ICT:Biometrics & consent
Friday, July 9th, 2010With the new UK Government’s commitment to “outlaw the fingerprinting of children at school without parental permission” in England, Meadhbh Monahan checks out the situation in Northern Ireland. Seventeen of Northern Ireland’s 1,096 schools use biometric technology, mostly in their canteens, according to the five education and library boards’ official records. The boards are aware of other schools, under CCMS control also using the system but CCMS does not hold this information. In light of the UK Government’s tough stance, agendaNi asked the Department of Education to outline...[full story]
ICT:Streamlined care
Friday, July 9th, 2010Health care can be improved by taking paper out of the system, whether in records or referrals, according to Hugh Mullen. As the Health and Social Care Board’s outgoing Director of Performance Management and Service Improvement, Mullen updated delegates on how ICT is modernising and transforming health services at an agendaNi seminar in April. Health service management was a late adopter of ICT compared to other sectors, Mullen remarked, and the service was “still doing an awful lot with pieces of paper.” The global banking sector spends 6.9 per cent of its budget in ICT while...[full story]
ICT:Effective environments
Friday, July 9th, 2010Developing ICT infrastructure in schools is essential for an effective learning environment according to Anne Casey, education ICT advisor for Partnerships for Schools (PfS). Rather than drawing up a list of ICT equipment that they would like, school principals who are considering re-vamping their ICT systems should garner an understanding of the ways in which new technologies can improve their schools’ educational provision, according to Anne Casey. Lessons learned from her role as ICT advisor for PfS can be applied to Northern Ireland, she claimed. An umbrella body responsible...[full story]
ICT:Joined-up surgery
Friday, July 9th, 2010Delays or overruns in surgery can distress patients and hold up an expensive part of the Health Service. Karen O’Loan explained how the Theatre Management System is improving surgery at our ICT in health seminar. The Health Service’s Theatre Management System (TMS) is making surgery more streamlined, according to Karen O’Loan who has been leading the system’s implementation over the last two years. O’Loan is the Health and Social Care Board’s Assistant Director of Performance Management and Service Improvement and has worked in healthcare ICT since 1991. An Audit Office report...[full story]
Europe:Campaigners call for web freedom
Friday, July 9th, 2010The danger posed to human rights by internet censorship was the main topic under discussion by the Parliament’s Human Rights Sub-Committee on 2 June in Brussels. Finnish politician Heidi Hautala chairs the sub-committee. In a committee room in the European Parliament building – surrounded by 16 booths, each holding up to three translators – the sub-committee first heard from a representative of Global Solutions, a company who were commissioned to undertake an investigation of human rights abuses on the internet. Representatives from Nokia, Siemens and Google were in attendance. Examples...[full story]
Telecoms:Hi-tech care
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010Julie-Ann Augusto manages the telecare and telehealth services in the South Eastern Trust’s area, which covers Ards, Down, North Down and Lisburn districts. Both involve the remote monitoring of patients who are not at the same location as the care provider. The trust’s Nocturnal project provides telecare monitoring for at least 30 patients with dementia. This is funded by the Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and follows on from the similar Netwell project in 2008-2009. Some Netwell clients have continued to be served by Nocturnal. In...[full story]
Telecoms:A message from Europe
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010European telecoms regulation rules have been in place since 2002 and are now acknowledged to be dated. A reform of the way the sector is overseen was agreed to in principle in November last year and must now become law in all 27 member states by May next year. The industry is worth around €290 billion across the EU, and 4 per cent of the jobs throughout the union exist directly from the sector. One criticism of the European project has often been that decisions are taken too far away and have little effect on residents here. However, the European Commission suggests that as business...[full story]
Telecoms:Digital disappointment
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010The wide-ranging Digital Economy Bill, introduced by Labour during the ‘washup’ period before Parliament was dissolved, means that the Government has the power to block certain websites, implement speed blocks and suspend the accounts of internet users suspected of copyright infringement by illegally downloading music, films, photos or software. Fines up to £50,000 could be imposed and Government would be able to install its own manager at internet domain name registries that are considered to be failing. Royal assent for the Bill, which is a follow up to Labour’s June 2009 ‘Digital...[full story]
Education:Teaching and technology
Friday, May 14th, 2010Education policy advisor Richard Hanna explains the importance of ICT in education and outlines ways in which schools can be more “sophisticated” in using technology to support teaching and learning. Policy makers in education have always aspired to “prepare young people for life” but the social and economic context in which they work has changed and the role of technology has become “critically important,” according to Richard Hanna. Addressing an agendaNi forum on ICT in skills and education, the CCEA’s Director of Education said that despite its importance, technology...[full story]
ICT Policy:Incorporating ICT
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010Learning restrictions can be removed by using ICT, according to two principals who spoke to Meadhbh Monahan about the effects that embedding technology in their schools has had on their pupils’ performance. Jon Barker and Johnny Graham have a number of things in common. They are principals at non-selective post-primary schools; they incorporate ICT into most of their subjects; their schools have recently undergone a complete re-build through PFI initiatives; they send text messages, rather than letters, to parents and they have received BECTA awards for their use of technology in...[full story]
