Social Shaping of Technologies for Community Development - Information Communication Technologies for Human Services Education and Delivery - page 206

contains nine lakuh songs by women in Bario
with digital images of each singer singing
the lakuh . Each song has been transcribed
in Kelabit, with English translation. It is a
step towards the creation of an electronic
record of Kelabit oral stories.

themselves? What meanings do they inscribe to
the technologies? How have the new technolo-
gies come to be incorporated in existing social
practices? That is, how have the technologies
have been appropriated and used by the Kelabit
in Bario?
To explore these questions in detail the next
section will highlight two fundamental Kelabit
concepts: iyuk and doo -ness. An understanding
of these two concepts can help us to understand
on going Kelabit engagement with e-Bario and
in turn can highlight the social processes taking
place that shaped meanings and usage of tech-
nologies in Bario.

9. Management and Administration:

“Management and Administration” is not
a physical or technological component of
e-Bario, but rather a management system,
which has been put in place in order to man-
age the project in Bario, and also the com-
munity telecentre. To achieve this, a project
coordinator-cum-manager has been appoint-
ed by the Council of Elders, Authority for
Village Protection and Development (Malay,
Jawatankuasa Keselamatan, Kebersihan
Kampung (JKKK)) and University Malaysia
Sarawak to oversee the workings of the
initiative in Bario. In addition to the project
coordinator, a technical assistant was also
trained and appointed to oversee the tech-
nical aspects of the project, such as trouble
shooting and managing all the equipment
and software.

kelabit Iyuk and doo -ness

BetweenAugust 2005 and September 2006, when
engaging the Kelabit with discussions on the
impact and effects of ICT in the Highlands, their
response was always quick and straightforward.
I have been told it is about iyuk (movement) and
the attainment of doo -ness (good-ness and better
well being). Traditionally these two notions indi-
cate movements and good-ness in terms of social
status among the Kelabit. While iyuk broadly
refers to the notion of movement and specifically
to status mobility, doo -ness embodies notions of
good-ness, success and better well being, or rather
the qualities required to constitute a good person
such as knowledge, endurance and perseverance,
self discipline, hospitality, generosity, and strength
(Bala, 2008).
The attainment of doo -ness through means
and mechanisms of iyuk is the basis of all social
status among the Kelabit: it represents an ideal that
Kelabit individuals and collectively aim to attain
and accumulate. It is the the images and ideals of
doo -ness, and the interweaving processes between
doo -ness and iyuk that have generated and sus-
tained Kelabit modes of engagement with ideas,
institutions and objects from the outside world.
These externalities are adopted and co-opted by
the Kelabit and given meanings, for example,
as a means of providing a range of new options

Technologically, the initiative was a milestone
in terms of providing equal access to ICT in the
Malaysian context, and was identified as “one of
the most notable of Malaysia's Internet develop-
ment initiatives” by the International Telecommu-
nications Union (ITU, 2003). In the international
arena, the initiative has put Bario and the Kelabit
on the world map - a remote community con-
nected with up-to date technologies - leading to
its selection as one of the Top Seven Intelligent
Communities of 2001 by The World Teleport
Association in New York.

aSSeSSing “effectS”: WHat
really HappeneD in bario?

This technological development nonetheless
raises important questions. What of the Kelabit