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eBario
wins Prime Minister's Award
Kuala Lumpur: On 18 December, eBario
- a joint project by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and
the Bario community - won the Information Technology Premier Award
(ITPA)(socio-economic sector). The Award was presented by the
Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad
Badawi. On hand to receive the ITPA were UNIMAS Vice Chancellor,
Professor Datuk Yusuf Hadi, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development)
and eBario Project Leader, Professor Dr. Khairuddin Ab Hamid.
With the Award, the eBario project won RM 10,000 cash, a trophy
and the right to use the Award's logo.
The ITPA is jointly coordinated
by MAMPU under the Prime Minister's Department, and the Malaysian
Association of Computer and Multimedia Industry. It is presented
to organisations which have demonstrated excellence in the application
of information technology and awarded in three categories: public,
private and socio-economic sector. This year, there were six nominations
received for the socio-economic sector, of which, only three were
short-listed, namely, eBario (UNIMAS), IT Community Centre (Selangor
State Secretary's Office), and NutriWeb (Nutrition Society of
Malaysia). eBario is a pilot research project involving the innovative
application of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies)
with the goal of continually sustaining social and economic programs
in a rural community in Sarawak which does not have the basic
amenities such as electricity, water and telecommunications. This
project has realised a computer laboratory and a community telecentre,
both of which are heavily utilised by the community. The computer
laboratory at the school is equipped with computers as well as
Internet access and is used by the students. The telecentre on
the other hand provides education, e-government services, e-commerce,
health, tele-medicine and personal communication. Computers at
the school are powered by diesel generators, while computers at
the telecentre are solar-powered. This Internet access is provided
through a satellite via solar-powered VSAT (very small aperture
terminal), a telecommunication system. Among the important findings
of the research include the fact that the success of the eBario
project has been largely due to the active participation of the
Bario community. For example, the Bario community, guided by eBario
research team, was involved in identifying the problems, as well
as the ICT solutions to their problems. Furthermore, the active
involvement of local champions, such as Poline Bala (a Kelabit
lecturer from Unimas), John Tarawe (project coordinator in Bario),
and Lucy Bulan (Principal of SMK Bario) contributed to the success.
The multi-disciplinary eBario research team allowed the project
team to be flexible and was able to tackle the unique problems
faced in the eBario project. The project involves research staff
of different disciplines such as social sciences (Poline Bala),
engineering (Prof. Khairuddin and Hushairi Zen), information technology
(Dr. Alvin Yeo), education technology (Jayapragas Gnaniah), human
resource development (Professor Peter Songan and Noor Shah Mohd.
Salleh). In addition, partnerships with the Sarawak State Government,
Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Energy Communications
and Multimedia, as well as funding bodies such as the National
IT Council and the International Development Research Centre,
are also essential in the success of the project. In sum, for
such ICT projects for rural communities to succeed, there is a
need to focus on people, organisation, contents and processes
rather than just on the technologies.
This is the third award
won by the eBario Project. Other awards include the Industry Innovators
Award for Systems Development & Applications from the Society
of Satellite Professionals International (March 2002, Washington
DC), and Bario was named one of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities
by the World Teleport Association in 2001.
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