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Index

Y2K again
Exhibitions
Conferences & Seminars
Higher Ministerial Committee for the Y2K Problem
Combatting Y2K in Jordan

Population & Human Settlement Database
Web Sites of Interest

Issues List

Y2K again

Two years ago, the National Information Centre started the awareness campaign for the Y2K problem. A small article appeared in one of the issues of NUMU in early 1997 explaining the problem and its implications on automated processes and outputs. Since then, the Centre has conducted studies and committed itself to provide help and advice for the threat of the Y2K to local organizations in the public and the private sectors. NIC has been proactively researching and developing strategies and designing a national action plan to eliminate the threat and educate the public on safe and result-oriented procedures. The target is timely and solutions are cost-effective.To do this, NIC has decided to publish successful abatement solutions and procedures for the 2000 problem which would be pursued by local organizations. A national task force has been formed and a technical manual and progress report is now on display on the site of the National Information System at http://www.nic.gov.jo.

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Exhibitions

METS ’98, Amman, 9-13 Nov., þ1998

The Jordan Computer Society organized the 9th METS Exhibition for Information and Communication Technologies in Amman from 9-13 Nov.,1998. Participants exceeded 50 companies specializing in computers, communications and software including local ISPs and regional and international presentations. The exhibition was held at the Amman International Exhibition Hall where a myriad of visitors attended the exhibition.

Jordan: Past and Present, 2-7/11/1998

The Centre participated in the exhibition “Jordan: Past and Present” that was organized by the General Export Organization from 2/11-17/11/1998. The Centre displayed the Internet home page of the National Information System and a poster, 5metres by 2 meters about the history of Jordan from 10000 B.C. with some 30 charts on the socio-economic conditions in Jordan since 1955.

 

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CONFERENCES & SEMINARS

Intellectual Property Rights, Amman,Sept., 1998

The Centre participated in the World Intellectual Property Conference that was held in the Radisson Sas from 5/10/1998-8/10/1998. The conference was organized by Talal Abu Ghazaleh to raise awareness in the importance of compliance with intellectual property rights and laws in industry and in world trade.

The National Conference for Employment & Unemployment, Amman, August, 1998

The Centre participated in the National Conference for Employment and Unemployment that was organized by the Ministry of Administrative Development from 17/8/1998-19/8/1998. The aim of the Conference was

to address the social problems of unemployment and seek practical steps and mechanism to attempt to solve this growing problem.

Second International Congress on INFOethics'98, Monte Carlo.

The National Information Centre participated in UNESCO’s Second International Congress on “INFOethics '98: Ethical, Legal and Societal Challenges of Cyberspace” in Monte-Carlo, Principality of Monaco, 1-3 October, 1998. The objective of this Congress is the affirmation of the importance of universal access to information in the public domain, the promotion of the principles of equality, justice and mutual respect in the emerging information society, the identification of major ethical issues in the production, access, dissemination, preservation and use of information in an electronic environment and the provision of assistance to member states in formulating strategies and policies in these issues.

The address that was presented by the president of the NIC was entitled “Protection versus Accessibility on the Inter and Intranet” and dealt with the legal, ethical and socio-political implications of the Internet, together with the situation of information in our region, with emphasis on the Jordanian experience and strategies.

 

10th Meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Information Society, Brussels, September 1998

The 10th Meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Information Society Action Plan Steering Committee was held in Brussels on Sept. 25, 1998. The National Information Centre, being a member of the Steering Committee, participated in this meeting. The agenda focused on reviewing the minutes of the 9th Steering Committee in Istanbul, information on EC initiative in the field of information society, follow-up and evaluation of research proposals, discussion of the forthcoming workshops and other topics. NIC presented a progress report on the Petra 98 workshop “ I.T. and Natural Resources Management” which has been postponed from November 98 to May-June 1999.

Environmental Information Seminar, Amman, October, 1998

A seminar on environmental information was held at the Engineers Association on Wednesday 7th of October 1998.

Jordan Environment Society, in collaboration with the Engineers Association, the Mediterranean Environmental Information Network, and the National Information Centre organized this workshop.

Five working papers were presented in this seminar:

The National Information System, structure and progress.

  1. Description of environmental information and environmental clusters and as per the NIC Environmental Information Committee recommendations.

  2. Water quality and standards.

  3. Importance of environmental education and awareness at school level.

Recommendations related to environmental information included the following:

  1. Widen the scope of participation in the environmental coordinating committee of the National Information Center (NIC) and involve more universities and civil service organizations.

  2. Make all environmental and safety information available to the public for better utilization with emphasis on present hot water issues and pollution.

  3. The importance of home education in raising environmental awareness.

 

Information Society Conference, IST’98, Vienna.

The Centre participated in the IST’98 that was organized by the European Union in cooperation with the Australian Government. 3500 participants from all over the world attended the conference. Several sessions on different subjects were held. They addressed issues on information, information technology and the twenty first century, e-commerce, education, labor market, high tech and their effect on society and the civil and formal organizations. Concurrent with the conference was a scientific exhibition for I.T. equipment and applications in various sectors together with an exhibition of all the scientific research projects that were funded by the European Union Commission.

 

12th Meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Information Society Steering Committee, Vienna, December, 1998.

The Euro-Mediterranean Information Society Steering Committee met in Vienna to discuss the contribution of 46 million ECU by the European Commission to fund plans and projects in information technology for the Information Society of this region- the EUMEDIS. The meeting also discussed proposed projects and action plans and workshop programs that will be held in the region. PETRA 99 is one of the workshops that will be held in Jordan at the end of May 1999 and will be entitled “ Information Technology and Natural Resources Management”.

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Higher Ministerial Committee for the Y2K Problem

On 17/11/1998, the Cabinet took a decision to form a higher committee for the Y2K problem in Jordan. The Committee is headed by the Prime Minister with the membership of the Ministers of Development Affairs, Public Works, Transportation, Water and Irrigation and Energy and Mineral Resources, Post and Communication, Finance, Planning, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan with the President of the National Information Centre as Secretary for the Committee. The duties of the Committee include the following:

  1. Endorsement of the national action plan to combat the problem.

  2. Define priorities.

  3. Issue directives to the different public organizations as needed.

  4. Secure financial allocations to execute the action plan swiftly.

  5. Monitor the execution through regular reporting.

  6. Encourage organizations of the private sector to find solutions forthe problem within their area of interest.

    7.  

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    Combating Y2K in Jordan

    Contrary to what one might think, national organizations in Jordan have been studying and analyzing ways and means of combating the Y2K problem before the onset of the year 2000. Several workshops and seminars have been held to raise the issue and to discuss it in brainstorming sessions and at higher government levels. Following is a list of activities regarding Y2K issue conducted by various organizations in the private and the public sectors:

    II.The Banks

  7. The Central Bank of Jordan held a seminar entitled “ Countdown for the Year 2000” with the cooperation of Key Management Group and financed by the Central Bank and the commercial banks in Jordan. Special attention was given to discussing serious planning and testing. Needless to say, the Central Bank of Jordan has prepared all the necessary plans and procedures to be implemented by the Jordanian banks. A time framework has been distributed and is monitored by the Central Bank.

  8. The British Bank and GNZ Grindlays Bank distributed booklets on this problem to their customers.

    9. The Bank of Jordan held a three days workshop. The major issues that participants discussed touched probable losses and damages

    that could ensue as a result of the Y2K problem, and the plans of the Bank to address these issues.

  9. The Arab Land Bank organized a workshop for the year 2000. The participants were introduced to the problem and its dimensions and impact on local and international banking processes and especially on organizations that are connected to international networks. On the other hand, the computers of the Arab Land Bank are compliant with the Y2K and with the guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Jordan. The Bank issued a flyer on the 2000 problem to be distributed to its clients.

    10. III.The Government:

  10. The Greater Amman Municipality is also very busy finding solutions for the Y2K problem. Some 1000 computer programs have been amended so far. The rest will be finished before the end of 1998.

  11. Department of Lands and Survey held a seminar on the Y2K. The findings of a study conducted by the Department indicated that the hardware and software of the Department are problem-free with the exception of few programs. An action plan is being implemented and the bulk of the amendments will be finished by June 1999.

    12. IV.Organizations & Companies

  12. The American Information Centre held a meeting to discuss the PCs and the 2000 problem. Head of the computer departments at the Ministry of Planning and the British Bank made presentations.

  13. The Royal Jordanian Airlines, The Arab Company for Scientific Information organized a conference on “ Strategic Middle East Conference to Confront the Year 2000 Crisis”. Concurrent with the conference was an exhibition organized by ExpoJordan. The Customs Department, computer companies and travel agents participanted in the exhibition.

The National Insurance Company published a detailed report about the difficulties that are going to confront insurance companies in the year 2000 as a result of the Y2K problem.

  1. The National Information Centre, the national coordinators for the Y2K problem, attended an international meeting for the Y2K or the Millennium Bug in the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The meeting that was held on December 11, 1998 brought together the Permanent Missions of member states and the Y2K national coordinators from over 120 states. The meeting focused on International cooperation on Y2K, exchange of information between national coordinators and crisis management for left-over problems at the beginning of the next century.

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Population and Human Settlement Database

The database known as “Population and Human Settlement” which is available on the Arabic home page of the National Information System, is being continuously updated by the National Information Centre. Input collected by the twelve governorates will be reflected on the database. Several meetings with representatives from the twelve governorates have been held. The goal is to discuss the mechanism for collecting, inputting and displaying information required to build the database. To coordinate efforts, a standard format will be used. The input will be given to the Centre periodically every three months and it will include updated information and data . The address of the database is at :

http://www.nis.gov.jo/edu/edu.html .
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Web Sites of Interest

http://www.ayna.com

Ayna? is the first Arabic language guide and search engine on the WWW. The search engine, Nathra, uses a variety of Arabic lexical rules to derive Arabic stems, hence returning similar resources of interest to the user. Ayna's hierarchy structure enables the user to easily locate information of interest, and support for CP-1256, UTF-8 and ISO-8859-6 allows virtually anyone with minimum Arabic support on their computer to access and view these resources.

http://www.arabist.com

This is also a search engine for Arabic www sites and a directory of all subjects available on the Middle East.

 

ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the new non-profit corporation that was formed to take over responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions now performed under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other entities. For more information, please refer to the URL: 

http://www.icann.org

 

 
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