Nativi vs. imigranți digitali în administrația publică

Recent Ziarul Financiar a publicat un articol de Adrian Seceleanu în care sunt reflectate părerile mele despre redirecționarea spre agricultură a banilor obținuți din licențe telecom. Articolul este redat și pe acest blog.
Am găsit pe site-ul ziarului un comentariu interesant. Răspund aici pentru că am la dispoziție mai mult spațiu și poate că îl vor citi mai multe persoane interesate. Comentariul sună cam așa:

"Baltac afirmă că Guvernul ar trebui să inves­tească bani cu prioritate în informati­za­rea administraţiilor din mediul rural şi în şcola­rizarea funcţionarilor în utilizarea computerelor."
Serios? sunt functionari publici tineri, care dobandesc cunostinte ample in utilizarea PC, cu studii superioare si chiar de masterat, care pot activa pe astfel de posturi, avand calificare in domeniu.
De ce sa ii "cosmetizam" pe cei care nu au notiuni de utilizare PC, utilizarea PC fiind in ziua de azi o conditie obligatorie la angajare. O parere personala este ca dificultatea utilizarii sistemelor de operare PC, de catre functionari, aglomereaza si mai mult ghiseele oficiilor si administratiilor locale.

 Autorul comentariului propune să fie înlocuiți funcționarii mai vârstnici care nu prea au îndemânare în folosirea IT cu tineri care deja stăpânesc utilizarea PC. Oricine știe că în administrația publică vârsta medie este de peste 40 ani și ne putem pune întrebarea ce facem cu cei care nu sunt tineri. Ii dăm afară? Autorul comentariului are dreptate că dificultățile lor de utilizare IT aglomerează adesea ghișeele și aș putea menționa din experiență multe alte efecte. În cartea mea Tehnologiile informației - noțiuni de bază menționez cu referire la costurile incompetenței digitale:

Mulţi manageri și funcţionari publici din România nu au încă o instruire suficientă în folosirea noilor tehnologii informatice. Cei mai în vârstă au uneori cunoştinţe depăşite despre calculatoare, dar rar despre sisteme informatice pentru conducere. Atunci când acceptă să facă investiţii TIC, sunt de acord doar cu aplicaţii simple (procesare de text, contabilitate, e-mail pentru a face economie la faxuri etc.). În multe cazuri pretind ca alţii să acceseze informaţiile în locul lor. Managerii și funcţionarii mai tineri au cunoştinţe mai bune despre echipamentele şi aplicaţiile informatice moderne şi pot fi consideraţi “parţial alfabetizaţi” în TI (procesare de text, utilizarea calculului tabelar, “expunere” la Internet) şi îşi folosesc calculatoarele personale. Dar nici ei nu au întotdeauna o instruire corespunzătoare în privinţa sistemelor informatice pentru management şi nu dispun de suficientă putere de decizie.

Există studii[1] care arată că instruirea insuficientă în utilizarea tehnologiilor informaţiei conduce la un cost al ignoranţei digitale care poate fi cuantificat prin productivitate mai slabă cu circa 20% și creștere considerabilă a timpilor de execuţie a sarcinilor curente sau proiectelor. 

 Tot în același loc fac referire la nativii digitali și imigranții digitali:

Decalajul digital între generaţii este amplu. Tinerii au crescut cu acces la tehnologiile informaţiei și Internet și le consideră ca normale. Nu întâmplător acestora li se mai spune nativi digitali. Persoanele de vârsta doua și a treia trebuie să înveţe să folosească aceste tehnologii și constată că au de învăţat de la cei tineri. Prin similitudine cu cei care își schimbă ţara de reședinţă pe parcursul vieţii, celor care nu au crescut în școală cu tehnologiile digitale li se mai spune imigranţi digitali.

Vârsta medie a managerilor și funcţionarilor publici din România este de peste 40 de ani. O persoană la această vârstă va accepta mai greu să înceapă să utilizeze un calculator sau Internet. Aceasta nu este o particularitate românească. Statisticile arată că vârsta medie a utilizatorilor Internet este de 32 de ani în SUA, în timp ce vârsta medie a utilizatorilor de computere este de 39 de ani. Cu toate acestea, în SUA și alte ţări dezvoltate mediul social şi economic induce oamenilor o atitudine favorabilă introducerii tehnologiilor informatice.

În România şi în multe dintre ţările Europei Centrale şi de Est, atitudinea oamenilor mai în vârstă se caracterizează încă prin reluctanţa la apropierea de computere, din teama de a pierde respectul celor mai tineri sau din alte motive. Rezultatul este ceea ce se poate numi “efectul de respingere”. Ca urmare a acestei respingeri, computerele încă sunt adesea considerate un fel de “jucării moderne”, având totuşi “anumite merite” şi uneori acceptate ca şi “ modă “. Fenomenul nu are o fundamentare tehnică reală, tehnologiile informaţiei sunt ușor de asimilat, ceea ce și urmărește să demonstreze această carte.

 Aceste rânduri sunt o pledoarie pentru instruirea tuturor celor care nu au primit în școală competențele digitale necesare (imigranții digitali) și programul ECDL este un instrument care și-a dovedit utilitatea pe plan internațional cu zeci de milioane de certificări. Elocvent este exemplu Irlandei cu peste 11% din populație certificată ECDL sau Egiptului unde 1,5 milioane de funcționari publici au certificatul sub numele de ICDL.

Pe de altă parte să nu fim foarte entuziaști privind tineretul (nativii digitali). Mulți nu trec de faza Facebook și nu stăpânesc utilizarea IT la locul de muncă. Anual dau examen cu mine sute de viitori absolvenți de administrație publică și văd rezistența la asimilare a unor noțiuni de bază. Este greu de imaginat să nu știe ce este Wi-Fi pe care se conectează cu smartphonul, adesea în condiții de insecuritate digitală, sau semnătura electronică obligatorie deja prin legislație în anumite tranzacții. Redau în imagine un răspuns dat de un nativ, nu de un imigrant digital, de un student care se presupune că a citit cursul.

Extras dintr-o fișă de examen 2012

 Nu neg că autorul comentariului are dreptate. Sunt funcționari publici tineri, care dobândesc cunoștințe ample în utilizarea PC, cu studii superioare și chiar de masterat. 

Întrebarea este dacă sunt suficienți, cum facem ca toți funcționarii publici să știe să utilizeze IT și aplicațiile de eGuvernare să ne facă viața mai simplă cu mai puțin timp și nervi consumați la ghișee.

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[1] De exemplu AICA Italia http://www.aicanet.it/attivita/pubblicazioni/Cost%20of%20Ignorance-June-2009.pdf

Impactul în agricultură al banilor din licitaţia telecom; un articol de Adrian Seceleanu

Baltac, SoftNet: Guvernul să explice impactul în agricultură al banilor din licitaţia telecom

ieri, 00:08Autor: Adrian Seceleanu

Guvernul are dreptul să dispună alocarea banilor ce vor fi încasaţi din licitaţia telecom către agricultură sau orice alt domeniu, însă dacă nu va şi explica ce rezultate sunt obţinute prin alocarea celor aproximativ 200 mil. euro, atunci măsura va părea una strict electorală, a declarat pentru ZF Vasile Baltac, proprietarul grupului de firme IT SoftNet şi unul dintre cele mai cunoscute nume din industria IT locală.

"Guvernele au dreptul să folosească banii obţinuţi prin astfel de vânzări după cum apreciază că este o prioritate. Seceta şi situaţia economică pot justifica investirea banilor obţinuţi acolo unde se poate obţine impact maxim. Nu se precizează în niciun fel ce se obţine concret în agricultură prin plăţile făcute agricultorilor. Decizia, până la alte explicaţii, este aparent pur electorală. Să ne amintim şi de redirecţionarea penalită­ţilor de la o autostradă către sănătate. Nici acolo nu am aflat ce efect s-a obţinut", a declarat Vasile Baltac pentru ZF.

În vârstă de 71 de ani, Baltac a avut legături cu industria IT încă din anii '60 şi a fost înainte de 1989, printre altele, secretar de stat pentru cercetare şi investiţii în Ministerul Industriei de Maşini - Unelte şi director general al Centralei Industriale de Electronică şi Tehnică de Calcul. După 1990, el a fost adjunct al ministrului industriei electrotehnice, secretar de stat în Ministerul Industriei şi membru în Consiliul de Administraţie al Fondului Proprietăţii de Stat.

Întrebat dacă Guvernul nu ar fi trebuit să aloce măcar o parte din această sumă către proiecte IT&C, Baltac a afirmat că impactul ar fi fost foarte mic, în condiţiile în care suma totală ce ar trebui investită este de ordinul miliardelor de euro.

"O parte înseamnă nimic faţă de lipsa de fonduri pen­tru informati­zarea ad­mi­nistraţiei publice din Ro­mânia. Esti­ma­rea mea este de un necesar de 2-3 miliarde de euro, cheltuiţi raţional, deci o dublare, dacă parţial banii se mai şi risipesc după tradiţia ultimilor 22 ani. Sumele rezultate din licitaţii sunt mici faţă de miliardele nece­sa­re în proiecte de eGuvernare pentru a scoa­te România de pe locurile 26 sau 27 la in­di­catorii IT ai UE. Curând vom fi pe 27 sau 28, deoarece Croaţia stă mai bine la aceşti indicatori."

Baltac afirmă că Guvernul ar trebui să inves­tească bani cu prioritate în informati­za­rea administraţiilor din mediul rural şi în şcola­rizarea funcţionarilor în utilizarea computerelor.

"Indiferent de unde, aş investi cu prio­ritate bani pentru ca toate primăriile, nu nu­mai cele din marile oraşe, să fie informatiza­te şi să actualizeze eficient bazele de date din co­muna lor. Câteva zeci de milioa­ne de euro le-aş investi imediat în in­stru­irea şi certificarea IT obli­ga­torie, de exem­plu ECDL ("per­mi­sul eu­ro­pean de condu­ce­re al com­pu­te­ru­lui" - n. red.), pentru ca­re există şi o bază le­gală HG 1007/2001, comple­ta­tă de Ordi­nul 252/2003 al MAI, unde se prevede ca toţi funcţionarii publici să fie atestaţi IT prin programul ECDL. Nu peste mult timp, va trebui ca toţi adulţii să posede competenţe ebusiness. Personal, cred că asistăm la o cerere de competenţe di­gitale de bază prin dublare la fiecare doi ani şi jumătate. Deci la cele câteva zeci de milioane euro pentru instruirea şi certifi­ca­rea funcţio­na­rilor din ad­ministraţie, aş mai adău­ga zeci de milioa­ne pentru şcoli. Sunt pro­fesor la Fa­cul­tatea de administraţie pu­blică din SNSPA şi asist la prezenţa în anul I a multor "anal­fa­beţi" digitali cu toată in­tro­ducerea compe­ten­ţelor digitale ca probă de bacalaureat".

Premierul Victor Ponta a declarat săptă­mâna trecută că toţi banii care vor fi încasaţi în acest an din cea mai mare vânzare de licenţe de comunicaţii mobile din istoria României - aproximativ 200 mil. euro - vor fi cheltuiţi integral pentru agricultură şi ajutoare pentru fermierii afectaţi de secetă şi nu pentru proiecte IT&C. "Toţi banii proveniţi din această licitaţie vor merge pentru sprijinirea agriculturii şi în special, sigur, a agricultorilor care au fost afectaţi de secetă", a spus premierul.

România scoate la vânzare luna viitoare cea mai mare cantitate de spectru radio din istorie, iar o parte dintre licenţe le va permite câştigătorilor să lanseze pe piaţa locală şi servicii de date 4G.

Licitaţia ar putea aduce României peste 700 mil. euro din taxele de licenţă - dacă toate blocurile de frecvenţă vor fi vândute.

Banii vor fi plătiţi de câştigători în două tranşe - o parte de aproximativ 200 mil. euro până la data de 30 noiembrie, iar diferenţa - o sumă ce poate fi de peste 500 mil. euro - până la jumătatea anului viitor.

CEPIS President Speech at the ECDL Forum 2010

Dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to address you this morning, and with a certain pride, that I, as CEPIS President, come to these annual ECDL Foundation Forums. Such a large and international gathering is a striking demonstration of the reach of ECDL and ICDL.   

CEPIS, as most of you in Europe know, represents the national informatics societies, who with the help of European Union funding, created ECDL as a means to raise digital literacy levels in Europe. This was back in 1995.

Now, almost 15 years later, ECDL and ICDL have grown exponentially in their success and with the support of ECDL Foundation much has been achieved, not just in Europe but around the world.  At a time of economic upheaval, the role of ICT in empowering people is more crucial than ever before as its potential can provide greater benefits when these benefits are most needed.  However, with budget cuts and instability around the world, the risk of exclusion, the risk of skills falling down the list of priorities, and the risk of training and certification being perceived as removable budget lines in industry and government alike, are also great.

Nonetheless, I believe that ECDL Licensees also have a great opportunity at this time.  The European Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe, which you heard about yesterday from Damien, represents Europe’s plan for the next decade.  It replaces i2010, the previous policy framework that encompassed the benefits of ICT for social and economic life.  The Digital Agenda for Europe is the strategy that the European Commission and Member State governments will adhere to for the next decade. It is based on seven action areas: the most important of which is for us the one called ‘enhancing digital literacy; skills and inclusion’.

Through this action line in the digital agenda there are two key chances that represent for ECDL an un-missable occasion to position ourselves as the champions of this agenda.

It is important to know that the Digital Agenda gives us the chance to take action, and to make impact in ensure that this agenda is a success. It clearly defines two areas of action, that for us represent the two main and most important opportunities. I will tell you now what I believe these opportunities to be and how you can and should pursue them.

The first of these two key opportunities relates to the development of a long term digital literacy policy. This is a framework within which you can advocate to your national governments for such a policy to  involve ECDL, or indeed be based upon ECDL. You are the experts on digital literacy and skills in your national environments, offering your expertise to your government in the development of this plan would be a valuable asset.  This is the first opportunity that I think about.

The second key opportunity relates to funding.  The digital agenda provides a channel through which you can help your governments to choose digital literacy and certification as priorities for future funding.  This can take place through the European Social Fund for the next programme cycle.  Sustainable funding is often a challenge in our business.  The digital agenda provides us with a means of overcoming this challenge.  This is the second opportunity that you have.

We make ask us rhetorically why e-Skills became a challenge for the modern society. We all know that new skills are needed, from ICT practitioner skills to ICT user or eBusiness skills. In 60 years since 1950 I made some calculations that the world population has increased 2.6 times, the number of ICT practitioners       4,000 times and of ICT users 400,000 times!

In fact, the result is that the demand for ICT User Skills doubles every 2 ½ years as the intervals between successive radical breakthroughs in computer science decrease exponentially. We have to be prepared for this challenge!

Applications appear at a much reduced accelerated speed compared to technology advances and even more implementation is delayed by need of skills. That is a solid base for promoting eInclusion and fighting digital divide.

Digital Competences are therefore in great demand. ICT User Skills Gap is directly related to eInclusion objectives. Europe faces Shortages and more all types of ICT skills are demanded. The gap is estimated by EC at 700,000 by 2015.

The fact is that in 2010 we are still facing the first Digital Divide and a 2nd Digital Divide is developing directly related to broadband divide and other factors as well.

ECDL is an outstanding example of best practice and we have to make the next steps from Digital Literacy to Digital Competence!

Going back to Europe’s Digital Agenda, it can serve to help position ECDL and indeed to an extent ICDL, as the leading certification standard for the next decade. 

It is has an important potential for us, it can provide a sustainable source of funding for national programmes. Through this agenda, you can, embed ECDL into your governments’ national plans. You can position your organisation as the authority for digital literacy in your country.  These are real opportunities that are available to you.  The potential benefits must be seized and can only be seized through strategic, consistent, deliverable plans of action toward these goals in both advocacy and PR. These are important opportunities, the like of which we have not seen in the past and are unlikely to see again in the future.  At least not for another decade.

I compliment ECDL Foundation, Jim and Damien on the open letter to President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso and to other high-profile political actors.  ECDL Foundation has committed to ambitious yet achievable targets, and it is only through you, the Licensee network,  that these targets can be reached.  Publicly declaring these targets this will benefit the profile of ECDL; but replication through a public relations campaign serves to show your national commitment to making the digital agenda a success and will have a similarly positive impact for your organisation.  I encourage you therefore to follow suit with high profile pledges to your national-level media, government and other actors. And I encourage you then to deliver on the targets that you state – in particular through the two actions I have already mentioned – by working with governments to develop their digital literacy policy and by ensuring that digital literacy is a national priority for European Social funds in your country.

Where the potential gain of the digital agenda is great, as is the risk. The risk in this case, might lie in our inertia, in our lack of response to the opportunities that we have right now. We must ensure therefore that we mitigate against this risk.  The opportunities are there, now more than ever, but action is needed from each and every one of you.  On behalf of CEPIS - the organisation that has been at the very inception of ECDL - I urge you, to take firm grasp of these opportunities and to ensure that ECDL and ICDL are firmly aligned in public support of this agenda and play visible role in the digital recovery of the global economy.

In conclusion, I reaffirm our belief that eSkills are a Challenge of the Beginning of the 21st Century. They are needed for Building a Competitive and eInclusive Europe and World! And again I would like to urge each and every one of you to take advantage of the opportunities that the Digital Agenda provide.

For further contact please visit www.cepis.org

Thank you!

Dr. Vasile Baltac

22 October 2010

CEPIS — Remaining Relevant for the Next 20 Years

Paper published by UPGRADE - The European Journal For the Informatics Professional Vol. X, issue No. 4, August 2009

CEPIS — Remaining Relevant for the Next 20 Years
Vasile Baltac, President Elect CEPIS


The rapid, unparalleled development of technologies has challenged IT professionals in a way that no other profession has encountered. The future of the ICT industry will continue to make no less challenging demand on our IT professionals. CEPIS, as their European representative body has to respond to these challenges, the author outlines what these chal­lenges are likely to be and how CEPIS can put its experience to use in addressing them.


Keywords: Certification, Dissemination of Basic Skills, Education, E-Learning, End-Users, Entrepreneurs, Higher Education Institutions, IT Industry, Lifelong Learning, Pro­fessionalism, Research, Second Generation Digital Divide, Universities.


20 years is a long time in Information Technology (IT). The Web was invented just two decades ago and many of the Internet's features today were not even thought of then. This rapid, unparalleled technological development has chal­lenged IT professionals in a way that no other profession has encountered. The Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS), as the European representa­tive of national professional bodies, has had the mission of coping with these developments. New professions have had to be included and professionalism, a major CEPIS preoc­cupation, has been defined and re-defined as we gave seen extreme European diversification that allows for everything, but simplification.

Information technology has become a day to day tool for a significant number of people. 20 years ago, what we today call the Internet was used by some thousands of peo­ple, whereas now more that 1.5 billion people (more that 23% of the world's population), use IT, mostly in networks. CEPIS responded to this phenomenal increase in the use of technology by defining and launching the European Com­puter Driving Licence (ECDL), the most recognised Euro­pean tool for certification of the basic skills needed to use IT. We are now approaching the issue of the 10 millionth ECDL Skills Card; a figure that demonstrates the adoption of the concept not only in Europe, but also on other conti­nents.


While the European Certification of Informatics Profes­sionals (EUCIP) has not yet met all expectations, it is still a CEPIS project with high potential aimed at helping IT pro­fessionals with a vendor neutral certification.

CEPIS represents professionals from both academia and the IT industry. This is the main reason why CEPIS set up a task force to examine the relationship between them. The task force found that universities and industry do not yet cooperate at a sufficiently close level. The changing world influences universities making them operate in an environ‑

Author
Vasile Baltac is a well-known Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) personality in Romania. He started his long career in information technology in 1961 as a computer pioneer and continued his studies in the '60s at Cambridge (United Kingdom) with Sir Maurice V. Wilkes, Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) Back in Romania he contributed to the development of the Romanian computer industry coordinating national projects leading to the creation of mainframes, minicomputers, and software engineering. Dr. Baltac went on to become a top manager of nationwide IT related research and manufacturing organisations. Dr. Baltac is currently President of ATIC (the ICT Association of Romania), university professor at the prestigious National School of Public Administration and Political Studies, a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and of other professional societies. He has initiated successful national projects in e-Government, IT skills dissemination (European/International Computer Driving Licences, ECDL/ICDL) and is involved in IT-policy projects within the European Union, UNIDO, World Bank, etc. Since 2006 he has served as Vice-Chairman of WITSA (World Information Technology and Services Alliances) in charge with Eastern Europe and from 2006-2008 he served as Vice-President of CEPIS. Since November 2008 he has been President Elect of CEPIS. He is listed in various Who's Who, received the Romanian Academy Award and the National Order For Merit of Romania. He has published books and papers on computers, information technology and society, the history of computers, etc. Recently he discussed the digital divide, social issues of IT, e-Readiness and technology foresight at important conferences in Romania, France, Malaysia, Germany, Hungary and Italy. Prof. Baltac is active in community social projects as member of the Rotary Club "Old Court" Bucharest (Romania). <baltac@cepis.org>.

ment where there is a trend towards part-time studies, in particular for computer-related subjects. While several uni­versities favour theoretical research and leave applied re­search to industry, the research activity in universities, both theoretical and applied, is the most important pillar for sus­taining teaching and bringing educators close to current in­dustrial practice. CEPIS believes that speeding up the ap­plication of research, to match the high innovation rate in ICT seems to benefit industry but forces universities into industry-like timeframes.

One of CEPIS 's findings was the present scarcity of ICT skills in Europe. While universities are mostly prudent about the qualitative aspects of ICT skills needed, they are also pushed by the market to adapt and provide solutions for the increasing scarcity of ICT professionals. The different ap­proaches of universities and industry to realising the skills required in graduates only increases the gap between what universities offer and what industry needs. Reconciling these divergent approaches for reducing the gap between the skills demanded by industry and the ICT skills offered by univer­sity graduates is difficult and may be impossible to achieve.

The present and future of the ICT industry present chal­lenges for professionals. CEPIS as their European repre­sentative body has to be able to cope with these challenges. Continuous advances in information systems technologies and applications require us to reconsider the skills needed by tomorrow's ICT professionals. Probably most important is to recognise that building an Information Society (and further a Knowledge Society) needs a new type of profes­sional, with new skills as yet unknown. A recent poll by ATIC shows that the IT industry in Romania (probably in­dicative of similar situations in other European countries), lacks system analysts and architects, database administra­tors, application services and security experts, product ap­plications, services and sales skills and Chief Executive/ Technical/Information Officers (CE0s/CTOs/CIOs).

The next advances in the industry will cover a wide va­riety of areas from Web 2.0 and 3.0 to Service-Oriented Architectures, grid-computing, Enterprise 2, Internet Pro­tocol Television (IPTV), etc. There will be dramatic changes in the world of media, news and publishing, further impact by search technologies and a deeper integration into our environment paralleled by a proliferation of new levels of high speed connections. At the same time there will be a rise in privacy concerns (and institutions are slow to change). Already some people question the need for so many Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to be interconnected and the stabil­ity of huge databases. A new wave of worries about the environment has reached our industry shores and Green IT has become a preoccupation.

One matter of great importance is the capability to keep applications growing at the same pace as micro-electron­ics. It has been stated that delays between successive radi­cal breakthroughs in computer science decrease exponentially, i.e. each new one comes roughly twice as fast as the previous one. Integrated circuitry seems to con­form to this law. Killer applications, however, appear at a much slower speed.

While we have several accelerating factors that bring ever shorter cycles of innovation, e.g. new hardware tech­nologies, broadband advances, search engine capabilities, e-Content growth and availability, open source software, e- Education impact, we are confronted with decelerating fac­tors such as limitations of present technologies, increasing complexity, information overload, slowing down of hard­ ware by software, and compatibility issues to name just a few. At the same time the future of the industry is threat­ened by vulnerability problems, the increasing volatility of information storage, intellectual property protection issues, the need for perennial standards for media, etc.

All these will bring new challenges for ICT profession­als. Consequently, CEPIS has to adapt itself to this very dynamic environment. CEPIS will be confronted with sev­eral issues, not new, but with a stronger impact than before:

• Professionalism in the new even more dynamic en­vironment.
• Education issues for professionals.
• Education issues for ICT users.

Professionalism has to be enhanced by certification. The ICT industry has developed a full series of vendor certifi­cations. A more general certification based less on com­pany-specific competencies and more on general profes­sional standards could build a university-industry bridge. CEPIS has great potential in terms of creating the vendor neutral schemes needed by industry.

Education of professionals will increasingly be based on higher education institutions. These institutions, as the recent CEPIS report on Universities and Industry shows, aim to produce well-qualified scientists and engineers with a strong scientific background. In practice, most large ICT companies ask for a solid scientific background as they have the resources to further train their staff. Smaller ICT com­panies prefer specialised "ready-to-work" ICT graduates who provide a quick return on investment without incur­ring the expense of additional training. It is impossible to reconcile these two opposing requirements to provide ICT graduates who are both flexible and immediately usable. Each university has to decide which kind of professional it wants to offer to industry and adapt its curricula to best fit that requirement within the type of profession chosen.

The ICT industry is fed by entrepreneurs. CEPIS can work with the European universities to better contribute to the increase of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT sector; firstly by giving their students a scientific and technical background that allows them to be innova­tive and secondly by equipping them with the managerial skills they will need to run a small enterprise.

ICT is particularly appropriate for lifelong learning. Continuous education with short cycles is a necessity. The shortage of ICT skills brings an important number of non­ICT university graduates into the ICT field, mostly in de­veloping countries. CEPIS could play a better role in the ICT education of those people who have already worked in the industry for years or are undergoing professional cross- /re-training. In addition, new advances in e-Learning tech­nologies allow and favour distance learning, enabling uni­versities to play a more important role in the post-graduate training of ICT professionals. E-Business skills are not gen­erally covered by university curricula because they require the deep context knowledge that comes from on-the-job experience. Instead such skills training are frequently of­fered by IT vendors as a consultancy service. This is the category of professionals most sought after by the market and is also the category most likely to seek professional cer­tifications.

CEPIS is well known as a promoter of the dissemina­tion of basic skills in the use of ICT. With the rapid rise in ICT users (already exceeding 1.5 billion people), the ECDL programme becomes even more important in assuring the quality of these skills. ECDL will further increase aware­ness of the need for basic skills. The digital divide is still evident in many respects in Europe and CEPIS will further support efforts for the e-Inclusion of large categories of peo­ple. Through ICDL, the ECDL Foundation contributes to achieving these goals on other continents.

On the other hand, we may notice the signs of what I would call a "Second Generation Digital Divide". People acquire only the simplest tools needed to use ICT and are far from using the new ICT tools and applications, most of which can deliver a notable increase in productivity and quality of work, e.g. via collaboration or cloud computing. It will be a major challenge for the ECDL programme to cover the new basic tools of the Internet and the general use of ICT.

The 20th anniversary is a moment for CEPIS to reflect on its own capability as an organisation. I am sure that the Council and Execom will take into account the experience gained during the first 20 years to further enhance CEPIS.

Some of the CEPIS areas of development we may pur­sue next:

1) Increase in Membership: Our constitution states that a professional association from a country member of the Council of Europe may become a member of CEPIS. At present, the Council of Europe has 47 member states. Our council represents 36 member societies in only 33 countries across Europe, leaving enough room for further CEPIS en­largement.

2) Performance Improvement: CEPIS has acted on behalf of member societies and will continue to do so. How­ever, a more prominent leading role in major projects would be welcome.

3) New Strategy: A new strategy is needed for a chang­ing world. This strategy will be the result of the input of the member societies and will reflect the new European ICT environment.

4) Enhanced Recognition: CEPIS is a recognised voice of ICT professionals, but a more dedicated contribution to European decisions on Information Society could be sought.

5) Digital Literacy: CEPIS will continue to be the main body to propose, through the ECDL Foundation, a certify­ing programme with periodic enhancements to reflect new developments in the ICT industry.

6) Higher Education Institutions: CEPIS can act as a pan-European mediator between universities and industry in a multi-stakeholder partnership. CEPIS can review the current content of curricula for ICT studies to ensure a posi­tive impact on the future of the ICT industry by providing graduates with the proper theoretical background and prac­tical training.

7) e-Learning: CEPIS will support e-learning as a methodology for continuing professional development and considers that universities can be encouraged to offer mas­ter or other post-graduate conversion courses to non-ICT graduates.

8) Better visibility: An improved newsletter, Website, statements, position papers, UPGRADE/UPENET, confer­ences and awards will contribute to the increased visibility of CEPIS among professionals in Europe.

9) Cooperation. There are many European bodies rep­resenting ICT businesses and professionals. CEPIS has to strengthen cooperation with them and become a central point in this network. Special attention will be given to re­gional alliances of member societies.

10) Constitution. 20 years of existence has proved that the current constitution is the right basic document for our Council. Some modification will be needed to adapt to the forthcoming new strategy and to improve governance.

As has already been said above, IT 20 years is a quite long period of time in computing. Generations of hardware, software, and applications have been developed by ICT pro­fessionals. Their professional background has been radi­cally altered and this trend will continue.

CEPIS has done a lot to accomplish its mission goals:

• To be the main network of European IT Profession­als.
• To become established as the leading independent European IT Certification Organisation.
• To raise the profile and promote the views of the European Informatics Societies and Informatics Profession­als to the European Commission and European Institutions.
• To promote the development of the Information So­ciety through digital literacy, skills, education & research and professionalism.

To keep achieving all of these goals, CEPIS has chal­lenging years ahead.

eGovernment and Digital Divide

One of my first papers on eGovernment was published in the year 2000 and was called “eGovernment between fashion and necessity”.
Many ideas are still valid:
• eGovernment programs are launched with much publicity and public attention
• There is a relation between the success of a eGovernment program and Digital Divide status of the country
• An expensive eGovernment program in a country with poor Internet & ICT infrastructure may bring a waste of valuable resources
• Mentalities and lack of ICT training could a serious barrier
The conclusion was then, however, optimistic: do not delay eGovernment programs; they contribute to the spread of ICT and Internet, including to the change o mentalities.
The practice of 2 Romanian eGovernment initiatives proved later that I was right.
• The payment of local taxes over Internet was a good eGovernment application, but rarely used as most taxpayers had no Internet access and bank cards at that time.
• eProcurement made compulsory for several public acquisitions contributed a lot to the spread of Internet use in small and medium enterprises.
In fact, eGovernment programs have to take into account not only the needs and interests of the public administration. The priorities have to be set according to the acceptance potential of the country.
In my intervention at the previous GPPC2005, I set what I consider to be the 4 pillars of bridging Digital Divide:
• Appropriate ICT Infrastructure
• Accessible and Affordable Internet Access
• Generalized Ability to Use ICT
• Availability of Useful Content
Any country’s position regarding the first 3 pillars is of paramount importance in setting eGovernment for success. The 4th pillar is just consolidated by eGovernment programs adding useful content to country’s knowledge base.
The relationship between the success of implementation of eGovernment programs and the Digital Divide status of the country brings us to the conclusion that the imitation of eGovernment programs of ICT developed countries is useless and brings waste of resources.
The first 2 pillars are already a preoccupation for most countries, and unfortunately the metrics of Digital Divide is limited to these 2 aspects: appropriate ICT infrastructure and accessible and affordable Internet Access.
But in my opinion, eGovernment programs in most countries, except a few situated in the front line of ICT use, have to accompanied by extensive programs of education of citizens in the use of ICT, what is called in Europe eInclusion. Without generalized ability to use ICT, the information society and its part eGovernment will not be for all, but only for elite.
A program for the certification of these abilities was launched in Europe by CEPIS and is now spreading on many continents. ECDL/ICDL certifies that a person has the minimal abilities to use present ICT applications and the certificate is issued with uniform tests to insure the international recognition of the certificate. The first targets are public administration, university graduates and high-school graduates.
The spread of such training programs in the public administration units is a necessary condition for the success of eGovernment applications. These people are required to develop and operate them.
On the other hand, ICT education can help the access to eGovernment applications of several categories of citizens like people in rural areas, old people, people with disabilities, etc.
And finally a last but not least criteria to be added on check-list of priorities for launching eGovernment programs.
eGovernment may have a contribution to the improvement of our environment.
• Trees are cut to produce paper and paper is extensible used in not-eGovernment applications. Extending eGovernment less trees will be cut and our life will be better.
• Traffic became unbearable in many cities of the world. If the citizen will interact with local and central administration by Internet and not by car or bus or train, our air will be cleaner and again the life better. So, let us “Crowd the net and free the roads”.
To conclude let us come back to the first remark; eGovernment is a fashion or a necessity? Definitely, it a necessity but its implementation should be done taking into account local ICT readiness conditions and accompanied by complementary education programs of both public servants and citizens.

Prepared for WITSA GPPC 2007 Cairo eGovernment Panel 6 November 2007

Nevoia de instruire şi tehnologiile informaţiei

De peste doi ani îmi programez concediile şi-mi rezerv hotelurile numai pe Internet. Chiar şi în România, deşi multe hoteluri la noi încă refuză nu numai rezervarea on-line, dar nici nu oferă pasagerilor acces Internet.

Am călătorit pe un itinerar ales pe Internet, aflând nu numai pe unde să merg, dar şi numărul de kilometri şi costul benzinei. Am folosit un navigator GPS şi nu am mai pus mâna pe hartă zile întregi. Când pe harta GPS nu am găsit adresa exactă a punctului de destinaţie, m-am uitat cu Google Earth şi am determinat precis coordonatele geografice pe care le-am introdus în GPS şi am ajuns astfel sigur la destinaţie. Fotografiile făcute le-am încărcat pe Internet şi am trimis prietenilor numai un mail scurt cu o adresă unde puteau să le vadă şi eventual să le imprime fără a mai bloca liniile cu zeci de megabaiţi transferaţi. Mi-am citit mailurile vitale pe telefonul mobil. Şi multe alte lucruri care m-au făcut să economisesc timp şi să am mai mult pentru admirat fie privelişti, fie opere de artă, fie pur şi simplu să mă odihnesc mai mult.

De ce spun toate acestea? Deoarece mă întreb câţi dintre concetăţenii noştri pot face toate acestea şi dintre cei care au mijloacele tehnice, câţi ştiu să o facă?

Mijloacele tehnice deja există şi sunt relativ accesibile. Un calculator costă mai puţin decât un frigider şi numai înţelegerea nevoii de el împiedică a familie cu venituri medii să îl achiziţioneze. Un abonament Internet costă lunar cât o masă la un restaurant într-o seară. Rămâne instruirea de a folosi aceste tehnologii.

Efectuez de câţiva ani un sondaj cu absolvenţi de facultate (de la facultăţi care nu sunt de specialitate). Urmăresc sa vad in ce măsura termeni, sintagme, noţiuni specifice utilizării tehnologiilor informaţiei si comunicaţiilor sunt cunoscute acestei categorii de persoane.

Nu mă refer la termeni de stricta specialitate, ci la unii întâlniţi în mass-media și chiar panouri publicitare, pe baza cărora facem alegeri de abonamente de telecom şi care fac parte din viaţa noastră de zi cu zi cum ar fi: ADSL, bluetooth, CDMA, certificat digital, chei publice, EDGE, Java, pixel, 3G, Wi-Fi, etc. Respondenţilor li se cere numai să bifeze dacă ştiu bine despre ce este vorba, bănuiesc că ştiu sau nu ştiu.

În ceea ce priveşte cultura generală TIC, dacă mulţi știu sau cred că ştiu care este diferenţa între Kbps şi KBps, cei mai mulţi nu ştiu ce este POS, URL, FTP sau RFID.

Noţiuni ca eGovernment sau servicii web sunt reclamate ca fiind cunoscute. In fapt ultimele sunt confundate cu accesul la Internet.

Surprinzător este că mulți termeni din telecomunicaţii într-o ţară cu 17 milioane de posesori de telefoane mobile, cu un număr din ce în ce mai mare de abonaţi la Internet banking, sunt puţini stăpâniţi. Sub 50% ştiu sau bănuiesc că ştiu ce sunt ADSL, TCP/IP, chei publice, criptare 64/128 biţi şi nimeni nu a ştiut ce reprezintă CDMA, UMTS, Wi-Fi, WiMAX.

Se poate spune pe bună dreptate că eşantionul ales este nereprezentativ şi că în realitate lucrurile stau mult mai rău, dacă am extinde sondajul mai departe în societate la toți actualii sau potenţialii utilizatori Internet.

Care este mesajul meu în acest context? Nu putem face paşi înainte spre o folosire generalizată a tehnologiilor informaţiei de către toată lumea fără investiţii uriaşe în educaţia de bază a utilizării TIC. Nu ar mai trebui să existe absolvent de facultate sau de liceu fără a avea aceste cunoştinţe minime, măcar la nivel ECDL..

Altfel tineretul se va rezuma să navigheze pe Internet, să trimită mailuri şi SMS şi să fie prezent pe chat.

Iar cei mai în vârstă să se uite la Internet ca la ceva inaccesibil, iar aceia dintre ei care au de exemplu blog să fie priviţi ca animale exotice într-o menajerie de troglodiţi.

11 septembrie 2007