In a recent trip in June 2016 to Pos Lenjang Telecentre, the TPOA Energy Group team was informed that the telecentre was facing power outage due to the MCB tripping. This team was later sent to troubleshoot and rectify the issue at the telecenter. After a few hours of troubleshooting, it was found that two circuits were faulty and that was the cause of the trip. 1. Ceiling fan (current leakage) 2. Toilet light (cable was found exposed) After the two issues were resolved, further inspection on site found that the PV System’s inverter was also producing a light on the test pen (kickback current). The finding was reported to the vendor staff present, and it was resolved immediately.

Com­mu­nity engage­ment has always been a top pri­or­ity for the Insti­tute of Social Infor­mat­ics and Tech­no­log­i­cal Inno­va­tions (ISITI) in order to ensure the suc­cess of the var­i­ous research projects that the insti­tute is involved in, as it is through inter­ac­tion with the var­i­ous com­mu­ni­ties that allows researchers to con­duct stud­ies that will max­i­mize the ben­e­fits for the community.

It was with this spirit for research that a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort between UNI­MAS and Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity, USA, to develop a ser­vice learn­ing pro­gramme for stu­dents from Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity at the dif­fer­ent ISITI research sites in Sarawak was ini­ti­ated. This pro­gramme, which is pri­mar­ily under­taken by ISITI, will inte­grate mean­ing­ful com­mu­nity ser­vice with instruc­tion and reflec­tion to enrich the learn­ing expe­ri­ence of students.

ISITI recently wel­comed the first group of eight stu­dents to Sarawak, who will be embark­ing on a three week ser­vice learn­ing excur­sion to two ISITI research sites in Bario and Long Lamai. Upon arrival, the stu­dents, together with their instruc­tors, Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor Dr Shorna Brous­sard Allred and Amy Kuo Som­chanhmavong, were given a one-​day ori­en­ta­tion to the pro­gramme. They were intro­duced to the research sites by ISITI’s vis­it­ing pro­fes­sor, Dr Roger Har­ris, and had the chance to have a dis­cus­sion with ISITI Direc­tor, Pro­fes­sor Dr Alvin Yeo on the dos and don’ts when inter­act­ing with indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties, whereby they shared their con­cerns and ques­tions about meet­ing with the com­mu­ni­ties for the first time.

Apart from that, the group lis­tened to talks by Pro­fes­sor Dr Narayanan Kulathu­ra­maiyer, from the Fac­ulty of Com­puter Sci­ence and Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­ogy as well as Mr Abang Azlan, from the Fac­ulty of Eco­nom­ics and Busi­ness, UNI­MAS. These talks shared valu­able insights on some of the areas that the stu­dents will be con­cen­trat­ing on dur­ing their visit to Bario and Long Lamai, which include eco-​tourism, cul­tural preser­va­tion, eco­nomic devel­op­ment and envi­ron­men­tal impacts.

Pro­fes­sor Dato’ Dr Mohamad Kadim bin Suaidi, vice chan­cel­lor of UNI­MAS, also shared his thoughts and engaged in a close dis­cus­sion regard­ing the ser­vice learn­ing pro­gramme with the group prior to their depar­ture to Bario.

The stu­dents were then brought on a tour around Kuch­ing, where they vis­ited var­i­ous her­itage sites located in the heart of Kuch­ing and were intro­duced the cul­ture and his­tory of Sarawak.

Success and Happiness by Activating Regional Economy (SHARE) is a project which generally aims at promoting ICT solutions that can bridge the information gap in rural areas in Asian countries and bring better lives to the community in these areas. Contributions from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam as well as collaborative initiatives with Asia Pacific Telecommunity projects have resulted in several projects being carried out in different countries, each addressing sectors of e-agriculture, e- education, e- health and e-environment, using models of latest technologies and standards which are cost effective.

Following the success of the previous SHARE projects implemented in these Asian countries, a project in Tanah Datar was proposed, and it commenced in 2014. This project is a collaborative initiative between the CST and UNIMAS and aimed to introduce the residents of Tanah Datar to ICT. The ICT Training Programme was designed to facilitate the training of fifteen participants at a certificate-level programme to learn about ICT and relevant technology applications which have been developed by SHARE partners. This programme also aimed to enable Tanah Datar as a region to grow and extend their local competencies using technology, in various socio- economic activities, for ensuring lifelong success and wellness, as well as to produce change agents among local communities through use of SHARE applications.

Through this project, participants were trained in three courses of the e-Education component; English for SHARE Purposes, New Media Design for SHARE Purposes and Change Management. The training programme generally focused on enabling participants to create digital documents of the local and indigenous knowledge (IDK) of the people in Tanah Datar. The courses in the e-Education module included trainings on the process involved in researching the IDK and reorganizing it in a form that can be shared not only with the community itself but also with other communities in the region.

The course was designed using a theme-based approach and was delivered via e-Learning. Participants worked in groups of three to complete a series of projects related to selected key goals. At the end of the training programme, it was observed that participants were able to complete all the projects assigned to them using the knowledge gained from the respective modules. Participants also showed an improvement in terms of using English when communicating their projects, comparatively to when the initial meetings with the participants where most were very reluctant to speak using English. Most participants have also warmed up to using e-Learning as the main method of content delivery and are keen on continuing with the rest of the ICT training programme.

This research was supported by the Centre for Rural Informatics, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak through research grant No. UHSB/B-AM2013/13

(Original article from: http://www.share-asia.net/index.php/home/greetings-from-the-chairman?id=141)

A team of UNI­MAS mem­bers went to Tanah Datar, West Sumat­era, Indone­sia from 21 – 23 Decem­ber 2014 to con­duct the final work­shop for the ICT train­ing (e-​Education com­po­nent). The UNI­MAS team mem­bers included Asso­ciate Prof. Dr Fitri Suraya Mohamad, Prof. Dr Alvin Yeo Wee, Syary­fah Fazi­dawaty binti Wan Bus­rah, Adam Fran­cis and Jaya Laxshmi.

The team arrived at Tanah Datar on 21 Decem­ber 2014 at 8 p.m. and had short dis­cus­sion between the team mem­bers to dis­cuss the details of the train­ing work­shop which was to be con­ducted on 22 Decem­ber 2014.

ICT train­ing workshop

On 22 Sep­tem­ber 2014, the UNI­MAS team went to the ICT train­ing cen­ter at 8.30 a.m. to meet with all the par­tic­i­pants. The par­tic­i­pants were asked to com­plete sev­eral ques­tion­naires regard­ing the e-​education train­ing before they started pre­sent­ing their projects to the team.

A total of five teams pre­sented all the projects that they worked on to the team. The first project that they pre­sented was titled “Por­traits of Batu­sangkar”, which incor­po­rated pho­tog­ra­phy, inter­view­ing, research as well as writ­ten and ver­bal pre­sen­ta­tion skills. All the par­tic­i­pants dis­played their pro­fi­ciency in pho­tog­ra­phy. The par­tic­i­pants also pre­sented their sec­ond project titled “Her­itage of Batu­sangkar” which required that they make use of motion graph­ics and basic inter­ac­tive design in their projects as well as research as well as writ­ten and ver­bal pre­sen­ta­tion skills. The final project pre­sented by the par­tic­i­pants was “A Click to Batu­sangkar: An Inter­ac­tive Devel­op­ment Project” which saw the par­tic­i­pants organ­ise their work into a flash for­mat for an inter­ac­tive devel­op­ment project. The par­tic­i­pants made use of Adobe Flash and Adobe Media Encoder for this project, and incor­po­rated project plan­ning, orga­ni­za­tion and writ­ten Eng­lish skills that they were exposed to through­out the dura­tion of their train­ing. The team had a ques­tion and answer ses­sion with the par­tic­i­pants on their projects before eval­u­at­ing their over­all performance.

At the end of the pre­sen­ta­tion ses­sion, the team had a dis­cus­sion with the par­tic­i­pants as to their progress and the expected out­comes of the ICT train­ing ses­sion. The par­tic­i­pants raised a few ques­tions as to the direc­tion that they should be look­ing at after the com­ple­tion of the train­ing ses­sion, and they were informed that they would have to use the knowl­edge and skills that they gained through­out the train­ing for the bet­ter­ment of their com­mu­nity as well as think of ways to make the train­ing sustainable.

The par­tic­i­pants were then briefed on the e-​health com­po­nent of the train­ing pro­gramme. The par­tic­i­pants were intro­duced to the Embed­ded Wire­less sys­tem and were informed that the device will allow them to send health report data to doc­tors around the world who were con­nected to the net­work. It was explained that online pro­files con­tain­ing their per­sonal health check data would be cre­ated and uploaded, and that once an active con­nec­tion was estab­lished between the device and the server, all the data will be auto-​synced. This will also ease the switch­ing between user pro­files as every­thing is con­nected to the network.

A short clos­ing cer­e­mony was also held at the ICT train­ing cen­ter, mark­ing the com­ple­tion of the e-​education com­po­nent of the train­ing pro­gramme. The ses­sion ended at 5.30 p.m.

A meet­ing was arranged between rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Min­istry of Infor­ma­tion and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Rela­tions and the Badan Kepe­gawa­ian Daerah dan Pen­didikan Pelati­han and a team from Uni­ver­siti Malaysia Sarawak (UNI­MAS) to dis­cuss the upcom­ing SHARE ICT Train­ing project and TNA for the par­tic­i­pants at Tanah Datar at the Badan Kepe­gawa­ian Daerah dan Pen­didikan Pelati­han, which is the train­ing cen­ter at Tanah Datar.

A dis­cus­sion between rep­re­sen­ta­tives from Tanah Datar and UNI­MAS was held regard­ing sev­eral issues namely:

• The need to final­ize the cur­ricu­lum struc­ture of the train­ing pro­gramme for the participants.
• The devel­op­ment of the ICT train­ing cen­ter which is cur­rently underway.
• The con­tent of the TNA forms which were to be dis­trib­uted to the par­tic­i­pants later.
• Meet­ing with the appointed coor­di­na­tor which will be sent to UNIMAS.
• The com­plete final­ized list of equip­ment that needs to be placed at the ICT center.
• Expla­na­tion of the vision, mis­sion and objec­tive of the train­ing pro­gramme, SHARE appli­ca­tions as well as pro­posed mod­ules that will run through­out the train­ing programme.
• A guide­book should be made for the ICT Train­ing participants.
• The MOA between UNI­MAS, TTC, Tanah Datar and the coor­di­na­tor should include the job descrip­tion of the coordinator.
• The pro­posed sched­ule of the train­ing pro­gramme which is to begin in Sep­tem­ber 2014 to Decem­ber 2014 and com­mence again in March 2015 onwards. It was sug­gested that all train­ing ses­sions would run for a period of three months per level.
• Detailed timeta­bles for the ses­sions as well as the mate­ri­als to be made avail­able soon.

The team from UNI­MAS informed them that they will bring back these sug­ges­tions and points for fur­ther dis­cus­sion and will update the team from Tanah Datar later.

The TNA ses­sion with the par­tic­i­pants was con­ducted in the after­noon. There was also a Q&A ses­sion with the par­tic­i­pants to clar­ify some ques­tions that they had regard­ing the train­ing programme.

Devel­op­ment of ICT (Infor­ma­tion Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Tech­nol­ogy) in Tanah Datar regency will be fur­ther enhanced by the coop­er­a­tion with TTC (The Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion Tech­nol­ogy Com­mit­tee) of Japan. It is char­ac­ter­ized by a dis­cus­sion between Tanah Datar Regent M.Shadiq Pasadi­goe and Dr. Hideyuki Iwata (Direc­tor Pro­mo­tion TTC), on Thurs­day, June 14, 2012.

On this occa­sion, Dr. Iwata dis­cussed the form of future coop­er­a­tion with the Tanah Datar. TTC hopes to estab­lish an ICT Train­ing Cen­tre in Tanah Datar that can accom­mo­date the needs of the dis­trict gov­ern­ment and the pub­lic in the use of ICT.

Tanah Datar Regent greatly wel­comed the plan and quoted, “I will facil­i­tate the devel­op­ment of ICT in Tanah Datar, please review the TTC more in the finer points of what is needed in Tanah Datar, as far as it is for the good of the com­mu­nity will sup­port me”. Regent added that, the coop­er­a­tion with the TTC which started in 2009 has been ben­e­fi­cial espe­cially in the pres­ence of an opti­cal fiber that has been uti­lized for the internet.

TTC arrival this time brought along Dr. Fitri Suraya Mohamed, pro­fes­sor of Unver­siti Malaysia Sarawak (UNI­MAS) who also col­lab­o­rated with TTC in the devel­op­ment of e-​education in Kuch­ing, Malaysia. Dr. Fitri and Dr. Iwata had the oppor­tu­nity to demon­strate the TTC project in front of Tanah Datar Regent, Chief SKPD (Regional Work­ing Unit), ICT teach­ers and rep­re­sen­ta­tive stu­dents from ele­men­tary, mid­dle and high school in the Hall of Tanah Datar Regent’s Office.

Kadishubkom­info Ir. Daryanto Sabir, M.Sc., who accom­pany the Regent Tanah Datar said that as SKPD in charge of ICT devel­op­ment will con­tinue to fol­low up on this collaboration.

(extracted from: http://​www​.tanah​datar​.go​.id)

Writ­ten by Era, Rui Dishubkom­info Trans­lated by Ng Koh Ping

APT J3 Project Malaysia 2010 is a col­lab­o­ra­tion between a num­ber of organ­i­sa­tions, namely the Insti­tute of Social Infor­mat­ics and Tech­no­log­i­cal Inno­va­tion (ISITI-​CoERI), Uni­ver­siti Malaysia Sarawak (UNI­MAS), The Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion Tech­nol­ogy Com­mit­tee (TTC) Japan, Japan Advanced Insti­tute Sci­ence and Tech­nol­ogy (JAIST) Japan and Mit­subishi Elec­tric, Japan.

The project is titled “Tech­nol­ogy Enhanced Solu­tions for Remote Rural Com­mu­ni­ties in Malaysia to Facil­i­tate Devel­op­ment of Learn­ing and Preser­va­tion of Local Knowl­edge and to Cre­ate Health Aware­ness and Prac­tices for Health Liv­ing”. As the title sug­gests, there are three key out­comes from the project:an e-​Education solu­tion for the pri­mary and sec­ondary schools in Bario; an instal­la­tion of a health check sys­tem, and an instal­la­tion of a fibre-​optic net­work between the Bario tele­cen­tre to the two schools in the area.

As a part of the project require­ment, TTC orga­nized a Case Study visit to Japan from 11th – 18th Jan­u­ary 2012 for the J3 Research Group from ISITI-​CoERI, UNI­MAS and selected rep­re­sen­ta­tives from Bario who have been involved directly from begin­ning of the project. Among the invited peo­ple from the ISITI-​CoERI, UNI­MAS team were the Vice Chan­cel­lor of UNI­MAS, Pro­fes­sor Datuk Dr Khairud­dinAb Hamid, the Direc­tor of ISITI-​CoERI, Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor Dr Alvin Yeo Wee, and the J3 project leader, Dr Fitri Suraya Mohamad. The Bario team con­sists of SK Bario head­mistress, Madam DaraTi­gan, SMK Bario prin­ci­pal, Mr Yeo Kok Wing and the Bario tele­cen­tre man­ager, Mr John Trawe. The key objec­tives of visit are closely related to the e-​education and e-​health solu­tions which are designed and devel­oped for the project. The sched­ule (below) presents a list of the R&D cen­tres and organ­i­sa­tions that the UNI­MAS and Bario team vis­ited dur­ing the seven-​day visit.

Through­out the trip to Japan, the team was intro­duced to many accom­plished aca­d­e­mi­cians and researchers, which shared their knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence in e-​health, e-​education and net­work sys­tem. The acquain­tance with Japan­ese researchers and aca­d­e­mics pro­vided new ideas about tech­nolo­gies that are plau­si­ble for use in Malaysia. Besides that, the team also had the chance to meet up with a num­ber of ICT experts who pro­vided valu­able insight into web-​based tech­nol­ogy for learn­ing. The knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence in Japan gave a con­struc­tive per­spec­tive about how the team could advance cur­rent research on devel­op­ing effec­tive tech­nol­ogy solu­tions for remote rural com­mu­ni­ties in Malaysia.