Developing local e-content talent: Best way to make ICT benefits accrue to people: Secretary Weeratu

The best way to make the benefits of ICT to reach all the people, especially the disadvantaged as envisaged by the President is to develop local e-content talent, said President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga.

The Presidential Secretary said so while participating as the Guest of Honour at the e-Swabhimani Awards 2011 held in Colombo recently.

Speaking further on the occasion in particular about ICT and school education, Weeratunga said that providing computer laboratories even to remote schools would be of no use if there was no appropriate e-content.All efforts, therefore, must be made to develop local e-content covering every sector, Weeratunga urged.

Participating in the event as the Chief Guest, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that e-Swabhimani had played a pivotal role in meeting the challenges the President had placed before us. “I would invite all to join in working towards the national ICT goals, as we endeavour to make Sri Lanka the wonder of Asia,” he added.

ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura placed e-Swabhimani in perspective, pointing out the event’s theme ‘7 Years of e-Sri Lanka and the Growth of the e-Society’ and saying: “As clearly articulated in our Government’s policy, the ‘Mahinda Chinthana – the Vision for the Future,’ it is important to recognise and give prominence to local talent, local skills and local innovations and also to recognise these talents in a very progressive manner.”

Held for the third consecutive year by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), e-Swabhimani Awards, this time produced valuable local e-content, which was an improvement on the previous two years. A large audience comprising enthusiasts and experts in e-content development, including ICTA Chairman Prof. P.W. Epasinghe, graced the occasion.

Out of 149 applications received under nine categories, there were 20 winners, 12 special merit awardees, 20 recipients of certificates of appreciation, two developers bagging jurors’ distinction awards and one recipient of the Youth Encouragement Award, introduced for the first time this year.

e-Science and Technology

Under the e-Science and Technology category, there were two certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards and two winners. The certificates of appreciation were for Microwave Radio Link Planning Tool developed by W.M.D.R. Gunathilaka, H.G.C.P. Dinesh and N.B. Narampanawa and the Affno m-Suite produced by Affno (Pvt) Ltd.

The special merit awards were for Sri Lanka Science Index and the Mihimadala NSF Science Magazine on TV developed by the National Science Foundation. The winners in this category were Sherna Corera for the product FreeWave and UniverSL Software Solutions PLC for the product mobile to site content update platform (mscup).

e-Entertainment and Games

The e-Entertainment and Games category had one special merit award and three winners. The special merit award was secured by InGame Entertainment for the product Gamer.lk.  The three winners were Asia Broadcasting Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. for the product Hiru FM and Sooriyan FM offering entertainment in online radio, Arunoda Susiripala for the product Yalu Chat, a fun application which operates on simple SMS technology and Isuru Kusumal Rajapakse for the product Velenda, an online game in which the player tests his skills in running a small boutique.

e-Business and Commerce

Under the e-Business and Commerce category, there were three awards of certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards and two winners.

The three certificates of appreciation were for www.books.lk produced by Four Corners Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., Chinese Dragon Café Website and Online Ordering System produced by Pyxle Private Limited and Chinese Dragon Café and LexEcon eSME Initiative produced by LexEcon Consulting Group and Secured Signing Ltd.

The two special merit awards were for Online Ordering System for Keells Super by Four Corners Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. and Jay Kay Marketing Services and Ceylon Artist by Ceylon Artist.

Services: The winners in this category were Kapruka.com (Pvt) Ltd. for the product Kapruka.com, the much-acclaimed e-commerce platform, and Ridgecrest Asia (Pvt) Ltd. for the product TicketsLK.

e-Learning and Education

Under the category e-Learning and Education, there were two awards of certificates of appreciation, one special merit award and three winners.

The certificates of appreciation were for the product Creative Networks produced by The Computer Society, Royal College, Colombo 7 and GIT Champion produced by Janaka Maduwantha Dias Senanayake, while the special merit awardee was Square Mobile for the product Word Puzzle, a SMS-based word game that helps build the players’ English language vocabulary. Winners in this category were Medical Joyworks for the product Prognosis: Your Diagnosis, an application freely downloadable from the iPhone App Store or the Android Market, Vicit Innovative (Pvt) Ltd. for the product e- Guruthuma, an interactive web tool for learning the Sinhala language and Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. for the product Bhasha Dictionary, a centralised Sinhala-English e-Dictionary.

e-Culture and Heritage

The awardees under the category e-Culture and Heritage were winners Sri Nimal Padmakumara for the product Hela Pirulu, a unique website which epitomises our cultural heritage through proverbs and Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd., Ministry of National Heritage and The Department of Archaeology and Sri Lanka Tourism for the product Mobitel mGuide, an interactive voice portal which is a guide to tourists and visitors to sites of archaeological interest

e-Government and Institutions

The category e-Government and Institutions yielded three certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards and three winners.

The certificates of appreciation were for product AIB Paddy Insurance System produced by Indunil Jayasuriya and Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board, Mobile Meter Reader for Utility Industry produced by Ajanthan Eliyathamby, C.M. Shafeek and T.B. Adhikari and Network Based Access Control System produced by Automated Barcode Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.

The two special merit awards were ICT Agency of Sri Lanka for the product eDivisional Secretariat Application System and D.K. Kerthetissa (Gramaniladhari Thannekumbura) and D.K.D. Madubashitha for the product GAMPATHI – an informational web portal for Thannekumbura GS Division (in the Kandy District).  The winners were Department of Posts for the product e-Pay Automation System, which automates the postal outlets of the Department of Posts in Sri Lanka, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, National Disaster Relief Services Centre and a joint venture comprising hSenid Business Solutions and Respere Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd for the product Sahana Disaster Management System for National Disaster Relief Services Centre and D.M.A.K. Dissanayake, W.M.D.R. Gunathilake and the Ceylon Electricity Board for the product Semi-Automated Power Line Vegetation Management Tool – a tool which will enhance the quality of service provided to the customer

e-Inclusion and Participation

Category, e-Inclusion and Participation had five awards of certificates of appreciation, two special merit awards and one winner.

The certificates of appreciation were for the product Hanthana Linux produced by Danishka Navin, Key Touch produced by Dasun Sameera Weerasinghe, Hiru News produced by Asia Broadcasting Corporation Private Limited, Nenapiyasa website produced by ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and Helium 1800 and Sinhala 7 produced by Sumagasoft.

The special merit awardees were Madura Anushanga Shelton for the product Real Time Singlish and ICT Agency of Sri Lanka for the product Danuma.lk. Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. with the product Bhasha SETTdeco, a web service that enables easy access to Sinhala and Tamil Unicode web content, was the solitary winner in this category.

m-Content

Category m-Content had two certificates of appreciation, one special merit award and three winners. Awardees of certificates of appreciation under this category were Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd. and Deshabandu Sumanadasa Abeygunawardene for the product My Astro and Myriad Digital (Pvt) Ltd. and MIT Geomatics for the product CityGuide Live Traffic Navigator.

The combined recipients of the sole special merit award under this category were ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and the Department of Railways for the product Train Schedule Android App.

 The winners in this category were FortunaGlobal (Pvt) Ltd. and Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Ltd. and their winning product was Ada Derana Mobile App, a content delivery app designed for users of Apple and Android powered mobile devices and Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., their winning product being Bhasha SETT Browser, a mobile web browser for the Android.

e-Health and Environment

Recognition of local e-content talent in the category e-Health and Environment consisted of three certificates of appreciation, one special merit award and two winner awards.

The products that led to the certificates of appreciation were Geographical Mapping System for Multi Disease Surveillance produced by Anjana Prabhath WIjesekera, Sri Lanka Animal Health Information System produced by Theekshana – The UCSC Company and Suwasariya – Health Net website produced by Health Education Bureau and ICT Agency of Sri Lanka.

The Developer, S’Hela Int’ Creative Solutions and Provincial Health Department, Sabaragamuwa bagged the only special merit award in this category and the relevant product was Sabaragamuwa Health Institutional Information Management System.

Developers: Dr. E.S.S. Rodrigo, PGIM and Health Information Society of Sri Lanka and Provincial Director of Health Services, Sabaragamuwa Province and Office of the Regional Director of Health Services, Kegalle and the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka bagged the two winner awards under this category for their respective products, namely, ePraja Suwa Arunalu, a system that simplifies the cumbersome record required of Public Health Midwives and Hospital Health Information Management System.

Jurors’ Distinction Award

Sanjaya Ratnayake and Ruvindee Rupasinghe jointly received one of the two Jurors’ Distinction Awards at the e-Swabhimani 2011. Their product was iReport, while the product iCommute produced by iCommute (Pvt) Ltd. secured the other Jurors’ Distinction Award of e-Swabhimani 2011.

Youth Encouragement Award

The Youth Encouragement Award introduced this time was bagged by Coyote (Pvt) Ltd. for the product thepapare.com. As the name indicates ‘thePapare’ keeps the spirit of sports alive through its live coverage of sports events and its very vibrant and exciting forum. It has previews, match reports, live streaming, updates and specialist’s columns.