ID :
13052
Sat, 07/19/2008 - 12:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/13052
The shortlink copeid
Russian Pres threatens to fire officials having no computer skills
By Itar-Tass World Service writer Lyudmila Alexandrova
MOSCOW, July 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has again shown that he is a state administrator living up to the 21st century standards - he has threatened to fire the government officials having no command of information technologies.
Presidium of the State Council, the highest decision-making and
advising agency reporting to the President, had a visiting session in
Petrozavodsk, the capital of the northwest region of Karelia, where the
participants discussed the strategy for developing information society in
Russia.
Medvedev, who is known as an advanced user of the Internet and an
ardent proponent of computerized and information technologies, chaired the
conference. He promised fighting with the low level of computer skills
among government officials and firing those of them who have no such
skills at all.
His speech included references to the 'electronic government', which
means the use of IT for introducing simpler procedures of interaction
between citizens and state bureaucracy. Medvedev believes that a mechanism
of this kind is less liable to corruption.
"We've been speaking about the electronic government for quite a
number of years by now," he said. "No one objects to the idea as such but
few things have been done in reality."
"Rank-and-file people are still unable to send a declaration from
their home or office computers or to sign an agreement or simply to get
information about the processing of the documents they sent to one or
another agency of power," Medvedev admitted.
He issued an instruction to make the computerized document management
a reality by 2010.
Medvedev also said that nsufficient knowledge of computers among the
state and municipal officials was the main cause of a practical absence of
changes in that sphere, and he proposed in this sense to introduce
computer skills tests for officials.
"You either learn it or we say good-bye to you," he said. "We don't
offer jobs to people who can't read of write, do we? And possession of
user skills is just the same thing today."
He recalled in this sense the late President Saparmurat Niyazov of
Turkmenistan, who told his ministers in 2005 that should learn English
over a period of several months, telling them they would lose their jobs
otherwise.
In the meantime, Vremya Novostei daily says a big obstacle on the way
to the 'electronic government' is the poor knowledge of computers by
ordinary citizens and total inequality among them in this sphere.
"People living in big cities or in the capital have practically
unlimited opportunities for access to the Internet and the use mobile
tools for communications, while the people living in small towns have
practically no such opportunities," Medvedev said.
He pinpointed a long range of other problems, including the national
problems with inaccessibility of digital technologies and shortcomings in
the performance of the Russian Post federal postal service.
Medvedev supported Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov's idea of
introducing fees for the use of the entire spectrum of radio frequencies.
The crux of the matter is that the military still control a huge portion
of radio frequencies in this country, although they neither use them
properly nor pay for them.
One more issue Medvedev keeps under special control is the
introduction of digital broadcasting in this country. The Ministry of
Telecommunications plans in this connection to launch a special-purpose
federal program so that analog broadcasting could be stopped by 2015.
The problem is whether or not the government will be able to maintain
an efficient top-notch infrastructure of digital radio and television
transmissions. A new satellite was launched recently, but one more
operating satellite of this kind will most probably be lost due to
numerous flaws in its operation.
The service life of two more satellites will expire in 2011.
Medvedev apparently recognizes the scale of the problem of
digitalization that Russia is faced with and he did not rule out a
possibility of setting up a specialized council that will coordinate the
strategic plan for development of information society.
Before the session, Medvedev visited the Karelia Fine Arts Museum
that, according to reporters' descriptions, looked much more like an
exhibition of achievements in computer technologies.
"The number of display units and viewing screens was so huge there
that it called into question the necessity for pictures and other
traditional exhibits," the Moscow-based Nezavissimaya Gazeta says.
The president was shown the operations of 3D technologies making it
possible to animate pictures from the Russian Museum in St Petersburg.
"Medvedev didn't refuse to take a virtual walk around his native city
and 'got into the picture'," the newspaper writes. The museum director who
escorted him as a guide explained that the bulk of exhibits have long been
digitalized and are kept on hard disks.
The next place on the itinerary was the Petrozavodsk city court where
Medvedev got interested in a system of remote questioning of eyewitnesses
that changes a person's voice.
"Well where's the witness?" he asked. "Let him say something to us."
And the amplifiers suddenly blurted out 'I welcome Mr. President."
The implementation of the information society strategy by 2015 will
place Russia on the list of top twenty countries in the sphere of
communication technologies, the government-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta says,
The state has already begun to lay the foundation for future
development of the sector, it says. Technology parks and business
incubators are gradually built in the pilot regions and a special venture
fund has gotten down to operations.
However, Russian companies working in the field of computer and
information technologies still find it difficult to compete with foreign
businesses, and that is why the Telecommunications Ministry proposes new
privileges for the companies oriented at exporting their technologies.
"We propose operational discounts for all the developers of software
products," Minister Igor Shchogolev said.
It is also obvious that Russian developers of software and
technologies must have open doors to the internal market and not only the
external one. For instance the Telecommunications Ministry plans
installing a second operating system at all the school computers.
Russian soft will thus expand a choice for general schools.
Also, the state will support the creation of promising models of
computer and telecommunications equipment - on the condition that
businesses will make a pledge to begin mass production of that equipment.
MOSCOW, July 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has again shown that he is a state administrator living up to the 21st century standards - he has threatened to fire the government officials having no command of information technologies.
Presidium of the State Council, the highest decision-making and
advising agency reporting to the President, had a visiting session in
Petrozavodsk, the capital of the northwest region of Karelia, where the
participants discussed the strategy for developing information society in
Russia.
Medvedev, who is known as an advanced user of the Internet and an
ardent proponent of computerized and information technologies, chaired the
conference. He promised fighting with the low level of computer skills
among government officials and firing those of them who have no such
skills at all.
His speech included references to the 'electronic government', which
means the use of IT for introducing simpler procedures of interaction
between citizens and state bureaucracy. Medvedev believes that a mechanism
of this kind is less liable to corruption.
"We've been speaking about the electronic government for quite a
number of years by now," he said. "No one objects to the idea as such but
few things have been done in reality."
"Rank-and-file people are still unable to send a declaration from
their home or office computers or to sign an agreement or simply to get
information about the processing of the documents they sent to one or
another agency of power," Medvedev admitted.
He issued an instruction to make the computerized document management
a reality by 2010.
Medvedev also said that nsufficient knowledge of computers among the
state and municipal officials was the main cause of a practical absence of
changes in that sphere, and he proposed in this sense to introduce
computer skills tests for officials.
"You either learn it or we say good-bye to you," he said. "We don't
offer jobs to people who can't read of write, do we? And possession of
user skills is just the same thing today."
He recalled in this sense the late President Saparmurat Niyazov of
Turkmenistan, who told his ministers in 2005 that should learn English
over a period of several months, telling them they would lose their jobs
otherwise.
In the meantime, Vremya Novostei daily says a big obstacle on the way
to the 'electronic government' is the poor knowledge of computers by
ordinary citizens and total inequality among them in this sphere.
"People living in big cities or in the capital have practically
unlimited opportunities for access to the Internet and the use mobile
tools for communications, while the people living in small towns have
practically no such opportunities," Medvedev said.
He pinpointed a long range of other problems, including the national
problems with inaccessibility of digital technologies and shortcomings in
the performance of the Russian Post federal postal service.
Medvedev supported Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov's idea of
introducing fees for the use of the entire spectrum of radio frequencies.
The crux of the matter is that the military still control a huge portion
of radio frequencies in this country, although they neither use them
properly nor pay for them.
One more issue Medvedev keeps under special control is the
introduction of digital broadcasting in this country. The Ministry of
Telecommunications plans in this connection to launch a special-purpose
federal program so that analog broadcasting could be stopped by 2015.
The problem is whether or not the government will be able to maintain
an efficient top-notch infrastructure of digital radio and television
transmissions. A new satellite was launched recently, but one more
operating satellite of this kind will most probably be lost due to
numerous flaws in its operation.
The service life of two more satellites will expire in 2011.
Medvedev apparently recognizes the scale of the problem of
digitalization that Russia is faced with and he did not rule out a
possibility of setting up a specialized council that will coordinate the
strategic plan for development of information society.
Before the session, Medvedev visited the Karelia Fine Arts Museum
that, according to reporters' descriptions, looked much more like an
exhibition of achievements in computer technologies.
"The number of display units and viewing screens was so huge there
that it called into question the necessity for pictures and other
traditional exhibits," the Moscow-based Nezavissimaya Gazeta says.
The president was shown the operations of 3D technologies making it
possible to animate pictures from the Russian Museum in St Petersburg.
"Medvedev didn't refuse to take a virtual walk around his native city
and 'got into the picture'," the newspaper writes. The museum director who
escorted him as a guide explained that the bulk of exhibits have long been
digitalized and are kept on hard disks.
The next place on the itinerary was the Petrozavodsk city court where
Medvedev got interested in a system of remote questioning of eyewitnesses
that changes a person's voice.
"Well where's the witness?" he asked. "Let him say something to us."
And the amplifiers suddenly blurted out 'I welcome Mr. President."
The implementation of the information society strategy by 2015 will
place Russia on the list of top twenty countries in the sphere of
communication technologies, the government-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta says,
The state has already begun to lay the foundation for future
development of the sector, it says. Technology parks and business
incubators are gradually built in the pilot regions and a special venture
fund has gotten down to operations.
However, Russian companies working in the field of computer and
information technologies still find it difficult to compete with foreign
businesses, and that is why the Telecommunications Ministry proposes new
privileges for the companies oriented at exporting their technologies.
"We propose operational discounts for all the developers of software
products," Minister Igor Shchogolev said.
It is also obvious that Russian developers of software and
technologies must have open doors to the internal market and not only the
external one. For instance the Telecommunications Ministry plans
installing a second operating system at all the school computers.
Russian soft will thus expand a choice for general schools.
Also, the state will support the creation of promising models of
computer and telecommunications equipment - on the condition that
businesses will make a pledge to begin mass production of that equipment.
