The iK can be customised to suit the needs of the client such as content displayed on these screens located at a bus travel service company booth at Kuching Sentral.
FOR the thousands of travellers passing through Kuching Sentral daily, the LED flat screens provide a welcome distraction from the monotony of waiting as well as a useful source of information for public events and important public notices.
Most users and consumers do not care to know how these information communication technology (ICT) services and hardware work — only that they do what they are supposed to when required. It is only when things go awry that people sit up, take notice and speak out.
So it can be said Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (Sains) which is behind the information screens and their contents at Kuching Sentral, is responsible for the commendable dilemma of being largely invisible in the public eye due to its consistent, but oftimes, under-appreciated competence.
Behind the scenes
This is a rather strange paradox, indeed, because SAINS has been the key driver behind the development and implementation of government ICT infrastructure and services in Sarawak for almost a quarter of a century.
Much of this depends on Sarawak Net — the ICT infrastructure and service network which serves as the backbone for electronic government (e-government) services and inter-agency information sharing in the state.
“However, ask the average layperson in town and chances are he or she would not have heard of Sains before, despite the government linked company (GLC) winning more than 20 national, regional and international awards in the past decade for its work,” chief executive officer Datuk Teo Tien Hiong told thesundaypost recently.
Sains now offers more than 200 workplace ICT solutions to clients in the government as well as non-government sectors according to the corporate profile posted on its website.
The screens at Kuching Sentral are just one location out of more than 100 points of presence where Sains’ latest initiative Infocast Kenyalang (iK) is available.
At first glance, iK may not seem like much, but like an American muscle car, there is a lot going on under the hood just raring to be flexed and tested.
Video-walls such as this one are among the new iK applications and concepts being developed by the Sains team.
Information service
The iK was originally conceived as a corporate social responsibility initiative to help familiarise the public with SAINS’ various corporate programmes and community services.
However, realising its vast potential as a source of public information, the concept was soon extended to include other government departments and agencies.
“I think the concept is quite straightforward — how do we bring what we want to tell the people to the people. As Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem said, this encompasses not only what we want to tell them but also what they want to know. So that concept is quite easy and straightforward. The question is how,” Teo said.
The technology behind iK is hardly new but harnessing and adapting it for use throughout the state was something which had not been attempted before, and took about three years to research.
“If we talked about setting up the system for use, it would have been very fast — six months to put together. However, there is the matter of fine-tuning the technology for most appropriate format for presentation, in terms of cost, ease of use, user friendliness, deployment and such like.
“This is where a lot of the thinking process goes into — what it is we want to present, to whom we are going to present, who are the people who have things to present, do they know what they want to present and so on. These are the issues we have to address and today, we are still addressing them,” he- shared.
Information delivery
The iK’s key benefits are its ability to deliver specific information in a timely manner to specific clusters or groups of users. Information can be customised according to the needs of the user and the target audience. What makes this possible is Sarawak Net, built to host e-government services and cater to the needs of various agencies dispersed throughout the state in urban and rural locations, as well as to leverage on ICT as a core component of socio-economic development.
Needless to say, the potential reach of information dissemination services riding on Sarawak Net, including iK, is tremendous.
For many Sarawakians living in the interior where ICT infrastructure and services are scarce, government offices serve as valuable hubs of information that connect them to the rest of the state and vice versa.
With Sarawak Net as its delivery channel, iK is able to be reach remote locations such as Belaga, Long Lama and Kapit — places where Sarawak Net already has a point of presence.
This is no small feat, considering the state’s large size and diverse geography, and it makes Sarawak Net the largest such government network in Malaysia.
At Sains’ office in Kota Samarahan, visitors can interact with the screens at a touch through push buttons or touch screens to access information such as locations maps and important programmes and meetings happening that day.
Senior network engineer Allen Liew who oversees the Digital Signage and Audiovisual Services Unit told thesundaypost the screens could be programmed to show anything from photo slideshows to public announcements, news, mini features and even short video clips and documentaries.
“Information is updated and sent via Sarawak Net through fiber, copper cable and satellite networks during off-peak times, usually at night when there is idle capacity,” he explained.
The iK can be programmed to simultaneously show video (left) and static-content (right) on the same screen. The content is then refreshed or changed.
I Care
The service was officially launched by the Chief Minister last October during which he also urged state government agencies to do more to engage the rakyat and get them to feel they are participants instead of mere spectators in government projects and activities.
This message has been taken to heart by Sains during the planning and implementation of iK and this is something it will continue to do as it seeks to improve and expand the service, Teo added.
“Through iK I think we have improved the approach to sharing information to the whole state as well as to the communities. The name iK is purposely selected because it rhymes with I Care. At the higher level, if you ask what I am proud of, I will answer to say I am proud we are able to care more and show we care more through this programme.
“As a GLC, I am proud we are able to engage the agencies and the rakyat in a more holistic manner. iK is about narrow casting, not broadcasting, so that outstation localities can share local news with their community.
“This is something television, radio, newspapers and advertisers are not able to replicate on such a large scale. We are proud we can fill that niche and bring information of specific interest to specific communities. I think we are the only ones who are presently doing this,” he said.
Looking ahead
Although iK has just been launched, Teo is proud of what has been achieved so far and positive about how much more can be potentially achieved through the programme.
For example, the iK service can be used to provide timely information such as elections dates and voting centres, government scholarships, public information hearings, flying doctor services, appeals for blood donations at public hospitals and the like.
The iK now has more than 100 points of presence throughout the state with more planned for the coming year.
However, the rate of take-up is still relatively low as many government agencies, statutory bodies and non-government organisations are not familiar with the service.
In this respect, Liew and his team will have to continue actively playing public relations and sales roles to convince
other government agencies and non-government organisations of iK’s benefits, in addition to soliciting feedback necessary to continually improve the information delivery system as well as content and development process.
Teo meanwhile acknowledged getting buy-in could be challenging, especially if the client had entrenched ways of doing things.
“When you come up with something new, people will say this is not my job so the organisation will have to reposition itself (before the new processes can be incorporated in). So I think that is to be expected in terms of getting the agencies or organisations to be fully part of this and to internalise this as part of their operations,” he reckoned.
Nevertheless, this has not deterred Sains from continuing to develop new services and applications for iK, including outdoor screens in high traffic areas and video-walls which can be custom-built to stretch across a room.
Now, the service is free to the civil sector and certain non-governmental organisations (NGOs). However, Sains is also keeping its options open about selling the service to selected advertisers in the future as part of its plans to build a self-sustaining revenue stream.
Teo declined to reveal how much Sains had spent developing and rolling out iK so far, except that it was in the realm of about RM2 million — with expenses expected to rise accordingly as iK increases its points of presence and content development.
He also has not ruled out expanding into public-private sector partnerships to help offset some of the costs.
“Kuching Sentral is a good example. We have the technology and they have the need to show their information so we came up with a win-win arrangement. We put our things up there and they put their own things, and both sides benefit.
“But the ultimate winner is and should be the rakyat,” Teo said.
Teo (left) and senior network engineer Liew standing next to a four-screen display in the GLC’s lobby, which is showing iK.