Opening of the US-Egypt Workshop on the Digital Informational Infrastructure in the Middle East.
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Alexandria 16 January 2006— today marked the second day of the US-Egypt Workshop on the Digital Informational Infrastructure in the Middle East. The proceedings started as scheduled including several speakers tackling various aspects of the workshop, however the day was highlighted by the plenary session which was moderated by Dr. Hisham El-Sherif, who created the first Information and Decision Support centrein Egypt and has set up over 35 technology-related companies, and currently chairs several leading technology organizations, including IT Investments, IT Ventures, Nile On-line and Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre (RITSEC).
The proceedings encompassed an Opening Plenary Presentation by Dr. John Gage, Chief Researcher & Vice President of the Science Office, Sun Microsystems and a Keynote Speech, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Both of whom so eloquently described the importance of knowledge and how the BA would be part of the new "digital age". Dr. John Gage’s presentation (soon to be online) was related to the digitalization of knowledge and the advancement of Arabic OCR programs. He also stated the size of any project doesn’t matter as much as its outcomes.
Dr. John Gage also explained that the presence of the library and the foundation it already has set will definitely go a long way in paving the road towards building a digital library in the middle east and will greatly shorten the time period required to develop and launch such a library.
Furthermore the fact the Egypt was one of the first Middle East countries to go online was portrayed, also the fact that internet access cost is now almost unnoticeable (0.2 $ per hour), a major progress from what it used to cost in the late 80’s.