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Tuesday, 14 August 2012

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Roshnal Lihinikadu, Adhisha Gammanpila and Chamath Palihawadana. Pictures by Saman Sri Wedage

Globalization has many aspects. The whole world is accepting and adopting the ways towards the advancement of technology. The youth is playing a vital role in this rapid pace and one of the devices which have not failed to capture the interest of every possible youth is the mobile phone.

Cell phones are more than mere accessories or gaming devices. They are one of the prime means of communication. They allow people to work on the go and stay in touch. However considering the nature of the device, privacy has an important factor. You would definitely not be too happy if you catch one of your peers or family members browsing through your private messages, right?

Royalists Roshnal Lihinikadu, Adhisha Gammanpila and Chamath Palihawadana have given some thought to this aspect. The tree youth came up with a new mobile application which gives a considerably high amount of privacy and allows only the correct owner of the phone to decrypt the received text message and read it.

The trio’s discovery not only turned a new leaf in the information technology (IT) field but also put Sri Lanka on the world map. Titled ‘Text, Encryptor and Decryptor’ (TED), the project won second place at Oracle Education Foundation’s ‘ThinkQuest’ competition 2012. ThinkQuest is an online learning platform which helps youth across the globe enhance 21st century skills such as communication, technology and critical thinking.

More than 51,000 participants from 59 countries have applied for the competition and 27 teams were selected for the finals. China, Great Britain, Greece, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Moldova, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the United States (US) were among the countries represented by these teams.

The first place was won by the US team while the Indian team bagged third place.

“We came upon the concept when we were in grade 10. We were highly into mobile phones and their facilities during that period. As school children we are not allowed to use mobiles in school but after school we used it to communicate with each other. We were so immersed in the object that we began studying its features. We soon realized that the text messages have a low privacy level once they are delivered to another phone. This dilemma inspired us to find an answer to the problem. That was how TED was conceived,” Palihawadana recalled about the origins of the application.


With Royal College Principal Upali Gunasekara and project coach Inoka Samarakkody

After much experimentation and they introduced the application to their friends. Forming small groups the boys installed TED into their accounts and began to enjoy the facility that it offered. It soon became a hit among their peers.

“We did not think about sharing our discovery with the world until ROYEX 2011, an annual exhibition held at Royal College, came along. It was held a few months before our General certificate of Education (G C E) Ordinary Level examination. We got together with our friends Dumendra, Devaka, Charu, Mathanga, Thisal and Hashen and organized a stall. The enthusiasm the visitors displayed towards our innovation amazed and delighted us. It was a great motivating factor and we were able to develop the application further using their suggestions,” Gammanpila explained.

According to the three IT savvy students the application can be used only in a Java compatible mobile. Both phones in which the short message services (SMSs) will be exchanged should have TED installed in their accounts. Once you install TED, you will be presented with a user account and password. Once you receive an SMS, it will be delivered to your TED account. Then only the owner of the phone will be able to read the message. Though another person will be able to see the text, it will be encrypted. The TED application is also compatible with any language. Queried on how the boys submitted TED to ThinkQuest Lihinikadu said that they got to know about the competition from their school.


Explaining how TED works

“We uploaded the TED software and the report of the project through the ThinkQuest account and uploaded our TED video on YouTube,” he said.

They had applied for the 17 and under division under ‘Application Development.’ The results reached them on June 21. The boys jumped with joy when they witnessed their names on top of the list.

“Our school always emphasizes on developing the skills of its students in both co-curricular and extra curricular activities besides academic work. This is another example which proves this fact. We thank our principal Upali Gunasekara for his guidance and providing us with the environment which enables students to bring out the innovators within them. We are also grateful to the project coach Inoka Samarakkody and our IT teacher K P M C Manage for their support,” the champs chorused.

Lihinikadu, Gammanpila and Palihawadana will be heading to San Francisco towards the end of the year to receive their award. The first and second place teams of ThinkQuest 2012 will receive a trip to ThinkQuest Live, a five-day event conducted by the Oracle Education Foundation in San Francisco Bay. The event includes educational workshops and activities, social events, sightseeing excursions and the ThinkQuest Awards Dinner. The project coach and one adult chaperone per student are included in the tour.

“We have already received several offers for TED but we have not decided on our marketing strategies yet. We are in the process of making further improvements on the developed module,” Palihawadana noted, adding that he and his friends share the common ambition of inventing devices for the betterment of the society.

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