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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 12:29:59 EST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: ugnet_: TE & Bwanika: Computers, Knowledge, Play and Society.
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Mr Bwanika, and netters,
these are my thoughts on this question.
computers/IT can do a lot of things:
they enable us to write down ideas and transmit them to a large number of
people faster and more cheaply than we could before.
they enable us to access a larger number of books, articles and other sources
of knowledge than we could otherwise, this process is also cheaper and faster.
They enable us to keep records, sort them, and retrieve them faster and more
cheaply that we could before.
They enable us to examine difficult scientific and mathematical questions
faster and more easily than we could before.
BUT, note that they do not enable us to do anything that we were previously
unable to do. they only make it easier to do what we are already capable of.
An engineer can design and build a road, or an aircraft, or a radio, much
faster and with more confidence of a good design with the help of a computer
than without. An engineer who is in the first instance incapable of the task
will not be able to do it with computer assistance.
A retail trader can keep inventory, track sales and profit margins and replace
stock from the wholesaler much more easily using a computer. But no
incompetent retailer has become successful just by installing a computer
system.
A govt can run a system of clinics, keep track of their workloads, keep them
supplied and make budget predictions for them using computers, this makes the
task much easier. But many govts were doing this quite effectively before the
arrival of computers, and those are the govts that are using computerised
management systems effectively. No incompetently managed hospital, clinic, or
health service has been improved by computerisation.
In the are of "information exchange" the effect of IT has actually been for
the worse. the number of people with well-thought-out ideas to spread has not
increased, but due to the ease of word-processing, the total amount of reading
material has exploded. In engineering terms, the signal-to-noise ratio has
shifted in favor of noise. Anyone who has any managerial responsibilty in a
hospital and sits on a commitee will know what I'm talking about, I'm sure
it's just as bad in other sectors of the economy .
My conclusion: while we support the computerisation of our nation's
functions, let us not forget that those IT systems will only be profitable if
we have good managers and knowledgeable technicians in place to use the
computers.
Sam Kigongo Omukooki
__________
bwanika
url: www.idr.co.ug
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