The Role of Academic in Narrowing Digital Divide

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The Role of Academic in Narrowing Digital Divide
Presented at Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT)
Regional Forumfor ICT Experts in South-East
Asia, 4-5 February 2004, Jakarta, Indonesia

• Budi Rahardjo
• Director of Research Development Centeron
  Industry and Information TechnologyInstitut
  Teknologi Bandung2004
• http//budi.insan.co.idhttp//budi.insan.co.id/pr
  esentations/academic-digital-divide.ppt

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Summary

• Roles of academic
• Human Resource Development
• Technology Development
• Content Development
• Catalyst in Entrepreneurship

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Human Resource Development

• ICT is a new area, human resources are still
  scarce globally
• HR development natural task for academician
• Train/teach
• Technical IT specific workers
• Non-technical the use of IT at work, at home

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HRD in Indonesia

• Problems
• Wide gap between developed area (cities) and
  rural area
• Low-level literacy, not just IT literacy
• Teaching teachers is one approach, but the
  quality of teachers varies. Mostly low, but
  students quality increases
• Most students only want the degree, not the skill
  / knowledge
• Lack of commitment of academicians

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HRD problems (2)

• Access (infrastructure) is still limited and is
  sometimes unaffordable. Even there is no
  electricity in some parts.
• Formal IT certifications are relatively expensive
• IT equipments are (still) relatively expensive
  and not a priority. Its just nice to have.
• Too much intellectual property protection.
  Expensive!

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Initiatives

• Various initiatives in Indonesia
• Upgrading teachers capability (e.g.. Vocational
  school teachers)
• In using IT
• In teaching IT
• Introduction to IT to various schools and
  communities
• Roadshow formal informal
• Results too early to tell, but there is an
  increase in ICT users

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Technology Development

• Part of academicians job, especially who focus
  on research
• Develop technology that is applicable
  (affordable, culturally accepted) locally.
• While technologies are neutral, the success of
  their implementation/use depends on culture
• There are research centers in Indonesia, but most
  are still struggling

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Problem in Tech Development

• Development is expensive and fund is limited
• Delopment cycle is short and fast
• Lack of IT high-skill Human Resource
• Production (e.g. hardware products) in Indonesia
  economically is not viable

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Content Development

• Academicians have knowledge that can be shared
  (help to share)
• Content can be formal and informal

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Problems in content development

• Lack of local / appropriate contents, especially
  for school kids / children. Contents in Indonesia
  are mostly entertainment news and things that
  lead to consumerism not productivity
• Most contents are in English
• Culturally, we are not a reading culture. Plus
  low level literacy
• Sharing is not common

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Entrepreneurship

• Brings practice to theory
• Produce Inovations
• Provide places to work / employment
• Academicians act as catalyst
• By encouraging students to start companies
• By starting companies
• Incubating start up companiesPusat Inkubator
  Bisnis (Business Incubator Center) at ITB

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Bandung High Tech Valleyhttp//www.bhtv.web.id
Click Report
kurusetra.com
INTI Technopark
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Concluding Remarks

• There are still problems, but we are committed to
  eliminate them
• Some of the problems are global problems, we have
  to solve the together