Right: Dr Roger Harris, a lecturer at the Malaysian University of Sarawak, teaching a tribal Kelabit man how to use Microsoft Excel on a computer in the town of Bario in Borneo.
A research team from the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Faculty of Information Technology is exploring potential uses of the Internet in remote communities. Under the Pan Asia R&D Grants supported project 'Internet Access by Remote Communities in Sarawak: The Smart School as a Demonstrator Application', Internet access is being provided to a school in the remote community of Bario in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. The research team is examining the information needs that exist in this primarily agricultural region, with the aim of determining how the Internet can be used to improve access to and dissemination of information resources.
Bario is an isolated community with no road access and poor telecommunications infrastructure, and is facing an outflow of residents to more urbanized areas. The main objective of the 'Smart School' project is to determine what opportunities may exist for social development in this rural area through the use of the Internet and other ICTs.
The 'Smart School' project is divided into two Phases - Phase I involves conducting a number of base-line surveys to assess the level of ICT awareness in the community and to gain an understanding of the information needs of the local Kelabit people. Phase II includes the establishment of a telecentre in a secondary school in Bario, drawing on the Malaysian Government's 'Smart School' initiative.
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The UNIMAS project is seen as a means of decreasing the impact of the Digital Divide between urbanized and rural areas in Malaysia. Additional financial support for the project has been received from the Malaysian government's National Information Technology Council (NTIC) under its Demonstrator Application Grants Scheme (DAGS).
A number of research studies have been completed to date under Phase I of the 'Smart School' project. Results from the studies will be used as baseline data for implementation of the telecentre. The studies include: data on ICT-literacy of secondary school teachers; awareness and usage of ICTs in the community of Bario; methodologies for identifying information needs for the development of local ICT-based information systems; and, an information and communications needs-assessment of the Bario community.
Phase II of the project is currently being implemented. It is expected that the 'Smart School' telecentre will be used to deliver such ICT-based services as electronic government, electronic commerce, social services, cultural exchange, tele-medicine and private communications. Furthermore, the 'Smart School' pilot project will establish, test, and refine various technical means of providing Internet access using wireless applications appropriate to remote rural conditions, including radio, satellite and other computing technologies.
The telecentre is currently connected to the Internet via a VSAT satellite link.
For more information on the Smart School initiative in Sarawak, please contact the project team leader Faculty of Information Technology, University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).
