Summary: Launch of the e-portal by the Government and what it means to St.Kitts and Nevis

IMG_0870 Atlantic     IMG_0068-1Turtle Beach View

A view of the Atlantic Ocean from St.Kitts                   (tripadvisor.com) View of Nevis from Turtle Beach in St.Kitts

Can you imagine a world in which your government can barely afford digital technology, therefore, people who are technologically skilled have to be brought in from overseas? Can you imagine losing electricity on a regular basis and having an unreliable internet service? In the developed world, we take so much for granted!

I felt moved to use my project to explore the launch of a new government e-portal on the St. Kitts and Nevis website, and to look closely at the historical context in which the launch takes place, including an evaluation of government modes of communication in the past, and the increasing number of local young persons who have now become technology savvy as a result of access to information technology training. Several young men, under 25 years of age built the portal.

My project examines the new technology that has been introduced and the potential it  has to promote our largest income earner, tourism, as well as cricket, carnival, music festival and traditional folklore which are all important contributors to the Gross Domestic Product.

IMG_0071Pinney's Beach

View of Pinney’s Beach in Nevis (travel.usnews.com)

Our small island nation has no natural minerals. Our only resources are our agricultural lands, rain forests, beaches and our people. However, the portal also offers citizens a technology which can support democracy.

https://www.gov.kn/

The Mendez Group out of the Netherlands, which is headquartered in Boston, USA, provided the platform on which the applications for the e-portal were built. They employed bi modal 2 speed IT and enabled the building of visual applications. They also provided an infrastructure that was resilient yet cost effective.

 

Presentation by members of the MENDEX Group. Youtube video by Adam Anderson March 8, 2016

While the new technology offers the country a promising future, there are challenges to be overcome. These include financing to service and maintain the system and catering to those persons who are not technologically literate or do not have access to digital devices.

In conducting my research, I faced a few challenges:1. sudden loss of internet service while I was typing the text, 2.because of how recent this event is, information and data are still unfolding, 3. most of the information had to be downloaded from the internet, so there are few text sources. Additionally, 4. most of the videos were unedited or raw footage. Of course, I had to experiment with the technology as there were operations I never ever had to undertake. However, the tables turned in one important respect, I was able to teach my computer savvy daughter a few things, for example how to convert a video in order to embed it in a blog. This activity, despite its frustrations, gave me immeasurable pleasure. I share the enthusiasm of my friends and relatives, and am delighted to share our joy with everyone.

Winners of the steel pan contest in St.Kitts. Youtube video by Kevin Barett, December 27, 2015

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