by Jeremy Au Yong
IN THE next general election, officials at places such as
polling and counting centres will have mobile Internet access and
the ability to make video calls to each other.
It will be the first time election officials will have such new
media tools at hand, although how they will be used has yet to be
spelt out.
Details of the impending injection of these tools were described
in a tender document issued by the Elections Department last
month.
The document shows the department wanting to buy at least 1,000
mobile broadband devices and SIM cards.
In addition, it wants to buy 'video collaboration services'.
Such a service would allow election officials to make video calls
to one another, using Government-supplied computers fitted with the
mobile broadband devices.
Typical mobile broadband devices provided by telcos here are
about the size of an USB thumbdrive and let computers into which
they are plugged, access the Internet via telecommunication
networks.
