FOR A MORE efficient contact tracing vis-à-vis the coronavirus disease cases, the city government of Iloilo will be using science and technology, specifically the QR (quick response code). Bacolod City has been doing this already since last month. Other countries have been doing this since the pandemic started such as South Korea, Singapore and Australia, among others. It is proving effective.
As governments local and national look for innovative ways to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and other risks, they must ensure that these efforts should serve the best interest of the people to gain their trust. But there are things to remember when using technology-led responses in addressing problems.
First is validating whether these new technologies serve their purpose of solving the problems for which they are created, and not just focusing on their technical functions.
One important thing to remember when we are talking about technology, whether it is in education or disaster response or any other sector, is that we need a strong validation infrastructure to do quality assurance testing and comparative and contextual testing to make sure that the technology helps solve the larger problem.
Second is deployment or ensuring that these technologies reach as many people as possible if not everybody. However, differences in connectivity, hardware, and software, among others, may make these technologies fragmented.
Ah yes, it must be noted that new technologies may be prone to political abuses when used to target political opponents, as well as to commercial abuses when users are misled into sharing data, which then affects the public’s trust in legitimate response efforts.
Thus building the trust of people to use technology is crucial. The government, particularly public officials, should ensure that they provide clear messages to the public when deploying new technologies.
Technology is not only a factor in the sense that it becomes an intermediary in the way people experience different services; it also becomes a channel through which public officials may delegitimize or unfortunately damage the effectiveness of public programs.
In sum, technology-led responses would only be successful if they have the public’s trust. In response to major social issues, epidemics, and pandemics, public trust, public education, public engagement, and the ability of the public to understand and enforce their rights to these systems are critical to ensuring their success.
