Arab e-Content Award 2009: selecting and promoting the best in Arab e-content

From the start of the United Nations initiative of the World Summit on Information Society, the countries of the Arab Region have been in the forefront of pushing the agenda beyond the issues of accessibility of infrastructures, governance of the Internet of technological standardisation.

Reflecting their richness in culture and traditions and their progressiveness in the intelligent use of technology Arab Countries have been part of the effort of putting a focus on the good use of the Information and Communication Technologies especially in the areas of creative e-content and quality applications.

The Arab e-Content Award continues and extends this focus. It aims to support the production, use and distribution of Arab digital content and to promote the linguistic and cultural diversity on the global networks.
Until today, there has been no main Arabic content Award that targets Arabic speaking users worldwide and promotes the preservation and digital development of the Arabic literary and cultural traditions.

Although there are many individual efforts to present Arabic e-content on the Internet, these efforts were relatively small compared to the cultural history and economic importance of Arabs in the world today.

The challenges facing the Arab e-Content are the socio-economic differences between communities with regards to their access to computers, the internet and contents. It also is a barrier when users differ in literacy and technical skills, and the gap in availability of quality and useful e-Content.

With this booklet and the Gala events the Kingdom of Bahrain has taken the most laudable initiative to give public recognition to the best of Arab e-Content.

The winning products were all entered as national best from the Arab Region in the World Summit Award 2009. They were evaluated by the independent Grand Jury of WSA as among the world’s best in the 8 categories of the global contest at the Grand Jury meeting in New Delhi, India on April 6th and 7th 2009.
The best three products from the Arab Region were given a special distinction by the Grand Jury and recognized as winners of the Arab e-content award.

I wish to thank H.E. Shaikh Mohamed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa for the patronage of event, the e-Government Authority of Bahrain for hosting the gala and producing the booklet. I also wish to acknowledge most valuable efforts of the Bahraini Internet Society for organising the event and also the booklet. Thanks to these efforts and the support from other partners in public administration, business and civil society, this effort has broken new ground.
I look forward to a continued shared effort in the years to come.

Prof. Dr. Peter A. Bruck ,
Chairman of World Summit Award Board of Directors