IBM TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO VITAL HEALTH AND EDUCATION INFORMATION

On Tuesday, computer giant IBM announced a 10-year plan to improve cognitive computing throughout Africa. The program will work to develop data for different sectors of the African economy and will work to connect more Africans to the digital ‘cloud,’ where they will be able to assess information on health and education. According to Dr. Robber Morris, the Vice-President of the Global Labs department of IBM Research, the program will allow Africans to use their mobile phones to “ask relevant questions on health and other areas of interest to human endeavor and receive instant answers through their phone.”

This new IBM program represents an important and interesting investment by IBM into the African ICT community. As mobile phone usage continues to sky-rocket throughout the continent, the opportunity to utilize such technology for a variety of means continues. While the IBM program has not fully begun, and little information exists on the particulars of the program, it makes theoretical sense to try and take advantage of mobile phone usage and make it easier for individuals to access important information about health and education.

While the program is obviously in the early stages, I think it is very important that IBM both ensures local buy-in of their program and ensures that the information is available in a variety of languages. The program announcement does not mention working with local communities to spread information about the program, and the seemingly top-down approach that the program takes is troubling. Additionally, ensuring that the information is available in a variety of languages will ensure that it is as easy as possible for individuals to access the information.

Overall, the program is an ambitious attempt to try and improve the access of vital heath and education information to more individuals. It will be fascinating to see how the program is implemented over the coming decade.

Kenya Launches National Cyber Security Strategy and Master Plan

The arrival of extensive undersea fibre optic cables in mid-2009 have spurred a major ICT revolution in East Africa with Kenya in the lead and Tanzania following close behind. The transition to broadband has spurred rapid growth in the number of Internet users and increased access for many to cheap Smartphones. Kenya has also been able to achieve faster broadband connection than their counterpart in South Africa. IBM even chose Nairobi for its first African Research Lab.

So, what does all this rapid progress mean for exposure to cyber attacks? More is at stake.

Cyber attacks could be devastating to a developing country on the path to a better future like Kenya. With the ever-increasing reliance upon and use of ICTs to enable more development, comes greater risk. Security problems like the defacement of government websites offering important services as well as attacks on the Banking sector, plus many others can be devastating in developing countries. “The use of ICT in many industries means that national infrastructure such as water companies, power infrastructure, banking and payments are exposed to ICT threats.” (Dennis Mbuvi, CIO/East Africa)  For these reasons, Kenya just recently launched a National Cyber Security Strategy and Master Plan in February of this year:

• In a nutshell, the Strategy will enable the government, private sector and Chief Security Officer to “[come] up with a national cyber security assets inventory and [establish] approved cyber security vendors.” (Mbuvi)
• A data protection bill is also in the draft
• a consultant behind the plan, Tyrus Kamau, says “that its implementation will see better cyber security in the country, which will in turn lead to confidence in electronic transactions, resulting to economic growth. The move will also ensure confidence as the government rolls out various eGovernment services.” (Mbuvi)

Since I wrote my paper on the role of eGovernment in Tanzania, especially with regards to its role in establishing trust among citizens, I see huge potential in the implementation of a policy like this, especially in the rapidly developing ICT sectors in East Africa. I also think it’s interesting how what Kamau said is clearly where the benefits of employing an early plan for cyber security can be seen in developing versus developed countries.  In countries like Kenya and Tanzania there is the need to establish  trust and confidence from consumers who have been living for so long without these services, whereas in more developed countries like the U.S., the biggest threats are less of a concern to the public who is generally unaware so far of their [cyber attacks’] potential consequences. In my opinion it speaks volumes on the need for both developed and developing countries to establish comprehensive plans because regardless of their development levels, cyber threats/attacks can be detrimental to both of their economies, peoples’ livelihoods and overall safety.

Measuring ICTS: End of Digital Divide in 5 Years?

Every year IBM releases its annual “5 in 5” list which consists of the company’s’ predictions of emerging technology trends that will effect our lives in the next five years. CNN wrote an article discussing their No. 4 prediction, claiming that the digital divide will vanish within the following five years due to ubiquitous mobile technology. This is a bold statement. Although ICT reports demonstrate that mobile phone usage is growing at exponential rates, surpassing other technological means of communication, it is unlikely that mobile phone usage alone will lead the to closing of the digital divide. Indeed, the ever-increasing number of mobile phone users will contribute to the narrowing of the divide, but an increase in mobile phones alone will not close the gap entirely. What do you think?

Depending on how you define the gap of the digital divide, those considered to have access or not changes, for example, in defining who has and doesn’t have high-speed internet access. Measuring this becomes rather difficult and the reporter brings forward a good point of what is deemed “fast enough” in online access when technology seems to be limitless in its’ advancements. This  made me think of the reports we discussed in class and how this could be a large obstacle in terms of measuring.  Moreover, with each time data is collected, one year may consider a certain bandwidth/internet speed/network as defined as a “high-speed internet user,” whereas within a couple years there most likely will be an even higher internet speed being used elsewhere. Thus as technology continues to advance faster and faster as we move forward into the future,  how do we go about tracking ICTs internationally most effectively?

Below is the article I referred to:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/17/tech/mobile/ibm-digital-divide-gahran/index.html

Cyber Security for e-Banking

As ICT4D expands in several sectors not only in the U.S., but other parts of the world, there is a much greater need for cyber security.  Last month, there was a Cyber Security Africa seminar located in Kigali, Rwanda.  Professionals in various industries all met for one day to discuss innovative security practices and other leading research in the field.  Alex Kioni, a worker in Security Systems at IBM East Africa proposed that a possible solution would be to switch over to cloud-computing, a concept that we discussed in class this week. Kioni believes that this would streamline IT management for businesses that have an online presence.

In addition to banking, other business such as RwandAir and PayGate Kenya are collaborating to prevent fraud with their Online Booking Engine.  So far, their partnership has been mutually beneficial, as thousands of fraud attempts have been recorded, but none have successfully bypassed the PayGate systems.  Maybe cloud computing systems is the way to go in ICT4D?

Source: http://techrwanda.com/index.php/2012/03/rwanda-kigali-cyber-security-africa-seminar-discusses-cyber-threats-banking/

IBM 5 in 5: Will the Digital Divide End in 5 Years?

Can you picture your smartphone and the advancement of mobile technology ending the digital divide within the next five years?  While this may seem unlikely, IBM proposes to do just this with new emerging trends and technologies over the next couple of years.  According to their annual 5 in 5 list in which they examine market and societal trends to predict future technological advancements, mobile technology has the capacity to end the digital divide.

If we take a moment to think about our everyday tasks, smartphones have become a necessity, from making phone calls, texting, checking our email or bank account, or watching videos.  We are dependent upon these devices for all forms of communication.  IBM believes that advanced mobile technology will be able to eliminate the digital gap by providing a level of access to information that has never before been seen in our global society.  One way through which this could occur is through the idea of peer-to-peer access in which mobiles could directly connect with each other without the support of phone companies.  The basis behind this idea is that if there is extra bandwidth that you are not using, someone else who needs the additional bandwidth can communicate with you to get more access.  Furthermore, through this, a technique called mesh networking can be used in which people can set up a local independent network.  This technique was even witnessed in Egypt during the government-imposed blackouts of internet access.  Also, IBM has many other visions for mobile technology in the future.  For example, you could potentially be able to access your healthcare records and monitor your vitals on your phone and make day to day transactions from one mobile to another!

While these advances in mobile technology  will allow countries to become more globalized and give them access to a wealth of knowledge, I believe their is potential for the digital divide to widen within countries if the entire population is not targeted, whether it be the rich or the poor.  Many developing countries today face the various problems associated with the digital divide.  While providing access to this new technology to the underdeveloped areas is the first step, it becomes difficult to implement policies and teach these individuals the skills needed to understand the advanced technology.  Furthermore, these individuals may not even be financially stable enough to purchase new technology.  A couple of years ago, 3G was known as the new wireless broadband, but not much later companies came out with the 4G networks, which were faster yet more expensive.  For these reasons, I believe that IBM is in the right path to try to eliminate the digital divide through increased mobile technology in the next couple of years, but the digital divide cannot be completely eradicated until we take into account the economic, educational, generational, geographic, language, and financial barriers that come with the digital divide.

Megha Singh

Sources:  CNN Article, IBM Research News Article