Dear President and Council,

Increased use of ICT within GoSL to connect and communicate with the masses is commendable. Use of web based social media tools by politicians, progressive private and public sector organizations is increasing daily. In fact, recently Bill Gates and Millinda Gates foundation recognized GoSL ICTA initiatives - Nana Sala and Gnanodaya Digital Librarary - with a million dollar gift for taking ICT to the villages effectively in the past decade. There are lots of improvements in service centered organizations like Pension Department, RMV, etc. Now GoSL is going to get realtime input from masses, here is the most recent example.

Complaints related to private buses via SMS from today - Minister

This is in line with the very successful SMS based initiative launched in some Indian states to report bribery incidents. This is democracy in play on a level playing ground. Everyone has a mobile phone! Privacy is what we need to protect.

Now, what prevents IESL from online voting, getting feedback via Twitter or SMS directly to the The President and the Council about the services provided by the Secretariat, any unethical practices, etc.. We have already begun a digital journey in 2012/13 session of which we are seen some benefits. But, we must go for realtime feedback and suggestion systems / news systems with SMS gateways, Twitter ( micro blogging - we maintain a tweeter account which members can follow and post - @IESLLANKA - that was established during my tenure as ICT Com. Chairman ), etc. to show that we ( IESL) are "at least moving with the times" for better! We must also inform our members of the Council proceedings and other committee proceedings monthly via already established Forums. We must have such processes available and "marketed" to the public so that our members could take socially beneficial actions. We as an organization still have a long way to go in terms of public relationship building. Let's start with members!! Any national level initiatives by IESL must be given full exposure as they happen through our SMS and Twitter accounts to which members will subscribe to.

The President and the Council must be reachable to members all over the world instantaneously. Our actions and methods must make others to respect us as socially responsible leaders of technological initiatives in many sectors.

IESL has most of the tools (Twitter, Forums, Blogs, FaceBook, membership management system, online registration for events, etc.) setup, but, we must LEAD the way in using them in beneficial ways to the members. As a Council Member of 2014/15 session, I plan to push for these improvements with our progressive leadership.

Regards

Arjuna Manamperi
M-2062
Chair - IESL Mechanical Engineering Sectional Committee (2014/2015)
Chair - IESL ICT Committee (2012/2013)

Dear Editor - Dr. Nawagamuwa,

It is a watershed even that we (IESL) became a signatory and a full member of the Washington Accord ( that impacts positively in setting globally accepted academic standards of operations in our four year degree based engineering faculties) and the International Professional Engineers Agreement (cross border professional recognition to our Chartered Engineers if they obtained PEng status through IESL )

However, I couldn't agree more with your most resent editorial. Yes, our communication process (since 2007 when IESL began the journey to obtain the full membership of the Washington Accord) may have not been adequate. In fact, when I (as the Chair - ICT Com. 2012/2013) conducted a survey, similar sentiments were expressed by our members on many strategic initiatives (Washington Accord, ISO certification of the IESL Secretariat, getting Cabinet approval for the Engineering Act, creating and implementing an IESL Corporate Plan). I have posted the link to the full survey ( please refer page 11-12) that was published on our website in January 2013. Note that most of the younger members are unaware of these initiatives although they are keen to contribute!

Link: https://app.box.com/s/j6p4uhilj0aadh5epr2i

Now that we have terrific communications tools including our membership management system, Digital SLEN, etc., IESL Secretariat should do a better job of getting our members involved in these efforts and the Council should become more "marketing savvy". To this effect, in 2013 we included a special section on our website under "About IESL" indicating what is Washington Accord and International Professional Engineers Agreement.

Link: http://www.iesl.lk/page-1568008

To sustain what we have achieved (which is significant amount of work), IESL should adjust its future course of action and I have given my suggestions:

Link: http://www.iesl.lk/page-1567974/3006205

Dear Dr. Nawagamuwa and Digital SLEN Team,

Let me congratulate on two superb "video" articles and we need more of that.

The one on National Road Master Plan (2007-2017) show cases our (engineers) policy making and leadership role in big economic activities. Why don't we interview the Chairman (who is an engineer) in charge of our ports and harbors. How about the newly appointed CEO of Mobitel who is our Council Member. Just a few ideas.

Then the "video" article on Trailblazing Lady Engineers of Sri Lanka!! Wow, now that's the kind of leisure viewing and reading we must create to transform our engineering community to doers.

Since we launched digital SLEN in 2013, I am glad that you all have kept up with multimedia articles as they ooze passion and personality than written articles, generally. I am glad I was part of that innovative, creative process as the ICT Chair during the digital transformation at IESL under the leadership of Eng. Tilak De Silva ( 2012/2013)

Dear Dr. Nawagamuwa,

You always write good editorials in my opinion. The most recent one on celebrating engineering unions through informal and formal gatherings is a much needed message. Unfortunately I could not attend the recent Engineers Night. Kudos to all who were behind it - we must continue it year after year with all the possible glitter and grandeur. Similarly as stated in the President's message, continuation of members lounge at TECHNO Sri Lanka is a must. I am looking forward to "the" initiative from our current President - Eng. Shavi Fernando - to launch the construction of a "permanent" Members Lounge at The Institution premises as envisioned by the Council in 2013/2014 session. As then President Elect, Eng. Shavi Fernando gave his solemn promise to do so. I think he meant it as he is a fun loving guy! Such a setup will make it easy for our brothers and sisters coming from out of Colombo to meet their colleagues in a relaxing environment. What ever you do, please make sure its done by a modern architect and young engineers who knows how a 21st century lounge should look like!! Until we do that, would it be possible to get complementary / concessionary admittance to a place like Waters Edge Lounge for our members?

I must congratulate Eng. Ranathunga for his excellent "investigative and analytical" report on implementing solar powered electricity at our homes. It is a timely one given the ongoing debate about energy costs and alternative solutions such as "net metering". It was very
clear to any layman and the fact that he kept the money side of the topic simple but very relevant made it one of the best articles I have read/heard ( now that SLEN is digital!). If we produce these kinds of articles, I am sure our place in the society as Engineers will be
further enhanced.

Food for a Healthy Life by Eng. Janz is a welcome change to not just SLEN but to IESL. Rather than eternally focusing on engineering topics, showing that we are also human and have other interests is what this article does. Thank you Eng. Janz for a refreshing and a
useful article. I hope many others will take the cue from Eng. Janz.