{"id":102228,"date":"2020-05-12T15:56:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T22:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=102228"},"modified":"2020-05-12T15:56:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T22:56:53","slug":"proposals-for-improvement-of-digital-infrastructure-to-meet-post-pandemic-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/05\/12\/proposals-for-improvement-of-digital-infrastructure-to-meet-post-pandemic-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposals for improvement of Digital Infrastructure to meet post-pandemic challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma <\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was clearly observed how the existing digital infrastructure\nwas over-stretched and overwhelmed during this difficult time, which led to\ncomputer system and website overloads or crashes. Also, long queues for securing\nnecessary food provisions, medicines, etc. were observed. All public and\nprivate educational institutions were closed which disrupted most of the\neducational programmes in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also observed that the distribution of various\ngovernment relief packages (such as provision of Rs. 5000 allowance) was met\nwith some drawbacks due to issues relating to identification of individuals who\nare really entitled.  Provision of other\ngovernment services such as issuance of curfew permits, etc. was also a\nphenomenal task that the Police Department had to face with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, parents were concerned and anxious about the\nmissed classes of their children while university students were worried about\ntheir missed lectures. Continuation of academic work of millions of pupils and\nstudents has become a concern of the whole nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Information and Communication Technology Agency\n(ICTA), the apex ICT institution of the Government, has done and is doing a\ngreat deal in building digital infrastructure for making Sri Lanka a\nknowledge-based society through digitally empowered citizens. It has undertaken\nmany projects for fulfilling the above mandate given to them. Just as a\nresponse to Covid-19 Outbreak, ICTA has developed and launched many computer\nsystems, databases, applications to facilitate emergency government services,\ncommunication and collaboration tools, platforms for digital education, etc. The\ncountry is now faced with many more challenges based on the problems posed by\nthe current pandemic which are different in intensity and nature to those\nencountered under normal conditions. These problems need long term solutions so\nthat future emergency situations can be handled more readily and effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Excellency the President\nGotabhaya Rajapaksa has decided to implement all digital technology services\nand technology projects under the supervision and management of the ICT Agency\nand to bring the agency under the Ministry of Defence. This is a clear\nindication of the level of priority given by the Government to build the necessary\ndigital infrastructure and launch necessary projects to make Sri Lanka a\ndigitally advanced country. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategies\nand actions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A well-established digital infrastructure by way of\ne-commerce, e-governance, e-health, e-learning, etc. could help face situations\nsimilar to the current one more effectively and safely. It is very important to\nassess the current capacity of country’s digital infrastructure; e-commerce,\ne-health, e-governance, e-learning, etc. and expand and enhance them to a level\nthat citizens in all corners of the country have access to a sufficiently\nreliable Internet facility. Availability of such facility would enable efficient\nhandling of relevant transactions of citizens through e-commerce, e-health,\ne-governance, e-learning, etc. This will create opportunities for citizens to\navail the services of businesses such as pharmacies and supermarkets through\ne-commerce, health services through e-health, government services through\ne-governance, online learning through, e-learning, etc. with minimal need to\nmeet face-to-face.  Avoidance of meetings\nand maintenance of social distance are primary concerns under situations such\nas current pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development of Internet facilities and providing their\naccess to the citizens countrywide is only half the battle. What is equally\nimportant is to prepare sound systems and applications to facilitate\ntransactions between concerned parties such as business to consumer, business\nto business, government to citizens, educational institutions to students etc.\nDevelopment of systems and applications need detailed analysis of existing systems\nand transactions, interrelationship between business\/government processes and\nprocedures, etc. This effort should not be a mere computerization of existing\ntransactions. For example, business processes, either in public sector or\nprivate sector need to be thoroughly analysed. Efforts need to be made to\nsimplify the processes and make them more efficient. It is therefore important\nto look at the existing practices with an open mind and challenge each step in\nthe processes for its relevance, necessity, timeliness, etc. This could entail\nreengineering of business processes and disruptive innovations involving\nradical changes to current business practises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also important to develop comprehensive\ndatabases consisting of biographical and other data such as income levels,\nprofessions or trade skills, etc. of all citizens. This could help many\nactivities of the government in planning development and aid programmes,\ndistribution of relief packages, implementation of strategic development\nprogrammes, etc. As primary information of citizens are already available\nthrough Persons Registration Department, Elections Commission, etc., its\nexpansion to include more details could be addressed with relative ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-health could be used to maintain patient records\nsuch as prescribed medicines, diagnosed illnesses, residential addresses, phone\nnumbers, etc. so that distribution of medicine could be handled with ease during\na crisis situation such as the current one. Also, consultations with doctors at\na remote location could be arranged through video links, etc. thus avoiding the\nneed to travel to a hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-Learning also can be developed as an alternative or\ncomplementary medium to face-to-face teaching and learning. Here again, proper\nneed analyses and instructional designs need to be made with proper academic\ninput to make the teaching and learning effective. Audio and video clips,\ndiscussion forums, timely feedback, group work and presentations, continuous\nassessments, progress monitoring, online tutoring are some of the important\nfeatures of e-learning. This medium could also be used to train and retrain\npeople with relative ease and speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is therefore proposed that a consultative body under\nthe leadership of ICTA with representatives from relevant fields in both public\nand private sector be formed to look into the above issues in terms of\nstrategy, direction, technology and infrastructure, systems development, change\nmanagement, implementation, etc. Use of digital technology can be looked at from\nboth national and sectorial levels, which again are integrated to form the\nnational economy. Experts from economic, health, education, business,\nagriculture, engineering and construction, public administration, etc. fields\ncan be called upon to work along with IT experts from ICTA and other related agencies\nto identify, prioritise and analyse areas that need to be digitalized in\nkeeping with national policies and programmes. What is very important is not to\njust computerize the existing manual processes, also referred to as paving the cow path<\/em>, but to look at each\nprocess afresh and develop direct, simple and efficient processes that can be\ncomputerized and integrated with other similarly developed processes in the\nsame sector or otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma is a Chartered\nProfessional Engineer, an Honorary Fellow Member of IESL and a former Senior\nLecturer of OUSL. He can be contacted at gamini_pad@hotmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma Background It was clearly observed how the existing digital infrastructure was over-stretched and overwhelmed during this difficult time, which led to computer system and website overloads or crashes. Also, long queues for securing necessary food provisions, medicines, etc. were observed. All public and private educational institutions were closed which disrupted most of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}