Importance of Smart Channel for National Statistics and Information in the Context of Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

The National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) in Oman was established in accordance to the Royal Decree 31/2012 affiliated to the Supreme Council for Planning. It is one of the most important sources for the development and sustainability of Oman's economy and is one of the entities, which have an information bank that helps to create Oman’s strategic plan. Most of this information is being used by high-level planners, which include governments, semi governments, and private sectors through the portal and other media sources. However, the majority of the information in terms of statistics is made available to the public through newspapers and magazines. This research paper focuses on the need for developing an information system channel through which NCSI can communicate and pass its information to every individual in the Sultanate of Oman with ease. Some information is required for study at the school level as well and thus, by considering various HCI (human-computer interaction) principles, the authors will be proposing a framework for a new electronic platform, which will be based on interactive media platform, which could be made available on Smart devices as well. This will increase the scope of this research and the outcomes will benefit the majority of the people. The need for the proposed system is evaluated through a survey and the outcomes are analyzed. It was found that the majority of the participants do not have clear information about various services and data provided by NCSI. Further, it was noted that most of the participants agreed that such an e-channel would facilitate to receive various statistics on a timely basis. This research would also include the study of similar systems in other countries and provide recommendations to design an effective framework.