Thomas Alberts – Some notes on his work with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

1960-68

During my training in Statistics, I also studied programming ALGOL I and ALGOL II organized by the Swedish company Facit.

1981-85

I purchased my first PC, Apple II+ in 1981. With my Apple II+ and VisiCalc, the forerunner of Lotus 1-2-3, I became completely convinced about the enormous potential of the new technology.

Alberts Planning and Development AB, APDAB, was created in 1984.With the advent of DOS (Microsoft) we changed from Apple to IBM. I was active in introducing several PC systems to small and medium sized companies in Österlen (Southern Skåne). The work included hardware and software specifications and not least adequate training. I also wrote several programmes using relational data base programming. I was also a teacher for Lexicon teaching Louts 1-2-3.

At an early stage APDAB introduced a PC based accounting system. This system was subsequently used by several small companies in Österlen. We also used our PC for sending and receiving Telex messages (A system called Pizzi developed by the Swedish Telephone Company.) This technology in a few year’s time became obsolete.

1985-1992

One of my tasks was the responsibility for the introduction and development of a PC system at SwedFarm AB, a consultancy company, at that date primarily owned by the Swedish Federation of Farmers. We were mainly economists and soon established Lotus as our spreadsheet programme and used WordMark, the standard word processing software for the Federation of Swedish Farmers. Successively Lap Tops were also introduced. Since we travelled extensively, Carbon Copy, was used to link up our Lap Tops by using modems – at that time the maximum speed was 300/1200 bits per second.

I was responsible for the complete reorganization of the accounts of the Swedish Major rural development programme in Ethiopia (CADU – ARDU and finally SEAD). To this end a computerized accounting system was installed, based on IBM XT and subsequently on the 386 processor. SEAD had some 2 000 employees and I wrote a salary programme which was approved of both the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance in Ethiopia.

Other work during this period was the training of SwedFund staff in the use of Lotus 1-2-3 and general computer knowledge involving among other things back-up procedures. I also had major jobs for the training of staff at the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture in Mozambique.

In 1987 my new company Devpro AB was created and decided to make significant investments every year in new ICT.

Devpro AB was one of founders of SwedData AB which was subsequently sold.

1992-1995

During this time I worked for SAREC (Swedish International Research Cooperation) and shifted from WordPerfect to MS Word and from Lotus 1-2-3 to Excel. At home I rapidly developed my PC communication skills in using the Internet.

It was becoming increasingly evident that the Internet provided an enormous and a unique source for knowledge.

1995-2007

During this period very little external work was done in the field of ICT. A GPS system was successfully introduced as a navigation tool in the year 2 000. At about the same time a software solution for connecting the mobile phone to the lap top was developed and used by me for several years. Today, GPRS has rapidly spread in the less developed countries. It is often better and more reliable that the existing broad band connections. Potentially, I believe this technology can have far reaching implications for rural development.

My Web Site was successfully created, bearing in mind the constraints of data communication the less developed countries. With Dr. Afzal Sher we experimented with videoconferencing using standard Internet lines. This experiment was abandoned because the speed was too low.

Starting a few years back I have used my Web Site for my students in Mozambique to get access to my lecture notes; interesting articles and video clips.

An important R&D programme was launched to explore the possibilities of the emerging digital technique. On an experimental basis several video clips have been uploaded to You Tube (www.youtube.com, where the video clips can be found by searching for tomsolna). The quality is not very good so lately I have been experimenting with Azureus, now called Vuze. The latter solution will not be practical in the less developed countries for many years to come.

I now have the capacity, including soft- and hardware, to deal with most file formats, including VHS videos, and to convert them into any standard format.

Since my work has involved rural development I have increasingly become concerned that most of the people living in the countryside are becoming marginalized in the ICT revolution.

Solna, 11 September 2007

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