[LINK] COVIDFail. The IT debacle that could cost lives

[Tom Worthington]

On 22/6/20 12:20 pm, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:

> Opinion: COVIDFail. The IT debacle that could cost lives> The
> Manderin ... Laurie Patton ... 19 June 2020> 
> https://www.themandarin.com.au/135285-opinion-covidfail-the-it-debacle-that-could-cost-lives/
>
> ... hasn’t identified anyone they didn’t already know about ...

The Australia Government has certainly oversold the COVIDsafe App. At 
best it should be seen as something which might provide a useful adjunct 
to manual tracing. It might be useful in a major outbreak, where there
are not enough trained tracing personnel.

No nation, or company, appears to have a tracing app which works well.
If, they do, its features can be used in Australia. One feature I
would like to see is eliminating the central database, or making it 
optional.

A more practical use of IT are online courses to reduce risk and deal
with outbreaks. Before being permitted to return to my ANU office, I was
required to undertake one of these short COVID-19 courses, and present 
the certificate as evidence I had completed it.

ps: I am only going back to my office for a week, to clear it out, as my
ANU Honorary Lecturer status at the Research School of Computer Science 
is coming to an end. If anyone knows another bit of ANU, or another 
institution, who would like an honorary (free) staff member, who
knows a bit about IT and e-Learning, please pass them my CV: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomworthington/


-- 
Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P http://www.tomw.net.au
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Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University
https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington