I’ve recently got an opportunity to attend a research symposium organized by KDU Rathmalana. I was invited to it by a friend of mine Mrs. Nirosha Wedisingha, a lecturer in KDU who presented a research paper at the symposium. The title of that particular paper was on “Eliminating Disability Digital Divide”.

When the paper was prepared, my ideas and experiences in the field of blind computing were sought by the presenter besides the opinion that she had obtained from Dr. Ruwan Wikramarachi – university of Keliniya.

In this paper, we have mainly focused on ICT related problem and issues faced by differently able community in Sri Lanka. A term “digitalDivide” was used in the title of this paper to highlight the gap between those who have access to ICT and don’t.
Required statistics were collected from university of Keliniya, Ranaviru Sevana and Abimansala to determine the causes of the digital divide and recommendation that can be given to eliminate the disability.
According to the findings, the digital divide can be occurred due to several reasons such as level of education, language barrier, poverty, disability, cultural background and inadequate infrastructure.

To minimize the digital divide we have put forward several recommendations:

* Providing license software’s eg: screen reader, magnifier, voice recognition etc. through project such as Nanasala.
* Provide Brail monitors and other hardware eg: adaptive mouse and key boards
* Develop software’s that can be used in Sinhala language eg: screen reader and OCR.
* To make proper mechanism to train assistive technology trainers
* Create awareness among public about adaptive technologies.
* Make accessible infrastructure at ICT centers
* Provide English language training eg: on line or distance learning.

It was my first visit to KDU and also to such a symposium. It had particularly helped me to acquire good knowledge on latest development on security, defense and geo political developments at the post war scenario in Sri Lanka. I am so grateful to Mrs. Nirosha for inviting me to the symposium.
See videos of the event…
http://www.kdu.ac.lk/videos/symposium-2013/defence_sessioins/defence_session4.html

Following article was extracted from KDU website.

International Research Symposium 2013 of KDU

The Annual International Research Symposium of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University was held on a grand scale for the 6th consecutive year on
22nd and 23rdAugust 2013. The theme for this year’s symposium was “Sri Lanka as a Hub in Asia: The Way Forward”. The event was organized under 5 major
disciplines: Defence, Medicine & Allied Health Sciences, Engineering, Law and Management, Social Sciences and Humanities, according to which researchers
were called to present papers.

The first day saw the inauguration ceremony and plenary sessions of each of the 5 disciplines. Among the invited guests were the well known figures of
Mr. Lalith Weeratunge Secretary to HE the President, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapakse Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, a member of parliament,
the Chief of Defence Staff, the Tri Forces Commanders, High commissioners, Defence Attaches and diplomats from various countries, chairperson of the UGC
and Vice Chancellors of national universities. Mr. Lalith Weeratunge, in his key note address in the inauguration ceremony, discussed as to how Sri Lanka
can achieve hub status in the South Asian region, the subject which was also the theme of the 2013 symposium.

The plenary session on Defence which commenced right afterwards was chaired by Secretary to the HE the president Mr. Lalith Weeratunge. The speakers for
this plenary session were all veterans in the field of Defence and included the Commander of the Army, Commander of the Navy, Prof Rohan Guneratne and
foreign military personnel from China, India and Pakistan.

The four other plenary sessions on the disciplines of Medicine & Allied Health Sciences, Engineering, Law and Management, Social Sciences and Humanities,
commenced parallely thereafter in different locations within KDU premises. The sessions were chaired by some of the leading personae in each of the disciplines
such as His Lordship Chief Justice Mohan Peiris, Prof Harsha Seneviratne Senior professor and immediate past Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo,
Prof Jayantha Jayawardena Director PGIM, Prof CLV Jayatilleke Chairman NIBM/Chairman NEC and Prof Kshanika Hirimburegama Chairperson, University Grants
Commission. The expert views and opinions of the plenary speakers who graced these sessions marked the beginning of an intellectually stimulating 2 day
academic celebration.

The second day of the symposium brought together an approximate number of 100 scholars from the five disciplines. The presenting of papers took place under
four technical sessions for each discipline. The research papers which had undergone a rigorous reviewing process were the best in their disciplines and
had been carefully selected out of more than 250 submissions. The participation of researchers from all over the country, specially from the North and
the East and from abroad, was a heartening observation heralding a bright future for the world of academic research.

The symposium which saw the participation of many eminent diplomats, scholars, government officials and senior members of the military ended on a jubilant
note. The organizing of an annual international research symposium by KDU and thereby providing researchers, national and international alike, the opportunity
to bring to light the fruits of their research, is considered as another step taken by KDU towards helping Sri Lanka become a knowledge hub in Asia.