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

1

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