HOW CAN WE BENEFIT FROM TECNOLOGY

Written by Nicholas Francis on October 20, 2006 – 5:18 am -

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The overall objective of any technological breakthrough is to make people’s lives easier, more manageable and safer. There is no limit as regards to how to put it into use. People have been constantly using their imagination and skills to mitigate hardships, miseries from their own as well as others’ lives. Well, in this matter, I am not an exception. With some technical background, it has been easy for me to get acquainted with the newer technologies and adopt them as needed.
From the beginning of Human Civilization to this date, man has invented things that have become essential part of our life and we take such things for granted. E.g. paper, wheels, bridges, electricity, phones etc. Currently the impact and scope of Information Technology have been such that even common masses of people are attracted to it. A Personal Computer is rapidly becoming a household item and the number of people subscribing to the internet connections is continuously increasing. A desktop computer has become a centre-spot for entertainment, education, research, archives, communication center and what not? How one can put this mystical machine to use is dependant on how far his imagination can take him?
Gone are the days when people maintained their diaries in leather bounds. If the person were a frequent traveler, he will have to carry volumes of such records with him.
The very idea is abominable. Why not maintain diaries electronically and put a copy of it in on-line storage so that he will have access to it at any part of the world (and even in other planets if Vint Cerf’s IPN starts working) at any time. Benefits are many, one saves
Paper, trees, chemicals etc. Next, it would be extremely easy to make multiple copies and keep back-ups. Moreover the documents would be ‘timeproof’. If the future generations want to use them, it would be readily available.
We experience the age-old photographs fading and losing their crispiness. Enter the digital photography, the snaps will not lose their charms through generations or just in case you would like to digitize your old photographs.
How e-mails , instant-chats have changed the way we communicate. A peasant in Siberia can seek advice from an agronomical engineer in Argentina in matter of seconds without any wastage of time and money.
Few years back, the University level students at various parts of india had to wait for days or months to know their examination results. Thanks to the Web Technology, it is now instantly available to them from anxious and at times, frustrating moments.
Similarly, at colleges and even schools, why not maintain an educational portal where instructors post educational materials. Students can submit their assignments digitally.
At remote villages, it’s possible to set-up an on-line community of local institutions so that they can share information e.g. e-notice boards, e-braries etc. It is especially true in a country like Nepal, where geography plays a major hindrance to development works. Imagine a student in remote tamil nadu sharing ideas and course materials with his compatriot in bangalore.
Definitely, the proposition poses serious challenges in terms of setting up necessary infrastructures, educating users and localizing the available softwares. However, the outcome promises to far outweigh the efforts we put into it.