information and communication technology agency of...

e-Swabhimani 2010

Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri LankaAll rights reserved.

Strategic Communications and Media Unit - ICTA160/24, Kirimandala Mawatha, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka.

TP: +94 11 2369099Fax: +94 11 2369091e-mail: info@ icta.lk

web: www.icta.lkwww.eswabhimani.lk

Concept & DesignSYNERGY design studio

73-A, Sunethradevi Road, Kohuwala.

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In the ‘Mahinda Chintana’ policy statement of my Government, which enjoys the endorsement of the people, we took cognisance of the importance of rapidly creating a knowledge society in Sri Lanka. To make the idea of the global village more meaningful to our people, we emphasised the importance of linking the villages and townships in all the provinces and districts of our country with the outside world of knowledge.

The best tool for creating this link has proved to be Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as evidenced by the countries in the world which have achieved great success by more fully availing themselves of the benefits of ICT.

We need to make use of ICT much more and we should adopt all the new methods for the wellbeing of the people. On the other hand people too have to understand the value of Information Technology, specially the digital contents, which can lift up their standard of life.

ICT applications and more local e-contents will, in the long run, have a tremendous positive bearing on generations.

In this context, the ‘e-Swabhimani’ awards afford great opportunities for all the people including local software developers and content creators whether they be representing public or private sector institutions or form part of the general public including children,

youth and veterans. My Government is very keen on rural sector development and various initiatives have been taken in this regard through the Ministries and Departments with the help of the private sector and in particular, donors and community based organisations.

I am pleased that the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) as the apex body responsible for implementing the e-Sri Lanka Development Initiative has put its thrust into several rural sector development projects in fulfilling its mandate. The e-Swabhimani Award which is an initiative of the e-Society Programme of ICTA will go a long way in giving local, regional and international recognition to Sri Lanka’s home grown ICT products and applications originating from anywhere and particular from the rural sector.

Mahinda RajapaksaPresident of Sri Lanka

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I consider this an opportune moment to add a few thoughts when ‘e-Swabhimani’ 2010, the second National Best e-Content Award ceremony is being held. I believe that the amount of “e-contents” a country can produce is an indicator of its global competitiveness. In that context, entries for this year too would undoubtedly help Sri Lanka to elevate itself among the regional and global competitors and be recognized prominently at many well known ceremonies, such as the Manthan Award and the World Summit Award.

‘e-Swabhimani’ programme could feel proud of its many achievements. It must be recorded that huge ICT structures without innovative contents are similar to skeletons with no flesh and blood. Our citizens of all walks should be able to derive benefits of ICT to improve their quality of life. That will make the ever increasing ICT literacy more meaningful. In an era where e-content development is almost a hobby of young people, the government must assist and recognize them in different ways. Investing on databases with relevant and useful e-contents is therefore imperative to maximize resources. Under the auspices of His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa, consistent and continuous investments made by the government have contributed towards establishing a solid foundation for a growing e-Society, in which many hidden talents of Sri Lankans are being well recognized. It is His Excellency’s vision to see citizens of Sri Lanka benefitting out of modern ICT development, but fine tuned to indigenous requirements.

I congratulate all the winners and contributors, who will see this achievement as a beginning and not an end of a long journey. I am sure that the ICTA’s ‘e-Swabhimani’ will serve as a beacon for a range of innovators, from amateurs to large enterprises and government organizations, enabling them to march towards greater heights.

Mr. Lalith WeeratungaSecretary to HE the PresidentPresidential Secretariat

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Technology can be an amazing tool in social and economic development of a country like Sri Lanka. The growing connectivity among smart devices – computer, mobile phones and even televisions has opened up wide ranging opportunities. At the same time the Internet continues to mature as a gateway to a whole spectrum of applications and services. While these developments will shape our future it is our responsibility to ensure that our society as a whole benefit from this new experience. We must minimize the digital divides caused by differences in access, education, income, age and gender.

The e-Swabhimani Award has proved itself as a platform to showcase the tremendous talent of our people. These innovative software applications and exciting digital content have the potential to bring about economic growth, more jobs, more independence and an improved quality of life.

I applaud the organizers of e-Swabhimani Award 2010 and all who contributed to its success for taking it through to a second year and wish them all success.

Prof. P.W. Epasinghe The Chairman Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka

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It is indeed great to be conducting the e-Swhabimani Award for the 2nd year in succes-sion. This award can be termed as the pinnacle of national recognition for the creativity and skills of developers of digital content in Sri Lanka.

The main objective of this initiative is to promote quality content as a prime element in the development of an information society. This will significantly help in taking the ben-efits of ICT to all our citizens, especially the rural masses.

The response received for the e-Swhabimani award this year has been even greater than last year, which is most encouraging and demonstrates that the vast potential of the digital revolution is slowly but surely proliferating across our society. e-Swhabimani will show-case the finest examples of e-content in the country and provide an insight to innovative and pioneering projects, which have the potential to create a meaningful impact and leave a lasting impression on our people.

I congratulate not only the winners of this award but all those who have come forward with innovative e-content products and applications, and in general all those who are in-volved in the noble exercise of creating digital applications for the benefit of ordinary citizens of this country.

Reshan DewapuraChief Executive Officer Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka

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The Knowledge Partner

Empowering People @ the edge of information

For millions of people across villages in India and South Asia, who are living at the edge of information and economic prosperity, Digital empowerment Foundation offers linkages, networks and solution platforms that bring forth local knowledge and wisdom to the mar-ket and economic prosperity to the villages, through innovative interventions of ICT tools and Digital Media.

Its main objectives were: 1. To offer and facilitate seamless ICT and digital solutions linkages to the needs

and demands from the diverse groups of rural areas. 2. To sensitize and provide knowledge inroads to government and corporate to offer

inclusive ICT solutions for the masses. 3. To create Digital Media Platforms for masses

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13 Districts11 Categories

e-Business and Commerce 25

e-Culture and Entertainment 20

e-Learning and Education 40

e-Enterprise and Livelihood 06

e-Science and Environment 08

e-Government 15

e-Health 16

e-Inclusion 09

e-Localization 07

e-News 07

m-Content 10

Total 163

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Category:

e-Business and Commerce

“Businesses, and society as a whole, rely heavily on information and communication technology, mainly as a means to communicate data and valuable information, which is collected and translated to feed into organizational processes, and for crucial decision making.”

Sampath Vishwa Corporate – Trade Services

MTicketing – Train Ticket Reservation System

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Producer’s Description

Sampath Vishwa Corporate – Trade Service (SVCTS) is the latest innovation of the Sampath Bank to further facilitate trade finance services to its customers while aligning itself with the green movement of Sri Lanka. SVCTS allows customers to completely manage their Documentary Credits online in real time, view online information on all import/export related transactions. This facility will enable the importer to carry out his transactions without sighting the bank, whilst enjoying the convenience and comforts of his own office or home. Not only will it save valuable time enabling him to devote it to more productive work it would make his life that much easier. The system has been developed using Java, Oracle and AIX.

Juror’ Evaluation

Although the Corporate Trade Finance Service over the Internet was invented in the 20th century certain sectors of the society felt the real implementation only at the beginning of 21st century. Being a local bank, the Sampath Bank has developed the services offered through Sampath Vishwa Corporate – Trade Service through an in house team and is to be commended for its efforts. Moreover this solution can be customized depending on the signature policies, trade finance and other procedure of the individual bank. It is therefore an application that be useful to other local banks.

ProducerSampath Bank PLC

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish

Media FormatWeb

Producer’s URL www.sampathvishwa.com

[email protected]

Sampath Vishwa Corporate – Trade Services

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The MTicketing system has potential to convert the whole Sri Lanka Railways ticket reservation system to an online, mobile enabled platform. The key objective of the project is to facilitate train passengers to purchase tickets over the mobile phone and to optimize issuance of train tickets.

A mobitel subscriber can dial a Short code 365 to access the MTicketing System and connect with a contact center executive to make the reservation. The ticket fare will be charged to the subscriber. User will receive an SMS upon successful reservation with a reference number. All the reservations performed on the system will be updated online real time. Customers can produce this reference number at the railway station or at any Mobitel Branch island wide and collect their ticket.

Juror’ Evaluation

Sri Lanka Railways has identified predicaments faced by train passengers in visiting stations several times to make an advance reservation. They waste both time and money travelling to the station, and are often unable to secure tickets due to the high demand for seats on popular rail routes. This simple MTicketing system addresses felt need in a simple and secure way.

The service was initially launched for the Colombo Kandy Intercity express train on 19th December 2009. Parallel to the system development, Mobitel has refurbished Fort, Gampaha, Peradeniya and Kandy railway stations and equipped the stations with necessary IT infrastructure to access the system. SLR staff has been given necessary IT training on operation of the system by Mobitel. This system will facilitate smooth functioning of the railway ticketing system and provide convenience to rail travelers.

ProducerMobitel (Pvt) Ltd.

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish

Media FormatMobile

Producer’s URLwww.mobitel.lk

[email protected]

MTicketing – Train Ticket Reservation System

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Category:

e-Culture andEntertainment

“Digitization affects the entire spectrum of culture production, distribution and presentation. Moreover, it brings with it the promise of cultural renewal.”

A Day in a Life of the Jetavana Monastery

ABA - the Game

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As the Sri Lankan kings after the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa periods of Sri Lankan history moved their capitals south to hold off Indian invaders, they abandoned the great architectural works of that time to looters and forests. Rediscovered in the 19th century, partially restored in the 20th, all that is left of these testaments to the accomplishments of our ancestors are foundations, making it difficult to imagine what this civilisation would have looked like at its prime.

In order to help bring our history alive, ADV Consultants has created a 3D visualisation of the Jethavanarama Monastery complex – over 100 buildings strong - at the apex of its influence. This visualisation is not a surface recreation but a recreation of the building techniques, technologies and materials that were used at the time.

Juror’ Evaluation

The materials used and building techniques followed were based on research carried out and published by Dr. De Vos over the last 30 years, following which a site survey and a photographic survey has also been done. The end product is a 3D animation which re- creates the glory of the 3rd century. It is highly commendable since it is not merely a digital recreation but one that is based on historical, archeological and cultural facts.

In order to further bring the cultural aspects of the time to life, Dr. Ashley De Vos, the leader of the project, has created a script which describes the architecture and the life of a priest at that time in history. The 3D animation therefore would take the viewer through the day of a priest in the Jethavanaramaya Monastery while the voiceover narrates the details.

The combination of the 3D recreation and the 3D animation will ensure that both the interested layperson and the seeker of more

technical details are both satisfied. The attention to detail displayed in this comprehensive reanimation of an archeological site is why it was selected as an outstanding example of digital content in Sri Lanka. Moreover it can be an ‘eye opener’ for the authorities on what ICT can do to bring to life the great work of our ancestors. This can add value to tourism while being an excellent tool for education.

Producer ADV Consultants

DistrictColombo

LanguageSinhala and English

Media FormatCD/ DVD

Contact [email protected]

A Day in a Life of the Jetavana Monastery

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ABA is a game based on the story of Prince Pandukabhaya who lived in Sri Lanka 2400 years ago. It centres around a series of events that took place at the time in the Panduvasadeva Palace in the City of Upatissa and in the surrounding jungle. Information and data for this story come from archeological sources, folklore and legends, in the main from the writings of the Mahawanshaya.

Juror’ Evaluation

This 3D game is based on a well-known story from Sri Lankan history. It uses building structures, armaments and actions drawn from that era in the Sri Lankan history. The background graphics and the life like human figures give a pleasant feeling to the gamer. Although the features are not unique and are used widely in games of this nature it has an appeal because of the story it rides on and the background that it uses. It is easy to play and will keep the gamer enthralled.

This game could be used as a start for a wide number of games that could based on history of the country and could be used to teach or create interest among the younger generation to learn Sri Lanka’s history and culture.

ProducerGame Core

DistrictColombo

Original Titlewnd

LanguageSinhala

Media FormatCD-ROM

[email protected]

ABA - the Game

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Category:

e – Learning and Education

“Young people are changing fast. So is the way they learn. So is the way they are taught”

Navagoviya

Letters Island

Curriculum Master - Mastering the Grade 6

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“Navagoviya” which means “Modern Farmer”, is an initiative which provides a web based learning platform on sustainable modern agricultural techniques and practices delivered in Sinhala & Tamil Languages aimed at developing rural farming communities and adding value to the Nenasalas (Rural telecentres) as focal points for Modern Agricultural Digital Knowledge.

The content of “Navagoviya” which was developed by professionals in the Agricultural Sector to re-train farmers on sustainable and modern agriculture is aimed at improving productivity in rural agriculture. It is globally applicable as it addresses agricultural impact, environmental issues, rural economics and grassroot empowerment. The curriculum which is quite extensive covering areas such as crop planning, land preparation, soil management, pest control, harvesting, and packaging as well as business and marketing is presented in simple language, both in text and voice.

Juror’ Evaluation

“Navagoviya” with its interactive and simple design ensures easy navigation throughout the system and makes it useable by the ‘not so ICT savvy’ rural farmers. Most importantly information on modern agricultural techniques is made accessible to the farmer in his own mother tongue. Multimedia components such as video, audio, animation and illustrated text makes it attractive to the user.

CIC Agri Business which is an important player in Agriculture in Sri Lanka should be congratulated on taking on the responsibility of providing a mechanism for the transfer of knowledge on modern agricultural practices to the many thousands of farmers. Its value lies not only for the farmer but also for the student of Agriculture. In fact Agriculture is a subject on offer right from 9th Grade in schools.

ProducerCIC Agri Businesses

(Pvt) Ltd.

DistrictColombo

Original Titlekj f.dúhd

LanguageSinhala/English/Tamil

Media FormatWeb, Internet

Product URLwww.navagoviya.org


Navagoviya

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e- Education targeting preschool-ers or those just beginning a formal education will be successful only if it is designed such that it keeps the attention of the child amongst all the other distractions that abound today.

Letters Island is an interactive e-Education System which prompts the student to search hidden letters in an Island. The student navigates through virtual reality rooms, behind plants and rocks in search for the letters. When a letter is found, success is recognized by the appearance of a picture of a well known object beginning with the particular letter. The product is available in Sinhala language.

Juror’ Evaluation

Letters Island is well constructed with enthralling graphics in vivid colours which is bound to keep young children fascinated and contribute to their basic learning. Letters Island is a great contribution not only as a means of providing a platform for e-education at pre-school level but also as a means of getting young children interested in ICT at an early age.

ProducerSanhinda Educational

Software

DistrictAnuradhapura

Original Titlewl=re ¥m;

LanguageSinhala

Media FormatCD/DVD


Letters Island

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This Computer Based Training (CBT) series of CDs for Grade 6 is a single user version system. The software has been created essentially to facilitate self study. The content addresses the Grade 6 syllabus in Mathematics, Sinhala, History, Tamil and Science in a way that makes learning fun. The content is supplemented with activities and self testing.

Juror’ Evaluation

The design and the simple navigation structure makes this computer based self study system attractive for school children. It provides multimedia rich content and sufficient activities to keep the attention of the young mind. More importantly this product is available in Tamil Language thus filling a void in digital content for school children studying in the Tamil Medium.

Curriculum Master - Mastering the Grade 6 is designed to support the paradigm shift from teaching to learning by facilitating knowledge gathering by students in a suitable environment.

ProducerVICIT Innovative (Pvt) Ltd

DistrictKaluthara

LanguageSinhala/Tamil/English

Media FormatCD/DVD

Producers’ URLwww.vsoft.lk

[email protected]

Curriculum Master-Mastering the Grade 6

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Category:

e-Enterprise and Livelihood

“Times have certainly changed ……… Today using a readily available computer and software, almost anyone with an idea, a little bit of money and not a small amount of drive has a world full of tools and experience at his finger tips”

Janathakshan – Practical Answers

e - Farms

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www.janathakshan.com is a unique web portal designed in all 3 languages; many people have contributed their valuable time on updating practical questions and answers, a one of a kind website for Sri Lankans. The content is rich in areas of livelihood, fisheries, farming and urban development Viewers can sign up for the news letter sans a registration fee, become a member of the various e- groups and get involved in the discussion forum. The motivation for this project is service and social responsibilitiy.

Juror’ Evaluation

ICT has an important role to play in the lives of poor people through enhancing their access to a wide range of information - helping to improve the organizational effectiveness; providing access to knowledge, through agricultural extension or health information services, or distance learning and more. ICT can also help them access real time information on impending disasters and thereby reduce risk and vulnerability to natural disasters and food shortages. It further supports strengthening of connectivity and contact for geographically disparate households and social networks.

Janathakshana-Practical Answers has directly targeted these vulnerable groups in our society. It provides them a platform through which they can interact, post their queries and get practical answers in whichever language they are most comfortable in. The result adds value to the livelihood of people. It is a simple, but effective technology which can have significant impact.

ProducerJanathakshan.com Practical Action

DistrictColombo

LanguageSinhala, Tamil, English

Media FormatWeb,Internet

Product URLwww.janathakshan.com

Contactkushantha.Gunawardana@

practicalaction.org.lk

Janathakshan – Practical Answers

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The bulk of the produce of small holder farmers is sold in its primary form to middle men, invariably at lower than the market price. At times of a glut in market the prices come down drastically due to lack of planning, storage facilities and post harvest treatment. In order to overcome these issues a large numbers of youth are being trained through programmes conducted at the village level Vidatha Resource Centres (VRC) of the Ministry of Science and Technology with input from the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI). The reach and input of the ITI is often constrained by limitations in time, personnel, and logistics of travel to the field.

e-Farms provides web-based e-learning content in Sinhala and Tamil on adding value to primary produce, post-harvest treatment, industry standards, good manufacturing practices and statutory requirements. The content is available as text based technical notes, illustrations, multimedia and video clips which explain the process very succinctly. A web based database

of farmers and purchasing companies helps bring these two groups into contact. The database is linked to an SMS gateway enabling direct updates of buyer requirements and produce available with the farmer. Technical support to the grassroots is facilitated through video conferencing with the ITI. The project addresses traditional village based agriculture products - Kitul, Rice, Jak, Fruits & Vegetables, but can be extended to cover other village level produce.

Juror’ Evaluation

The e-Farms empowers rural agriculture communities to improve their technical capabilities, enable informed decision making/planning and improve income levels. It links three main players – the grower, the technical/ extension service provider and the buyer. The extensive mobile penetration in the Country makes the mobile application for updating the database very useful. The ITI is able to conduct training programmes effectively through the video conferencing facility which enables direct interaction with producers. The direct market access provided to the

producer is another positive feature of this project. This project uses existing infrastructure of the VRCs to facilitate community access to technology transfer agencies like the ITI and private sector companies for market access. The e-Farms initiative is commended for utilizing ICT to empower village level producers/ entrepreneurs and consequently contributing to an improving their livelihood.Producer

Producer TEAMS, ITI,

Ministry of Technology and Research

DistrictColombo Language

English, Sinhala, TamilMedia FormatWeb , InternetProduct URLwww.efarms.lk


e - Farms

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Category:

e-Science and Environment

“ICT can make science more interesting, authentic and relevant while increasing opportunities for communication and collaboration”

Ninithi

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Nanotechnology deals with objects at nanometer scale which are not visible to the naked eye or even to powerful optical microscopes. Carbon allotropes including carbon nanoribbons, carbon nanotube and fullerene used in nanotechnology exhibit large variations in their molecular geometries which in turn lead to variations in electrical and mechanical properties. An infinite number of such geometries do exist and it is not feasible to prepare samples of all of them. A 3-dimensional visualization of the atomic structure of the relevant geometries in a virtual environment and capability to plot graphs illustrating their band structure greatly enhance the ability to understand correlations between material properties and geometry.

Ninithi is a modeling software using Java and Java3D as the main technologies for this purpose on a FOSS platform employing generalized equations and algorithms for carbon allotropes. Band structure calculations are made using quantum mechanics and shown to be correct.

Ninithi possesses a graphical user interface which provides good interactivity for users. The 3-D environment on the interface provides the functionalities to drag, rotate and zoom nanostructures. Interactive tools which permit the change of colours and sizes of atoms and bonds allow users to customize visualizations and backgrounds. Visual tools are also provided with the graph plots.

Juror’ Evaluation

With the current emphasis on new technologies, Ninithi is a useful tool for scientists. Ninithi is reported to offer better graphic quality and improved customization features as against the only two available software products providing similar features. It has been accepted for publication on nanoHUB, a well known US suite of nanotechnology related resources for scientists. The developers are commended for this effort which will contribute to putting Sri Lanka on the map as a source for software in the newer technologies.

ProducerLanka Software Foundation

and SLINTEC

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish

Media FormatOffline

Producer’s URLwww.ninithi.lk

[email protected]

Ninithi

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Category:

e-Government

“e-Government would enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information across the country and across government crossing the inter-departmental barriers.”

e-Revenue License Project

Birth, Marrage, Death Certificates Digitization Project

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The annual renewal of the vehicle revenue license is a requirement for every vehicle owner. This has to be done at the Divisional Secretariat (DS) at which the vehicle was originally registered. The process can take half a day to a day, depending on the traffic, distance involved and availability of parking. The e-Revenue License (eRL) project which automates this task was the first transactional e-service to be available as a portlet on the LankaGate country portal (www.srilanka.lk).

The eRL service is built on the Lanka Gate, which is a Service-Oriented Architecture based messaging infrastructure deployed within LGN (Lanka Government Network), enabling electronic communications between various software systems deployed within government organizations. Currently, this e-service covers the whole Western Province, where 55% of all the vehicles in the country are registered. This will be further extended to other provinces as well in the future.

Juror’ Evaluation

The renewal of a revenue license requires proof of valid vehicle insurance, a vehicle emission certificate from an authorized organization and involves the payment of a fee. From a technical standpoint, this will require interoperation between the systems of the Divisional Secretariats, the insurance companies, the emission testing organizations and the banks. ICTA has worked with the insurance companies and emission testing companies to create a secured web services which allow for querying of the required data. This was a significant achievement as web services are in their infancy around the world: For Sri Lankan companies to use such technology puts them at the forefront of the next generation of the Internet.

The e-Revenue license is the first ever government transactional e-Service to be launched in Sri Lanka. The ICTA has played a major role in bringing about a shift in policy for making the necessary amendments to the Government Financial Regulations(FR) thereby creating the necessary enabling environment for a government department to accept

electronic payment cards (Credit / Debit).

A revenue license renewal requires significant online interaction between government and private sector organizations requiring change management on a scale that is very rarely seen. This project was selected because of the strength of the underlying technology framework and the level of interorganizational cooperation achieved. It can be a prime example of a ‘connected government’.

Producer ICT Agency of Sri Lanka in collaboration with Provin-

cial Commissioner of Motor Traffic(WP)

DistrictColomboLanguage

English, Sinhala, TamilMedia Formatweb, InternetProduct URL

www.srilanka.lkContact

[email protected]@yahoo.com

e -Revenue License Project

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The process for the issuance of essential certificate for citizens such as birth, marriage and death certificates, has been fraught with delays due to the difficulties associated with physically handing and maintaining large file repositories. The staff had to manually go through millions of copies – a manual work flow process which included a manual approval. Moreover, the citizen had to visit a specific Divisional Secretariat, the grassroots level public institute, whose responsibility it is amongst other things to store and manage registration of birth, marriage or death. Therefore, the general public faced numerous difficulties and delays in obtaining copies of those certificates with a minimum of 5-10 working days for certificate issuance. Moreover various types of malpractices and corruption by the office staff have also been reported

Juror’ Evaluation

The BMD project of the Registrar General’s Department is an eye-opener for public servants who think gigantic projects such as digitization of millions of documents is an impossible task. After the 2004 tsunami, the Government had to expend a lot of effort in re-registering civilians and reissuing certificates. Considerable resources had to be allocated to this process since there was no proper disaster management & recovery procedures. Through this project, the Government could ensure that citizens are served as per the Citizens’ Charter – i.e. a pledge by the institution for a quality service within a certain predefined duration. Citizens too realize the huge potential of ICT as a tool which can support Government in delivering their daily requirements and would turn to using e-Government services more frequently.

Moreover, the project, which covers 13 of the 24 districts, illustrate to both citizens and other government departments the usefulness of the

Lanka Government Network (LGN), which interconnects 375 public institutions at the central, provincial and regional level, through this project. The BMD project is an example for seamless governance through ICT. Citizens would tend to demand other government services also in a similar format thus enriching the concepts of participatory governance.

ProducerICT Agency of Sri Lanka

in collaboration withTheekshana and

Sanje Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. District

Island wideLanguage

EnglishMedia Format

OfflineContact

[email protected]@ucsc.cmb.ac.lk

[email protected]

Birth, Marrage, Death Certificates Digitization Project

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Category:

e-Health

“Imagine a health care ecosystem that places the patient at the centre of a totally connected network”

SL National Thalassaemia e-Registry

Wedanenasala

Nivārana

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A Thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder, resulting in chronic anaemia. There is no cure for the disease and patients have to be managed with repeated blood transfusions throughout their life. Monthly blood transfusions are being done by government hospitals from the age of first onset of anaemia. Frequent transfusions lead to accumulation of excessive Iron in the heart, liver and other vital organs, unless monitored very carefully with serial investigations.

Management of Thalassaemia involves maintaining a large number records on patient’s demographic and socio-economic conditions, disease progression, status of blood transfusions and monitoring of Iron overload and possible multiple organ failures throughout their lifetime. Apart from this the Thalassaemia Prevention Programme provides counseling services and conducts programmes to educates the general public on the disease and on screening facilities available; thus, minimizing marriage between disease careers. A web portal has been designed to

provide information to the general public and an e-Registry designed to function as an electronic health record system to be used by the National Thalassaemia Centers and other hospitals involved with the Thalassaemia patient management. e-Registry facilitates the maintenance of patient records, resource management and Thalassaemia surveillance.

Juror’ Evaluation

The Thelassaemia e-Registry addresses the issues of individual patient management, resource management, costing and surveillance of the burden of the disease. Apart from these aspects, it provides information for the general public, media and patients on the preventive measures including Thalassaemia screening process and disease management tips.

Clinical record module allows careful monitoring of a patients every visit and management decisions for the lifetime of a patient, while cumulative record monitoring provides overview of the management of the disease assisting

effective resource management and allocation. Importantly, the clinical record module provides a variety of disease management assistance, including alerts for possible incompatible blood transfusions and printable discharge summaries.

ProducerNational Thalassaemia Cen-

tre- Ministry of HealthDistrict

Kurunegala, Anuradhapura,Badulla, Colombo

LanguageSinhala,EnglishMedia FormatWeb, InternetProduct URLwww.ntplk.org

www.thalassaemia.lkContact

[email protected]@gmail.com

SL National Thalassaemia e-Registry

34 |


This project was formulated to educate the Sri Lankan community on health, health related issues and prevention of diseases in local languages. This website contains around 5000 articles in Sinhala and Tamil which provide information on the major specialties such as Curative Medicine, ENT, Surgery, Gynecology, Obstetric and Paediatrics. Specialists in these different areas of medicine have provided the articles and they are presented in a user friendly format. This is the first website to provide health education online in the native Sri Lankan language on such a large scale. The site deals with both the curative as well as the preventive aspects of medicine and contains an FAQ categorized according to age as well as specialty. This product caters to the growing need for digital content as more and more Sri Lankans are accessing the Internet for information.

Juror’ Evaluation

Wedananasala is very timely given that there is a dearth of local language content, especially in subject areas such as health and medicine. Wedananasala targets the general public and fills the void in local language digital content in this specialized domain. Importantly the accuracy of the articles is ensured by the staff of the Department of Anatomy and Human Genetics Unit of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo.

Other than the text content, there are Videos, FAQs providing an easy means of finding the answers to some common problems.

Today when more and more Sri Lankans both here and overseas are accessing the Internet as a means of gathering information it is important to have portals such as this which disseminate authenticated information in local language. The site’s usefulness is evident from the fact in the short space of time since its launch it has had a significant number of visitors not only from Sri Lanka but from the USA, UK, UAE and Qatar amongst others.

ProducerDepartment of Anatomy andthe Human Genetics Unit of

Medical Faculty, UOC

DistrictColombo

Original TitlefjokeKi,

LanguageSinhala, Tamil


Product URLwww.wedananasala.org

[email protected]

Wedanenasala

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A Communicable disease surveillance was identified as one of the most important activities in responding to disease outbreaks. Early recognition of impending outbreaks followed by rapid response is the key for controlling communicable diseases in a community.

Nivārana is a communicable disease surveillance and analysis system focused on swift data collection, efficient data processing and rapid information dissemination in order to control and prevent the spread of disease. While other electronic disease surveillance initiatives and systems focus on data collection and analysis, it is believed that swift information dissemination also plays a significant role in responding to disease outbreaks. The system is designed based on the object oriented methodology and implemented based on java technologies and uses free and open source software libraries and tools. The system is designed with minimum implementation and recurrent costs critical for developing

countries like Sri Lanka. As the name suggests Nivārana is conceptualized with the saying “Prevention is better than cure” and will no doubt is a lifesaver for many innocent people.

Juror’ Evaluation

Notification of communicable diseases is an integral part of the national preventive health care system in Sri Lanka. Even though the system has been in operation for years, this manual disease notification system has several drawbacks including delay in notifying higher authorities for action, delay in analysing the national level picture and lack of timely intimation of disease situations and management decisions to the grassroots.

The public health information system, Nivarana addresses the most essential deficiencies in the national disease notification system. Projects of this nature set a good precedent in bringing together ICT and medicine specific knowledge for the betterment of the country. Nivarana has modules for data collection, analysis, reporting and dissemination

which enable extendable model for data collection, quick decision making, and timely dissemination of information and empowerment of officials at regional and peripheral levels.

ProducerUniversity of Colombo School of Computing

with the Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health

DistrictColombo

Original TitleksjdrK

LanguageEnglish, Sinhala

Media FormatOnline

Product URLwww.nivarana.lk

www.nivarana.orgContact

[email protected]

Nivārana

36 |

Category:

e – Inclusion

“ICT is changing all aspects of contemporary society and affecting local, national and world economies and their infrastructure, even the quality of life and the social participation of all people including persons with disabilities and old people. It is however important that ICT should be appropriately provided to the people, such that it improves the quality of their lives and increases social participation, regardless of their physical and psychological conditions.”

Tamil Text-to-Braille Converter

Subasa

| 37


The product converts Tamil text to Braille and vice versa. It therefore enables any Tamil language digital text to be converted to Tamil Braille or it’s reverse, stored and printed using a Braille embosser.

Juror’ Evaluation

It is a well known fact that production of traditional Braille books is a very costly and time consuming operation. It is for this reason that there is only a very limited number of Braille books especially in local language. It has also meant that visually handicapped children are often deprived of school text books. Moreover they are disadvantaged at public examinations where the question papers have to be read out to them. By using this application school text books can be easily converted to Braille and printed off a Braille embosser. This process would enable visually impaired children to have the same benefits as a sighted child both in the class room and at public examinations. It can also open up access to reading material hitherto inaccessible to them. This innovation would go a long way in increasing accessibility to knowledge, information and education to visually impaired Tamil persons, in truly including them into mainstream society.

ProducerJinasena Training & Rehabilitation Trust

DistrictColombo

LanguageTamil, Tamil Braille

Media FormatOffline, CD/DVD

[email protected]

Tamil Text-to-Braille Converter

38 |


Subasa is new product servicing the users of Sinhala language word processing. It provides a variety of web services such as a Sinhala Language spell checker, an online Sinhala Unicode keyboard, a pop-up English to Sinhala dictionary, an encoding conversion utilities which can be used to convert ASCII encoding text into Unicode, and the electronic versions of some ancient Sinhala text for researchers. All of these services are freely accessible to everyone.

Juror’ Evaluation

Local language support in computers is highly important to increase the e-inclusiveness and reduce the digital divide. Sinhala Unicode standardization, integration of Sinhala Unicode to major operating systems, development of Sinhala fonts, and development and integration of keyboard drivers to support Sinhala Unicode input are some of the key steps taken to localize computers to Sinhala, the language used by about 74% of the Sri Lankan population. However, Sinhala language is of a higher complexity than English due to various reasons such as, number of letters, accent modifiers, male female nouns and verbs, and many other complex grammar rules. Therefore, use of Sinhala in computers need to be facilitated further by use of tools and technologies.

Subasa is a web portal which provides useful set of tools and references for Sinhala language. Moreover it contains an English to Sinhala Dictionary add-on for Firefox and Thunderbird, Ancient

Sinhala book collection as text, pdf, etc. Subasa can be considered as a very useful Sinhala language portal which contributes to enhance usage experience of Sinhala in computers.

ProducerLanguage Technology

Research Laboratory , UCSC

DistrictColomob

Original Titleiqni

LanguageSinhala

Media FormatWeb , Internet

Product URLwww.subasa.lk

[email protected]

Subasa

| 39

Category:

e-Localisation

“Generally speaking English is the universal language of the Internet.Then what of people who do not speak the language? ”

SiyabasScript

Tri-Lingual Web based SL Map

SALA ProSat GPS Navigator

| 41


SiyabasScript is a plugin extension to Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers. It allows the end user to view the content of any Sinhala web site without having to install non-unicode third party fonts. Web sites which have content that contain non Unicode texts and maps can now be viewed with these web browsers running on any operating system without the hassle of installing fonts or expensive proprietary software.

This solution will help the end users to have the benefit of Sinhala Unicode standardization even when browsing non-unicode Sinhala web content.

Juror’ Evaluation

Unicode is the globally accepted encoding system to use local languages in computers. Sinhala was included in Unicode in 1998. The implementations of it came out only in 2004 and the fonts were Malithi and Dinamina. Sinhala Unicode usage in the Internet has gradually increased from then to now and most of the modern websites are adopting Sinhala Unicode. All modern operating systems also provide for Sinhala Unicode implementation in their default distribution. However, there still is a significant amount of Sinhala content on internet which is in non-unicode fonts. In order to view such content the end user has to still obtain various non-unicode third party fonts, minimizing the real benefit of Sinhala Unicode standardization.

SiyabasScript resolves this by converting non-unicode Sinhala text to Unicode Sinhala text on the fly within the web browser. It is a very useful plugin which will greatly facilitate browsing any type of Sinhala web content.

SiyabasScript

ProducerKeheliya Bandara Gallaba

DistrictGampaha

Original TitleishniairK wefvdakh

LanguageSinhala, English

Media Format Web, Internet

Product URLhttp://code.google.com/p/siya-

basscripthttp://userscripts.org/scripts/

show/63613

[email protected]

42 |


www.ceylonmap.com is an inter-active and comprehensive tri-lingual internet mapping system accessible FREE to the public. It aims to pro-vide an easy directional guide to spe-cific locations, sites of interest and tourist attractions by combining the online the facilities of a road map, bus routes, and rail lines. It helps you to know more about Sri Lanka, its provinces, municipalities, districts, villages, streets, residential & com-mercial buildings, government agen-cies, major business establishments and prominent landmarks and a lot more.

Juror’ Evaluation

The well known Sinhala idiom “Danagena giyoth Katharagama, Nodana Giyoth Atharamaga” says it all: the one who travels with proper direction will reach his destination and the one who travels without will be lost. A practical driver will therefore carry a road map inside his vehicle. But time has changed – mobile 3G penetration is reaching nearly all parts of the country and smart mobile phones or hand held devices are becoming more and more affordable and road maps can now be accessed via web. Ceylon Map has some distinct advantages over Google map – first and foremost it is trilingual and it has very useful bits & pieces of information such as location of fuel stations, main roads, secondary roads, minor mortable roads, shops, hotels & tourist attractions. Moreover bus and rail routes are also provided. It is also very easily downloadable and facilitates Sinhala & Tamil speaking communities, with ability to switch to either language at the click of a button. The map has the capability to drill down to village level.

ProducerMarius sanjeewa Jayasuriya

DistrictGampaha

Original Title;%sNdId Y%S ,xld

wka;¾cd, is;shu

LanguageSinhala, Tamil, English


Product URLwww.ceylonmap.com

[email protected]

Tri -Lingual Web based SL Map

| 43


SALA ProSat is a GPS Naviga-tion system with voice guidance for use on the local road network. The system comes inbuilt with English Language and several foreign lan-guages but has been developed to give guidance in Sinhala Language as well. Once the desired location, in any part of Sri Lanka, is keyed into the system it will guide you through the most efficient route. It also in-cludes 100,000 points of interest (POI) inclusive of hotels, fuel sta-tions, ATM Machine locations and places of historical interest. This sys-tem will also be of value to the tourist seeking to tour the Country by road.

This is the only accurate GPS Navigation system available cover-ing all of Sri Lanka with more than 100,000 Points of Interest.

Juror’ Evaluation

GPS has become the mainstay of transportation systems worldwide, providing navigation for aviation, ground, and maritime operations. Disaster relief and emergency services depend upon GPS for location and timing capabilities in their life-saving missions. Even everyday activities such as banking, mobile phone operations and even the control of power grids, are facilitated by the accurate timing provided by GPS. Road navigation through GPS is common place in most developed countries but this is the first time that such a system has been launched locally. Not only does it cover the entire country it has also been localized to cater those not fluent in English and other foreign languages.

SALA ProSat GPS Navigator

ProducerSALA Geo Information

Systems (Pvt) Ltd

DistrictColombo

LanguageSinhala, English

Media FormatOffline , Satellite

Producers’ URLwww.salagis.com

[email protected]

44 |

Category:

e-News

“ICTs offer the potential of unlimited access to information, and to the rest of the wired world. There is great hope for the benefits that this can bring for the society at large.”

Ada Derana

Cheerurteam.com

Yaaldevi Blog Aggregator

| 45


Being a 24x7 comprehensive trilingual news website – www.adaderana.lk with multiple channels of dissemination - television, radio and SMS news alerts, Ada Derana could bring a new dimension to Sri Lanka’s news industry. Accurate and instant reporting is combined with a user friendly and interactive web interface. The layout of the content - news, entertainment and other current affairs is very user-friendly.

Juror’ Evaluation

Ada Derana has successfully reached out to both Sri Lankans living in Sri Lanka and its diaspora around the world. It also attempts to involve its readership/ listenership through various means such as opinion polls on current issues, social networking sites etc. The SMS-based breaking news subscriber base is over 300,000 and is across all major mobile providers.

Ada Derana

ProducerDerana Macroentertainment

(Pvt.) Ltd.

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish, Sinhala, Tamil

Media FormatMobile, Web

Producers’ URLwww.adaderana.lk

[email protected]

46 |


Schools are not solely academic institutions in today’s context, but rather organizations that provide a platform for building leadership qualities, inculcating social values and building personality through multidisciplinary activities. School Sports, have carved itself a special niche among those who closely follow the trials and tribulations of their school, even after they leave school. They scout the papers for news of the performance of their school on and off the field, benchmarking their respective schools and taking great pride in its achievements. However, school sports news does not always reach the main stream news. There is certainly an information void when it comes to school level sports activities.

Juror’ Evaluation

Under the theme “My School – My Life”, www.cheerurteam.lk website provides a common ICT platform for those who are interested in being updated on school sports. . It gives recognition to performances of young children which would otherwise have gone unnoticed amidst other top level sports news. This would not only serve the need of the loyal ‘old boy’ or ‘old girl’ but also be a great encouragement for the youngster. Cheerurteam has the added feature of facilitating viewers’ comments via a blog and encouraging stakeholders of the school sports to promote their respective schools. Visitors can ‘cheer’ online for their school at a given match. It has competitions such as ‘the most popular school boy cricketer’, with online voting to generate hype and enthusiasm, an ‘Opinion Wall’ and an interactive event calendar. By leveraging on the Internet Cheerurteam has successfully minimized operational costs, and by developing mobile applications and linking to social networking sites it

has enabled a wider dissemination of information.

The portal also contributes to developing student capacity by incentivizing school children to use the ICT resources in the school for developing content and cheering their school electronically. It adds value to education through links to higher education opportunities.

ProducerCheerurteam.com (Pvt) Ltd

DistrictColomboLanguage

EnglishMedia Formatweb, InternetProduct URL

www.cheerurteam.comContact

[email protected]

Cheerurteam.com

| 47


Yaaldevi is a blog aggregator with around 500 Tamil bloggers from all over the world & it facilitates publishing articles from registered users. Yaaldevi become a unique platform for Tamil news and it has developed into a middleware for Tamil content creators. Yaaldevi allows user to interact with the system providing web 2.0 tools like social networking, rating, commenting, voting & emailing. The SMS feature in the portal permits users to share the article among friends with SMS alerts while providing a mobi-platform for mobile users enabled with a Unicode converter for opera mini browser.

Juror’ Evaluation

Yaaldevi means ‘Queen from Jaffna’. Yaaldevi is also synonymous with the railway track that joins the North and South of the Country and therefore brings to mind the bonding of two communities. Thirty years of conflict while destroying the Yaaldevi infrastructure also destroyed much of the communication and friendship between the North and the South. It also shattered the freedom to express ideas. After thirty years of strife, many sacrifices and contributions at all levels, Sri Lanka is today a peaceful country. The digital Yaaldevi has been initiated at a time when the Government is relaying the physical infrastructure for the railway track to Jaffna. Digital yaaldevi has potential to grow to be a meeting point for the Tamil community from all over the world to communicate & express their ideas while enjoying the freedom of expression.

Yaaldevi Blog Aggregator

ProducerYaaldevi.com

DistrictJaffna, Trincomalee,Batticaloa, Colombo

Original TitleahojNtp jpul;lp

LanguageTamil


Product URLwww.yaaldevi.com

[email protected]

48 |

Category:

m-Content

“A vendor came and offered us a price for the onions… I had already received an SMS saying the price was much higher [at Dambulla market]…we negotiated with this information and I made an additional 7 rupees per kilo”-Farmer, Galewela

SL GovSMS Portal: “SMS to 1919”

MobiEnglish01

| 49


Sri Lanka GovSMS Portal is a solution implemented by Informa-tion and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) to the Government of Sri Lanka to deliver its citizen services via SMS. The project started in July 2009, complet-ed its first phase in November 2009 and launched by HE the President on December 2nd 2009. Currently it offers three services from three dif-ferent government organizations; Railway time table and Train delay information, Crop prices in popular market places, and Weather informa-tion. The solution is built in a highly scalable manner where it can be eas-ily scaled to handle any SMS base service offered by any government organization without incuring any cost for utilization of this platform.

All mobile operators have agreed not to levy a fee from the government either for the connectivity to their SMS gateway or for the outgoing SMS. Citizens will be offered the services at standard rates with no added premium charge. This solution is hosted within the Government Internet Data Center & through

that the application is connected to the Lanka Government Network. Therefore all the Government organizations have free access to this SMS portal.

Juror’ Evaluation

With over 12 million mobile users in the Country SMS to 1919 demonstrates a high degree of citizen inclusion. The three services currently offered to the citizen are amongst the most relevant. In Sri Lanka, the railway carries about 300,000 passengers per day with about 53% of them being regular commuters whose primary mode of travel to work is the train. While weather forecasts are of use to any citizen on the move, crop prices give a definite edge to the farmer who is trying to market his produce. It will also enable him to make informed decision with regard to marketing of his produce.

SL GovSMS Portal : “SMS to 1919”

ProducerICT Agency of Sri Lanka

DistrictIsland wide

LanguageEnglish

Media Formatmobile

Product URLwww.gic.gov.lk/sms

[email protected], [email protected]

50 |


This is a J2ME English learning app designed to run on Java enabled mobile phones, which has made the learning of English fun. It introduces novel concepts in data input and is user friendly. It uses “Singlish”, Sinhala words transliterated to English so that the users are comfortable with the learning process. The user is required to translate simple sentences given in “Singlish” to English by keying in numbers 1,2,3 and 4 each of which is assigned to a part of the sentence. In order to construct the sentence in English the user simply has to press these keys in the correct order. This innovative data input method contributes to the ease of use.

Juror’ Evaluation

Mobile penetration in Sri Lanka is reported to be over 60% and growing. The mobile platform is therefore recognized as an excellent means of delivering content and services to the masses. This application leverages on the rapid spread of mobile phone usage in the country as well as the popular use of ‘Singlish’ (Sinhala words written using the English Alphabet) by the average Sinhala speaking person. The user learns the correct construction of English sentences through prompts and a process of elimination. Given the widespread use of the mobile phone amongst the rural communities and its user friendly features, this application can be an exciting new way of teaching English to the masses , at their own pace and in their own time. It gives a new meaning to learning “on-the-go”.

MobiEnglish01

ProducerBala Durage Sandamal

Siripathi

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish

Media FormatMobile content

Product URLhttp://m.getjar.com/adp/

MobiEnglish01

[email protected]

| 51

MERIT AWARD

| 53


The Visualization Shopping Portal, VizuSHOP may be described as a ‘virtual fitting room’. It is a platform for consumers shopping online to get a better look and feel of the product by simulating a ‘fit on’. It enables the consumer to visualize how the product would look on his or her person or in the case of items such as furniture, in the environment in which it would be placed. Visualization is enabled by means of overlapping 3D imagery over uploaded picture of oneself, friends, or family member; or location (house, garden, office etc.). Customers can scale their images using the reference image tag.

Consumers can seek the opinion of their friends and family by sharing the visualized images with the community using the social network module. Integration with of social networks with commercial product portal gives the vendor the added advantage of reaching out to a larger customer base.

Juror’ Evaluation

There has been vast and extensive advancements in Internet based technologies, but still on-line shopping is an area which has not demonstrated significant improvements since making its initial appearance. There still is significant divide between the in-store shopping experience vs the on-line shopping experience. This is particularly so in products like apparel, footwear, jewelry and home décor. The inability to check whether the actual size of an item is a good fit , whether the color and design really suit you or if it goes with the rest of your furniture or whether your family and/ or friends like it are some of the drawbacks.

VizuSHOP provides an excellent solution for these limitations by allowing the user to upload his/her image on to the on-line store and try out clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc on it. It has the technology to calculate the actual size of a person and scale the rest of the objects in the on-line store accordingly. Once the person’s image is dressed up in the on-line

store it can be shared with friends to get their feedback using social media. Similarly, an image of the area where a home decor item or item of furniture is to be placed can be uploaded to the on-line store and the item can be placed virtually to visualize and determine if the item looks good.

ProducerVizu (Private)Limited

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish


Product URLwww.vizushop.com

[email protected]

VizuSHOP – Visualization shopping tool

Category: e - Business and

Commerce Merit Award

54 |


TharuKirana is a complete astrology calculation program for the professional and a wonderful training tool for the beginner. It combines both astronomical and astrological functions, with lots of astronomical data and graphical information. TharuKirana’s main features are an interactive, mouse-sensitive natal chart, diagrams, and tables. It is being continuously developed with the addition of various features in keeping with the wide ranging requirements and facets of astrology.

Juror’ Evaluation

Sri Lankan society then and now rely heavily on astrological predictions and advises especially when under taking an activity considered important to their lives. Even the non believer would ‘play safe’ by conforming to such recommendations which are based on complex workings. These calculations are often done manually and can lead to inconsistencies. This product fulfills the need of the average Sri Lankan to be advised and guided by astrological analysis which is based on sound scientific calculations on planetary positions. It has a variety of features which can help the astrologer service his client better.

The fact that the product is available in the Sinhala Language helps the more experienced and long standing astrologers who are not conversant in English.

ProducerSigma Digital

DistrictColombo

Original Title;relsrK

LanguageSinhala

Media FormatCD-ROM

[email protected]

Category: e - Culture and Entertainment

Merit Award

Tharukirana

| 55


This product gives the viewer a ‘tour’ of the extensive archeological structures and sites that are in the North Central Province. It is important for students both at secondary level and for university students as it gives all historical and archeological detail. It is a site that can make learning an enjoyable experience. It is also a good experience for the casual visitor to understand better what he sees.

Juror’ Evaluation

A considerable amount of research has gone in to building the content for this site. The wide range of high quality photographs which can be viewed from different angles rendering a 3D effect makes it very attractive to the user. The factual data that the site is enriched with contributes to its usefulness to the student of history. Moreover the use of local language further enhances the effectiveness of the learning experience.

This type of effort at the grassroots is commended for its contribution to the development of rich content which serves to preserve and enhance our cultural heritage.

e- Kala Sawiya

Category: e - Culture and Entertainment

Merit Award

ProducerNenasala Nachchadoowa

(Human Community Development Center)

DistrictAnuradhapura

Original Titleb-l,d iúh

LanguageSinhala


Product URLwww.ancientruins.lk

Contactnenasala_nachchadoowa@

yahoo.com

56 |


The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) is a National Professional Body with a vast student base spread throughout the Country. There is an even bigger population of knowledge seekers in Accountancy who currently are limited to accessing knowledge in this field through peer to peer discussions, seminars, tuition classes, books and journals. ICASL saw a window of opportunity for providing facilities to disseminate knowledge in Accountancy among these knowledge seekers, be it ICASL students or the general public.

The Course Management System (CMS) is a comprehensive e-Learning Solution designed and customized for the Sri Lankan accounting students in general and for ICASL students at the Foundation Level in particular. Special attention has been given to ensure that the content is multimedia-rich and interactive, encouraging students to follow the courses online rather than attending tuition colleges. This facility is free of charge to anyone interested in

learning Accounting, Economics, or Statistics. Some of the more note worthy features of the system include online forums, quizzes, discussions, expert comments, video narrations, real life video clips, animations and cartoons.

ICASL expects to extend this facility in the future to cover more subjects covered in the Chartered Accounting Syllabus and provide online lecturer support for student queries as well.

Juror’ Evaluation

Accountancy is a subject that is followed by many young school leavers – not only those who opt for accountancy as a profession but by those who seek to build their capacity in the field pending their entry into universities and other tertiary education institutions post A/L. It is therefore very appropriate that the ICASL has come up with this framework to facilitate online learning and e-testing, especially at the Foundation level. The content is enriched with audio and video and is disseminated in a very user friendly

manner. Through this initiative, ICASL will not only be able to target a greater audience for its courses but also motivate more students to enter the field of accountancy.

ProducerThe Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish

Media FormatCross media

Product URLwww.icasl-online.com

[email protected]

Category: e- Learning and

Education Merit Award

ICASL Multimedia Learning Guides and Course Management System

| 57


Language is a very powerful tool to facilitate mutual understanding between people. “Shikshaka” is a computer based teaching framework developed to teach languages focusing on phonetics and in a multimedia rich interactive language teaching environment. Effective training materials and methodology have been used to develop Shikshaka. Currently it is developed as a tool to teach Tamil in Sinhala and Sinhala in English. Shikshaka is flexible enough to extend itself to be used by any two languages.

Shikshaka currently contains 10 chapters to teach Tamil which includes dialogues, grammar and exercises, and is being extended to 25. The other tool has been developed to teach Sinhala and it includes 15 Chapters with dialogue, grammar and exercises.

Shikshaka

Category: e- Learning and

Education Merit Award

Juror’ Evaluation

The language barrier between Sinhalese and Tamils is one that has been addressed several times and many tools have been created to teach Tamil and Sinhala. Shikshaka is unique because it is a Computer Aided Language Teaching framework that was built after studying the deficiencies of existing frameworks which include embedded content (i.e. content is hard-wired with the framework and they cannot be separated), non localizability, platform dependency, lack of Unicode support and difficulties of adding and modifying content. The tool is user friendly and the dialogue provides a simple way to learn a language with additional phonetic help (which is written in the language understood by the user).

ProducerLanguage Technology

Research Laboratory, UCSC

DistrictColombo

Original TitleYslaIl

LanguageEnglish, Sinhala, Tamil

Media FormatCD/DVD

Producer’s URLwww.e-learning.lk

[email protected]

58 |


Project MISEEFA (Minimum Sufficient Equal Healthcare for All) is a remote telemedicine project which targets the underserved communities around the Country. Lack of medical centers with minimal facilities is a major barrier when it comes to achieving the goal of a satisfactory healthcare level in the rural areas. There is also a lack of recognized specialists in these areas and patients often have to travel to the city to get treatment.

The “Medical Bag” is the solution that project MISEEFA provides in solving the above problem. Medical bag is a device which includes mandatory medical instruments such as a digital stethoscope, a digital sphygmomanometer and an ECG machine. A digital camera with a microphone is also attached with an internet dongle which enables live video conferencing between patient and doctor. The specialty of this device is that it was built using discarded materials such as disposed CD ROMs, Printers etc. Therefore the total cost of building the device has been drastically reduced. A set

of unique software attached to the system ensures communication between the doctor and the patient. The device is highly portable and easy to use.

Juror’ Evaluation

The number of healthcare centers in the rural areas is high however there are very few specialists operating in these areas. MISEEFA provides the opportunity for patients who are bedridden or unable to travel to the city to have access to a specialist. It can send and receive information almost instantly.

Additionally, it can save patients and physicians time and money as it will eliminate the need for travelling long distances to provide or receive specialized healthcare. Moreover, it can allow underprivileged rural hospitals to provide specialist treatment. It has been developed bearing in mind key necessities such portability and cost. It can be used to solve the lack of quality health care around the Country.

ProducerGroup MAHEE

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish

Media FormatCross media

[email protected]

Category: e- Health

Merit Award

MISEEFA - MinImal Sufficient Equal HEalthcare For All

| 59


Indoor Morbidity and Mortality Record (IMMR) forms the back bone of data in the evaluation of the health status of a nation. In Sri Lanka it is also an integral part of the health information system which supports management of health care, monitoring of disease patterns and evaluation of treatment and prevention. Although the paper based system of IMMR has served this purpose over the years to some degree of satisfaction, it has increasingly become obsolete with practical and logistical barriers. It has now become a most daunting task to keep up with the expected levels timeliness, accuracy and relevancy as required of such a system. More so in the recent past with the increasing volatility of disease patterns and the disease surveillance becoming a “life-saver” in current epidemics. In the quest for solutions, health care digitization and a web-based IMMR, proved to be a promising tool. This system will pave the way for “enter once-use many times” concept with unimaginable ways of analysis and

e- IMMR ( e-Indoor Morbidity and Mortality Record)

Category: e- Health

Merit Award

presentations. With near real-time information at hand, digital health care information system would inevitably

Juror’ Evaluation

The e-IMMR provides a portal for easy data collection to generate records provided by the paper based Indoor Mortality and Morbidity Registry. Some of the functions of the e-IMMR include client side data validation and nomenclature (ICD 10) assistance and various data summarizations provided for the hospital directors and medical record keepers.

Once data is in the system, the mortality and morbidity aggregates can be analyzed by the medical statistics unit of the Ministry of Health. The e-IMMR provides key functionalities necessary for medical record keeping in the curative health sector in Sri Lanka.

ProducerMinistry of Health and

Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, UOC

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish


Product URLwww.immrlk.com

[email protected]

60 |

JURORS’ DISTINCTION AWARD

| 61


Jayasri Radio is an online streaming & podcasting internet radio which offers a range of Sinhala language programmes which include the National Anthem, “Jayamangala Gatha”, “Pirith”, preachings of the Dhamma, live requests and old favorites. It also has a live chat with the DJs. Jayasiri Radio has proven its capacity to reach out to a wider Sri Lankan audience with a significant listener base among the expatriate community. Interactive communication, via Skype makes them feel ‘at home’ even though away from home.

Juror’ Evaluation

Internet radio (also known as web radio, net radio, streaming radio and e-radio) is an audio service transmitted via the Internet. This has become very common & popular in modern society. Streaming or Podcasting has no technical or geographical barrier; hence Internet Radio has turned out to be a tool for e-inclusiveness. What is unique and commendable in Jayasri Radio is its wide ranging content and that it serves a segment of population who are yearning for a feel of their homes-the 1.5 million Sri Lankan citizens working abroad, a majority who are women working as housemaids in the Middle East. Remittances from migrant workers, was around $ 3.3 billion in 2009, second only to the earnings from apparel exports. However this high performing foreign exchange earner had been somewhat abandoned culturally before the advent of the Internet Radio. Jayasri Radio has developed into a platform for Sinhala entertainment as well as cultural nursery.

Jayasri Radio

Jurors’ Distinction

ProducerJayasri Radio

DistrictColombo

Original Titlech Y%S f¾äfhda

LanguageSinhala

Media FormatOnline Radio

Product URLwww.jayasriradio.com

[email protected]

62 |


Seeyage Katha is an animated DVD that features two Sri Lankan folk stories. Each story is about 60 minutes in duration. The animation is in 2D with a Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound track. The features are voiced in Sinhala language with English subtitle option. The entire project was done on computers using a series of different applications. The soundtrack and voice track are digitally recorded, mixed and mastered. It provides digital entertainment in a meaningful manner that could be accessed by all with the minimum requirement of a DVD player and a TV set.

Juror’ Evaluation

Given the vast advances made in technology in recent years, there has been a high demand for projects that utilize talent and resources from all over the world. Entertainment has always been in demand and more in today’s world where most people seem to be leading highly stressed and competitive lives. Animations,

visual effects, gaming and new digital platforms are being developed every day. In line with this, the effort made by Samanala Animations in keeping alive stories handed down from our ancestors, presenting it through attractive animation while preserving the theme and nuances of the original story is commended. It brings local content to the masses through a digital medium.

The scripts of the two stories have been cleverly re-written with new twists and amusing characters added, but still preserving the old story lines which are entertaining and informative while bringing out a moral which is apt even for society today. The animations, art work and graphics including the special effects are of a high standard. A truly Sri Lankan production.

ProducerSamanala Animations Web

Creations (Pvt) Ltd

DistrictColombo

Original TitleiShdf.a l;d

LanguageSinhala with English Subtitles

Media FormatOffline, DVD

[email protected]


Seeyage Katha

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GPS/GSM based train tracking system is an application combining mobile technology with software/hardware technologies to provide a comprehensive train tracking and management system for Sri Lanka Railways, SLR. The system utilizes the country’s mobile communication infrastructure as the communication backbone of the system. The communication between the mobile units and the central server is carried out over the GSM network. The System provides high level position & speed accuracy while provisioning of real-time information on train movements for the train controllers.

Juror’ Evaluation

Train delay, is a common phenomenon in Sri Lanka. It is considered inevitable and we have come to accept it as the norm. Unfortunately what it has meant is that productive time is being wasted. Time that could otherwise have been used for doing something constructive is frittered away. Reliability matters both to the railway’s customers and to the economy at large. Even today when Information technology is revolutionizing business systems worldwide the Department of Railway is operating with the traditional ‘tablet’ system. SLR, over the years has sustained heavy losses due to shortcomings in safety, efficiency and reliability of service. The main reason for this issue is the lack of real time, dependable information on train operations required by the train administrators to take timely decisions. The GPS/GSM based train tracking system allows controllers, administrators, and policy makers to access real time information while passengers are given accurate railway schedules & customer satisfaction.

GPS/GSM Based Train Tracking System


ProducergTrack Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd.

DistrictColombo

LanguageEnglish

Media FormatMobile, Online

Contactdjgayasri

@gtracksolutions.com

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CERTIFICATE OFAPPRECIATION

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Category : e- Business and Commerce

myBiz.lk - Online Business Community & Social Network

Producer myBiz.lk District KandyLanguage EnglishMedia Format Web, InternetProduct URL www.mybiz.lkContact [email protected]

Category : e- Culture and Entertainment

Colombo Ride 2.0 (fld<U jfÜ)

Producer Gamos Technology SolutionsDistrict Colombo Language Sinhala Media Format Mobile gameProducers’ URL www.games.lkContact [email protected]

[email protected]

Category : e- Culture and Entertainment

Operation Vanni (jkaks fufyhqu)

Producer DragonD SoftDistrict RatnapuraLanguage SinhalaMedia Format CD/DVD ROMProducers’ URL www.games.dilshan.meContact [email protected]

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Category : e- Learning and Education

m-Learning

Producer Mobitel (Pvt.) LtdDistrict ColomboLanguage English, Sinhala, TamilMedia Format Cross media Product URL www.mlearning.mobitel.lkContact [email protected]

Category : e- Learning and Education

Empowering Free and Open Education through e-Learning

(ksoyia yd újD; wOHdmkhla i`oyd b-b.ekqu)

Producer University of Colombo School of Computing

District ColomboLanguage English/Sinhala/TamilMedia Format Web, InternetProduct URL www.e-learning.lk/vle,

www.fit.bit.lki/lmsContact [email protected]

Category : e- Enterprise and Livelihood

Cybermate – Explorative AI Software Companion

Producer Sri Lankan Institute of Information Technology

District ColomboLanguage EnglishMedia Format Cross mediaProduct Access Skype / GoogleTalk :

cybermate.sliitContact [email protected]

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Category : e- HealtheHealth.lk

Producer Mahinda KommalageDistrict GalleLanguage English Media Format Web, MobileProduct URL www.ehealth.lkContact [email protected]

Category : e- Inclusion Mathgames

Producer Jinasena Training & Rehabilitation Trust

District ColomboLanguage SinhalaMedia Format CD/ DVDContact [email protected] [email protected]

[email protected]

Category : e- Inclusion

Gunanenadiriya

Producer Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology

District ColomboLanguage English/SinhalaMedia Format Web, InternetProduct URL www.gunanenadiriya.lkContact [email protected]

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Category : e- Localisation

LimeSurvey Localisation

Producer Chinthaka Jayasundara ,Kasun T. Wickramasuriya, Sachini Shakila, Janaka Padukka

District ColomboLanguage Sinhala, EnglishMedia Format Web, InternetProducers’ URL www.limesurvey.org/downloadContact [email protected],

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Category : m- Content

Railway SMS Sender

Producer ICT Agency of Sri LankaDistrict ColomboLanguage EnglishMedia Format MobileProducers’ URL www.icta.lkContact [email protected]

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Award Categories

1. e-Business & Commerce: Support and optimization of business processes; creation of new business models in e-commerce and m-commerce, business to business, business to consumers, internet security and other areas; supporting Small and Medium Enterprise’s on the marketplace.

2. e-Culture & Entertainment: Preserving and presenting cultural heritage in line with the challenges of the future; demonstrating valuable cultural assets clearly and informatively using state-of-the- art technology and new media platforms. Supplying digitized entertainment products and services; entertaining the user in this world’s variety of languages and its cultural diversity; supporting movement from one-way to two-way, from single to multiple players, interactive entertainment and the synergy between analog and digital platforms.

3. e-Learning & Education; Serving the needs of both young and adult learners to acquire knowledge and skills; creating active e-learning communities and target models and solutions for corporate training. Empowering the education paraphernalia with new technology tools; transforming schools, universities and other educational institutions through interactive, personalized and distributed learning resources.

4. e-Enterprise & Livelihood: Enterprise and Entrepreneurship are the basis of livelihood for the Sri Lankan landscape. Introduction and integration of Information Communication Technology have created new opportunities and added efficiency in livelihood creation. The biggest challenge however is to stress on deliverables, content, and services for the masses.

5. e-Science & Environment: The spread of all the concerns is of high importance as far as environment is concerned. Especially with emerging globalization, environment is being affected badly and it requires all kind of technology and medium to spread the right message and messages about devastation it can create. ICT plays a huge role in responsible dissemination of information about environment; content matters.

6. e-Government: Empowering citizens and serving public services clients; fostering quality and efficiency of information exchange and communication services in governmental and public administrative processes; strengthening participation of citizens in information society decision making.

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7. e-Health: Developing the consumer-centered model of health care where stakeholders collaborate, utilizing Information Communication Technology, including internet technologies to manage health issues as well as the health care system.

8. e-Inclusion: All measures supporting Information Communication Technology integration of least developed, vulnerable, remote sector of Sri Lanka into the Information Society. Reducing the “digital divide” and “content gap” between technology empowered and technology excluded communities and groups - such as rural areas and women. Bridging society through multimedia and rich content.

9. e-Localisation: Interventions of ICT has been instrumental in empowering life at the grassroots level in many ways such as application in local languages, vernacular content and digital tools to work in oral medium. Agriculture, eco-tourism, ayurveda, artisans skills, organic food, are all being strengthened by the electronic and digital technologies as they move towards localisation.

10. e-News: The expansion of traditional media into new media and leveraging the technology as medium to reach larger masses, offering content in local language and in all form of electronic and digital medium.

11. m-Content: Mobile has become the most powerful medium for the exchange of content, services, and building communities. With the high penetration of mobile devices, content and services are becoming essentials in mobile devices. New content applications and innovative content is supplementing into the strength of the mobile devices

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e-Swabhimani Grand Jury - 2010

24th, 25th September 2010

Blue Water- Wadduwa, Sri Lanka

The Grand Jury is enriched with a highly proficient group of experts chosen from different subject areas. The Knowledge Partner for e-Swabhimani Grand Jury 2010 was the Digital Empowerment Foundation India, organizers of the Manthan Award South Asia. The two day Jury process was supported by a special evaluation and ranking software which is used in international contests of this nature. The Jury evaluated a range of online, offline, mobile and satellite content/systems. Final decisions were made after much deliberation and were based on a majority vote.

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The Moderator

Osama ManzarFounder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation, India

Osama Manzar is a convert social entrepreneur

spearheading the mission to overcome the information barrier between India’s rural sector, and the so-called developed society, through Digital Empowerment Foundation(DEF) – the not-for-profit organization founded to accomplish the mission; www.defindia.net . In 2003 he launched India’s first ever award for choosing the best e-content practices in India and South Asia. Osama is the Chairman of the Manthan Award for Best e-Content for Development; www.manthanaward.org. He has authored articles like “e-Content: Voice from the Ground”, Internet Economy of India” and “India’s Best e-Contents”. Manzar is also India’s e-Content Expert to the World Summit Award (WSA), Grand Jury and a Member of Board of Directors of WSA. He has been a part of the Professional Social Entrepreneurship Program by Social –Impact International. Osama has worked at Computerworld as Assistant Editor, Head of Interactive Media Division of Hindustan Timess and started a software company for media publishers, 4Cplus which he gave up in order to get into social entrepreneurship through DEF.

Prof. Vijaya KumarChairman, Information Technology Institute, Sri Lanka

Prof. Kumar is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Peradeniya and is presently the Chairman of the Industrial Technology Institute, Sri Lanka. He is also serves as a member of the UN Commission on Science & Technology for Development (UNCSTD) having previously been its Chairman and vice Chairman. He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Information Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka. He has held several senior positions which include the position of Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya and Member, UN Millennium Development Project Task Force 10 on Science, Technology and Innovation, Advisor, International Foundation for Science and Board Member of several organizations. He has 2 patents and has published 70 papers in International Journals and made 135 Communications to Learned Societies, both local and foreign. His research interests are in Chemical Ecology, Biopesticides, Science Policy, Intellectual Property Rights, Biological chemistry and Natural Products Chemistry.Prof. Kumar holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Ceylon and a D.Phil from the University of Oxford and has carried out research in Sri Lanka, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Thailand and India.

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Sanjaya Karunasena CTO, ICTA, Sri Lanka

Sanjaya Karunasena is an Enterprise

Architect with nearly 15 years of industry experience. His key experiences are in application of ICT for business development, management of enterprise systems, product development and enterprise software development and includes retail, telecommunication and e-government domains. He has led a 300 + engineering team, developing many enterprise solutions providing strategic directions. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer at ICTA. In this role, while contributing to the design and the implementation of the nationwide SOA based ICT infrastructure, he provides technical guidance to variety of initiatives. Sanjaya is optimistic for a citizen centric government service delivery with active citizens participation and actively contributes and influences such initiatives. Also Sanjaya is a free and open source software advocate who values it for its fundamental principles. Sanjaya has a MSc in Computer Science and B.Sc. honors degree in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

Samantha Mathara ArachchiLecturer ,ADMTC –UCSC

Samantha Mathara Arachchi,

is a Lecturer at the Advanced Digital Media Technology Centre (ADMTC), University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC), Sri Lanka. He has undergone training on “Web-Based Server System Design” from the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) and “Accessible Web-Based Information Networking” from the Asia Pacific Development Center, Thailand. Presently he is lectures on “Multimedia Technologies, Internet Programming and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Advanced Multimedia Web Design Development Technologies and e-Learning Technologies” at the UCSC. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Sri Palee Campus, University of Colombo. He is a member of the Sri Lanka Web Standards Committee Conducted by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and Chairman of the Technical Evaluation Committee of Web page development of the Ministry of Petroleum & Petroleum Resources Development. His research interests include e-Learning Technologies, Information Management, e- Business, Accessible Web Content Development, Internet and Web Technologies and DAISY related activities. (Daisy is a standard to empower the visually impaired community). He has several local and international Conference Papers and Publications to his credit. Samantha has Bachelor of Science Degree from the Open University of Sri Lanka and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Technology from the University of Colombo: a Postgraduate Diploma in Information Management from the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology; a Masters in Information Management and is currently reading for a Degree in Master of Philosophy (M.Phil). He is a member of several professional bodies.

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Ruwan AmarasekaraManager, IT business Systems, Sri Lankan Airlines

Ruwan, With over Twenty years of far

ranging experience in ICT Management, Planning, Systems Design, Development & Implementation, General management and Institutional Development, is highly proficient in ICT General Management, Project Management, Implementation and Maintenance of ICT systems in varying types of Computer networks using industry standard hardware and software platforms.

His work with many Clients/organizations in industry verticals such as Air transportation, Finance, FMCG, Manufacturing etc. He has been actively involved in the ICT industry activities and has rendered services to the development of ICT through the professional organizations he is involved in. Further he has contributed his expertise to the young ICT professionals as a visiting lecturer and research project supervisor with two of the local universities.

Ruwan has qualified as a Software engineer and holds a Master in Business Administration, a Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and is a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants finalist. He serves on the committee / council member of several professional bodies including the BCS the Chartered Institute for IT - Sri Lanka Section and has been an International Judge for Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Macau; Jakarta, Indonesia; Melbourne, Australia. He had been an organising committee member of National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA) competition since 2004 and chaired that committee for 2 consecutive years during that period.

Lohitha KarunasekeraEconimist , World Bank-Sri Lanka office

Lohita Karunasekera is an Economist cum applied

researcher by profession and has over 14 years experience in working for the private sector and donor funded development projects and programs in various sectors and fields with specialization in ICT for Development. Starting his carrier as a marketing researcher, his corporate sector experience has been in marketing/market research, strategic planning, service/product development, corporate communications, industrial production, field surveys and logistics. For the past four years he has been working for the South Asia Finance and Private Sector Development Unit of the World Bank as a consultant. His experience in development related projects spans across ICT development, banking and finance, judicial reforms, public sector reforms/capacity building, micro finance, poverty reduction and tourism development.

His academic qualifications includes a BSc.(Hons.) in Information Systems, an MBA, a master’s degree in Economics and post graduate qualifications in international relations.

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Rehana WijesingheDirector, BC Computers (Pvt) Ltd

Rehana Wijesinghe joined BC Computers

(Pvt) Ltd in 2007 serves as a Director to BC Computers (Pvt) Ltd, Bartleet Technologies (Pvt) Ltd and Bartleet Electronics (Pvt) Ltd. She worked as a Business Consultant at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd for 6 years where she managed Special Projects that included the Mahavilahchiya Mesh Networking Project, which connected 30 houses from an APDIC grant received through ICTA. She started her career as a Hardware Engineer in the USA and was one of the inventors for a new LED lighting system. She currently overlooks operations, HR, Finance and manages Special Projects of the three companies. She is a member of the Management Committee of the CHART Foundation which funds projects to provide English and IT to rural children. She was also on the Management Committee of the OLPC Lanka Foundation, which has through the World Bank and Ministry of Education, distributed 990 OLPC laptops to 9 primary schools in Sri Lanka. Rehana holds a B Sc degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara, USA and a BSc degree in Engineering Physics from Westmont College, USA.

Waruna Sri DhanapalaAssistant Secretary to the President

Waruna Sri Dhanapala joined the Sri

Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) in 2000 and currently serves as an Assistant Secretary to the President in the Secretary’s Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat. He has also served as an Information Executive of the PolicyResearch & Information Unit of the Presidential Secretariat from 1998-2000.

His present responsibilities include assisting Secretary to the President by coordinating activities of the Presidential Task Force on English & IT and the e-Sri Lanka Imitative of the Information Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). He serves as a Member of the Steering Committee of the Government Information Center (GIC-1919) and the National Broadband Consultative Committee (NBCC). Being a Director of the National Administrative Reforms Council (NARC), Waruna helps promoting administrative reforms including recently introduced e-Government policy in the public sector.

Waruna holds a B Sc Special Degree in Geology & Computer Science from the University of Peradeniya, a Masters Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and a Masters Degree in International Development Studies from the National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan).

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Roshan HewapathiranaLecturer, Biomedical Informatics Programme , PIM, University of Colombo

Roshan Hewapathirana, is the project manager

and a lecturer for the Masters in Biomedical Informatics Programme of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo. He is also a Sun Certified Java professional (SCJP) and Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer (SCMAD).

Roshan is the present Editor of the Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka and the Joint Executive Editor of the Sri Lanka Journal of Biomedical Informatics. He is a volunteer software developer for the Health Information Systems Project (HISP) and also a FOSS advocate.

With industrial experience acquired in the capacity of a Senior Software Engineer at the Lanka Software Foundation and his academic experience and research interests in Medical Education, eLearning, Public Health Informatics and mHealth he brings to the table a rich diversity of experience and expertise.

Roshan graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 2003. Additionally he holds a Masters degree in IT from the University of Moratuwa. He also possesses a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo and he is currently a PhD candidate of the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway.

Shriyananda RathnayakeProject Manager / Content Manager ICTA, Sri Lanka

Shriyananda Rathnayake is the Content Manager at ICT Agency of Sri Lanka. He has more than seven years experience in ICT4D particularly in the field of content development and deployment. In implementing ICT4D Projects in the Country he works with many clients both from grassroots as well as from larger public and private sector organizations.

Prior to joining ICTA, he worked for the Gemidiriya Community Development and Livelihood Improvement Project as a Participatory Rural Appraisal Specialist and OneWorld South Asia as Content Consultant

As member of its e-Society Team at ICTA, Shriyananda has been responsible for conceptualizing and monitoring several projects which have made a strong impact on Sri Lankan rural society. Among them are projects which have helped access to information, education and health, Culture, Mobile Content. In doing so, Shriyananda has come up with novel methods of collecting and disseminating content and has been responsible for promoting the use of local language Unicode and enhancing and improving the quality of local language content on the web. He is very competent in the use of FOSS tools in content management and web development and has played key role in training of Nenasala Operators.

Shriyananda holds a Master’s degree in Economics, specializing Project Management from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka and a Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics from the same university.

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Manori UnambuweHead of Marketing, IBM World Trade Corporation, Sri Lanka

Manori headed a Public Quoted light

engineering company prior to her joining the ICT industry in 2003 where she commenced her career as Head of Business Development and went on to be the Head Sales & Marketing of the Banking and Government Sectors at Just In Time Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., a leading Sri Lankan System’s Integrator. She possesses a strong understanding of ICT infrastructures and domain knowledge of key industry verticals and has experience in all aspects of marketing/communications in the ICT industry.

Manori is currently the Head of Marketing at IBM World Trade Corporation, Sri Lanka.

Jaliya JayawardenaDirector, Spinc International

Jaliya Jayawardena is presently a Director of Spinc

International and has served as Project Manager for PricewaterHouse Coopers Sri Lanka on a rural ICT development programme. He has been involved in IT since 1988, spending 10 of those years doing programming/ ERP consultancy and project management in New York, and the remainder in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

He has helped over 30 companies in the New York metropolitan area to implement various business technology systems including Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Since returning to Sri Lanka in 2004, he has been working in the ICT4D space.

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