STUDENTS GIVE COMPUTER SKILLS A GLOBAL TRYOUT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 6, 1993                   TAG: 9304060336
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium
STUDENTS GIVE COMPUTER SKILLS A GLOBAL TRYOUT
Government officials in Namibia and Egypt soon will be using computer programs designed by a group of George Mason University students to help developing countries win aid from the United Nations.
The software is intended to streamline and improve aid proposals to give poorer countries a better chance, said Stephen Ruth, the professor overseeing the project.
"A lot of times they might not have the technological tools to produce a good, slick package," Ruth said.
The 2-year-old project is the most visible product of the Business Multimedia Center, a computer center at George Mason that is trying to apply sophisticated computer design to business problems, Ruth said.
A half-dozen graduate students designed and built the computer system as part of their degree program.
Developed for the United Nations, the computer package could be adapted to apply for nearly any kind of aid or grants open to developing countries.
Eventually, a government employee anywhere in the world could use the program to write a comprehensive aid request that answers questions the United Nations asks before releasing money, said Steven Glovinsky, senior technical adviser with the United Nations Development Program.
The program distributes $1 billion annually to about 5,000 projects.
The computer program uses advanced graphics, sound and other features to guide even a very inexperienced user through the application process.
It includes the actual U.N. forms and documents, offers advice on what to include and signals when a proposal is getting too long.
"We put a beeper in that goes off at 30 pages. It says, `Whoa, this is too much,' " said John Redmon, a former student who is now advising others working on the project.
The program will be tested in Czechoslovakia, Namibia, Vietnam, Egypt and Mexico this year, Ruth said.
The U.N. is conducting its final review of the project and testing could begin as soon as next month, Glovinsky said.
Glovinsky, who reviews aid applications at the U.N.'s New York headquarters, said the documents often are incomplete or need major changes. The computer system will standardize and improve the applications and make it easier to choose among them for scarce development dollars, he said.
Students who wrote the program took pains not to make it appear paternalistic.
"We have to be very neutral and very careful to make it user-friendly to a broad range of cultures," Redmon said.
For example, the students removed a computer graphic of the Golden Gate Bridge from the system because some potential users said it was "too American," Redmon said.
The students also avoided the color red in their computer graphics, because of superstitions some cultures hold about the color.
The program is written in English, the language most often used at the U.N.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB