Vira GLUSHKOVA: “There is no real and objective analysis of the current situation”
The Day spoke about the strategy of the IT sphere development in Ukraine at the state level with academician Glushkov’s daughter Vira Glushkova, Ph.D. in physics and mathematics, senior scientist of Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics at the Academy ofа Sciences of Ukraine.
“As for the concept they created in Ukraine, I know who wrote it and which documents were used,” Glushkova started. “The Russians were right: these are ‘warm wishes.’ Our situation is that we do not know where we are going. When a ship does not know where it is sailing, it will never have a fair wind. For example, there is an interdepartmental struggle when the laws on cyber protection and personal data protection are created – every department hogs the blanket. Why didn’t they create a through electronic signature (it can be used only in the tax inspection)? Because every department hogs the blanket and there is no true information there. It is a very sad tendency as the budget is being scattered. Big money is allocated to develop a more or less serious project, but it is hard to say where this money goes.”
Is it possible to create a project of how it should be?
“First of all, they should assess the current situation. Not long ago there was a congress on the information society and I participated in it. There I presented the document reading that the assessment of the resources needed for functioning of the electronic society was made for the first time since 2002. Besides, it seems to me that only technical resources were assessed and only selectively. It means we do not know what we have and where. Why hasn’t the electronic government been created yet? Because there are no unified standards for its creation. It means that the government orders the officials to do something and these poor enthusiasts from different regions do it as they see and understand it. Some of them take it wrong, others use different platforms – Microsoft and Oracle – that are not compatible! However, it should be unified throughout the country. But the standards are absent. There is no real and objective analysis of the current situation. The IT Association of Ukraine performed an express-analysis of its enterprises, however, there are also other associations that were not analyzed. It is not the whole IT sphere: there are state and other enterprises. There is no a unified vision of the situation. There is no analysis as nobody allocates money for it. It is just a mystery for me why nobody does it. The program can be written only under condition of the common vision of the situation in the country.
“Another flaw is that nobody does analytics. What is analytics? It should be done consistently; it is not just a one-time commercial project. The objective database has to be collected and the data should be compared, but in Ukraine it is often ordered. This factor also hinders a lot.”
Is there a permanent cooperation between the government and the scientists?
“They do participate in programs, but very superficially. They are given a piece and do not have the general idea. Even if they make comments, they might not be accepted. The government should have a political will. Then it will be not that difficult to do that. We still have the institutions whose employees could create such a project, the more that the state institutions can do it without bias.”
How could Viktor Glushkov’s experience be used?
“The forecast of the scientific and technological development created by Viktor Glushkov was found the best in all the countries of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance [the intergovernmental economic organization created by the decision of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia that worked in 1949-91. – Ed.] His forecast was used for the development of all the countries of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance. Now we want to retrieve the archival documents and study the methods of scientific and technological progress forecasting. In his ZDAS system [the State automated system of information recording and processing. – Ed.] Glushkov said that without scientific and technological forecast and forecast in general it is impossible to move ahead. The forecast should be based on a good analysis of the existing situation. ZDAS was designed to see the current state of affairs in different spheres. Now we do not have any common views in any sphere. Sometimes people who create the laws on personal data protection do not know the terms of laws on cyber protection. Though, theoretically it is the same sphere. I do not know why it happens so.
“By the way, on November 12 Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine organized the scientific reading on the occasion of Viktor Glushkov’s 90th birth anniversary. Except excursions, a quiz on the history of information technologies, and lectures of Viktor Glushkov’s colleagues, we listened to the speeches of young researches. They impressed everyone. Their presentations were laconic, clear, up-to-date and specific. Some children are very talented.”
So, if there was a political will, there would be those who would implement the technologies in future?
“Yes, without this mess it is possible to achieve everything.”
