BIC in ICT class

“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