Locus :"Competition Buidls Quality"Asadh 22-24, 2069.
In
the 21st century, technology has become a byword for change, for
development. It has become essential to embrace technology as a part of
our day to day life. Technology provides sustainability; it provides
means to improve our efficiencies and room for innovation. Taking this
in account, LOCUS attempts to provide a platform for technological
innovation and take it from engineers and students and present it in
palatable form to the general public.
Pulchowk Campus is the first and one of the best engineering campus in the country. LOCUS is a student body of Pulchowk Campus working for promotion of technology and the spirit of competition among students. LOCUS Committee, since 2003, has been organizing the LOCUS Technology fest with the motto ‘Competition Builds Qualitiy’ to promote the technical skills of the students associated to the technological field.
Electronic Hardware, Computer Software Exhibitions and Competition are the highlights of the three days locus festival. LOCUS Committee also conducts seminars, workshops, and competitions on variety of topics suited for both the technical and the non-technical crowd. Science students of the higher secondary school level are also encouraged to take part in the tech fest as a means to stimulate the interest in the field of technology in students from a young age. Software and hardware companies also participate in the tech fest as a means to promote their product and to help people understand the various products available in the market to cater to their needs.
LOCUS 2012 is organizing the “9th NATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL FESTIVAL” with aim of providing a platform to showcase innovative ideas and creativity in the field of technology. Keeping up with the current scenario of Nepal , where there is a large disparity in the access to and the use of technology, our theme “BRIDGING DIGITAL DIVIDE” aims to encourage clever ideas and designs which will help in taking technology from selected institutes and urban sector to every household of the rural sectors of the nation.
i. To provide platform for interaction and healthy competition among the creative minds in technical fields and marketing management.
ii. To develop professionalism, team spirit, integrity and communication skills among students of different technical colleges.
iii. To present interactive programs for students such as seminars, talk-programs and workshops.
iv. To familiarize people of different backgrounds and interests with latest developments and improvisations at the students’ level.
v. To provide a nationwide exposure to the young engineering talent of our nation.
vi. To boost confidence in the engineering students in tackling real life problem
Pulchowk Campus is the first and one of the best engineering campus in the country. LOCUS is a student body of Pulchowk Campus working for promotion of technology and the spirit of competition among students. LOCUS Committee, since 2003, has been organizing the LOCUS Technology fest with the motto ‘Competition Builds Qualitiy’ to promote the technical skills of the students associated to the technological field.
Electronic Hardware, Computer Software Exhibitions and Competition are the highlights of the three days locus festival. LOCUS Committee also conducts seminars, workshops, and competitions on variety of topics suited for both the technical and the non-technical crowd. Science students of the higher secondary school level are also encouraged to take part in the tech fest as a means to stimulate the interest in the field of technology in students from a young age. Software and hardware companies also participate in the tech fest as a means to promote their product and to help people understand the various products available in the market to cater to their needs.
LOCUS 2012 is organizing the “9th NATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL FESTIVAL” with aim of providing a platform to showcase innovative ideas and creativity in the field of technology. Keeping up with the current scenario of Nepal , where there is a large disparity in the access to and the use of technology, our theme “BRIDGING DIGITAL DIVIDE” aims to encourage clever ideas and designs which will help in taking technology from selected institutes and urban sector to every household of the rural sectors of the nation.
Objectives
The basic objectives of the LOCUS are summarized as:i. To provide platform for interaction and healthy competition among the creative minds in technical fields and marketing management.
ii. To develop professionalism, team spirit, integrity and communication skills among students of different technical colleges.
iii. To present interactive programs for students such as seminars, talk-programs and workshops.
iv. To familiarize people of different backgrounds and interests with latest developments and improvisations at the students’ level.
v. To provide a nationwide exposure to the young engineering talent of our nation.
vi. To boost confidence in the engineering students in tackling real life problem
Bridging The Digital Divide
While the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in
general, and the Internet and the world wide web in particular, have
made life easier by facilitating easy communication with virtually
everyone, and easy access to information located virtually anywhere in
the world, they have also widened the gap between the rich and the
poor, the ‘have’ and the ‘have nots’.The "digital divide" is the also a gap between the technology haves and have-nots.There are other inequities — times and places where things are not equal and fair — in Internet and technology access that can also be viewed as part of "the digital divide.
" Rural households are less likely to have Internet access than suburban households. The young are haves; the old and disabled are have-nots.Simply ,The Digital Divide refers to any inequalities between groups, broadly construed, in terms of access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies (ICT)Technology.In other words, new technologies, while improving our life in many ways have created what is called the ‘Digital Divide’. The rift between the ‘have’ and ‘have nots’ is even greater in the developing countries. The Digital Divide has become a popular phrase to describe the perceived disadvantages of those who are either unable, or do not choose, to use the appropriate ICT in their day-to-day activities, decision making, learning and pleasure.
Although the Digital Divide has remained a hot topic along with the advent of advanced microcontroller based systems, the very identity of digital divide and the cause have been modified with time. At early days, when ICT was available to limited group of people, the rich ones only, Digital Divide referred to the differences among the people having access to ICT and the ones deprived from this very technology. Later, the definition was changed as the differences between the people having access to the internet and the one out of the web. This change in the definition was marked by the easy availability of computers to locals. As the world grew older with the internet, the definition modified to the differences between the people who can understand and implement the information presented in the web and the ones who cannot do so.
The very existential definition of Digital Divide has been written different in different scenarios. There are terms such as second level Digital Divide and knowledge divide that clarify the rift in the technological world. Although world is getting more and more into the web with the networks and websites, this has simultaneously increased the population who use only the superficial features that have been presented to them on the name of internet.
Undoubtedly, the Digital Divide has been talked a lot. Few governments are actually working on for it as well. There are some organizational level efforts being done too. But the effort is not enough. There are problems everywhere. There are a couple of groups of people assigned by the government to identify the solution. They find the solution too. What our event primarily focuses is modeling of the solution that the students find after doing their part of the research in the theme. These modeling shall be via hardware implementations, software implementations, paper presentations or talk shows.
We aim to find the right definition for Digital Divide in our present context and lead the youths of today’s society to find a solution for the same. The event shall also make the righteous suggestions to the corresponding authorities while implementing the national level policies in bridging the Digital Divide. The event shall solely present the state of the problem and the challenges to be faced while implementing the relevant solution tactics.
Nepal is a developing country. The rest of the world calls us the third world. There is not argument that can be put up against it. Our pace of development is far beyond what they call ‘slow’. While the developed communities have access to ICT at a statistical record of more than 600/1000, we belong to that 20% of the total population which earns less than $1 per day. The annual expenditure required for the access to sound ICT is calculated to be $120 per year. Our national income is approximately $365 per year. It is a great tragedy that people form society like ours have to pay 30% of their annual income to have an access to ICT while the rest of the world pays less than 2%. The challenges are fierce.
The literacy rate of our country is just 55%.After being sluggish for years, the current statistics for Internet penetration in our county has moved to 13%. The mobile penetration is Nepal has moved to 45% with mobile subscriber numbers having increased fivefold in just 4 years. As for broadband, subscriptions remain low consistent with a lowly penetrated internet market; broadband however represented around 75% of all internet connections by 2011.
The fact that development in the field of ICT can ease the other developmental works is accepted by the world now. Our country too needs to put its hands for this. The progress of development is simply more than just doubled when implemented with ICT. The current status of our country in the sector of ICT is less than the average as the statistics show. The instability of the country’s political scenario is playing a major role in determining the limit to which the ICT is implemented in the country. But we say, we have a very less space to complaint. The major concern is how much can we push ourselves in integrating our life with ICT? The event shall encourage the participants to go ahead and bridge the Digital Divide. This event shall challenge the local people to go for the change, for betterment and for the progress.
" Rural households are less likely to have Internet access than suburban households. The young are haves; the old and disabled are have-nots.Simply ,The Digital Divide refers to any inequalities between groups, broadly construed, in terms of access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies (ICT)Technology.In other words, new technologies, while improving our life in many ways have created what is called the ‘Digital Divide’. The rift between the ‘have’ and ‘have nots’ is even greater in the developing countries. The Digital Divide has become a popular phrase to describe the perceived disadvantages of those who are either unable, or do not choose, to use the appropriate ICT in their day-to-day activities, decision making, learning and pleasure.
Although the Digital Divide has remained a hot topic along with the advent of advanced microcontroller based systems, the very identity of digital divide and the cause have been modified with time. At early days, when ICT was available to limited group of people, the rich ones only, Digital Divide referred to the differences among the people having access to ICT and the ones deprived from this very technology. Later, the definition was changed as the differences between the people having access to the internet and the one out of the web. This change in the definition was marked by the easy availability of computers to locals. As the world grew older with the internet, the definition modified to the differences between the people who can understand and implement the information presented in the web and the ones who cannot do so.
The very existential definition of Digital Divide has been written different in different scenarios. There are terms such as second level Digital Divide and knowledge divide that clarify the rift in the technological world. Although world is getting more and more into the web with the networks and websites, this has simultaneously increased the population who use only the superficial features that have been presented to them on the name of internet.
Undoubtedly, the Digital Divide has been talked a lot. Few governments are actually working on for it as well. There are some organizational level efforts being done too. But the effort is not enough. There are problems everywhere. There are a couple of groups of people assigned by the government to identify the solution. They find the solution too. What our event primarily focuses is modeling of the solution that the students find after doing their part of the research in the theme. These modeling shall be via hardware implementations, software implementations, paper presentations or talk shows.
We aim to find the right definition for Digital Divide in our present context and lead the youths of today’s society to find a solution for the same. The event shall also make the righteous suggestions to the corresponding authorities while implementing the national level policies in bridging the Digital Divide. The event shall solely present the state of the problem and the challenges to be faced while implementing the relevant solution tactics.
Present Scenario
The world has shifted towards ICT revolution. Teaching and learning has been transformed from a teacher to student act to open learning interfaces, diagnosis has been transformed from doctor to patient thing to e-health services and the world is more connected than ever. Despite the fact that, most of the active involvement in the sector of ICT is controlled by small group of people, the ICT whim is at the peak now!Nepal is a developing country. The rest of the world calls us the third world. There is not argument that can be put up against it. Our pace of development is far beyond what they call ‘slow’. While the developed communities have access to ICT at a statistical record of more than 600/1000, we belong to that 20% of the total population which earns less than $1 per day. The annual expenditure required for the access to sound ICT is calculated to be $120 per year. Our national income is approximately $365 per year. It is a great tragedy that people form society like ours have to pay 30% of their annual income to have an access to ICT while the rest of the world pays less than 2%. The challenges are fierce.
The literacy rate of our country is just 55%.After being sluggish for years, the current statistics for Internet penetration in our county has moved to 13%. The mobile penetration is Nepal has moved to 45% with mobile subscriber numbers having increased fivefold in just 4 years. As for broadband, subscriptions remain low consistent with a lowly penetrated internet market; broadband however represented around 75% of all internet connections by 2011.
The fact that development in the field of ICT can ease the other developmental works is accepted by the world now. Our country too needs to put its hands for this. The progress of development is simply more than just doubled when implemented with ICT. The current status of our country in the sector of ICT is less than the average as the statistics show. The instability of the country’s political scenario is playing a major role in determining the limit to which the ICT is implemented in the country. But we say, we have a very less space to complaint. The major concern is how much can we push ourselves in integrating our life with ICT? The event shall encourage the participants to go ahead and bridge the Digital Divide. This event shall challenge the local people to go for the change, for betterment and for the progress.
Digital Divide Issues
We are the third world. We have few urban settlements but the major part is still deprived from development and ICT as a whole. Due to the varied developmental progress state across the country, there are several issues regarding the Digital Divide. We have dug few sectors on which digital divide have created an issue. Some of these are:Language
Language is a means of communication. The ICT sector being a global phenomenon is written in Standard English language. This, as a result causes national and ethnic problem to those who do not have knowledge of any other language than their mother tongue or the native language. The ICT related authorities of our country should look into this matter with grave importance.IT Skills
The IT aware population of our country is significantly low. The small amount of ICT aware people is not using ICT to rip its full services. Majority of these people are rather indulged in social networking and blogging arena. That is to say, the majority of ICT literate people in the context of our country are the passive ICT consumers. We aim to exploit the way by which these groups of people can use their limited knowledge and skills related to ICT to get most out of this field. We aim to take this population to the next level.Education
While the world is now onto distant learning and e-learning practices, our society still values schools as the ultimate source of knowledge and wisdom. Students in our country still have to depend upon their instructors for any sorts of learning process. While the world has accepted the fact that true knowledge does not have a single, dedicated source, the education system of our country is still traditional and technologically passive. We need to incorporate the popular learning trends to make ourselves up to the mark in the international arena.Disability
There is a countable finite group of population who are not fit physically. Their day to day life is even more challenging. They need to face obstacles where-ever they go, at schools, colleges, banks, clubs, corporate houses etc. The currently available resources do not have a special addressing to these communities and thus this social division has even more enlarged the rift in the technological world. The organizations working for such communities should implement ICT plans for these groups as well so as to produce ICT aware population.Methodologies for Bridging the Digital Divide
Our event aims to address the problems in the real life by the use of following solution approachesUsability
The software should be simple and easy to use. They should have an easy interfacing so that everyone can use them easily in the grass root level. Since a large population of our country is not familiar with English language, the software in national language would help educate the people. Today when communication is possible in rural areas as well, making internet available in these areas would be a merit. Accessibility of internet is not going to enough, thus educating the people about computers is vital. Through e-learning in native language people would be benefitting. Also, through telemedicine and e-commerce, sectors other than education would be developed. Thus, ICT is proving to be important in bridging the gap.E-learning and online education
Distant learning approaches open the door to endless opportunities in the field of getting knowledge. The whole teaching and learning process becomes cheap, easy and reliable. To increase the education opportunities in the rural communities by creating tele-education and tele-training program and by making to e-learning materials accessible to students, teachers and villagers through e-libraries created by different organizations. Even when our society is passively lying down under the full moon, the ICT world is alive as ever which put a boundless opportunities to teaching and learning processes.Communication
The present context of our country is such that majority of ICT users are confined to social networking sites only. They can be exploited in the better ways by implementing ICT in the communication sector. Implementation of online promotions and online business can help any entrepreneur succeed in his business and in his life. ICT approaches stand strong against the digital divide. This area is something on which few approaches have been implemented already.E-health
Most of the people in the rural areas are deprived of basic health care due to the complexity in the geography of our country. Many turn disable because they don’t get cured in the right time. E-health can bring revolutionary changes in this sector by eliminating the necessity of a doctor or any other medical personnel while a medical diagnosis is being carried out. This will transform a lot of lives and create a better living.Video Competition:
LOCUS-2012 has set its foot on the journey to this year’s LOCUS event
with the theme and goal of “Bridging the Digital Divide”. The digital
divide has been emerging out as a social problem in today’s date. The
digital divide is the new illiteracy. Since it is a social problem, we
figured out that the first step towards solving this problem is public
awareness. That is why, LOCUS-2012 is proud to present “LOCUS-2012
Video Competition”.
LOCUS-2012 calls all the students, engineers and/or filmmakers all over Nepal to participate in the competition by submitting a video that will help in raising public awareness about the digital divide.
LOCUS-2012 calls all the students, engineers and/or filmmakers all over Nepal to participate in the competition by submitting a video that will help in raising public awareness about the digital divide.
for more details visit: video-competition orhttp://locus.com.np/video-competition
Here are some Nomvideos:Visit watch and vote for best videos:videopoll
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