Most Asia-Pacific regions are smartphone-first. Should you be?

Reuters Institute research, which looked at seven Asia-Pacific markets, confirms that Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia are all mobile-first markets.

In three of these markets mobile-use has reached or is approaching 60%. This widespread use of smartphones has been facilitated by higher penetration rates of smartphone making and mobile broadband in the region.

These figures are much higher than in some developed markets in North America and Western Europe, but indicate future rises in mobile use.  

Publishers are already adapting to this new revenue stream with investment and experimentation in mobile alerts and notifications to reach news audiences.

Berbagai Perkembangan Di Proyek-Proyek Kota Pintar Tiongkok: Nanjing, Yinchuan, Lijiang (2)

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“Bagian  1”

Menempatkan Sebuah Pencegah Kejahatan

Salah satu pemandangan paling mengesankan di Tiongkok adalah  Sungai Li sepanjang 83 kilometer yang terletak diantara tempat-tempat  tujuan turisme yang paling banyak dikunjungi di negeri tersebut. Area menakjubkan  kelas 5A nasional ini memiliki 179 kapal untuk mengakomodasi jutaan turis yang datang dari berbagai belahan dunia. Namun, satu tantangan yang telah menjangkiti area  itu, rendahnya ketertiban sosial, dengan insiden-insiden seperti berenang di kawasan terlarang pada sungai, dan rakit bambu yang digunakan di sungai telah menyebabkan  sekitar 30 kematian setiap tahun. Pedagang kaki lima atau pengasong juga telah  secara serius menghambat manajemen lokasi-lokasi wisata di sepanjang sungai tersebut.

Untuk menanggulangi kelemahan pemantauan yang benar dan sistem pengawasan, Polisi Lijiang membutuhkan solusi untuk menguatkan kontrol ketertiban sosial dan penegakan hukum. Diantara solusi-solusi yang tersedia, jaringan-jaringan optikal terbukti menghadapi tantangan untuk dijalankan, sebungan dengan permukaan tanah yang tak rata atau berbukit-bukit di sekeliling sungai. WiMax juga gagal untuk memenuhi  mobilitas kecepatan tinggi yang dibutuhkan oleh kapal-kapal patroli sungai.

Berbagai Perkembangan Di Proyek-Proyek Kota Pintar Tiongkok: Nanjing, Yinchuan, Lijiang (1)

Dengan Tiongkok yang sedang  melaju di atas trek yang akan mencuatkannya sebagai ekonomi  dunia paling kuat, pada tahun-tahun belakangan ini telah memperlihatkan kota-kotanya dalam cara yang sama, telah menunjukan ambisi-ambisi untuk menjadi sejumlah kota tercerdas di bola dunia ini, melakukan maksimalisasi pemanfaat teknologi-teknologi jaringan dan komputasi untuk memajukan kekompetitifan dan memperbaiki kehidupan warga kotanya.

Munculnya kemetropolitan tidak melulu harus sesuai dengan aturan yang keras dan ketat untuk mengatur seperti apakah seharusnya sebuah kota “pintar” terlihat, tetapi kota-kota tersebut memang memiliki sejumlah hal kesamaan-sebuah keantusiasan terhadap pengedepanan keamanan publik dan layanan-layanan warga kota, dengan meruntuhkan menara-menara silo atau penyimpan bahan pangan, yaitu sebuah upaya untuk meruntuhkan berbagai hambatan yang justru ditimbulkan oleh begitu ketatnya hirarki-hirarki yang berorientasi pada tujuan organisasi atau lembaga, dan bukan pada tujuan menciptakan kepuasan masyarakat, sebagai kepedulian utama.

Bagaimana Teknologi Akan Mentransformasi Industri Dan Masyarakat? (1)

Forum Ekonomi Dunia telah memulai proyek riset “Digital Transformation Initiative” untuk mengeksplorasi dampak digitalisasi pada segenap pelosok 13 industri utama. Riset tersebut mengidentifikasikan sejumlah teknologi yang diharapkan  memiliki dampak paling banyak dalam mentransformasi bisnis dan masyarakat:

Percetakan 3D: Manufaktur berdasarkan permintaan

Dalam percetakan 3D, atau Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM), obyek-obyek diciptakan dari dokumen-dokumen digital cetak biru dengan menelentangkan lapisan-lapisan material secara bersusun. Rentang material yang dapat digunakan dengan mesin-mesin pencetak telah meluas secara signifikan selama dekade belakangan ini, memampukan solusi-solusi  berdasarkan permintaan atau on demand dan dapat disesuaikan dengan keperluan  yang sangat dioptimasi dengan tambahan kecil biaya per unit.

Industri-industri logistik dan rantai nilai  bisa terganggu, sebab percetakan 3D dapat menolong konsumen dan  usaha-usaha bisnis dalam mencetak obyek atau benda yang mereka inginkan di suatu tempat yang dekat dengan lokasi bisnis mereka sendiri, mengurangi keperluan suku-suku cadang dan barang-barang yang harus dikirimkan.

Vietnam conducts comprehensive assessment of govt websites

On 25 May, Workshop on Information Security Policies towards Developing of E-Governance was hosted by Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA) and Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT), to implement Prime Minister’s Instruction and the Guidelines of Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on the protection of websites.

CARTES in Asia to Showcase Government Identity Technology

The convergence of biometrics, global operational standards and the integration of public and private services are forging government identity technology ahead in the Asia Pacific region. Identity technology developers and government decision makers at CARTES in Asia conference and exhibition on 28 and 29 March will be able to see and hear about new developments in this sector. On the second day of the exhibition, there will be a full day dedicated to ID Management and e-Government covering innovations, privacy and security issues.

With a population that reaches nearly four billion, the biometric identity industry has been going from strength to strength in Asia Pacific. In the last couple of years countries in South East Asia such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have embraced technologies such as ePassports, eIDs and eVisas in a bid to communicate with their people and protect their identities. Vietnam is due to issue its first electronic passport by the end of this year and by 2014 the Philippines is expected to be the world’s sixth-largest issuer of ePassports, behind India, the US, Brazil, and Britain.

In order to facilitate interoperability across countries, the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) has introduced e-passport standards: Basic Access Control (BAC) and then Supplemental Access Control (SAC). These new security standards are designed to help countries migrate from traditional paper-based travel documents and protect the passport’s data confidentiality, integrity and anti-cloning.

Isabelle Alfano, Director of CARTES events, Comexposium, said: “A new era of government biometric technology is upon us here in Asia Pacific and across the world. The concept is also changing with more functions being incorporated including social security information, driving licenses, healthcare, banking and transportation applications. And standardization is making the technology more secure and interoperable across different countries. Visitors and exhibitors to CARTES in Asia will be able to find out about all of this and much, much more at CARTES in Asia next month.”

Present in more than 70 countriesworldwide, Oberthur Technologies is one of the key players in identity sector, providing secure documents and issuance systems for more than 60 government programs.

“Oberthur Technologies participates in identity document programs in Asian countries including national electronic ID cards in Cambodia, electronic Driving Licenses for Bangladesh and Passports or electronic Passports in Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan and Nepal” said Mr Cheong Chung Chin, Vice president ID division Asia Pacific. “Oberthur Technologies is glad to take part in the third session of CARTES IN ASIA exhibition to meet our customers and show our latest innovations, products and solutions expertise at our booth”.

On March 28 CARTES in Asia will also provide an insight into major trends shaping ID Management and eGovernment at their conference. The ID Management and eGovernment all-day session will include speakers from Datacard, Gemalto, Global Platform, HID Global, JDSU, Keynectis, Komsco, Natural Security and Oberthur Technologies. The two day conference, which will bring together more than 300 high level conference attendees and over 70 keynote speakers will also cover Mobile Payment, NFC Applications, e-Transaction/e-Banking, Prepaid & Loyalty Programmes, IT Security & Internet of Things.

About CARTES in Asia
Date: 28-29 March 2012
Opening times: 9.30am to 5.30pm
Place: Hong Kong – AsiaWorld-Expo
Organizer: Comexposium
Website: www.cartes-asia.com

koreaittimes.co.id

South Korea to Fund $100M to Vietnam’s Data Center

The government of South Korea will provide an official development aid worth $100 million for Vietnam to build a data center at Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, aiming to help improve the latter’s IT infrastructure in the future. Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication announced that it will kick off the project on building the Government Information Data Center (GIDC) costing total $117.327 million within this year. The Vietnamese government will contribute $17.327 million in reciprocal capital, the An Ninh Thu Do newspaper reported
In the first quarter, the ministry will open a bid to choose a designing consultant for the project. GIDC, expected to cover 20,000 square meters at the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park in Hanoi’s outlying district of Thach That, will provide servers and network infrastructure for the data preservation of government agencies and localities.

It is capable of integrating and managing information infrastructure to boost IT application at state-run agencies, part of the country’s efforts to modernize the state administration on the way to deploy an e-government system.

When demand for data storage increases in the future, Vietnam is likely to build two other data centers like GIDC in the central and southern regions, the ministry added. Developing e-government is among key tasks that Vietnam will focus on in the next decade to become a stronger IT country. (An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security Feb 17 p2) 

ngocentre.org.vn

Finland tops UNCTAD statistics on ICT

Finland leads the world in the share of its economy based on the production of goods and services related to information and communication technology (ICT), recent UNCTAD statistics show. The statistics, released online indicate that ICT in Finland employs almost one tenth of the country's total non-agricultural business sector. However, the ICT sector including the availability of statistics is still nascent in many developing economies. Currently, the relevant UNCTAD database contains information on 57 economies. The lack of more comprehensive data can be seen as yet another illustration of the digital divide. In fact, none of the world's least developed countries (LDCs) reports statistics on the size of its ICT sector. UNCTAD's data are sourced principally from national statistical offices, which at the request of developing countries are supported by an UNCTAD technical assistance program to build domestic capacity for measuring ICTs.

Based on the latest available data, the proportion of ICT-sector employment in the total business sector of economies ranges from less than 2 percent in Azerbaijan, Croatia and Kazakhstan to more than 8 percent in Finland, Israel and Sweden. Such economic activity is significant. As documented in UNCTAD's Information Economy Report 2011, the ICT sector is playing a growing role in a number of developing countries. For example, in India, the contribution of the ICT sector to gross domestic product (GDP) rose from 3.4 percent in 2000/01 to 5.9 percent in 2007/08.

In Kenya, the sector has expanded annually by more than 20 percent over the past decade and accounted for a staggering 24 percent of Kenya's GDP growth during that period. The health of the ICT sector affects governments, companies, individuals, and society at large. It creates jobs, spurs innovation, and not least supports the sustained use of ICTs in domestic economies, which has the effect of making them more productive and efficient.

Recent research shows that a thriving ICT sector can make a major contribution to economic growth in low-income countries. Jobs in ICT have proved to be more productive than those in other sectors. In the countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), between 1995 and 2008, labour productivity grew faster in the ICT sector than in the rest of the business sector.

The data confirms that the ICT sector's contribution to domestic economies is typically higher in terms of value added than in terms of employment. However, the ICT sector employs relatively young people with above-average levels of education. Hence, it offers jobs that may provide upward mobility, job security, and future training opportunities.

sundayobserver.lk

Shanghai extends immigration auto-clearance

Shanghai, China’ biggest city and one of the most vibrant, plans to extend its electronic immigration channels to residents of Taiwan by end of this year. There are more than 500,000 Taiwan residents who live and work in Shanghai and nearby cities. Every year, more than one million journeys are made by Taiwanese residences through Shanghai’s immigration checkpoints. The auto-clearance system is currently only available to Hong Kong and Macau residents who possess Chinese nationality.

The Pudong Exit-Entry Frontier Inspection Station (PEEFIS) started installing the electronic gates in December 2008 in order to launch auto clearance services for Hong Kong and Macau residents during Shanghai Expo. The 10 electronic channels allowed Hong Kong and Macau residents who hold “Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macau Residents” to pass immigration within six seconds.

Hong Kong and Macau continued to have separate immigration systems after British and Portuguese governments handed the sovereignty of the two territories to China in 1997 and 1999 respectively. Residents of Hong Kong and Macau who have Chinese nationality are issued with the travel permit, allowing them to enter Mainland China easily.

The auto-clearance system was tested to be ready in July 2009, and officially launched on 1 Jan 2012, when Shanghai Expo opened its doors. In addition, PEEFIS is also undertaking a major overhaul of its hardware infrastructure, in particular IT hardware and the surveillance system. The upgrade is expected to complete by the end of February.

futuregov.asia

Dubai launches online direct debit for govt payments

Dubai eGovernment Department has launched a virtual account for making government payments online, in collaboration with Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD). The service, called “Cash Online”, will be available to both CBD account holders and non-CBD account holders. Corporate and individual users are able to open a free virtual account following the submission of required official documents. The account is linked to Dubai eGovernment’s ePay portal such that payments for government services could be directly made from customer’s account with five of the major banks in United Arab Emirates. No minimum balance is required for the virtual account. 

Ahmed Bin Humaidan, Director General of Dubai eGovernment, says that the government seeks “to ease the life of customers with Dubai government entities as much as possible”, and “to provide innovative electronic channels of easy access anywhere and at any time.” 

Last year, the government ePay portal collected a total amount of AED3.3 billion (US$898 million) through credit card payments, and usage of direct debit services rose by 10 fold, from 54,538 transactions in 2010 to 522,815 transactions in 2011.

.futuregov.asia

New application to enhance e-government accessibility

A new mobile application will be released by the government soon that will cover, at first, the basic interactions with the government, and will eventually include all ‘e-government’ services including those currently provided through Hukoomi and the Ministry of Interior’s Metrash, according to an ictQatar official. ictQatar services delivery manager Mohannad Omar Naim said that new self-service terminals are also to be installed to support these initiatives, providing greater access to government services.

He believes that people need mobility, need to trust their government and need to be included in decisions through social network interaction. People also need to have access to all their government services through a single log-on access point with only one username.

For this vision to become reality, the government should provide accessibility, broadband, and other critical infrastructure. The idea of eGovernment in Qatar started in 2001 with 11 online services, mainly based around residence permits for individuals and businesses. Naim said that people resisted at first, with the government having to beg companies to use their online services.

Now, online systems have become so prevalent that companies and residents are now recommending services to be added. eGovernment is now in a “transformation phase” working towards a new “digital society” with “eparticipation”. Dr Alistair Erskine, chief of Medical Informatics at the Sidra Medical and Research Centre, said that “Qatar does not have a very well developed primary care network. There are significant efforts to do so, but those efforts will take time and they will take a change in the way the population thinks about primary care.”

Erskine said that just as people can now leapfrog credit card payments and go directly to mobile payments, soon patients will be able to skip elements of primary care and bring care directly into the home. Monitoring tools, disease surveillance, weight and other monitoring devices, as well as information portals for patients to learn about and understand their condition are some of the elements that can transform healthcare in Qatar.

Fibre network upgrades to the country’s broadband systems will play an important role in implementing these kinds of healthcare services. According to Erskine, Qatar’s vision for health care calls for a dramatic transformation in the coming years, not just in terms of personalised health care but also in overall health systems management. Flu outbreaks, for example, will be identified before health care providers even report cases, simply by the symptoms being looked up on Google by Internet users. Patients will have better monitoring and interaction from health care providers directly from the home, supported by the “decentralisation and democratisation of health information”. “People will be able to get a chip with their entire genome in less than 24 hours, for less than QR3,600,” Erskine explained.

He said that this breakthrough will allow healthcare professionals to identify patterns in recessive genes amongst the population that were previously unrecognised. Gamification, or making these services more entertaining and engaging, will also improve their success as people will be more likely to use them consistently. Mobile apps are also crucial in helping those with disabilities which is crucial because, as David Banes, CEO of Qatar Assistive Technology Centre (Mada) points out, 70% of people will acquire some disability in their working life. A number of inexpensive apps are transforming the lives of the visually and hearing impaired, whether it is through GPS navigation tools, access to books using kindle or other reading assistants, communication tools for the deaf or product recognition software for the blind.

Banes said that one way the public can help is by donating their second hand iphones and smartphones to Mada, who will provide them as living-assistance tools for those who need them.

gulf-times.com

E-gate provides service for voters

The official “e-gate” website with cooperation of Ministry of Interior have provided a service for voters to inquire about their information through registration number. The service is put by Ministry of Interior, to offer the voter’s information, regarding the name and place of constituency headquarters, said head of the e-government in Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT), Dr Ittihad Al-Bahar.

The service simplifies the voter’s usage of gathering information through entering their ID number or ministry of interior reference number, she added. Al-Bahar pointed out that the service aims to prepare the parliamentary elections that being held on the second of February to support the efforts of government and neutrality to the elections.

The CAIT is responsible of granting citizens services to strengthen the electoral and democratic process in Kuwait, she noted. Al-Bahar called for all voters to view the information services through the e-gate or ministry of interior website.

.kuwaittimes.net

90 Percent of Passports to be e-Passports by 2016

Within five years 90 percent of passport holders will be using e-passports that integrate a smart card IC chip. This is one of the conclusions drawn from IMS Research's recent report “Electronic Government and Health Care ID Cards – World – 2011.” A rapid migration from paper or machine readable passports to smart card-based passports (complying with the ICAO standard for ePassports) started in 2007. This has led to nearly half of all passports now in use being e-passports.

“This trend is set to continue” stated the report author Alex Green. “There are still a few countries around the world that are not yet issuing e-passports. However, most have started and with the typical five to ten year replacement rates for passports, it is only a matter of time before all passports in circulation are e-passports.”

The report goes on to explore to what extent biometrics are being recorded on these e-passports. Interestingly, even for passports issued in 2010, in the majority of cases no biometric data is held on these secure ICs except for a digital image of the holders face. IMS Research forecast that this will change. “

By 2014, the situation is forecast to have been reversed” states Green. “By this time the majority of passports being issued will also include additional biometric data such a one or more finger print, iris scans, etc.”

The e-passport market is examined for 40 countries in IMS Research’s report “Electronic Government and Healthcare ID Cards – World – 2011.” Similar analysis is also provided for the national ID cards, healthcare cards, electronic driver’s licenses and a number of other government related card types.

thecuttingedgenews.com

Are ‘Cloud Hubs’ the Way of the Future?

greenfudge.org

The pressure of moving government applications into a cloud-computing environment is rapidly building as government agencies look to cut IT costs. According to a new report, the concept of “regional community cloud hubs” among government entities will greatly change the way state and local government procure cloud services.

The report, Best Practices: Regional Community Cloud Hubs — The New “Trickle Down” Effect That’s Boosting State and Local Computing by IDC Government Insights defines regional community cloud hubs as one government agency — most likely at the state level — that could serve as a host facility and offer cloud-computing services to other government agencies (most likely local governments), which can then be shared.

The host facility could then gain revenue by selling the cloud services to other government agencies, which in turn would help the host facility gain revenue to offset their own IT costs, according to the report. If local governments buy the cloud services from the host facility instead of looking for cloud services on their own, the cloud services could be purchased at a lower cost. Shawn McCarthy, an IDC Government Insights research analyst, said the concept of the cloud hub has already started to be used in states like Michigan and Utah and have been deemed successful. “They’re dipping their toe in the water saying, this is the way we want to start offering these things,” McCarthy said.

“The smaller governments seem interested because it allows them to get out of the infrastructure business, which can be very capital intensive and very maintenance intensive, so where we are is a toe over the starting line.”

McCarthy said for Utah’s case, the state began segmenting data storage for local government end users. By offering the data storage, some local governments showed interest in tapping into the available storage space. Eventually the state offered to host a server, which triggered more local governments to want to connect into the “hub.” Local governments are interested in moving systems such as applications used to manage its human resources information to the cloud because updating an existing system may cost more, McCarthy said. As the market for cloud computing evolves, local governments may want to look to see if other entities, particular surrounding ones, have a human resources application both entities can share through the cloud.

But providing the cloud doesn’t have to be the responsibility of the state governments. Through the regional community cloud hubs, vendors can play an important role in providing cloud space. McCarthy said state governments (the host facilities) could make agreements with cloud providers for cloud storage, offer the same services to local governments who want to join the hub, and negotiate costs down.

Because there are different types of private clouds, state governments that act as the hosting facilities could either host the private cloud with or without the use of a cloud vendor, McCarthy said. Although the concept of a regional community cloud hub is not quite a trend yet, McCarthy expects state and local governments to start adopting the practice within the next couple of years.

http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Are-Cloud-Hubs-the-Way-of-the-Future.html

How e-government can shape competitiveness

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves talks to T Magazine about two key elements of his country’s competitiveness: the use of IT to create effective e-government infrastructure and the institution of a flat income tax. Interview by Dr. Paul Kielstra

T Magazine: In your experience, how does e-government affect the way that government functions?

President Ilves: The most fundamental benefit is transparency. We have been living with that for 15 years, but you forget how rare it is. I was at an UN General Assembly meeting, listening to various heads of state saying that they had put expenditure [data] online. But that is only the very beginning of e-government.

How does it affect the work of government officials?

It has basically freed up a lot of civil servants. You don’t have people doing rote things that can be done by machines, which is important because our fundamental problem is our size. In my work, I’m not a passive recipient of e-government. Outside of Northern Europe and the United States, people don’t necessarily understand at the level of head of state that e-government is about the way people operate, not the technology. People who do understand this are those currently in their 30s.

I’ve been using an Apple Computer since 1983. The government was paperless by 1999. It’s not a big deal. I have a Facebook page, but that is trite. Anyone can do that. E-government has nothing to do with people in government having computers. It means you do things completely differently. For example, our health records are all on line. You are defrocking the priesthood of the medical profession.

The patient owns his own data in the marketplace. It’s not just government, though, it’s more a matter of the attitude of society. For example, I’m shocked when I have to pay to use Wi-Fi. In Estonia, it’s just there. My daughter sees what her homework is on e-school. It is all very normal when you are living there. For it to work, you must have a completely reliable ID system so that you can sign legal documents.

The other thing you need is a decentralized data system, not just one big computer. You have access to everything as the citizen; police can access your police records; doctors can access your health records; but the tax authorities, say, cannot access your health records. You are the owner of the data. Another reason it works is that, basically people think it’s cool.

After nearly two decades of experience with the flat tax, what do you see as the benefits and drawbacks of such a system in practice?

The flat tax has been adopted by many countries. Some places it has worked, some it hasn’t. The real benefit is in compliance, which comes from having a very simple computer-based tax return. This is where we differ from all kinds of countries.

Where there are complicated tax schemes, people don’t pay taxes. There are not any major down sides. If you have a complex tax system and 37 million loopholes, so that you can make billions and still pay low taxes but the average guy pays whatever percent, then maybe the flat tax is more equitable than a progressive tax. An empirical study should be done. The problem is that many people like the idea of progressive taxes and soaking the rich, but it doesn’t really happen.

Estonia has a reputation for being one of the least corrupt countries in Eastern and Central Europe. How has your country been able to get a handle on this issue?
This is intimately related to e-government. It is the result of transparency. If you have e-tenders, for example, it is much harder to be corrupt. The only place where we have a corruption problem is at the level of local governance, where the national parliament can’t legislate transparency. How much transparency you have there is a local decision. Preconceptions also need to change. The image has existed for 70 years about Eastern Europe, that its countries are poor, backward and corrupt. It’s time to get over it. Look at Estonia and look at some other European countries [and compare] the corruption levels, debt, and deficit spending.

Estonia adopted the Euro at the start of this year. Was this a case of bad timing or do the long-term benefits still outweigh the risks?

We’ll see what happens with the Euro zone, but for the short-term the benefit for us has been that it meant the re-establishment of investor confidence in Estonia. It is kind of like a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. [In particular,] it has eliminated the threat of devaluation, which was the biggest threat of all, a forced devaluation which would have wiped out people’s [savings].

What lessons does your country’s recent experience of adopting austerity measures hold for other states?
Do what you think is doable. One of the things we did have, which others might not, was the equivalent of 10% of GDP in our reserves. This is a big buffer and we didn’t have to go to the IMF. I don’t know how to tell people to save, other than to say “save”. Also, the experience of life under the Soviet Union does make it easier. It is still in historical memory. Anyone over 25 in Estonia remembers the Soviet Union and how awful it was. Compared to that, [austerity] isn’t so bad.

Estonia recently dropped to 24th position from the 18th in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report. Was this fair?

They forgot to convert the currency. We have an open economy and are very dependent on exports. When reputable sources give stupid news, we suffer. You are about the 17th person who has asked me about that. The World Bank was completely irresponsible. Can you imagine if you did this in a company or a government?

This article was first published in Issue 06 of Ernst & Young´s T Magazine publication which will be available January 25 2012 on this website.

http://tmagazine.ey.com

Australia announces location-based emergency management system

Australia’s Federal Minister for Emergency Management, Robert McClelland, and Acting Victorian Premier Peter Ryan have unveiled an ambitious new revamp of the country’s national Emergency Alert telephone warning system. This revamp incorporates a “world-first” mobile emergency alert service, to be fully operational by November 2012, while tapping into carrier-class mobile communications networks.

The location-based mobile emergency alert service will send warnings to mobile phones that are physically in an emergency zone when a disaster strikes. Australia’s emergency warnings are currently limited to using a residential address associated with individual subscribers, as a result relying on outdated emergency notifications like radio warnings.

The upgraded mobile emergency alert will use location-based mobile communications services to send anywhere, anytime warnings directly to mobile phones using SMS. Minister McClelland says Victoria will lead the way by developing technology for a national location-based telephone emergency warning system. Acting Victorian Premier Peter Ryan says this new technology has no national or international precedent. The mobile emergency alert service, when fully operational, will subscribe to mobile communications networks through carrier arrangements.

This emergency alert upgrade adds another layer of safety to existing warnings across cities, towns and regional areas. This location-based warning system will use SMS as one feature of Australia’s emergency management services, enabling affected communities to get alerts in real-time, regardless of their location.

The new service will be complemented by traditional radio and emergency services website updates. In December last year, McClelland canvassed community feedback on its emergency messaging systems, including a Common Alerting Protocol.

This protocol would enable emergency messages to be sent out simultaneously over different warning systems including radio, television, smartphones, email and social media. Minister McClelland also launched a DisasterWatch app for iPhone and Android smartphones last year.

DisasterWatch offers communities up-to-the-minute public information about disaster via direct feeds from official state, territory and national sources. This week’s Commonwealth and Victorian Government mobile communications initiative comes in the wake of the Victorian bushfires in late 2009. More than 173 people died during these bushfires, leading to a Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission inquiry.

This inquiry recommended streamlining Australia’s emergency alert capabilities, while reaching out more quickly to widely dispersed communities. Telstra has been awarded a contract for the latest Commonwealth and Victorian government emergency alert upgrade – with negotiations underway with other carriers.

.futuregov.asia

UK “Behind Europe” In 3-D Mapping

The UK is falling behind the leading European nations in implementing a national 3-D mapping framework, a leading practitioner has told E-Government Bulletin. Carsten Rönsdorf, corporate data manager at the UK’s national mapping agency Ordnance Survey, told E-Government Bulletin the UK is “quite a bit behind” several other European countries and parts of the rest of the world including the Middle East, Asia and the US, in creating a national framework using the “CityGML” standard.

CityGML was developed by the International Open Geospatial Consortium, building on its two-dimensional GML (Geography Markup Language) standard. It has applications in a wide range of areas from tourism to urban planning, city management, environmental protection, training and real estate management.

However use of CityGML in 3-D mapping in the UK to date has been fragmented, Rönsdorf said. A number of projects have successfully created 3-D citymodels which are not based on CityGML such as the Glasgow Urban Model regeneration project, a 3-D representation of the city centre and River Clyde corridor, or the “Virtual London” project of the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL.

But “there is a danger that authorities spent a lot of money on a project that serves one particular purpose, and end up with results that are not sustainable – these one-off models often don’t play with some of the other resources they have”, Rönsdorf said.

In contrast, almost every German city has a CityGML model; and the national mapping agencies in France and the Netherlands are working on projects, he said. For Great Britain, his own organisation Ordnance Survey could create a national framework independent of area, allowing other public or private bodies to add in local detail as it developed, he said. Such activity was likely to come initially from the business districts of larger cities: “there might be more money to create nicer looking models for central London, for example.”

The OGC is an international consortium of more than 430 companies, government agencies, research bodies and universities to develop publicly available standards to “geo-enable” the web and wireless services. The consortium’s communications director Steven Ramage said many UK local authorities are already using at least some of the 33 OGC open standards for tasks such as web mapping, though CityGML is a newer standard.

“Glasgow is quite far ahead, but there are other areas where people are using 3-D information for things like planning purposes, noise mapping and 3-D city modelling, looking at things like trees, geological sub-surfaces, building information modelling.

There are lots of potential environmental applications.” Last year the consortium created a category of membership for local and regional government, GovFuture, offering bodies access to best practice materials and resources, Ramage said. “I’m hoping as open data, open source, open government all develops [that UK public sector bodies] understand the need for open standards.”

NOTE: Article originally published in E-Government Bulletin issue 344.

Jordan govt to set up firm to finish national broadband grid

Jordan's government said that it will establish a company to complete the National Broadband Network project, The Jordan Times reported online. The new firm will be owned by the government, by telecoms operators and by ISPs. Minister of Information and Communications Technology Bassem Roussan said that the ministry will complete the required legal measures and refer them to the Cabinet for final approval next week in order to go ahead with the creation of the firm

Roussan said work on the project halted in 2008 when Jordan was hit hard by the global financial crisis. He said the completion of the project is a must as many e-government services, e-curricula for schools and telemedicine providers rely on the network.

Roussan said that the scheme will be finished in a maximum of three years. Residents of rural areas will then have access to the internet at schools connected to the network. According to the ICT ministry, about 35 percent of the project has been completed to date at a total cost of USD 36 million.

Roussan said that another company will be set up to promote e-government services and look into other e-services needed by citizens. This firm will be 51 percent-owned by the government with private sector companies owning the rest.

telecompaper.com

Seoul Proves Value of Advanced e-Government

“Seoul City is pushing for ‘Smart Seoul 2015’ for the qualitative happiness of its citizens from 2011 to 2015,” says Dr. Hwang Jong-sung, Assistant Mayor for Information Technology (CIO) of Seoul Metropolitan government. “Seoul’s budget for informatization in 2011 stood at 129,501 million won, accounting for 0.63% of Seoul’s total budget. The Seoul e-government consists of a front office, a back office and additional infrastructure. The e-Seoul Net is an exclusive high-speed information and telecommunication network which links the Main Building of Seoul City Hall, its branch offices, affiliated organizations and Gu (district) offices with an aim toward realizing an e-government. u-Seoul Net is a telecommunication network that offers audio-visual and Internet (data) services such as traffic and CCTV information. The core of Seoul’s informatization project in the future is to carry out the Smart Seoul 2015 project.

The Smart Seoul 2015 project is a pre-emptive and active informatization plan as 80% of Seoul citizens are expected to use smartphones or smart devices and 30% are expected to purchase smart TVs in 2015. “We are planning to make Seoul the “best smart technology city” in the world in 2015,” Dr. Hwang continues.

The Smart Seoul 2015 project will expand Seoul’s smart infrastructure, help more people enjoy advanced IT services, provide Seoul City services through smart devices, create jobs, enhance the level of information security and realizing the finest e-government in the world.

“So, we expect that advanced IT technologies will be applied to all sectors in citizens’ life and even senior citizens will make use of smart devices and applications after receiving education in 2015,” Dr. Hwang adds. The city is also planning to reduce its crime rate by expanding CCTV monitoring.

“We are also planning to promote a Seoul-friendly application business industry and establish an incubator center in the Sangam-dong IT complex,” Dr. Hwang reveals. The Seoul Metropolitan government is providing various information and online services through the Internet and smartphones and is steadily upgrading services by collecting opinions of citizens.

The e-government service of Seoul City is divided into three major parts – strong communication with citizens, convenient services for citizens and addressing negative impacts of informatization. A main communication channel between Seoul and citizens is the official web site of Seoul City. The web site offers comprehensive services for citizens including electronic civil petitions, news of the Seoul government and the participation of citizens.

The web site is also connected to web sites of the central government and relevant organizations. Of late, the site has been renewed for three kinds of visitors (general citizens, business people, and tourists). In addition to the regular web site of Seoul City, the city is offering mobile portal services in eight sectors.

Furthermore, advanced smartphone applications of Seoul City provides citizens with information on restaurants, TBS broadcasting, travel, location of public rest rooms and taxi-call service. Moreover, the city is distributing PCs for marginalized people who do not have PCs so that they can use information services at home. For visually challenged people and the disabled, the city distributes magnifying devices and Braille terminals.

Other activities include repairing PCs, implementing projects to prevent people from Internet addiction, Internet counseling and free ubiquitous study programs. The excellence of Seoul e-government was duly recognized in the evaluation of e-governments by reliable organizations. For example, Seoul e-government came in first for four years running in the evaluation of the Evaluation of the World’s 100 Cities.”

“The Seoul e-government became a benchmarking object for countries and cities around the world,” Dr. Hwang adds. “Foreign public officials, businessmen and scholars have visited Seoul City to observe its e-government system and facilities.”

“We are planning to publicize the excellence of Seoul's e-government system and contribute to the development of other e-governments by exchanging and cooperating with cities around the world,” Dr. Hwang explains. “At the same, the plan is aimed at addressing a digital divide problem among people and helping Korean ICT companies make a foray into overseas markets.”

Seoul becomes chair of World e-Government Organization (WeGo)

Accordingly, the Seoul government has laid the foundation by holding its World e-Government Market Forum in 2008. Finally in September 2010, the World e-Government Organization (WeGO) was established with Seoul as chair city. Since then, the Seoul government is playing the role of the leader for e-governments in the world.

The number of the member cities of the WeGO is 50, including big cities of the U.S., Canada, France and developing countries in Africa. The members cooperate with one another via the WeGO. Of late, the WeGO has surged in popularity internationally.

For example, three cities have recently applied for membership. The Seoul Metropolitan Government suggests distributing its e-government standard framework to member cities of the WeGO in a meeting of the Managing Committee of the WeGO held in Barcelona of Spain in last October. The suggestion was adopted.

The Seoul e-government has become an excellent e-government benchmarking target for countries around the world. Over the past three years, 893 people from 155 countries came to Seoul to observe and learn about the Seoul e-government. The Seoul government signed MOUs on exchange and cooperation on e-government with 11 overseas cities with the purpose of promoting friendship and enhancing the value of its global brand through communication marketing for the Seoul e-government and laying the foundation for Korean IT companies’ making a foray into overseas markets on the foundation of its world-class information infrastructure and experiences in various informatization projects.

“In particular, we carried out feasibility studies on e-government with leading Korean IT companies in Hanoi of Vietnam, Nairobi of Kenya and Katmandu of Nepal, which helped the cities map out informatization master plans,” Dr. Hwang adds.

“These efforts have paid off. The Tanzanian government is building its own system by applying the e-government model of Seoul to it. We have also contributed to the informatization of developing countries and helped Korean IT companies make inroads into overseas markets. This means Seoul’s position is rising as an advanced IT city.” “We will steadily publicize the excellence of the Seoul e-government internationally and contribute to the development of e-governments around the world through MOUs and to addressing the digital divide problem.

At the same time, we will help Korean companies tap into overseas markets,” Dr. Hwang detailed. Of late, the inauguration ceremony for the new Seoul mayor Park Won-soon attracted eyes of people and mass media as it was done online.

The online ceremony was broadcast live through the Internet from 11:00 to 11:40 am on November 16 of 2011. During the broadcast, Mayor Park opened his office room, pledge allegiance to the nation, delivered his inauguration speech and took questions from citizens through SNS. About 75,000 people watched the Internet broadcasting live and 5,000 questions or opinions were sent to the mayor through SMS.

In addition, about 8,000 people watched the ceremony on their mobile devices. “The online inauguration ceremony was successfully held with a smaller budget compared to previous authoritarian and formal ceremonies, suggesting a new model of inauguration ceremonies for government organizations, companies and groups,” Dr. Hwang says.

koreaittimes.com

DELHI POLICE LAUNCHES E-CRIME INITIATIVE

India’s National Capital police force has recently launched an e-crime initiative on its website that will allow residents to have better involvement in policing and public safety.Dubbed as the “Know Your Police Station” programme, the web platform, which was developed in collaboration with Microsoft, will help residents find out the jurisdiction of a particular police station on a GIS map.

  

In addition, users will also be able to access a particular Station House Officer’s (SHO) profile containing his photograph and contact details. A feedback provision is also provided in the platform so as to engage citizens to provide information to their SHO about crime prone areas, any organised crimes, and accident prone areas. 

“This is part of our progressive, innovative, and responsive policing policy and will soon be available as an application on smart phones,” said Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta.

futuregov.asia