Biz Tech

National IT Conference in August

Organized by Computer Society of Sri Lanka :

The 29th National Information Technology Conference (NITC) organized by the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) is scheduled to be held on August 24 and 25 at Galadari Hotel, Colombo. The Conference will focus on ICT innovations happening locally and globally, and sharing knowledge among the ICT community in Sri Lanka.

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Exploiting ICT trends for collaborative development’.

Each year, the CSSL organizes the National Information Technology Conference, which is one of the top ICT events in Sri Lanka.

The objective of the NITC is to bring to attention recent developments in the ICT field and facilitate the dissemination of knowledge among the ICT fraternity.

The conference provides an opportunity for the ICT community in Sri Lanka to obtain first hand experience from both local and international ICT experts with regard to ICT development.

This key annual Information and Communication Technology conference is intended to provide a forum for industry practitioners and academia, to keep up to date with current technology trends, interact with industry experts and network with peers.

The NITC 2011 will play a vital role in discussing the collaborative development within the context of Sri Lanka and the region, the ways of exploiting ICT trends, the innovation and development of ICT solutions, impacts of ICT on development and development on ICT, and other relevant normative, empirical and theoretical concerns of ICT development.

To maximize the appeal and relevance of the content, the conference will feature many presentations on latest technological advancements, linking disparate business solutions, providing end to end solutions and enterprise level perspectives on various facets of information and communication technology.

A distinguished panel of keynote speakers and other speakers will give a diverse set of insights in to the advancements on different ICT frontiers around the world.

The conference will engage in a dialogue that examines a broad range of topics with the spirit of its theme and following sub themes.

eGovernment and Gov 2.0 ICT for Public Sector Service delivery and collaborative social networking in effective Government, ICT for participatory citizenship, Developments for bridging the digital divide, Participatory systems access and equity, web 2.0 technologies- Services available to collaborate and share information online, Web access for differently-able users, Technologies for new learning - e-learning, ICT in education, life long and life wide learning, Interactive and collaborative learning, the Virtual University, internet and Society Social computing and networks, social learning, ICT, Poverty and Development ICT for Rural development and poverty reduction, GIS and IS in Agriculture and land use, Emerging technologies to fulfill the communication needs in mobile and fixed lines, Cloud computing and network virtualization, information security, cyber-forensics, cybercrime, and Green IT.

CSSL endeavours to make sure that this event addresses various ICT related topics by industry experts, disseminating and sharing the knowledge and expertise.

The ceremonial inauguration will be held on August 23 evening. During the two days of the conference around 26 papers will be presented by local and foreign speakers addressing the issues relevant to ‘Exploiting ICT trends for collaborative development’.

ESOFT mobile IT bus imparts basic ICT knowledge, practical training

ESOFT Computer Studies (Pvt) Ltd., has launched a new project for the welfare of school children, as part of the company’s expansive (CSR) initiative.

Under this new CSR project, ESOFT will provide the basic knowledge on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and conduct a one-day practical training session to students of poor, backward schools that have minimum ICT facilities.

ESOFT Computer Studies will use its mobile bus, which has been specially designed and fully equipped with all ICT-related facilities, to implement this project in schools earmarked under this initiative. This ESOFT IT mobile platform is on par with any modern IT laboratory of an ICT training institute.

“In today’s world, information technology is a key factor which is closely intertwined with the personal as well as professional lives of the people,” said ESOFT Computer Studies(Pvt) Ltd managing director Dr Dayan Rajapaksa.

In the future world, nobody will be able to successfully steer their personal or professional lives without depending on ICT. It is such a critically important component.

Therefore, it is a national duty to impart knowledge and training on ICT to the younger generation who will take over as the country’s future leaders, he stressed.

The government has already introduced information and communications Technology into the curriculum of GCE (Ordinary Level) and GCE (Advanced Level) in schools. A large percentage of students in schools with the required facilities now follow ICT as a subject. But, students in poor, backward schools which lack the basic ICT facilities remain marginalized as they have no opportunity of following this important subject, Dr. Rajapaksa said.

It is bad enough that these students have no access to ICT due to a dearth of facilities, but it is still worse that they have no proper understanding of how important it is to be computer literate for their future prospects and well-being. There must be students amongst them who have the aptitude for ICT excellence. The objective of the ESOFT CSR project is to impart basic ICT knowledge and training and make these students understand the importance of academically arming themselves to excel in this important sphere. This will also open the door to better career prospects in a diverse field, the managing director said.

The air-conditioned ESOFT mobile IT bus is equipped with a network of modern computer systems with internet access and all other modern facilities available on a ICT platform. As this mobile bus is on par with a state-of-the-art IT facility, students can use it in the same way as there is no difference whatsoever between the two platforms.

Schools which are keen to make use of the services of the ESOFT IT mobile bus need not necessarily have electricity and telephone facilities.

This is because the IT mobile bus has internet services and a powerful generator. ESOFT Computer Studies utilize this mobile bus to give students a complete one-day basic training session on IT including internet and email usage.

ESOFT is one of the Leaders in professional ICT education in Sri Lanka with the largest number of branches across the country. Its study programmes are reasonably priced to make them accessible to people of all walks of life.

The head office of ESOFT is situated at No. 235, Galle Road, Colombo 04. More information can also be obtained by accessing its website: www.esoft.lk