Harsha Wijayawardhana’s association with the late Vidya Jyothi Professor V. K. Samaranayake extended across the formative years of Sri Lanka’s Internet, Sinhala computing, computerised election work, rural connectivity and ICT for development.
Working with Prof. Samaranayake
Under Prof. Samaranayake’s leadership at the University of Colombo and CINTEC, Harsha contributed to technical work ranging from election-night networks and results systems to Sinhala Unicode implementation. He was one of the authors, with V. K. Samaranayake, S. T. Nandasara, J. B. Dissanayake and A. R. Weerasinghe, of An Introduction to Unicode for Sinhala Characters, published by the University of Colombo School of Computing in 2003.
When the Kothmale Internet Community Radio Project faced a connectivity impasse, Prof. Samaranayake asked Harsha to study the site and propose a solution. Harsha subsequently led the technical work connecting Kothmale and later became involved in Sarvodaya’s telecentre work and the Virtual Village Project. Prof. Samaranayake also chaired the foundational meeting that helped establish the Internet Society Sri Lanka Chapter, of which Harsha became founding President.
The final felicitation volume
Partners in Progress was a felicitation volume honouring Prof. Samaranayake. It was launched on 4 June 2007, shortly before his death, and is preserved by the UCSC Computer Museum.
Article: “Kothmale Internet Program to Virtual Village: Recollection of nine years of ICT4D in Sri Lanka”
Author: Harsha Wijayawardhana
Publication: Partners in Progress: A Felicitation Volume in Honour of Vidya Jyothi Prof. V. K. Samaranayake, University of Colombo School of Computing, 2007
Starting page: 204
The contribution records the progression from the UNESCO-supported Kothmale Internet Community Radio Project to the IDRC-supported Virtual Village initiative, and places nine years of Sri Lankan ICT4D experience within the professional legacy of Prof. Samaranayake.
View the UCSC Computer Museum record and digitized volume →
The public digital facsimile currently exposes the book’s cover, contents and selected concluding pages, but not the full text of Harsha’s article. The bibliographic entry and starting page are taken from the volume’s contents. A full local transcription can be added when a scan of pages 204–216 is available.