Page 4 - index

from tHE Editor’s dEsK

Managing Editor
Colette Clark
Editor
Dudley Moloi
The web
Editorial Team
Sebenzile Zibani of things to
Louisa Teane

Editorial Advisory come
Group
Rhulani Makhubela
Zamokwakhe Khuzwayo Welcome to the first edition of the spheres.” In cinematic sci-fi terms, think
electronic Service Delivery Review
of the machine-humans (cyborgs) of
Mataywa Busieka (e-SDR) magazine. The need to Terminator or the surrealistic The Matrix.
change from a hard to soft edition of In reality, though, Professor Schwab’s
To order copies of the the quarterly publication has been fourth industrial revolution is as real as
Service Delivery Review considered for a long time. Weighing the technologically powerful iPhones
contact the costs of production versus value for that adorn many a pocket. The fourth
Sebenzile.Zibane@dpsa.gov.za money was always the foremost reason industrial revolution foretells a force for
for the change. Another major factor good or ill. Just like the gadgetry that is
was the need to move with the times, as the mark of 21 Century life, the advent of
st
We belong the saying goes. the fourth industrial revolution presumes
We care a trade-off between, for example,
We serve Transitioning from hard copies to a digital convenience and “Big Brother” types of
Invitation for format means that we can now produce surveillance.
contributions each edition of the SDR magazine at a
fraction of the cost. Moreover, the advent There is also concern that the quest for
The Service Delivery Review of the internet has opened up near infinite the previously unimaginable levels of
is a learning and knowledge communication avenues among millions efficiencies that result from robotisation
tool for the public service. It of people (without having to spend a will make human labour redundant.
provides a platform for debate cent). In the end, the various forms of
and the exchange of ideas internet-powered publishing mean that It is therefore fitting that the inaugural
to aid improved service the traditional notion of a “readership” e-SDR magazine focuses on a number
delivery. has fast become redundant. of articles that may help shed light
on this new terrain that marks the
Public servants, academics, As part of a pilot of three magazines fourth industrial revolution, especially
communities and other planned for this financial year, this as it relates to the public service or
interested parties are first edition of the e-SDR represents a e-government. n
encouraged and welcome to tentative step towards this brave new
respond to and raise issues in world of digital publishing and the even Dudley Moloi
this regard. bigger world context that underpins it.
Indeed, this step marks the SDR team’s
initial foray into the world of the much
Letters and feedback should
not be more than 500 words vaunted fourth industrial revolution.
and the maximum length for
articles is 2000 words. The idea of the fourth industrial
revolution is associated with Professor
Klaus Schwab, who is the founder
For more information and executive chairman of the World
please contact
Dudley@dpsa.gov.za Economic Forum (WEF). Professor
Schwab is also author of the book,
Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is
a phenomenon that he describes as a
fusion of technologies and the natural
worlds that is “blurring the lines between
the physical, digital and the biological

2 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 11 No. 3 of 2018