Cambodia’s first ever computing camp is due to be held in Siem Reap this month to promote literacy on cyber security, open-source software, social innovation and the benefits of open data, according to its organizers.
The five-day ICT Camp 2018, organized by Open Development Cambodia (ODC), an NGO, will be held in the northern Cambodian city from December 17 to December 21.
Thy Try, ODC executive director, said the themes for the camp were chosen by its funders through a survey.
The idea for the event came from a similar annual event held in Bangkok for all Mekong region countries since 2008.
Camp participants come from a variety of fields, both in the public and private sectors, he added, who wish to receive training on best practices when using modern technology.
“In our upcoming camp, we have a small budget for participants who have creative ideas or have problems but do not know how technology can solve them, so they can contact me with the organizing committees or experts and propose projects,” he said.
“We will give them grants to implement the projects for three months after the camp. It doesn’t mean that you can only study, but if you study on a particular thing and want to test it, they can test it, and this is what makes the camp different from other camps.”
Mak Puthea, who will speak at the event on the use of ICT for development, said mobile usage in Cambodia had increased interest in technology.
“So this tool can be used to transfer information to communities and citizens in locations where we work,” he said.
He added that his talk will focus on how technology can be applied to various development sectors, such as education.
Lay Kimchou, an OCD volunteer and camp organizer, said it allowed her to network with like-minded individuals and discover new trends that she could apply in her day job as a digital marketing specialist.
“I want to learn about security,” she said. “When I manage pages on Facebook, I need to pay money through Mastercard or Visa. So I want to know how to protect my money from theft of hacking.”
Phos Sovann, information ministry spokesman, said the ministry supported the camp, adding that he hoped “participants will get more ideas and knowledge about it [ICT].”