KOTA SAMARAHAN: The Institute of Social Informatics and Technological Innovations (ISITI-CRI) is holding the fifth eBorneo Knowledge Fair 2015 (eBKF5 2015) in Ba Kelalan for the first time.
The three-day knowledge fair began on Wednesday with a postgraduate colloquium, which saw the attendance of both local and international postgraduate students from countries including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Nigeria.
They presented the progress of their work in various areas of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), all of which were relevant to the goals and objectives of the knowledge fair — to promote research that innovates with technologies in order to address the challenges and opportunities that remote and isolated indigenous communities face.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) visiting professor Professor Dr Roger Harris facilitated the workshop ‘Community Radio’ together with Stanley Issac and councillor John Tarawe; while the ‘Engaged Learning’ workshop was facilitated by Associate Professor Dr Shorna Broussard Allred and Amy Kuo Somchanhmavong, both from Cornell University in the United States.
It was attended by stakeholders such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Maxis Sdn Bhd, Pusat Internet 1 Malaysia (PI1M), researchers from Unimas, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS), Polytechnic of Namibia, as well as Ba Kelalan, Bario and Long Lamai residents.
Unimas Faculty of Social Sciences Associate Professor Dr Poline Bala, who is also eBaKelalan site leader, highlighted the aims and objectives of eBKF5 2015 during her welcoming speech.
Polytechnic of Namibia Professor Dr Heike Winschiers delivered the keynote speech entitled ‘Community-based co-design of Indigenous Knowledge Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities’.
This year’s fair aims to work on several areas of interest to the indigenous community, particularly the Lun Bawang community in Ba Kelalan, and the rest of the world as a whole.