To the many of you who are wondering about the progress made by the National Information System (NIS), to all of you, here is a bird’s eye view of some by-products that had a positive impact on the utilization of information in Jordan.

One of the indirect targets of NIS is to create the information society. According to several surveys conducted by the NIC and other bodies, the output and input of information is not given highest priority in the Jordanian society. On the national level, information is not utilized to support decisions. The reason is lack of awareness of the importance of information and not lack of information only. On the personal level, the usefulness of information cannot be denied to the mother in bringing up her children, to the children in planning their future and to the family in identifying its role in the development process. To raise awareness and to satisfy information needs of the government and the individual alike, the National Information Centre chose two main spotlights to assert its aims, accessibility of information and reliability and timeliness of information. Through coordination, NIC has instilled in its clientele the concept of the importance of information and that information has a value in itself and that this value is doubled when used in making decisions.

It emphasized the importance of updating information in a timely manner as it always capitalized on quality service of information. Conferences and workshops plus lectures and writing articles for daily newspapers have facilitated the evolvement of a semi information society. Of course, measurement of this metamorphosis is not easy but it has been manifested on various occasions listed below:

0. The whole outlook to information has changed positively. The civil servant is now aware of the importance of preserving and protecting information for the benefit of the user whether he/she is from the government or outside it. The level of discussion and arguments in meetings prove this.
1. The conduction of several workshops, panel discussions, conferences and lectures on information and relevant subjects have induced positive change in attitude towards networking in presenting information services.
2. Execution of projects directed towards establishing focal point for the supply and demand of information services.
3. Enthusiasm shown by civil servants in attending training programs organized by the National Information Centre.
4. Accountability for the information produced by the information centres.

- Increase in the number of corporate subscribers from the government to the NIS, especially the public and private universities

5. The popularity of Internet cafés in Amman, Irbid and Zarqa.
6. The spread of web developers and the numbers of Jordanian web pages designed for the NIS and the Internet.
7. The zeal shown by companies to register their domain names.
8. Increasing numbers of newspaper articles on subjects related to the importance of information.
9. Giving more thought to designing IT requirements and the need for information networks when construction of new government buildings are under consideration.

- Participation in the ongoing work and discussion on the Y2K problem.

The IT revolution is causing enormous economic and social changes that will enhance job creation, promote economic transformation and change the traditional ways and means of conducting business. It is a well-known fact that the IT has immense contribution to the development of the health sector and the quality of life. The impact of the IT “revolutions” is as high on the local and regional economies as the agrarian and industrial revolutions. The western European market for information technology and communications products and services is equivalent to 5% of gross domestic products. According to statistics, packaged software industry has generated $37 billion in sales, 334,200 jobs, and $15 billions in tax revenues in Western Europe in 1996. Based on market growth projections of 10% a year, IT would produce 426,000jobs, 21.8 billion financial revenues and $59.8 billion by 2001.

Because skill requirements in this sector is high, so are the wages paid to IT workers. The wage gap between IT workers and all other workers continues to widen. In 1997, workers employed by IT producing industries in the US earned $53,000 compared with the economy-wide average of $30,000. Employment in IT-producing industries in the US grew by 2.4% annually whereas the growth was 1.7% for all private industries from 1989 to 1997.

A look at the IT infrastructure in less developed countries implies that these countries should use information technologies as a tool to catch up with developed countries. However, the demand for IT skilled workers in the industrial countries makes it difficult for the developing countries to keep their pool of IT workers at home because of the brain drain. Developing countries are struggling to maintain their electric and telephonic infrastructure in compliance with e-commerce demands so that the movement towards digital economy development is not constrained.

1. The Centre conducted the First Arab Conference on Software Industry and Development from 11-13 July in cooperation with the Federation of Arab Scientific Research Councils. The participants, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine and Jordan discussed the present situation of the software industry and the barriers and restraints that affect its development in the Arab World.

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2. The National Information Centre has been selected by EUMEDIS, The European-Mediterranean Information Society Initiative, to be the national coordinator for the creation of a network of Mediterranean Information Society focal points. The cooperation of the focal points will help create and develop a harmonized governmental strategy for the development of the Euro-Mediterranean Information Society.
3. The Centre participated in the regional meeting of the Global 2000 for the Middle East and North Africa. The meeting emphasized the importance of coordination among local organizations and at the regional level. Participants included representatives from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Iran, Bahrain,

Turkey, Zimbabwe, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen and Jordan.

4- The Centre participated in the meetings for the National Development Plan for the Years 1999-2003. The President of the Centre presented the draft of a plan concerning the information sector. The preliminary discussion of the plan precedes its adoption in the overall plan

5- The Centre conducted several workshops concerning the 2000 problem to ensure that application of procedures and solutions are up-to-date. At present, the Centre is concentrating on the contingency plans of the vital organizations so that disruptions that might happen in the vital sectors will be avoided.

6- The National Information Centre has upgraded its communication network to provide higher speed and to increase the efficiency of the service delivered to users. The uplink has been also upgraded through Hashem1 station from 512kbps to 1024 kbps.

The main aim of establishing the legal information network is to make available the Jordanian Constitution with all the amendments and regulations related to it including all the legal issues. The network will include information from the Ministry of Justice, House of Representatives, Lawyers Syndicate, Legislation and Opinion Bureau, Judicial Institute, Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Places, the National Library, University of Jordan, Royal Scientific Society, the Supreme Judge Department and the National Information Centre. The bulk of information consists of the following:

The Jordanian Constitution-

- Decisions of the Higher Council for Interpretation of the Constitution

- Laws andamendments -

- Legal principles extracted from court decisions

- Rules and regulations and their amendments

- International agreements

- Legal research and studies

The database will include textual as well as bibliographic information. A free search engine will be used to retrieve information. The project will be delivered in twelve months.

http://www.quios.com

http://www.jfax.com

http://www.returnme.com