Enhancing Digital Opportunities in Thailand: The Role of ICT R&D
Pansak SirirutchatapongExecutive Director, NECTEC
@Expert Group Meeting on WSIS20-22 July 2009
Bangkok, Thailand
Presentation Outline
• Recap WSIS Action Lines• Who we are? – NECTEC • Examples of R&D work to address the following
issues– Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local
content – ICT Applications
• E-Agriculture• E-Learning
– Capacity building
• Challenges Going forward…
11 WSIS Action Lines
C1 - The role of public governance authorities and allstakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
C2 - Information and communication infrastructureC3 - Access to information and knowledgeC4 - Capacity buildingC5 - Building confidence and security in the use of ICTsC6 - Enabling environmentC7 - ICT Applications (E-government, E-business, E-learning,
E-health, E-employment, E-agriculture, E-scienceC8 – Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and
local contentC9 - MediaC10- Ethical dimensions of the Information SocietyC11- International and regional cooperation
NECTEC’s MissionNational Science and Technology AgencyMinistry of Science and Technology
Being a national R&D Center, NECTEC contributes to the development of Thailand's capability in electronics and computer technologies through:
I. Research, development, design and engineering
II. Technology transfer to industries and communities
III. Human resource development
IV. Policy research and industrial intelligence and
knowledge infrastructure development
C7: ICT ApplicationsE-Learning: eDLTV
• DLTV (Distance Learning TV)– Operate by the Distance Learning Foundation, with support
from the MoE– Provides distance education via satellite technology (Ku band
and direct to home DTH system)– 24 hr broadcasted of classroom teachings from Wang
Klaikangwol School (under the patronage of His Majesty the King), in Hua Hin
• eDLTV– Use digitized contents from DLTV and put on an e-Learning
platform developed by NECTEC and partners. The platform (called LearnSquare is based on OSS)
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http://edltv.thai.net/
eDLTV Contents include:
• Learning objects 30,302 items, divided into
■ Video 4,675 hrs. (15,827 clips)
■ Slide presentation 4,738 files
■ Teaching materials 8,000+ items
■ Tests & Quizes 1,302 items
■ Other learning resources 339 items
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Using eDLTV Server
• Server :• CPU 2.0GHz, RAM 2GB,• HD 500GB (M1-M3, or M4-
M6)HD 1 TB (M1-M6)
• LAN, PC client• Projector / TVout
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Using external Harddisk
• external harddisk• PC• Projector / TVout
TVoutราคา 1,000 – 2,000 บาท
C7: ICT ApplicationsE-Agriculture: SHARE Cyber Brain for Creative Agricultral Economy
3 Reforms with 4 TechnologiesSystem Architecture
Using IT as a tool for accessing the knowledge and
management both for production and
quality
Utilizing the land with high efficiency
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Send to 4504333
SMS Gateway(trio)4504333
Farmer
Server 1-2-3
Mobile , 1 2 2
Mobile , Fertilizer FormulaLR 1 2 2
Fertilizer Formula
Example of send-receive NPK through SMS
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2
3
1.Farmer send SMS: LR-NPK-4504333
2.SMS Gateway Send NPK value to
Server 1-2-3 for Evaluate.
3. Fertilizer Ordering to Farmer.
Server ALRO Cyber Brain
LR-NPK- 4504333
Quantity of suitable nutrient
N 8 kg./Rai
P 3 kg./Rai
K 0 kg./Rai
Fertilizer
1.To Use 8-6-0
Total 50 kg./Rai
2. To Use 46-0-0
Total 8.70 kg./Rai
Expected Result 983.00 kg./Rai
Farmer
Type LR + NPK Number
Disease Monitoring and Tracking
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C8 – Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local contentAutomatic Language Translation TechnologyAutomatic Language Translation Technology
•• PARSIT : PARSIT : EnglishEnglish--toto--Thai Machine TranslatorThai Machine Translator–– Derived from NEC Corp. RuleDerived from NEC Corp. Rule--based MT (RBMT)based MT (RBMT)–– Covering 70K lexical words and 900 grammar rulesCovering 70K lexical words and 900 grammar rules–– Approximately 60% accuracyApproximately 60% accuracy
•• Public service Public service http://http://www.suparsit.comwww.suparsit.com since 2004since 2004•• 10M visitors in total, 20K transactions/day10M visitors in total, 20K transactions/day
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Speech Translation (2007~)Speech Translation (2007~)Multilingual automatic speech translationMultilingual automatic speech translation
Asian Speech Translation Advance Research (ASTAR)Asian Speech Translation Advance Research (ASTAR)consortium consortium http://http://www.slc.atr.jp/AStarwww.slc.atr.jp/AStar ThaiThai--English Statistical MT (SMT) for the travel domainEnglish Statistical MT (SMT) for the travel domain Thai speech recognizer and synthesizerThai speech recognizer and synthesizer A multilingual trial service in 2009, supporting 9 AsianA multilingual trial service in 2009, supporting 9 Asian
plus English languagesplus English languages
ASTAR
Consortium
ASTAR
Consortium
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Machine Translation for English LearningMachine Translation for English Learning
A webA web--based translation tool using PARSITbased translation tool using PARSIT
Enhance student's motivation while Enhance student's motivation while
improving student's English readability skillimproving student's English readability skill
Facilitating teacher's course preparationFacilitating teacher's course preparation
Currently being field tested Currently being field tested with approx. 500 high with approx. 500 high school students at school students at ThammasatThammasat KlongluangKlongluangHigh SchoolHigh School
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BEST (2008~) BEST (2008~) Benchmarks for Enhancing the Standard Benchmarks for Enhancing the Standard
of Thai Language Processingof Thai Language Processing
Intensively improving Thai word segmentationIntensively improving Thai word segmentation
A standard guideline of Thai word segmentationA standard guideline of Thai word segmentation
A large manually annotated text corpus (7M words) in 12 domainsA large manually annotated text corpus (7M words) in 12 domainsand genres used for system trainingand genres used for system training
A series of sharedA series of shared--task contests since 2008task contests since 2008
Below 90% in 2007 to over 97% currentlyBelow 90% in 2007 to over 97% currently
http://http://www.hlt.nectec.or.thwww.hlt.nectec.or.th/best/best
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Language Grid (2009~) Language Grid (2009~) Internet Infrastructure for Internet Infrastructure for Language Resource and Service SharingLanguage Resource and Service Sharing NICT NICT LanGridLanGrid project project http://http://langrid.nict.go.jplangrid.nict.go.jp// A multilingual service infrastructure that allows users to sharA multilingual service infrastructure that allows users to share e
various language resources such as dictionaries and machine various language resources such as dictionaries and machine translatorstranslators
PARSIT and GOOGLE translators involved in 2009PARSIT and GOOGLE translators involved in 2009 NECTEC as another Asian NECTEC as another Asian LanGridLanGrid Operational CenterOperational Center
Service Providers Service Providers Providing language Providing language resources and toolsresources and tools
Operational CenterOperational CenterService managementService management
C4: Capacity Building and e-InclusionMae Hong Sorn IT Valley
• 8th largest province
• 255,174 Population
• 20 people/km2
• Scenic / Mountainous
• Transportation hardship, especiallyin the rainy season.
• Natural Disasters (Flooding, WildFire, Land Slide)
• Very poor local residents.
• Unstable electricity supply.Frequent blackout.
Project Goal:Project Goal:
To create knowledge economy for Mae Hong Son, the scope of whichTo create knowledge economy for Mae Hong Son, the scope of which involves local involves local government, businesses, schools, community colleges and communitgovernment, businesses, schools, community colleges and communities.ies.
C4: Capacity Building and e-InclusionMae Hong Sorn IT Valley
Key Activities:Key Activities:•• Development of infrastructureDevelopment of infrastructure--using wireless broadband (using wireless broadband (WiMAXWiMAX) )
(NECTEC+JICA)(NECTEC+JICA)
•• Development of IT curriculum and eDevelopment of IT curriculum and e--learning content suitable to learning content suitable to local conditionlocal condition
•• Incubation of software/web developersIncubation of software/web developers
•• OnOn--thethe--job training by leading software companiesjob training by leading software companies
•• Outsourcing software/web development job to local Outsourcing software/web development job to local incubateesincubatees/developers/developers
•• Implementation of landslide monitoring application developed by Implementation of landslide monitoring application developed by NECTECNECTEC
Project Implementation Scheme
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PaiMae Sariang
Mae Hong Son
school teachers
Japanese experts
JCC
SC
Pathum Thani Province Mae Hong Son Province
local government officials
school
community centers
Japanese experts
NECTECC/P
Collaboration
WiMAX base station
Report
Demonstration test implementation method, verification of results,
analysis techniques
-Demonstration test implementation method,
verification of results, analysis techniques
-Training monitoring
-Support for surveys
preparation of e-learning prototype contents
- Site planning- System design- IT curriculum and contents
development - Teaching method guidance
demonstrations and practical
drills
demonstrations and practical
drills
Japanese experts NECTECC/P
Mae Hong Son Province
C/PNECTEC
C/P
- Effective contents preparation method
- Teaching method
- Effective contents utilization method
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Wireless Network Infrastructure
Internet
Base Station
School
WiMAX Point-to-point backhaul
WiMAX Point-to-multipoint last mile
Health Care Center
Local Communities
IT Valley at Mae Hong Son
Web and SoftwareDevelopment
Land Slide Warning
WIMAXFor School andGovernment Office
Japan
Animation ProducerSocial Network
IT‐teaching (School‐Univ‐Colleges)
Talent Studentprogram
GovernmentOffice
Local Government
Universites‐ Animation‐ e‐Learning‐ English Teaching Program
Hotel Reservation SoftwareDevelopment
IT Curriculum
E‐Commerce
Tourists
A B C
Schools
Challenges Going Forward…
• Scalability and sustainability• Continuous human resource development
is needed, both the technology developers (R&D personnel) and technology recipients
• Good cooperation and collaboration among agencies/departments/ministries
• Political will (and stable government..)
THANK YOUwww.nectec.or.th