UFRIEDA HO
IMAGINE a "beep beep" on a cellphone being the SMS alert that saves a life.
What if technology was not just about 140 characters updating the world about what you've eaten for lunch, but could be a warning for Alexandra residents living along the Jukskei River to evacuate before the river floods?
Technology and communications specialist Lee-Roy Chetty sees a cyber future in which the internet intuits our preferences, factors in our quirks and makes our online networking super-intelligent.
At the same time Chetty sees an opportunity for technology to be low-tech but locally appropriate, having the power to intersect with the goals of a developing world that must leapfrog existing developmental challenges to meet the demands of a modern world.
"We already see things like farmers in deep rural India using their cellphones to check on trading prices before they cultivate their fields.
(http://www.theinfostride.com/polopoly_fs/st-jukskei-river-1.1339136!/image/1550830316.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_300/1550830316.jpg) An Alexandra resident goes along her daily buisiness as floos waters continue to rise along the banks of the Jukskei river this morning. Picture: Steve Lawrence 290109
steve lawrence
"That way they get the optimal prices for their harvests. Before that they were stuck getting whatever market price was going.
"In SA we could use SMS alerts to help people stick to their ARV treatment programmes, tell them about changes at their local clinics before they make long, costly trips for their check-ups or create early warning systems for communities at risk from natural disasters.''
Chetty's twin views make him well placed to represent SA at a UN think tank in Geneva this month.
The 70 young global thinkers will look at opportunities and challenges for a planet that's home to seven billion people.
Chetty started out his working life in advertising and changed direction to look at the world of communications and media in digital space.
He went back to studying and became a two-time winner of National Research Foundation scholarships.
Through the programme he got to complete his media studies at the University of Cape Town and the University of Massachusetts.
He is finishing his PhD at UCT and an economics degree with Unisa.
Economics because he sees it as a thread that runs through models of growth and development for a planet that is running out of natural resources and must have carrying capacity for nine billion people by 2050.
At the same time we have technological advancements that can be harnessed to be part of the solution.
Chetty turned his Master's thesis into a book called Imagining Web 3.0, which was the theme of his talk at SciBono's Speak to a Scientist lecture this month.
This next generation of the web, also called the semantic web, will see the rise of computers capable of interpreting data about users.
The artificial intelligence will deliver a more personalised interaction with the Net and is seen as the next big evolution in our hyper-connected world.
The power of Web 3.0, as Chetty sees it, has the potential to bring machines closer to users and producers.
This will result in more dynamic, interactive and efficient creation of content online as well as the management of that content.
"In the next 20 years I believe creativity and young people being tech savvy will be as important as literacy.
"We cannot afford to be behind the curve on this or we are fighting a losing battle," he says.
Chetty also works as a tech adviser to the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation.
He says "e-governance" is necessary to close the digital divide.
"A single cohesive strategy is essential to ensure the diffusion of ICT (information, communication and technology) in all areas of society and the economy.
"Like energy and transport, ICT is an enabler – it can speed up delivery, support analysis, build intelligence and create new ways to share, learn and engage," he says.
But that divide runs deep.
He notes there are those cheering on a "cyber utopia", a world in which they are never far from their tablets, smartphones and laptops to download a new app or to "like" something on a social networking site.
Also there are those surviving without the basics of clean water or shelter and then there are those increasingly alienated by technology – too scared to trade online or to trust the self-service check-in at an airport.
But there's no holding back the global tidal wave of technology. High cellphone penetration is a promising starting point and there are already 13 million internet users in SA.
The number will increase and follow world trends.
There are 100 billion online clicks per day, five trillion links between all internet pages in the world, and over two million e-mails are sent per second across the planet.
Herein lies the potential and the caveat that technology works for us, not enslaves us... you may as well Tweet that!
IOLSA