Critical Reflection: The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback

Before attending the ES1102 classes, I thought that the lessons will be similar to the General Paper class I had in Junior College or the English classes in my secondary school days. To my pleasant surprise, the ES1102 classes are not that dry and boring, and they are also useful and helpful to improve my English language and other writing skills.

I have learnt new knowledge and relearnt what I thought I already know. One example will be the usage of “had” (past participle tense). I have now realized that we cannot use “had” too loosely and the presence or the absence of “had” will make a huge difference to the entire sentence.

Other than English language and grammar issues, I have picked up new knowledge from Brad and my fellow peers in A5. Brad initiated this interesting way to allow us to learn from one another’s mistakes and merits, the online peer evaluation. Peer evaluation is not a new thing in my secondary and JC days. However, such activity really benefits me in various ways.

Peer evaluation requires us to post our writings, which include reflection, Reader Response and essay, on our blogs and our peers will comment on these blogs. As a commenter, I have learnt to look at the same issue from new perspectives. My peers always propose new ideas and viewpoints that I have never thought of. Together with the comments I received from my peers, I realized that it is inevitable that everyone as all of us have different experience and prior knowledge (or prejudice). Thus, each of us will take different stands when we are discussing the same issue. Hence, the most challenging part of the writings is not so much about our English skills, but our skills to perfect our argument to convince our readers to believe and take our stands. Although English skills are needed to propose the most persuasive phrases, the critical thinking skills are more crucial to propose feasible and sound arguments that others will be persuaded and convinced.

Also, the constructive criticisms we received from our peers teach us important lessons too. These comments help us to realize our shortcomings in terms of our English language and the weak arguments we have. When we accept these remarks humbly to review and reflect our mistakes, we can learn much more knowledge that textbooks are unable to teach us. Furthermore, I have received encouraging comments from my fellow peers that motivate me to continue my difficult journey in learning English. For instance, some of my peers have helped me to correct my grammar mistakes or suggested other alternative phrasings for my later drafts. Thus, I would be more careful with my writings so that I could minimize my grammar mistakes. Other than the academic skills that we learn from these lessons and evaluations, I will a better understanding of my peers too. From the writing style and content that they posted on their blogs, we are able to ‘interact’ even after classes. The use of digital technology enables me to reach out to my peers more easily. Since such indirect communication is a more common mode of networking in today’s digital world, the online peer evaluation is a simple yet interesting way that we enjoy while we evaluate our peers' writings.

Overall, I am glad that I have chosen to take this module in my first year as these skills I have picked up from the short 12 weeks will be beneficial to my future academic writings. The critical thinking skills have been useful to consolidate the ideas for my Chinese Language term paper. Before taking this ES1102 module, I have trouble organizing my ideas. However, from the feedbacks that I receive from my peers and Brad, I learn how to organize my writings in a more systematic manner so that my readers will be able to understand my argument. Although my Chinese language term paper requires me to write on a different topic and even with a different language, the skills I obtained from the ES1102 classes are helpful in my organization and critical thinking. These skills have definitely benefitted my English writing skills, and sharpened my critical thinking and reflection skills that are needed in every subject and module.

(edited)

presentation reflection

The problem of 'stage fright' has always been the greatest issue I have when I have to do a presentation. Thus, I have difficulty engaging my audience and making eye contact with my audience in today's presentation.

Although I have spent quite some time to prepare my presentation, I fail to realise that my presentation lacks the element of clarity. I guess this problem arises because I forget that my audience does not know the background knowledge of my essay.

I am glad that ES1102 provides us this opportunity to do an individual presentation and allow me to realise what I am lacking in. Also, I would like to thank Brad and the rest of my peers who give me their sincere feedback so that I can improve my presentation skills!

Gamsahabnida (Thank you)!

SW1101E Individual Reflection Paper on Agency Visits

Before the social visits, I had some misperceptions about the role of a social worker in a Family Service Centre (FSC). I once thought that social work in FSC only deal with counselling and financing the needy families. Thus, I was amazed by her job scope when the social worker introduced hers. I think the most tedious challenges of a FSC social worker are the assessment of the client’s casework and the paper work needed for their intervention. To provide the best and most beneficial services that will help the clients, social workers have to ensure that their personal emotions will not influence their judgment while they are assessing the caseworks. We have to sympathize, yet not empathize, the clients. As the social worker, we should not feel so much for the clients and conduct a biased assessment. Also, the administering of paper work takes up much time of the social worker. In fact, to complete the paper work for at least 40 active caseworks that last minimally for 3 months can be rather exhausting. Other than these caseworks, social workers have to conduct the preventive programmes, such as Kidslaunch and Youthz Connect (“Care Corner Family Service Centre (Woodlands)”, n.d. ), to allow the vulnerable members of the community to integrate socially in a safe environment. Social workers will have to reach out to the community actively too, so that the FSCs will be made known to the residents who may need help. Other than these services, I realized that it is important for FSCs to work closely with the Community Development Council (CDC), Social Service Office (SSO) and the Members of Parliament (MP). This will help the clients to have a better understanding of the services and aids that they are receiving from each sector, and reduce the time wasted on referring the clients from one sector to another.

Although I did not have any direct interaction with the clients in the FSC, I encountered a needy family while I was waiting at the reception area before the programme started. The parents looked awkward and embarrassed when their young daughter commented that the FSC has “air-con leh” and some of my course mates stared at them. As a social worker, we have to be careful and cautious when we interact with the clients so that we will not hurt their feelings and dignity. Our unintended reactions can often make them feel uncomfortable. During the programme, one of my course mates questioned that the provision of financial aids may create clients’ dependency mindset. I believe that we should not have such mentality of questioning the clients’ sincerity when we are providing the services for them. In tutorial two, we already realised that the policies and programmes in Singapore are more inclined to Institutional Redistributive and Industrial-Achievement Performance (Mehta and Wee, 2011). The Residual programmes are short-term projects that provide “just-not-enough” help for the families to survive. If we feel that too much financial help will create a ‘crippled mentality’ among our clients, the services we provide may not be in the best interest of the clients. Some of them may even be sandwiched between the cracks.

On the other hand, my visit to New Horizon Centre, a dementia daycare centre, allowed me to have more direct interaction with the clients. From this interaction and the occupational therapist (OT)’s sharing of his experience, I realised that the duty of the staff is not simply providing food and activities to occupy the elderly’s time in the centre. The OT uses his creativity and imagination to invent new programmes for the clients to reminiscent their past to improve their dementia condition, and also to make use of their remaining physical and mental ability to ‘have fun’. These activities include dancing and exercising with popular songs that the clients can resonate with, such as “Tian Mi Mi” and “Sio Bak Cang”, simple mathematics games with small prizes and interesting art and craft activities. The ultimate goal of these activities is to help the elderly to be more socially integrated and to have a valuable old age.  

I believe that more can be done for these welfare organisations and FSCs. Their greatest problem is the lack of human resources. Although these institutions have good facilities, it is insufficient if there are no professionals to carry out the interesting activities and few volunteers to bring joy to the elderly by spending time with them. I believe that the sharing of love and concern from the community is part of the “many helping hands approach” (Mehta and Wee, 2011) that will provide both tangible and emotional support for these vulnerable members of the society.

Word count: 777

Reference List:

  
Care Corner Family Service Centre (Woodlands). (n.d.) Our Services [Brochure]. (n.p.)
Mehta, K.M. & Wee, A. (2011). Social Work In the Singapore Context. Singapore : Pearson Custom Pub

 

Essay 4

Smart appliances such as S5, Note 4 and Tab S are the latest products in Samsung Galaxy series. As these technological gadgets become a necessity of the South Korean youths, many North Korean teenagers living in their isolated communist world may not even know about the existence of these modern products. The level of information and communications technology (ICT) in Democratic People’s Republic of  Korea (DPRK) is awfully low, with more than 93% of its population without access to mobile cellular (Central Intelligence Agency, 2011). In contrast, the number of mobile phones in the South is 5% more than the number of South Koreans (Park, 2011), and more than 80% of the youths aged below 20 possesses at least one smartphone in 2012 (Singh, 2013). This strict control by the communist government makes it difficult for the North Koreans to bridge the digital gap in Korean Peninsula. Thus, self-funded student exchanges, which do not restrict their programmes to rich elites and allow foreign students to interact with local students during their respective study trips in DPRK and overseas, are important to equip more DPRK’s students with ICT skills so that their employability in the future will not be diminished when they are compared to the Internet-savvy South Koreans.

Although there is a state-owned 3G mobile operator, Koryolink, in the Stalinist DPRK (Williams, 2011), only around 1% of the entire population has subscribed to this only network operator. This is because after the Ryongchon train explosion in 2004, the SunNet 2G network was banned by the political authorities (Laxon, 2011). Furthermore, the communist government contains and surveils the underdeveloped telecommunication system in DPRK, so North Koreans’ opportunity to gain ICT knowledge is deprived (Lee, 2012).

According to Carr (n.d.), the ICT education for our young students is extremely important as the use of ICT will increase the students’ participation and engagement in learning, and this will improve their academic achievement. Moreover, Mid-Pacific ICT Centre reports that more than 85.2% of the employers they surveyed have agreed that “digital literacy” should be a fundamental ability that every student possesses after they complete their studies (MPICT, n. d.). The lack of digital literacy among the North Korean students has a great adverse impact on their career prospects of these youths. This is because the inadequate ICT skills of a North Korean worker will cause him to be in a disadvantaged position when he is compared to a digitally literate South Korean. Although most corporations in DPRK are state-owned enterprises (SOEs), they have strong motivation to maximise their profits like any other private enterprises as the communist government of DPRK has allowed them to reserve 70% of their profits (Ishida, 2012). As a result, in the recent years, there is a growing number of SOEs which source for employees who have the ICT skills (Williams, 2014). This is because these SOEs want to collaborate with Russian and Chinese companies which want to maximise their profits with the ICT experts. Thus, most SOEs in DPRK will more likely to employ a candidate who is ICT-savvy, and North Korean students without the ICT knowledge may have difficulty to find a job in the future, even if they do not seek employment overseas. 

Due to such potential employment crises in the near future, many North Koreans, who live near the Chinese borders, are willing to bear the risk of using Chinese mobile phones and network connection illegally (Kim, 2014). Also, according to Global Resource & Information Directory (2014), several of DPRK’s “elite youths” try to attain “desired jobs” by hacking in websites and writing computer and software viruses to showcase their ICT skills. Such acts reveal the frustration and helplessness of the younger generation in DPRK due to their lack in ICT access that is needed for their future employment.

Although the local youths cannot free themselves from the restrictive communist environment, young and resourceful intellectuals who empathize these North Korean students can establish student exchange programmes to expose these youths to the ICT world. For instance, Geoffrey, a student from Wharton School, established the Singapore-registered Choson Exchange in 2010. This project has successfully allowed a group of bright and enterprising youths in DPRK to possess business, economic and legal knowledge by participating in the overseas internships programmes (“Choson Exchange”, 2014). However, as these programmes are not subsidised or sponsored by the communist government, they may only benefit a small minority of rich and talented students. To benefit more students, the exchanges should bring foreign students with relevant ICT skills into DPRK to share their ICT knowledge with the local students. Pyongyang Project is a social enterprise founded by two Canadian young entrepreneurs, Reichel and Young. Its travel programmes not only allow the young DPRK’s students to travel and engage in knowledge exchange and educational tourism with overseas universities and organisations, such as Tufts University and Young Presidents’ Organisation, they also allow international students to attend study tours in DPRK. Such study trips allow more North Korean students to learn the ICT culture, such as E-Learning and digital textbooks, from the international students of neighbouring countries, China, Russia and South Korea (“Pyongyang Project”, 2013). More importantly, the fees paid by the foreign participants can fund the other overseas initiatives in Pyongyang Project so that these programmes do not depend on other organisations for financial sponsorship. Thus, more North Korean students with different abilities and backgrounds will not be denied the opportunity to participate in these exchange programmes because of their differences in financial capabilities.

Since the North Koreans are not able to obtain their travel visas so easily, the programmes can include homestays as a part of their overseas trips so that the North Korean students can enhance their overseas experience from the short-period exchanges, This will give the North Korean students the opportunity to experience the life of a true member of the ICT world. Surrounded by the abundant ICT equipment in a home environment, the North Korean youths will have a better understanding of the impact of the digital culture on the various aspects of one’s life.

The digital divide within the Korean peninsula has an adverse economic impact on the future generation. Thus, these profit-generating student exchanges provide the North Korean youths a gateway to the digital world as they can expose more students to the ICT technology in multiple ways and bridge the digital gap between North and South Korea.

References:

Carr, A. (n.d.). Naace: ICT in Education is important! Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.naace.co.uk/resources/1068

Central Intelligence Agency. (2014). North Korea. In The World Factbook. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html

Choson Exchange. (2014). Choson Exchange. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.chosonexchange.org/mission-and-history/

Family Online Institute. (2014). Global Resource & Information Directory: North Korea. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.fosigrid.org/asia/north-korea

Ishida, K. (2012). N. Korea to let enterprises retain 70% of profits. The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://ajw.asahi.com/article/business/AJ201209040049

Laxon, N. (2011). North Korea leads the world in 3G adoption. Wired.co.uk. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/19/north-korea-3g

Lee, D. (2012, December 10). North Korea: On the net in world's most secretive nation. BBC News.  Retrieved November 2, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20445632

Mid-Pacific ICT Center. (n.d.). What Is ICT Education and Why Is It Important? Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.mpict.org/ict_education_defined_importance.html

Pyongyang Project. (2013). Pyongyang Project. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.pyongyangproject.org/about.html

Singh, A. (2013). South Korea To Battle Cellphone Addiction Among Youth, 'Mindless Slaves' To Devices. Medical Daily. Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.medicaldaily.com/south-korea-battle-cellphone-addiction-among-youth-mindless-slaves-devices-247332

Williams, M. (2011). North Korea tops 3G ranking. North Korea Tech. Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.northkoreatech.org/2011/01/12/north-korea-tops-3g-ranking/

Williams, M. (2014). North Korea proposes expanding work with Russian IT companies. North Korea Tech. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from https://www.northkoreatech.org/2014/08/21/north-korea-proposes-expanding-work-with-russian-it-companies/

 

Essay 3

Smart appliances such as S5, Note 4 and Tab S are the latest products in Samsung Galaxy series. As these technological gadgets become a necessity of the South Korean youths, many North Korean teenagers living in their isolated communist world may not even know the existence of these modern products. The level of information and communications technology (ICT) in Democratic People’s Republic of  Korea (DPRK) is awfully low, with more than 93% of its population without an access to mobile cellular (Central Intelligence Agency, 2011). On the contrary, the number of mobile phones in the South is 5% more than the number of South Koreans (Park, 2011), and more than 80% of the youths aged below 20 possesses at least one smartphone in 2012 (Singh, 2013).

Self-funding student exchanges, which do not restrict their programmes to rich elites and allow foreign students to interact with local students during their respective study trips in DPRK and overseas, are important to equip more DPRK’s students with ICT skills so that their employability in the future will not be diminished when they are compared to the Internet-savvy South Koreans.

Although there is a state-owned 3G mobile operator, Koryolink, in the Stalinist DPRK (Williams, 2011), only around 1% of the entire population has subscribed this only network operator. This is because after the Ryongchon train explosion in 2004, the SunNet 2G network was banned by the political authorities (Laxon, 2011). Furthermore, the communist government contains and surveillances the underdeveloped telecommunication system in DPRK, North Koreans’ opportunity to gain ICT knowledge is deprived (Lee, 2012).

According to Carr (n.d.), the ICT education for our young students are extremely important as the use of ICT will increase the students’ participation and engagement in learning, and this will improve their academic achievement. Moreover, Mid-Pacific ICT Centre reports that more than 85.2% of the employers they surveyed have agreed that “digital literacy” should be a fundamental ability that every student possesses after they complete their studies (MPICT, n. d.).

Such ICT illiteracy has a great adverse impact on the career prospects of the North Korean youths. This is because the inadequate ICT skills of a North Korean worker will cause him to be in a disadvantaged position when he is compared to a digitally literate South Korean. Although most corporations in DPRK are state-owned enterprises (SOEs), they have strong motivation to maximise their profits like any other private enterprises as the communist government of DPRK has allowed them to reserve 70% of their profits (Ishida, 2012). As a result, in the recent years, there is a growing number of SOEs which source for employees who have the ICT skills so that overseas companies will be more willing to collaborate with them (Williams, 2014). Thus, most SOEs in DPRK will more likely to employ a candidate who is ICT-savvy and North Korean students without the ICT knowledge may have difficulty to find a job in the future, even if they do not seek employment overseas.

Due to such employment crisis in the near future, many North Koreans, who live near the Chinese borders, are willing to bear the risk of using Chinese mobile phones and network connection illegally (Kim, 2014). Also, according to Global Resource & Information Directory (2014), several DPRK’s “elite youths” try to attain “desired jobs” by hacking in websites and writing computer and software viruses to showcase their ICT skills. Such acts reveal the frustration and helplessness of the younger generation in DPRK due to their lack in ICT access that is needed for their future employment.

Although the local youths cannot free themselves from the restrictive communist environment, external help can expose more young North Korean students to the ICT world by establishing student exchange programmes. For instance, Geoffrey, a student from Wharton School, established the Singapore-registered Choson Exchange in 2010. This project has successfully allowed a group of bright and enterprising youths in DPRK to possess business, economic and legal knowledge with overseas internships programmes (“Choson Exchange”, 2014). However, such expensive programmes may only benefit a small minority of rich and talented students. To benefit more students, the exchanges can bring foreign students with relevant ICT skills into DPRK to share their ICT knowledge with the local students. Pyongyang Project is a social enterprise founded by two Canadian young entrepreneurs, Mathew and Nick. Its travel programmes not only allow the young DPRK’s students to engage in knowledge exchange and educational tourism with overseas universities and organisations, such as Tufts University and Young Presidents’ Organisation, they also allow international students to attend study tours in DPRK. Such study trips allow more North Korean students to learn the ICT culture, such as E-Learning and digital textbooks, from the foreigners of neighbouring countries, China, Russia and South Korea (“Pyongyang Project”, 2013). More importantly, the fees paid by the foreign participants can fund the other overseas initiatives in Pyongyang Project so that these programmes do not dependent on other organisations for financial sponsorship. Thus, more North Korean students with different abilities and backgrounds will not be denied the opportunity to participate in these exchange programmes because of their differences in financial capabilities.

To allow the North Korean students to obtain the utmost benefits from the short-period exchanges, the programmes can include homestays as a part of their overseas trips. This will give the students the opportunity to experience the life of a true member of the ICT world. Surrounded by the abundant ICT equipment in a home environment, the North Korean youths will have a better understanding of the impact of the digital culture on the various aspects of one’s life.

The digital divide within the Korean peninsula has an adverse economic impact on the future generation. Thus, these profit-generating student exchanges provide the North Korean youths a gateway to the digital world as they can expose more students to the ICT technology in multiple ways and bridge the digital gap between North and South Korea.

 

 

 

References:

Carr, A. (n.d.). Naace: ICT in Education is important! Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.naace.co.uk/resources/1068

Central Intelligence Agency. (2014). North Korea. In The World Factbook. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html

Choson Exchange. (2014). Choson Exchange. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.chosonexchange.org/mission-and-history/

Family Online Institute. (2014). Global Resource & Information Directory: North Korea. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.fosigrid.org/asia/north-korea

Ishida, K. (2012). N. Korea to let enterprises retain 70% of profits. The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://ajw.asahi.com/article/business/AJ201209040049

Laxon, N. (2011). North Korea leads the world in 3G adoption. Wired.co.uk. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/19/north-korea-3g

Lee, D. (2012, December 10). North Korea: On the net in world's most secretive nation. BBC News.  Retrieved November 2, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20445632

Mid-Pacific ICT Center. (n.d.). What Is ICT Education and Why Is It Important? Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.mpict.org/ict_education_defined_importance.html

Pyongyang Project. (2013). Pyongyang Project. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.pyongyangproject.org/about.html

Singh, A. (2013). South Korea To Battle Cellphone Addiction Among Youth, 'Mindless Slaves' To Devices. Medical Daily. Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.medicaldaily.com/south-korea-battle-cellphone-addiction-among-youth-mindless-slaves-devices-247332

Williams, M. (2011). North Korea tops 3G ranking. North Korea Tech. Retrieved November 11, 2014, from http://www.northkoreatech.org/2011/01/12/north-korea-tops-3g-ranking/

Williams, M. (2014). North Korea proposes expanding work with Russian IT companies. North Korea Tech. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from https://www.northkoreatech.org/2014/08/21/north-korea-proposes-expanding-work-with-russian-it-companies/

 

Appraisal of ES1102

Although my English was not that good, I was still upset when I had to take the Qualifying English Test (QET) and take up this extra module, ES1102. My fear for this module grew when I realised that the tutor for my class A5 was an American as I have trouble understanding the non-Singaporean accents. However, I was wrong. I can understand every word that Brad said and, in fact, I had much fun attending these classes. Brad always encourages us with his little stories so that we have confidence in our writings. Brad was really a nice and caring tutor and I am very grateful that he tried hard to reduce our workload.

The ES1102 lessons have taught me new knowledge in areas like citing in APA style, editing text and writing a reader response. They also helped me to relearn my grammar and I have a better understanding when to use "simple past tense" and "past participle" now. (eg “verb + ed” vs “had verb + ed”)

I believe I have made the right choice of taking up this module in the first semester in my first year.

Essay draft 2

Save The North

Smart appliances such as S5, Note 4 and Tab S are the latest products in Samsung Galaxy series. These technological gadgets are commonly seen in South Korea. However, many North Koreans living in their isolated communist world may not even know the existence of these modern products.

The level of information and communications technology (ICT) in Democratic People’s Republic of  Korea (DPRK) is awfully low, with more than 93% of its population without an access to mobile cellular (“The World Factbook”, 2011). On the other hand, the number of mobile phones in the South is 5% more than the number of South Koreans (Park, 2011).

DPRK’s enterprises and foreign authorities can save the North’s fate of losing out to the South in terms of ICT level by increasing the ICT access and knowledge among the current and future generations of the workforce in DPRK to protect both the ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ sectors of the North.  Due to these devastating impacts of the ICT deficiency, the individuals and the nation are also motivated to increase their access to ICT in DPRK.

The “Micro” and “Macro” losses

As technology advances, the inadequate ICT devices and skills among the workforce of DPRK causes them to ‘lose out’ to the internet-savvy South Koreans. Looking at the ‘micro’ level, the employability of a North Korean worker, who lacks the ICT knowledge, may be lower than that of another South Korean. This is because North Koreans, who cannot catch up with the modern technology to maximise their productivity and profit the company, may not be valued in multi-national companies (MNCs) (“Connecting to Work: How ICTs Are Expanding Job Opportunities Worldwide”, 2013).

The ‘macro’ problem arises when DPRK’s economy is filled with workers who are unequipped with ICT skills. Thus, DPRK faces difficulty in transforming from a labour-based to a skill-based economy and this results in an extremely low Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of USD 1, 800 (“The World Factbook”, 2011). Looking at this broader picture of digital divide, we can see that the lack of ICT has affected DPRK‘s economy negatively, while South Korea’s high-tech industries turn her into a highly developed nation. It is why many individuals and, in fact, the whole DPRK are willing to take a pro-ICT stand ("Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2009-2010", 2010).

Political obstacles and possibilities

Although DPRK’s political restriction over ICT is a big obstacle that creates the digital divide between the two Koreas, Bruce (2012) asserts that it is possible for the communist government to relinquish its control over the flow of information within DPRK as several pro-ICT political attempts have been implemented. According to him, Koryolink, the DPRK’s only 3G mobile operator is “blessed” by the “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong Il. Do (2013) also reports that the current leader, Kim Jong Sung allows the North Koreans catch glimpses of the “outside world” with intranet. These governmental efforts demonstrate DPRK’s willingness to shift its political stance gradually for the economic benefits of ICT. Thus, efforts from the enterprise sectors and foreign powers are possible to carry out and the positive effects of bridging the digital gap by these efforts can further entice the Stalinist government to quicken its steps towards the ICT world.

Local effort-the IT classes

To raise the North Koreans’ labour productivity, local companies in DPRK can provide IT classes for their employees. Companies can collaborate to conduct these cost-effective courses for a larger population of employees by hiring a few IT experts. Such partnership may even flourish the industry of IT classes, which is currently absent in DPRK, to benefit a greater community of North Koreans. These company-funded IT courses impart the relevant ICT knowledge to the employees, who have little interaction with the high-tech devices due to the low GDP per capita. This knowledge on how to operate the computer programmes will help the workers manipulate raw data effectively into useful information for analyse. Thus, we can conclude that these IT classes can increase the North Korean workers’ economic productivity.

International efforts- Student Exchange Programmes and Subsidised ICT products

 

On the other hand, international parties can contribute to reduce the digital gap by providing ICT educational opportunities for the future members of DPRK’s workforce. Just like how foreign internships of Choson Exchange have exposed many North Koreans students to the outside world (“Choson Exchange”, 2014), student exchanges between universities of DPRK and ICT-developed nations can help the students to gain more ICT knowledge while they are in these ICT-advanced environments. However, such programmes may only benefit the rich minority students. Thus, foreign subsidisation of ICT devices for universities in DPRK is another plausible effort. For instance, the South government can cooperate with South Korea’s large MNC, Samsung to sell cheaper tablets to the schools in DPRK. Lee and Hwang (2004) also feel that DPRK’s close neighbour, South Korea, with her financial resources and established ICT infrastructure, is the best foreign power to intervene and boost DPRK’s ICT level. According to them, high-tech companies in the South can also benefit by expanding their market to DPRK. In this way, the future North Korean workforce will be equipped with ICT skills while the South can earn profits from these sales of technological gadgets.

Mission Possible

 

Just like how no one in the 20^th century believes that the Sick Man of Asia will become the second greatest economy in the world in 2010 (McCurry and Kollewe, 2011), not many people believe that bridging the digital divide on Korean peninsula is possible. This is why I feel that contributions from the local businesses and foreign interventions to improve the ICT infrastructure and knowledge among the present and future labour force of DPRK are important. The successful impacts of increasing ICT access in DPRK may convince the North government to take a more ICT-inclined stand. Furthermore, the 'micro' and 'macro' benefits from the access to ICT, in my opinion, encourage individuals and the whole country to hasten their steps towards the digital world. This is a “mission possible” which builds its foundation from the support of the people, the businesses, the nation and the foreign powers.

 

References:

1.       Bruce, S. T. (2012). Information Technology in North Korea: A Double-Edged Sword. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp118.html

2.       Choson Exchange. (2014). Retrieved October 4, 2014, from http://www.chosonexchange.org/mission-and-history/

3.       Connecting to Work: How ICTs Are Expanding Job Opportunities Worldwide. (2013). Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/09/10/how-icts-are-expanding-job-opportunities

4.       Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2009-2010. (2010). Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=R4u48rbqEe0C&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=north+korea+ict&source=bl&ots=KpS6864kmH&sig=DbOIoNY8KKKNXRXvw0gNXrLcwDs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iVErVMbuK5TeoATB2oBw&ved=0CFMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=north%20korea%20ict&f=false

5.       Do, A. M. (2013). As North Korea Opens Up Slowly, the Populace Gets Online Peeks of the Outside World. Retrieved October 9, 2014, from http://www.techinasia.com/north-korea-opens-slowly-populace-online-peeks-world/

6.       Lee, H. J. & Hwang, J. H. (2004). ICT Development in North Korea: Changes and Challenges. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from www.itidjournal.org/index.php/itid/article/download/193/63

7.       McCurry, J. & Kollewe, J. (2011). China overtakes Japan as world's second-largest economy. Retrieved October 4, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/feb/14/china-second-largest-economy

8.       Park, M. C. (2011). Digital Policy of Korea Issues and Challenges. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.eurocpr.org/data/2013/Park_Korea.pdf

9.       The World Factbook. (2012). Retrieved September 30, 2014, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html