Partnerships for online community's benefit

Partnerships for online community's benefit

Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, Jakarta

In this heyday of hype and hypocrisy, it is sometimes refreshing
to see a project that is created with the public's interest in
mind.

Universitas Terbuka (Open University) Indonesia, a government-
owned institution, has been offering programs through distance
learning in which busy professionals can study during their free
time.

Using facsimile machines and traditional postal system,
students can communicate with their teachers and each other to
discuss and collaborate. Now the university is looking to the
Internet as an additional medium for teaching.

Recognizing that many of its students live in remote areas,
far from the many educational institutions located in major
cities, UT has designed a new Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) supported distance learning application
accessible from its website (www.ut.ac.id).

Students can view certain lectures, tutorials, video
presentation and discussions from this web-based application.
They can even communicate and pool resources with other students
with this application.

According to Dr. Tian Belawati, the university's vice rector,
the main reason for taking advantage of the Internet is its
capability and flexibility in delivering supporting material for
students.

"(The) Internet offers the opportunity for UT to provide a
fast and reliable communication channel as well as other support
to our students," she said. "Now, since Internet access points
are increasing (as they are provided by warnets, or Internet
kiosks), we think it is time to enhance its utilization and to
promote it to our students."

Acknowledging the fact that PC ownership penetration is very
low in Indonesia, UT has forged partnerships with infrastructure
providers, namely warnets that are scattered throughout the
archipelago. One such partner is the Association of Community
Internet Center (APWKomitel), which has members all over
Indonesia.

Rudy Rusdiah, chairman of APWKomitel, said that by
collaborating with UT, both parties help each other. UT would be
able to effectively and efficiently service their students while
the many small and medium enterprises (SME) that focus on the
Internet trade would be able to build their businesses and
communities.

"This opens the opportunity for UT to cover all of Indonesia
without any money from donors or loans, saving the government
lots of money for other purposes," he said.

"Furthermore, this project helps solve (the) digital and
educational divide issue ... a big gap between the people who
have access to education and the people who do not have access to
education in remote areas."

Having a warnet as an extension for an educational institution
is perhaps a new business model for struggling Internet centers.
After the initial dot-com boom, Internet-related companies are
now dropping likes flies, warnet included.

APWKomitel hopes to make the warnet a Multipurpose Community
Internet Center (MCIC), which not only provides Internet
browsing, gaming, chatting and e-mail but for other tasks such as
shopping, e-business and e-learning.

For distance learning students, these MCICs may be ideal to
meet their study groups. As they rarely go to class and meet each
other, study groups offer a social environment for distance
learning students to meet and discuss their topics and
assignments.

Meeting up in their local warnet to download their latest
assignments and share ideas is not only a good idea, but also
more cost effective since they can pool their resources for
printing and computer rental.

APWKomitel pledges special discounts for UT students and their
study groups. It also hopes to provide training to students on
how to access and use the application. For students living in
remote areas, getting a degree may no longer be a pipe dream but
a reality.

This joint venture should perhaps be an example of how
partnerships can work. Too many times do we see companies, in the
quest for quick profits, abandon their core competencies and join
in the fray.

For example, why should a telecommunications company start up
an Internet center or web-hosting business unit when there are
abundant companies that already offer the same service? Why not
focus on wiring the countryside where phone penetration is low?

By concentrating on each other's strengths, businesses in the
Indonesian Internet economy would have a better chance of
surviving and coexisting in these difficult times. Unfortunately,
as pride and greed continue to influence the corporate goals of
many businesses, we should expect to see more bankrupt businesses
in the future.