“ICT” THE WAY TO GO
ICT use has
of recent been widely embraced by most Ugandans where at least each average
working Ugandan owns a computer, phone,
and of recent internet modems are becoming a trend. This shows how fast Uganda is
developing in terms of technology. ICT is taking a steady trend of improving
people’s lives especially communication and information sharing.
Of recent
something has caught my eye; which is the use of web2.0 which is commonly
associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability,
user-centered design, and collaboration
on the World Wide Web. These tools include web-based communities, hosted
services, web applications, video-sharing
sites, wikis,
flickr, blogs,
mashups, and folksonomies,
social-networking sites like face book,
twitter, RSS, wikis, Skype and blogs
which are hosted for free for example
one can acquire a blog using www.wordpress.com
, www.blogger.com and all these are free sites. One can get a blog designed for
information sharing with the outside world.
At least
every Ugandan who has access to the internet is using one of these web
2.0tools. To many, face book has been a darling and that’s the first page to be
logged in to once in office or a café. I have not widely used face book but I
embraced Skype and adapted to it faster. Skype has so many features that I find
interesting like making calls. I no longer use my phone to call any of my Skype
friends I simply press the “call button” and off we go, unlimited minutes and
that’s PC to PC calls. When it comes to PC to phone calls one has to buy Skype
credit. I can share videos, photos, files in a matter of seconds with office
colleagues or other friends in distant places and also hold group discussions.
Even a lot of topical issues are discussed on these sites meaning that we are
going the “E”style, everything is becoming defined by the “E”:- E-governance, E-society, E-commerce,
E-banking and so much more.
At times am
taken back to the world of “imagination” where I would no longer need to move
an inch to buy credit (Airtime) to make calls since I will buy it online with
Skype, not getting on a bus or to the posta to deliver an envelope since I will
either use e-mail or one of the web 2.0 tools to send it, I will no longer
travel to Kampala for meetings but will be held via video conferencing, I will
no longer visit the shopping malls but simply place my orders and they are
delivered on my door step. For now this may seem a dream to most of us but the
rate at which ICT is being embraced in Uganda, it will no longer be a
dream but a reality since most of these are already in place and in use.
Internet speed in Uganda has not been fast enough but
with the laying of the fibre optic cable, the speed will greatly increase. And
most ISPs have put it to themselves to increase their bandwidth due to the
increased internet demand and with this am certain Uganda will get to THE level of the western world in the use of ICT
tools.
So let we, as Ugandans embrace ICT wholly and “our world”
will not be still of imagination but a reality.
And
indeed the world is becoming a “Global village”. Let’s be part of the village.
By
Isingoma Geoffrey
IT Officer BIC
BIC staff attending to
progressive farmers enhancing them with ICT skills
IT the way to go.
Isingoma Geoffrey
IT Officer
