Anju Mangal

From Web2forDev

Coming from the Pacific is not an easy journey. It is a long way from Fiji and we spent almost 24 hours traveling. Time difference is usually a problem but I think I have managed to stay awake during the presentations.

Pre-Conference (day 0) was an eye opener to a number of web 2.0 tools.I have learned a lot and hope to utilize these tools to implement it in my organization ([1]).

We feel empowered with so much knowledge, there is so much to learn but not enough time to grasp everything.

Web 2.0 is an amazing tool but my concern is connectivity issues, especially in the Pacific Countries where internet is not something that people have access to. Most people are connected to the internet, however to download or upload pictures and videos is not easy to do in the Pacific. I'm also wondering whether web 2.0 can create problems for disabled people? Accessibility for disabled people is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed. It would have been great to have on-going discussions on web 2.0 for the disabled.

Despite the problems we face in the Pacific, I hope to make a huge difference in terms of promoting web 2.0 tools in the Pacific. Every year we hold the Pacific ICT conference (PACINET - http://www.picisoc.org). PACINET brings together ICT professionals, experts, youths, stakeholders from the Pacific who contribute towards the development of ICT in the region. Web2forDev conference will allow me to share the knowledge from the experts and people who have presented at this conference.

We have looked at ways web 2.0 tools could benefit Land Resources Division. We have a static LRD website that doesn't allow users or staff to interact with each other but only allows us to view infomration that has been published by website developers. With web 2.0 we are hoping to bring about changes to the way we look at the new LRD website.