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Minister of Technology, Sen. Camillo Gonsalves. (IWN photo)
Minister of Technology, Sen. Camillo Gonsalves. (IWN photo)

Minister of Technology Sen. Camillo Gonsalves has cited I-Witness News, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ leading news and current affairs website, as an example of innovative use of information communication technology.

Gonsalves made the point on Thursday as he addressed the launch of the i2 (I Squared) Competition, which encourages students to change the world using information communication technology (ICT).

“If you see a need, fill the need. If you see a problem, fix the problem,” Gonsalves told students as he pointed out that there is billions of dollars to be made in ICT.

“Sitting in the crowd here is Kenton Chance, who created something called I-Witness News. He saw a need, and the need was people had to wait ‘til the end of the week to get news, because Searchlight, at the time, and Vincentian and The News only came out on a Friday, and between Friday and Friday, all you had was radio and commess (gossip),” Gonsalves said.

Chance, a Vincentian journalist, who is executive editor of I-Witness News, founded the website in 2009 while studying in Taiwan.

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“And Kenton Chance — from Taiwan, not from St. Vincent — he created something called I-Witness News from Taiwan — even though he couldn’t eye witness anything because he was in Taiwan.

“But he saw a need and he filled the need … I don’t know his data, but I know it is at least thousands of eyeballs go to his website every day to read the news. And he is now a leader in his field, because he saw a need and he filled a need,” Gonsalves said.

“And when you go to Kenton’s website, you see a lot of little advertisements for one business or the other, and those advertisements are paying Kenton, because he saw a need: why do we have to wait until the end of the week to get our news and subsist on commess for the rest of the week?

“And he filled the need, and he filled it using a camera and a computer, and his brain. And that is what each and every one of you can do in your chosen field, or in your chosen area of interest,” the technology minister further told the students.

3 replies on “I-Witness News is innovation worth emulating, Technology Minister tells students”

  1. All is fair and well, however, where is the support from the government to ensure that young Vincentians can become world leaders?
    Silicon Valley was not built on a speech or a prayer; there was dedicated infrastructure and investment.
    What is the fastest internet speed in SVG?
    And what will you need to pay to have that (internet speed)?
    How do we engender an entrepreneurial spirit in institutions of learning?
    What tech programs are there available?

    Then of course, through grit and determination, an ingenious soul will break the mould and make something of themselves on a regional or international scale and that is when we will hear the claim from the institution that they claim this success as their own.

    Where were they? and what did they do to plant and nurture the seed?

    There is another way.

  2. Kenton, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”

    (For those unaware of the source of this oft used expression, it refers to the story of the wooden horse filled with soldiers built by the Greeks to trick their way into the Trojan city of Troy. “Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts” is the origin of the expression as written in Virgil’s epic poem, Aeneid, in 19 BC. By the way, we have an compelling Trojan horse at Argyle being constructed by our very own Prime Minster!)

    ***

    Just wondering, what “need” did the boy wonder see when he decided to enter the political arena?

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