasm.

ICT and the digital lifestyle is a powerful engine for social, economic and political growth. But the realization of this powerful engine requires thought, commitment and above all the willingness of the recipients (i.e. the individuals and the community) to adopt this new lifestyle.
The results so far have not been very encouraging but time is always a great deliverer of change. Just look at television. It took time to get adopted but because it meets the needs of men and women to be entertained it has become the first item to be bought as soon as a household has enough money to afford it.

With the Grace of God and the labour of good men (and women), perhaps the PC and the Internet will become one day the accepted devices of choice in the household because it meets the needs of the household to interact with others and to gather knowledge and wealth.