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Building Capacity in ICT in Jordan : a Study. Building Capacity in ICT in Jordan : a Study
A study about capacity building in new information technologies (ICT) in Jordan was conducted by the National Information Centre and presented to ESCWA during the last month of 2002. The study was done on behalf of ESCWA, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in Beirut. The study is part of ESCWA’s activities in ICT capacity building for achieving sustainable development objectives. This study reviews briefly the development of information and communication technology (ICT) in Jordan and focuses on the pattern of its growth and assesses ICT development potential for urban and rural areas, for men and women, for the poor, and for the economy as a whole, and attempts to position Jordan in the global village as related to ICT. To give a full picture of how ICT is developing in Jordan, the study discusses the ICT strategies and policies that provide a framework for ICT development and the national strategic goals through initiatives related to ICT conducted in the public and the private sectors. The study discusses areas like education, bridging the digital divide, e-government, IT in community development, and ICT developments at large. To emphasize the fact that Jordan is on its way to developing the information society and creating an ICT skilled labor force that will facilitate the applications of e-government and e-commerce modules, the study highlighted the human resource component, in the public and the private sectors, the number of graduates in ICT in universities and the number of ICT workers in the market. The infrastructure of telecommunication was discussed including penetration of computers and the Internet. The study tackled all areas impacted by ICT and its applications: stakeholders, the citizen and organizations. It concluded that Jordan is working on alleviating hardships of poverty and unemployment by introducing ICT into the curriculum of schools and universities and in community centers in villages. The New Web Page of the National Information Centre The National Information Center has launched its renewed website, within the context of its continuous efforts to maintain easy access to updated information. The structure of the new page incorporates several topics, some of which aim at introducing the concept and rationale of the National Information System. Other topics are basically referral links (such as Government Structure, Business Directory, Domain Registration Services, etc). A new search engine was also incorporated in the website. Its scope spans all institutions that are part of the National Information System. Worth mentioning is the construction of a new facility that enables a visitor to add the website of his institution to the search engine, is underway. This new structure provides the user with several search options. It is flexible and can accommodate the search needs of the user. The scope of the search can be restricted to one specific institution, or span several institutions within a specific information sector. Other features may also be incorporated such as matching according to Boolean expressions (And, Or) or phrase matching. User interface is available in Arabic and English. The user can switch between the languages according to his/her preference. The site can be visited at the following URL’s: The National Information Centre has upgraded its international bandwidth of the Internet as a response to increasing demand. The National Information Center measures demand by using a special computer program that analyses the volume of upload and download utilization of the bandwidth. When utilization reaches 65% of channel size the Centre decides to increase bandwidth to optimize its service.
Operation Center of the E-government at NIC The National Information Centre has been selected to be the operation centre for the E-government during the first phase during which it will supervise the operation and the services offered through it. Different hi-tech electric and electronic equipment have been supplied to the location where the centre will be hosted. In addition, staff have been selected and trained. In phase one, e-mail services will be provided to six government organizations including the Prime Ministry, the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Greater Amman Municipality. The Centre is expected to be ready at the end of March 2003. A Call Centre will also be established to receive phone call inquiries using the ticket system to analyze and solve queries. Since the establishment of the Domain Name Registry for the .jo top level domain, the Registry, which is a unit in the National Information Centre, has registered around 1500 domain name under the different second level domains, .com, .org, .edu, .jo, .mil, . gov, .net. However, the domain names that are not registered for immediate use do not all have web pages. On the other hand, all the domain names that are registered and have presence on the Internet have been added to the www.privatesector.com.jo web page under the sectors they belong to. However, the site includes web pages that are "Jordanian" but have not been registered under .jo. The following domain names statistics show the active web pages according to specific categories:
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CONFERENCES / Fourth Mediterranean Development Forum, Amman, 6-9 October, 2002. Amman hosted the fourth Mediterranean Development Forum 6-9 October, 2002. The development community of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was represented by a diverse group of over 500 participants, encompassing members of NGOs and think tanks, academics, public and private sector leaders, and journalists, who convened to address some of the most pressing issues confronting the region. Under the theme of "Progress for All, Visions for the Future," the gathering included four specialized workshops, five special sessions, and three plenary sessions that debated various visions for a better future. The participants debated issues ranging from Empowering Local Government Institutions to Employment and Unemployment, Trade, Investment, and the New Economy. The National Information Centre chaired a session entitled “ Fostering Digital Inclusion”. Special sessions were also held on critical regional development issues such as gender, media, civil society, corporate social responsibility, and youth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The aim of the UNIFEM / Cisco initiative is to bridge the digital divide and provide equal opportunities for all segments of Jordanian society. In line with the government objectives, UNIFEM and Cisco Foundation and Cisco Systems have partnered together in a joint venture " Achieving E-Quality in the IT sector" to help market women who are qualified in IT skills to participate in the economy by creating new job opportunities for them. The Centre participated in the seminar and presented a paper on JITCCs and bridging the digital divide. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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IST 2002, Copenhagen, 4-6 November, 2002. IST 2002 - Partnerships for the Future was organized by the European Commission in co-operation with the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The main purpose of the event was to assist European researchers and industrialists with building and strengthening their networks for research and technological collaboration and to strengthen the European research area in the field of ICT. The event will broaden its scope to embrace all European Information Society research, whether funded at a European, national, or regional level - or even if entirely funded by the private sector. The event generated more than 500 proposals from acrossnEurope. 36 workshop topics were presented in different topics. Concomitant with the meeting was an exhibition of 4500 m2 presenting European research, technological development and demonstration (RTD) projects on IST. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Arab Meeting on Information Strategy, Cairo, 4-6 November, 2002. The National Information Centre participated in the Arab Meeting, in Cairo, from 4-6 November, 2002, to discuss the draft of the Arab Strategy for Information. Many Arab countries were represented in the meeting. The Centre presented a paper on the strategy of information technology in Jordan with relevant statistics, initiatives and national strategies. The last draft of the Arab Strategy, which was drafted by experts on the subject, was finally agreed upon after elaborate discussion. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Arab Academy for Electronics, Founding Committee Meeting, Cairo, 17-18 November, 2002 As a member of
the founding committee of the Arab Academy for Electronics, the National
Information Centre participated in the meeting in Cairo from 17-18 November,
2002. The Academy is affiliated to the Higher Council for Economic Unity. The
main aim of the meeting was to review achievements concerning the agreement on
establishing the Academy. The requirements for hosting the Academy were
discussed in addition to arrangements of establishing the Academy. The Centre
was elected as secretary of the Committee.
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