Who’s afraid of the Digital Divide?

Summary

Is the digital divide, that alleged gaping chasm that separates the “technology haves” from the “technology have-nots” a figment of the imagination of over-zealous academics and activists? Statistics that reflect the rapid spread of Internet access and mobile telephony to an ever-increasing number of earthlings certainly seem to indicate as such. Yet the digital divide does exist, and the enabling nature of information and communication technologies causes it to widen, if unchecked.

Cracking the manufacturing conundrum

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: February 28, 2005

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Ken Kao had never visited India until last November. Yet his Taiwanese company, which specialises in networking gear and consumer connectivity, has had a 36 percent stake in an Indian joint venture for the last 10 years. The chairman and CEO of D-Link Corporation was gracious enough to state that he has never really needed to travel to India, as operations at D-Link India have always been super-smooth and everything has worked out just fine. But from a different perspective, Kao’s presence at the 10th anniversary celebrations of D-Link India in Goa last quarter was strong proof of the Indian partner’s increasing strategic importance to its global parent, and subtle acknowledgement of the growing market in India not only for networking products but also for mobile access and wireless gear.

Revitalising a languishing society

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: January 24, 2005

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At the beginning of last month, I was at an IT conference which, in terms of content, I would rate as one of the best I’ve attended in a long time. Unless you were there too it would be almost impossible to guess that the conference I’m referring to is the 39th national convention of the Computer Society of India, CSI 2004. Surprised? Well, so was I.

For, if you’ve been around the Indian computer industry for a while, you probably belong to that vast majority of IT professionals who have written off the CSI as a fast-fading association that’s an irrelevant anachronism today, ill-equipped to cater to the changing needs of the fraternity. Perish the thought. As the only body in the country representing individual computer users and professionals, the relevance and importance of the CSI can only grow as computer penetration slowly but surely deepens in this country.

What’s your BI quotient

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: January 10, 2005

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Is Business Intelligence (BI) relevant to organisations in India? Now that’s a moot question, especially when you consider that so many of them are still struggling to get their basic enterprise IT infrastructure in place. Meanwhile, CIOs of many large corporations tell of shrinking or static IT budgets; those that are more fortunate can at best hope for a 3-5 percent annual budget increase. BI thus seems like a ludicrous luxury for most of corporate India.

Logical as the above argument against BI sounds, it misses the point completely. For, it has been categorically shown that the best way to unlock the business value buried deep within existing IT investments and enterprise systems is through effective implementation of business intelligence solutions. Indeed, with BI, that elusive “aligning IT with the business” Holy Grail is within grasp.

Gettin’ wiki with it

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: December 27, 2004

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Does the open-source paradigm apply only to software? If there can be collaboration amongst thousands of people on the writing of program code for things as complex as a computer operating system, why can’t this model be used for other products as well?

It sure can. In fact, whenever any kind of manufacturing in the traditional sense is not required, and the ‘product’ is largely information-based and modular, the open-source model can work very well indeed. For proof of the potential one need look no further than wikis—special websites that can be compiled easily and then edited or extended at will by a group of people (that could potentially include just about anyone, since no programming knowledge whatsoever is required).

My Reference Desk

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: December 13, 2004

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In today’s interactive world, communication is king. No matter what your profession or line of business, impressive communication—both written and spoken—is often instrumental in elevating you above the crowd and helping you stay ahead of the ruthless competition.

Of course, in some fields, communication forms the very core. Take journalism, for instance. Our writers churn out tens of thousands of words worth of articles every week, and apart from being technically sound and providing analytical insights into high-falutin’ technologies, they also have to be letter-perfect in terms of the language. But that last part’s quite a tall order, given the profile of most technical journalists. So we need language reference aids of the widest variety and highest quality, available at our fingertips at all times.

Reflections on Technology Senate 2004

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: November 22, 2004

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If you were not present at our Technology Senate event in Colombo last month, you sure missed something. Like, free notebooks and desktops, return tickets to London, all-expenses-paid holidays to choice Asian destinations, gold coins, shopping vouchers, bags, watches, T-shirts and all kinds of other fancy whatnots.

But of course that’s not the reason why almost two hundred of India’s finest CIOs and IT heads attended Asia’s largest exclusive hosted event for the CIO community—the delegates had more serious stuff on their minds.

The Paperless Chase

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: November 8, 2004

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Over a billion trees are felled yearly to produce the world’s annual paper supply, almost all of which comes from plant cellulose obtained from tree wood pulp. Are there no alternatives?

It’s so long ago, I just cannot remember the last time I wrote a personal letter on paper and posted it to a friend. For that matter, I haven’t received a personal letter by post for quite a while either. E-mail has kind of put paid to that mode of communication. Indeed, all our intra-office communication and most of our external dealings too are also effected via some mode of electronic communication these days. As a result, less paper is used, and surely, that’s great news for trees.

Or so you’d be tempted to think. But paradoxically, study after study has found that paper consumption has zoomed since the digital and Internet revolutions. True, interpersonal communication is rarely on paper these days, but in every other way the information explosion, coupled with easy and inexpensive access to PCs and printers, has meant that more and more people are printing out an increasing number of documents for reference, research and permanent filing.

The soul of a new magazine

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: October 18, 2004

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“Be careful,” my well-meaning but decidedly risk-averse friends and relatives warned me. “They’ll make you slog and then pay you a pittance, if anything!” But throwing caution to the wind, I took up the project to launch India’s first weekly IT newsmagazine back in the spring of 1990. Still relatively fresh out of B-school, I designed and executed a comprehensive market research study, chalked out an ambitious editorial plan, and then brought out the first four flimsy issues of Express Computer. All for the then princely sum of Rs 15,000 (which, incidentally, was paid to me promptly by the Indian Express management, sans fuss).

Spammers Anonymous

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: September 13, 2004

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Most of you who caught my phishing column last time would have realised that a good number of the Web’s security problems originate from the anonymity that e-mail provides to those tech-savvy enough to cover their tracks completely.

Cyber security conferences and the popular press often sensationalise the more glamorous cybercrimes like cyberstalking, hacking of popular websites, denial-of-service attacks and corporate espionage, and also warn of the impending threat of cyberterrorism. But the problems that cause the most damage to the majority of Internet users (either directly through data and financial loss, or indirectly through productivity loss) are often glossed over, as they are of a relatively mundane variety—viruses, worms, spam, spyware and phishing.