Monday, September 20, 2010

ICOS10 Day 2: Bridging the Digital Divide with Open Source: Linux Implementation for Development for Rainforest Children in North Sumatra

The implementation of Open Source is through the Conservation & Digital Opportunity Centre (CDOC), a Project aims to provide capacity building services such as computer training, ICT training, public library and free Internet access to the communities and tourists in Bukit Lawang and Tangkahan, well known ecotourism and conservation areas around Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra, Indonesia.


Why the CDOC using Open Source?
  • Most of PC's and Laptops used in Indonesia identified using pirated software and we are responsible to stop the tradition.
  • Most of People on the target area of CDOC Project never use computer and when we come and introduced Linux Ubuntu, they can learn to use it very well... (Maybe the condition would be different if they already know about Windows before)
  • It's free and regularly updated by the community (user). What would be better than free software with worldwide support?
  • No Viruses?

CDOC not Only for Children
  • Actually CDOC project managed for all age of people in the communities, but we focused on Children because they had more consistency in the training class and they can receive the learning material very well...
  • In the future, the Children hopefully can reduce the gap of digital knowledge between the people in the cities and them who lived in the village

CDOC not Only About Digital
  • CDOC also raise the awareness for conservation and ecotourism to the community and visitors especially about the Sumatran Orangutan and Gunung Leuser National Park
  • We also serve the students and community with other information by providing mobile library and mini library

CDOC activities in Slideshow:

For more information about CDOC You can visit: Orangutan Centre and CDOC - OIC project page (still on development).

ICOS10 NGO Track Day 2 Presentations


Workshops for the NGO track started off with a series of presentations titled "Mapping our communities: GIS for social-cultural and environmental actions." Although the morning session was slated to be presented in Chinese, Professor Lin and Professor Huang assisted in translating presentation to English for the international participants present at the even.


The first presentation "More Thank Biking: bikers GeoWeb 2.0" was conducted by Chong-Wey Lin, Professor of Department of Communication and Technology, NCTU. Professor Lin explained the complexities of launching a website, where questions like "who will use it?" and "what will the use it for?" must be raised. The needs of the users must be understood. Problems lead to opportunity and solutions, when a human centric design is utilized and user participation is encouraged. Living Labs and Open innovation played a pivotal role in the launching of the site. The GeoWeb 2.0 site was launched as has been a success with over 8,000 registered users. Professor Lin went on to demonstrate the very impressive features of the site.


The second topic was PPGIS initiative presented by Shen-Tzay Huang, Professor of Department of Management Information Systems, NPUST. This talk showed that technology is not enough if it is not centered around the user. The Technology Acceptance Model was utilized to show that if people do not perceive technology to be useful or easy to use it will not be used. Users must be satisfied that the technology will provide a benefit that exceeds the cost of learning the technology.


The series continued in English with an international presenter from Indonesia, Mr. Syafrizaldi Aal, Board member of Sumatra Sustainable Support (SSS) presenting a talk on Watershed Management in Sumatra. Mr. Aal gave an overview of the current situation in Sumatra and the importance of involving all stake holders in the management of watersheds.


Mr. Mulyadi second international speaker from Indonesia continued with a presentation on the Orangutan Information Center, showing how ICT can be used in environmental protection.

Day 2 Afternoon

The afternoon commenced with the World Cafe Plenary where international and Taiwanese participants interacted in small groups focusing on how to best answer the following question: "Embracing open source: how do I attract my friends and colleagues to try Linux."


The conclusion of the day was an inspirational talk by Indonesian students Taufig Muhammad Isa and Laina Farsiah on the topic of Bridging the digital divide with open source: true stories of Linux implementation for development. The speaker are students from Aceh, the epicenter of the Tsunami disaster in Sumatra, who has spend a 2 month internship at Academia Sinica learning how to implement open source solutions for development. The presentation gave a background of Sumatra and the disaster. They talked about Taiwan's involvement in the rescue efforts.



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