DOHA: With the dearth of digital content in Arabic language, there is a need to produce more especially when it comes to Arab heritage that the younger generation should learn and appreciate, according to panelists at the Connect Arab Summit 2012 which concluded yesterday.
"Only 0.82 percent of total articles published in Wikipedia are in Arabic language and Arabic ranked no. 113 of the reported 140 languages with 500 articles per million speakers," Ebrahim Al Haddad, Regional Director for Arab States, International Telecommunications Union (ITU) cited a Wikipedia report.
Al Hadad said even if Arabic content is available, accessing them is costly, adding therefore there increasing Arabic content and lowering broadband prices were both vital.
He added developing content should focus not only on textual but encompass all forms of content such as music, videos and photos and should involve development and translation, distribution and protection of content.
Dr Fathi Saleh, Founder and Emeritus Director, CULTNAT, Egypt, revealed a number of national projects in response to the issue, among which are a project to enhance access to Arab digital content through the Memory of the Arab World project and a project to strengthen Arab statistical indicators to better inform policy-making in the region.
Implemented in partnership with ITU and League of Arab States, Memory of the Arab World is aimed at documenting and connecting Arab heritage in addition to circulating it on the Internet. "We have to preserve the Arab heritage for the future generation and prevent it from eroding. We should show how we actively contributed to civilization in the past," said Dr Saleh.
In the case of Sudan, Mubarak Muhammed Ahmed, Director General, National Information Centre, said they have encouraged government entities to have presence in the Internet.
© The Peninsula 2012
