Technology for society (6)

Ike Señeres .

Sixth part

THERE was a time when Information Technology (IT) was generally considered as a subset of science and technology (S&T). In layman terms, it could be said that IT is really just an offshoot of S&T, but it seems that IT took on a life of its own and then it practically took on a separate path. Somewhere along the way however, some bright minds eventually realized that there should be convergence between IT and communications technology, hence the combined acronym for Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Somewhere between here and there, other bright minds must have realized that information technology could be used for communications purposes and vice versa, communications technology could be used for information purposes. Having said all these however, we should not forget that it is still S&T that is continuing to improve both information technology and communications technology, jointly and severally.

I could say that I am one of those who were directly in the frontlines of the convergence of IT and communications technology right there at the trenches, so to speak. It happened when I was still with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), at the time when I was a Special Assistant representing the DFA in both the Science and Technology Coordinating Council (STCC) and the National Information Technology Council (NITC). It could be said that at that time, I was already traversing the two separate worlds of S&T and IT, at least in the policy level. Also at about the same time however, the DFA decided to merge the old Code, Radio and Telephone (Coratel) Division and the new Management Information Services (MIS) Division and I was assigned as the director. In order to bring together the younger IT staff and the older communications staff, I had to literally break down the physical wall that divided the two offices. Looking back, I could say that my experience in both ICT policies and programs prepared me well for my next position as director general of the National Computer Center (NCC).

Ever since I started working in the government, I have always believed that all governance work could be separated into four classifications, namely (1) Policies, (2), Plans, (3) Programs and (4) Projects. In theory, all plans, programs and projects should be based on policies. Down the line, all programs and projects should be based on plans that are in turn based on policies. In other words, there would be something fundamentally wrong if a project is started without any direct connection to specific programs, plans and policies. Chances are, these “orphan” projects could be born out of corrupt practices with the clear intentions of going around government rules. As it is supposed to be, and as far as I could recall, line Departments of the government are only supposed to get involved up to the level of programs, but not into projects. Ideally, projects should be conducted by the private sector, based on the programs developed or introduced by the government.

I have no doubt that the main motive of the private sector is to profit from the use of technology, but that does not mean that they are devoid of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). I even heard one of the captains of industry say that the corporate world should go into products and services that would serve society, but still earn profits from whatever it is that they are doing. I just hope that many more industry leaders would listen to him, so that we could have a better world to live in. Meanwhile, it seems that all governance could now be run or implemented by using ICT, and that would be a good thing if only the government could do more in driving technology to make it work for the good of the people, while it could also do good for the investors who are making business prosper. Looking ahead however, it seems that the government has to move faster, because ICT is now evolving faster than it ever has, and 5G connectivity and the Internet of Things (IOT) are not the only game changers around the corner.

Just to put everything in the right perspective, we should say outright that 5G is just another means of communications, and therefore it is still part of ICT too. IOT on the other hand could be considered as a genuine convergent technology at the outset, because it is both an information technology and a communications technology. To simplify matters however, we can just say that 5G is a faster carrier for both ICT and IOT, if we must insist on separating one from the other. Without any doubt, we could say that 5G is yet another communications technology that the telcos could profit from, and we could only home that their CSR programs could drive them to put this new technology to work for the good of the people. There is however a bright side to this, because IOT is not entirely telco dependent. In other words, there are many other carriers that IOT could use. In a manner of speaking, it could be said that these other carriers are the “natural” means of communications that are genuinely “open source” from the time of God’s creation.

E-mail: iseneres@yahoo.com