International
Girls in ICT Day, which was observed on Thursday April 24th 2014,
was implemented by UN's (United Nation) ITU (International Telecommunication
Union) member states, under Plenipotentiary Resolution 70 (Guadalajara, 2010).
All
this attention lavished on women and females in a bid to encourage more women
and Girls to enter the Field of ICT (Information Technology and Computing) and
Telecommunications in Jamaica and the rest of the World as stated in “Jamaica
continues to support girls in ICT”, published Tuesday, April 29, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.
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Supported
this year by Telecom Provider LIME and
SMA (Spectrum Management Authority), the long term aim of the observation of
this day is to start getting girls at the High School level aware that, yes,
careers do indeed exist in Science and Technology and that ICT (Information and
Technology Sector) and is a readily available low hanging fruit they can pick.
This
year, as they’d done the year before, the SMA opened their doors to a boatload
of females from UTECH (University of
Technology) and UWI (University of the
West Indies) hoping to convince them that they can find rewarding careers
in ICT, even having them meet a female Engineer.
So
says SMA's Manager for Operating Systems and Special Project, Judith Marshall
Anderson, who may have realized that this was the way to go after women from UTECH and UWI appeared blissfully unaware that such
careers existed, quote: “What we plan to do is aim at younger girls [in high
school] because some of the comments we've gotten from the university girls is
that they weren't exposed earlier and didn't know there was a career in
engineering in ICT. So we are thinking it would be good to have high school
students so we can open their horizons.”
But
how do women enter the ICT and Telecommunications when officially, it doesn’t
exist, with most of the Training knowledge guarded by FDI (Foreign Direct
Investors) and Companies? Worse, how do women make a difference in a field
that’s shrouded in mystery and the level of Training available at colleges,
Universities and Technical Training Institutions is nowhere akin to anything
that exists in the Developing World?
ICT in Jamaica – Mainly
Call Centers with Animation and Video Game Industry Stagnant
According
to Chief Technical Director for the ICT Division in the Ministry of Science,
Technology, Energy and Mining Wahkeen Murray, ICT is a sausage-fest, hence the
need to get girls to realize that they can drink milk too very easily in the
Sciences, especially ICT as it is not just all Sausage, quote: “...So there's
an emphasis being placed on girls in ICT, certainly from the ITU perspective.
The message being communicated is that ICT is not a gender specific field or
industry. The aim is to encourage governments in the region and across the
world to focus more on women in ICT and how they can encourage greater
involvement of girls in the field of ICT”
Who
can blame them?
The
main problem is this: we don't really have an ICT culture in Jamaica at all
that promotes Open sharing of Information. It’s mostly a tech-centric Jamaica
dominated by a few aggressive Uptown (read Kingston and St. Andrew) males working
in the Telecoms Sector that’s easily mistaken for ICT who apparently think that
travelling abroad to the USA, rattling off specs and watching Videos of Fast
Cars on YouTube makes them “techies”.
Clearly
the ICT Field needs a woman’s touch to remove the shroud of Secrecy that guards
information that isn’t sensitive at all, just merely being the means by which
ICT and Telecom Providers make money.
After
all, the Jamaican population needs to be empowered not only by the UNCHR
(United Nation Charter of Human Rights) as it relates to a Right to Broadband enshrined
in the constitution, but also with the knowledge of how to make money online as
concluded in my
blog article entitled “Digicel
and LIME's 4G LTE Adoption in Jamaica – Budget Tablets with Microsoft
Productivity Software spark Wireless Broadband Revolution”.
Add
to that generally well known fact that most references to ICT really refer to
Call Centers. Depending on the account that you’re placed on, there may be more
women than men working in Call Centers.
This
is because their voices sound more pleasant on the phone than a male and easier
for Call Center Managers to handle without having to resort to stapling
people’s pockets as stated in as stated in my blog
article entitled
Aside
from Call Centers, which is really a part of the BPO (Business Process
Outsourcing) Sub-Sector of ICT, the other sub-fields that exist in ICT and
Telecoms that are viable are as follows:
1.
Server Maintenance
2.
Computer Hardware and Software
Maintenance
3.
LAN (Local Area Network) Networking
4.
Telecom Switching Engineering
These
fields, however, are not ICT, but rather support services that exist within
companies to perform necessary Communications related Functions that involved
Computers or other devices in a Network. In essence they’re basically Telecoms
Services with an ICT slant in their functionality.
Truth
be told, there is no real pure ICT Sector
in Jamaica focused on purely computer related ventures such as:
1.
Application Software Design
2.
Computer and Network Design
3.
App Design for smartphones and Tablets
4.
Animation
5.
Video Game Programming
Rather,
there is a Telecoms Sector that’s easily mistaken for an ICT Sector, due to
their overlapping functionalities. Especially as Telecom Providers such as LIME and Digicel are now effectively ISP
(Internet Service Providers) providing Wired and Wireless Data Services such as
the soon to be launched 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) as described in my blog article entitled
“LIME
and Digicel have purchase AWS and 700 MHZ Spectrum for 4G LTE - Spectrum
Purchase by the Number with Strings Attached as Ministry gets kitty donations
from Local Telcos”.
Personnel
who work in the Telecoms field that support ICT and Telecoms Systems that keep
companies going. They do regular Routine Maintenance on these Systems to keep
them going, their main bread and butter. And most of them have signed NDA
(Non-Disclosure Agreements) that forbids them from disclosing company secrets
to competitors, the Traditional or Social Media or worse to the Public at
large, often referred to via the derogatory slag as being “outsiders”.
I
know this, having worked at C&W (Cable and Wireless), now LIME Jamaica (2001 to 2004) and then later
at CLARO Jamaica (2008 to 2009), having designed their Network and thereby
securing a job there. My work experience is plainly laid out in my Engineering
Resume and Diploma and Degree
qualifications are there plain for anyone to see.
Animation and Video
Game Programming – Million Dollar Industries that we’re barely tapping
Animation
is the only ICT Sub-Sector from this list that has gotten any real push by the
GOJ (Government of Jamaica) as reported in my blog article
entitled “Inaugural
KingstOOn Animation Competition a boost to local Animation Industry - State
Minister Julian Robinson give Graphic Artists the chance to Feel this Moment
Pitbull and Christina Aguilera Style”.
Animation
is yet to really take off, as those powers-that-be that are pushing Animation
are not focused on individual animations or small Teams of animators being
empowered with the skill to make quality animation for local consumption.
Rather, their focus is on developing a Call Center-esque environment for
Animation to be done on demand via small BPO (Business Process Outsourcing).
These
mini-projects would be undertaken by the BPO’s in order to yield profits via
FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) for various accounts and Taxation of these
large-scale investors and their employees as can be surmised from my Geezam blog article entitled “KingstOOn
Animation Festival and GG’s “I Believe in Jamaica” Animation Training – Genesis
of Animation Outsourcing”.
In
essence, BPO focused not on terminating calls for clients, but finishing
Animation Projects for Clients. The GOJ (Government of Jamaica) might have a
similar plan in store for the Video Gaming Industry, as that too is a Sector
closely related to animation. Oddly, there are only three (3) major Animators
in Jamaica:
1.
Alcyone, which makes the Cabbie Chronicles
To
date, the only one making any major headway in terms of gaining International
Contracts that would require them to employ more Animators is Reel Rock GSW. They’re doing animation on
contract for Disney Channel and Nickelodeon's Lucky Fred in partnership with
Imira Entertainment of Spain as stated in my blog
article entitled “Animation
after KingstOON - Reel Rock GSW reveals that the Imira Entertainment of Spain
Contract is for Disney Channel and Nickelodeon's Lucky Fred”.
To
that end, I began a series of articles on Animation that have the title “Animation after KingstOOn” that have
tracked Animation’s development in Jamaica since the inaugural KingstOOn
Animation Conference and Film Festival at the UWI Mona Lodge on Friday June 21st 2013 as reported in my blog
article entitled “Inaugural
KingstOOn Animation Competition a boost to local Animation Industry - State
Minister Julian Robinson give Graphic Artists the chance to Feel this Moment
Pitbull and Christina Aguilera Style”.
Still,
the rest of Jamaica, be it Corporate Jamaica or even the Broadcasting Community
has yet to even sponsor a competition to support this fledgling Industry as I’d
suggested years ago in my blog article entitled “J'Anime Competition - An Avenue to Fame for Animators”.
Ditto
too the Video Game Industry, about which I’ve written countless letters to
Television Jamaica as well as doing a basic primer on how to get started doing
2D or 3D Video Games as chronicled in my blog
article entitled “Animation
after KingstOOn - How to make a Video Game for PC, Smartphone and Tablet”.
ICT Industry doesn’t
Exist – Moneymaking for Telecom Providers guarded by NDA’s
So
there is the truth laid bare.
The
so-called pure ICT Industry really doesn’t exist at all. ICT is merely an
extended functionality of the Telecoms Sector, which is why Telecom Provider Digicel wants 25% of their revenue
from it as stated in my blog
article entitled “Digicel
to invest US$85 million in 4G LTE Network - 25% of Total revenue from ICT as 4G
LTE Investments designed to weather the coming Summer WhatsApp Storm”.
The
perception of male dominance is an illusion, as there’s nothing to dominate,
really. Just a bunch of aggressive uptowners who apparently watch too much
Cable TV and like discussing tech in a fast-paced manner akin to white American
Teenagers, thinking that it makes them sound intelligent! They can’t discuss
anything else, as NDA prevent them from doing so.
Many
of them don’t even know how to fix their own computers. I know this, as I’ve
had my fair share of customers uptown with antique machines that need driver
updates as chronicled in my Geezam blog
article entitled “How
to locate Missing Drivers for Older Laptops and Computers”.
Then
there’s the GOJ and the Private Sector.
The
Government of Jamaica and the Private Sector have NO real interest in having an
ICT Sector by itself that can empower Jamaicans with the skill to do
Application Software Design, Computer and Network Design or even App Design for
smartphones and Tablets.
Jamaica
doesn’t even have a Manufacturing Sector, yet our Earthquake ravaged neighbor
Haiti can make Tablets as noted in my blog article entitled “Haiti's
Surtab SA and Handxom SA making 7-inch Tablet to supply Digicel - Pengelley's
Tablets need Cheap Electricity for Plants to make LED, Li-Ion Batteries and
Solar Panels”.
Muchless
to make Solar Panels and Fluorescent Bulbs in collaboration with the Cubans in
a bid to connect the last 3% of Jamaicans to the power Grid as stated in my blog article entitled “Jamaica
and Cuba collaborate on Solar Panels Production in Jamaica to connect the last
3% - Jamaica's rebranding of the REP to the JESL started the Alternative Energy
Hunger Games Catching Fire”.
ICT and Women –
Organizing force to jump-Start ICT Industry in Jamaica
In
their minds, any Jamaican possessing training with regards to ICT or Telecommunications
would mean that they possess knowledge of how their internal systems work. That
makes the person a valuable asset that may eventually turn around and demand to
pay more money for their services than they can afford. They are also dangerous
if they reveal information to “outsiders” the term used to describe persons
outside of ICT or Telecommunications or worse the Traditional or Social Media,
hungry for a story.
Consequently,
highly trained ICT and Telecoms Personnel, often referred to as Specialists to
the specialized nature of their training but called “Professionals” by
Jamaicans, are usually chosen based on their level of loyalty. This is usually
ensured via the incumbent trainee signing NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreements) that
prevent them from disclosing information to competitors or to outsiders.
The
GOJ and Private Sector, truth be told, would rather have Jamaicans work in a
Call Center or BPO environment that makes sure that they know basic skills to
achieve work but not to be empowered with the ability to Create or Design.
Thus
if women really want to enter the ICT
and Telecoms Sector, they’ll have to literally
form Teams and Groups to push a purely ICT agenda and Create their own
companies that do Application Software Design, Computer and Network Design or
even App Design for smartphones and Tablets.
The
Secretive nature of these fields is the main reason why so few Females are
involved, with the illusion of male-dominance being the outcome of the GOJ and
our Education System not making Females aware that this white Unicorn, the ICT
Industry and its associated fields even exists…..or does NOT exist for that
matter.
