Key MSC Issues (Current/next 5 year) and Their
Rationale:
Role of Government
Providing support and fund for appropriate projects, including the research and
development sector and the education sector.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: There needs to be a clear policy on setting goals for
research and education. Also there is a need for a more coherent focus and vision within
government for deciding which research sectors have priority in the use of government
funding.
Providing government visionary leadership.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: There is often a great reluctance to accept the role of
another government authority as being coordinator in a MSC problem area.
Promoting public understanding through MSC awareness programmes and similar campaigns.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: The need to erase negative perceptions that build
barriers to successful MSC systems. If advanced applications are to be incorporated
successfully within user environment. There needs to be Improved understanding on the part
of users of their own requirements and the changes in the environment.
Measuring MSC effectiveness and productivity (determining the value of MSC).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: The measurement of MSC performance is crucial to its
effective management. This is becoming increasingly important as the country invests more
and more in MSC.
Aligning MSC and Country's vision.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: The effectiveness with which MSC can support the
country's needs is dependent on the purpose of MSC within the country's vision.
Maintaining national competitiveness.
Encouraging the private sector.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: State owned and private industry lack a commitment to
innovation. They are not prepared to take risks, and concentrates on short term
operational planning to the detriment of longer term strategic planning. National private
industry has not taken sufficient advantage of commercial opportunities from public sector
research. There is a need to encourage the private sector to take a lead in providing
value-added information and services over the MSC.
Promoting partnership and dialogue within and between the government sector and the
private sector.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: It is increasingly critical to MSC's success that
government and private sector have good communication channels and collaborate on joint
projects (joint setting of standards, pilot projects). So that MSC development can focus
more on applications and services that meet the needs of broad range of users in
education, health care and manufacturing, and other industries critical to the country's
economy.
Preparing for MSC use in the global economy.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: There exist a tendency towards the integration of
national economies. The Association of South East Asia Nations Free Trade Area (AFTA) and
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are clear examples of this tendency. MSC is a
fundamental instrument to realize this integration. Countries must develop abilities in
the use of MSC to be prepared to enter a global economy.
Deregulating telecommunications sector.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: Due to concerns about the deregulation of the
telecommunication sector, price and quality of telecommunication operations may become
important issues in the MSC development.
Education
Promoting global tertiary qualifications.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: To compete in a global market, national universities will
be increasingly forced to consider the need to co-operate with foreign universities to
confer "global" degrees: ISO 9000, joint program, twinning programme.
Linking business with education.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: Businesses require well-educated staff but managers in
industry believe that universities still live in an ivory tower world, and so cannot have
any understanding of the needs of the "real world". The challenge facing both
business and universities is how to best establish useful and sustainable partnership.
Developing human resources for MSC user and MSC development.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: MSC technologies and applications are always evolving.
Current and future shortages of qualified Information Technology (IT) and Information
Systems (IS) personnel threaten the MSC ability to evolve in rapidly changing technology.
These changes make it necessary to train MSC user in the latest technologies and
methodologies available.
Legal/Standards/Security/Intellectual Property law/protection, and privacy
Protecting intellectual property right, security and privacy.
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: Many Multi National Companies (MNCs) fear loss of their
intellectual property rights and actively lobby for intellectual property law. Many
promote their own restrictive standards and attempt to influence the development of the
regulatory and legal environment. There is a need to revise laws and regulations that
obstruct the development and use of IT and communications.
Setting information and data standard.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: Commonly accepted standards are essential to ensure that
information transmitted to MSC is complete, unambiguous and usable. The creation of
standards is now very much a commercially-driven activity and is often aimed at obtaining
commercial advantage, either for the supplier or the customer. The country's standards and
agreements should be set in order to direct competitive businesses towards the
compatibility of their product. This represents one of major requirements for the
development of trade between countries.
Improving information security and control.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: As countries increase their competitiveness on MSC, there
is a greater risk from destruction and alteration of data and disruption of information
services. Given the possibility of potential threats to the security of inter-linked
information systems by cyberpunk and computer criminals, the confidence of the seller and
buyer is needed to conduct transactions through MSC. Tight security controls are becoming
necessary.
Social/Cultural benefits/ Open access
Providing equitable access to the MSC.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: This include access to information as well as access
through the MSC to other individuals, groups and sectors. Citizens must have equal access
to government services provided over the MSC, easy access to government authorities,
universal access for homes, business, public sector agencies and organizations.
Providing ease of use MSC.
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: The high degree of technical complexity inherent in IT
and MSC create demands for standard development, interactive multimedia and integration of
telecommunication resources.
Technology issues
Selecting technology.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: An integrated MSC system can handle enormous processing
burdens in a national environment. A combination of technology selection plays an
important role in bringing about such a condition. Government must recognize the existence
of updated technologies and their efforts to advance the process of MSC in the country.
Examples of technologies which play a significant role in MSC technology are intelligent
nevisionrk architectures, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), asynchronous digital subscribe
line (ADSL), electronic data interchange (EDI) and fibre-optic communications.
Providing system integration.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rationale: System integration is a framework which collect
specialized programmes that enables individual system components to communicate with one
another. An integrated system architecture migrates across different hardware platforms
and operating systems without significance adjusted maintenance. It may be necessary to
integrate data processing and telecommunications.
Please feel free to add any additional issues
On the secound round of this study, I will interview participant of this survey. For
this purpose I will visit Malaysia from month of April to May 1999.