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Young Malaysians brimming with ICT ideasT e c h C e n t r a l
News Sunday August 26, 2007
Young Malaysians brimming with ICT ideas
NEW YORK: Young Malaysians have talent, judging from the initial response to a contest to search for bright and innovative ideas in information and communications technology (ICT).
Although it may be premature to say that there is a Bill Gates or Chad Hurley, who co-founded YouTube, among them, the Astro Technologenius contest has so far unearthed some fascinating ideas from its participants who are aged between 18 and 25.
Astro Entertainment's regional youth projects commander Johan Farid Khairuddin said that while the quantity of entries may be low, the quality has been high.
Johan was here recently to meet with the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) to explore ways to work together for the development of the global youth community.
GAID has designated Astro as the forum's official media partner/broadcaster for the Asian region.
Pointing to one entry, Johan said one girl wrote in saying that the children in her kampung, mostly IT-illiterate, loved to play with Hello Kitty and Elmo toys.
She asked why these toys could not be linked via wireless technology to the Internet, hooked up with Wikipedia or Google and coupled with Voice Recognition Technology so that they can "speak"?
"A child who has no idea about computer usage can just talk to the doll and have it respond with answers.
"This helps to expose youths to the power of the Internet gradually and bridge the digital divide," Johan said.
Another youth submitted an idea about crafting a watch that had an in-built security or tracking ability connected to the Internet so that parents could know their children's whereabouts.
"His idea is to not have any missing children. This can be extended to mobile phones, key chains and so forth," Johan said.
The contest, which is also being held in India and Indonesia where Astro has "youth-centric" market and business interests, accepts only e-mail entries and will close on Aug 28.
The top five ideas from the Astro Technologenius contest will be presented in video at the Global Forum on Youth and ICT for Development in Geneva from Sept 24-26.
The event is being organised by GAID and the International Telecommunication Union.
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