Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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of Arabic content and its low rate ofcreation relative to other countries andlanguages.On the other hand, the statisticsindicate that the picture has begun tochange, albeit extremely slowly. AlthoughArabic content on the net remains stable,the number of Arabic sites and pages hasgrown markedly larger. The number ofweb pages containing content in Arabic–including those written in both Arabicand English–has risen from 114 millionpages in 2005 to 189 million pages in2006, an increase of 65.8 per cent. Thecorresponding increase in the numberof English language pages is 63 per cent.The number of Arabic language pages isexpected to reach 5.1 billion in 2012, onthe basis of a rise to 80 per cent growth inthe years to 2010 and 60 per cent growthsubsequently.It is no exaggeration to say that thefuture of Arabic depends on the extentof its use on global information networks.This will require great effort on thetechnical level to obtain all the necessarycapabilities to deal with the language itself.Ambitious targets on the national levelare also called for so that institutionsin the Arab countries–governmentministries, universities, schools, civilsociety organisations–use Arabic intheir operations. In this way, Arabic willbecome a language for the circulation andproduction of the various branches ofknowledge, as it was during the flowering ofArab-Islamic civilisation. (‘Abd al-‘Aziz bin‘Uthman al-Tuwayjiri, 2008, in Arabic).Internet use and the spread of Arabic onthe net present interrelated opportunitiesand challenges that call for unconventionalapproaches to broaden its user base andraise its status (see Chapter 1). Favourablepolicies and initiatives must be adopted;regional and international partnershipsmust be entered into. Digital contentrelated to the Arab countries should alsobe produced and distributed in foreignlanguages. 9 As the following paragraphs inthe section on Arabic digital content makeclear, creating advanced search engines,automatic translation systems, smartprocessing of scripts, semantic searching,and the deployment of interactive websitesto facilitate learning are among the toolsneeded to ensure the spread of a languageon the net.ANTICIPATED ADVANCESIN ICTOver the last few years key technologieshave converged so as to secure on asingle platform kinds of services–such asinternet access, video and audio telephony,and radio and television broadcasting–thatwere previously only available separately.In the last two decades great progress hasbeen made in providing plentiful and upto date information on the internet and viathe search engines operating on it. Itis now possible, by networking computersin educational institutions and researchinstitutes across the globe, to runsoftware that requires the supercomputingcapabilities used in models and simulationsof physical and natural processes.Microprocessor evolution is expectedto continue in the short term on the basisof many current technologies that areall subject to incremental improvementsaimed at limited performance upgrade.This development will help to increase thepower of personal computers and lessentheir cost. 10 This implies the continueddominance of the personal computer inaccessing knowledge resources. Use ofmulti-core processors will allow highperformance computing without a markedincrease in energy consumption. Currentprocessor design tends towardssimplification of the internal structurethrough use of multiple cores and parallelprogramming. Utilisation of the gains madeby microprocessor development requiresnew solutions for memory access, crosscorecommunication, and greater reliability.The term “next generation networks”describes all the anticipated keytechnologies in the backbone and accessnetworks expected to come into generaluse during the next five years. These willThe number of webpages containingcontent in Arabichas risen from 114million pages in 2005to 189 million pagesin 2006, an increaseof 65.8 per centIt is no exaggerationto say that the futureof Arabic dependson the extent ofits use on globalinformation networksINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES151
During the comingdecade thetechnology of thesemantic web, whichaims to make the webmachine readable andenable computersto “understand andabsorb” data priorto processing it, isexpected to becomemore elaboratedThe acquisitionof the semanticweb technologyshould be a priorityfor Arab researchand developmentprogrammes thataim toward a moreintelligent andcoordinated utilisationof forthcoming ICTswith regard to Arabicdigital contentpermit the transmission of various kinds ofdata packet, as is the case currently for theinternet. Since these networks are built ontop of internet protocols, this will facilitatecommunication between different kinds ofnetwork and allow users to get access todifferent kinds of content via any means–computer, mobile telephone, and similardevices–and at any time, irrespective ofthe quantity of data over the range of thedifferent varieties of digital content.Next generation networks will permitthe securing of new services such ascommunication via multimedia, includinginstant messaging, video-calls, and videotransfer on the net. Next generationnetworks also possess features superiorto those of their predecessors in termsof information security and the use ofmore flexible and extensive data storageand computing structures on the network.Other features of the next generationnetworks are ease in securing servicesthat conform to user requirements andbehaviours and ease in searching andaccessing knowledge content.In many concerned institutions,research and development activity istending towards the production of moreeffective versions of search engines, whichcurrently often return unwanted resultsto the user. This will enhance internetperformance in general for all its users andwill enable, in particular, the expected searchengines to gain a better “understanding”of the content of web pages and sites.Searching the web will focus on content,structure, and user ends. To a great extentthis will be achieved by relying on markingup pages with semantic tags related to thecontent. During the coming decade thetechnology of the semantic web, 11 whichaims to make the web machine readableand enable computers to “understandand absorb” data prior to processing it,is expected to become more elaborated.This should make the acquisition of suchtechnology a priority for Arab researchand development programmes that aimtoward a more intelligent and coordinatedutilisation of forthcoming ICTs withregard to Arabic digital content (Nawwaral-‘Awwa, background paper for theReport, in Arabic). 12On the software level, the trend forcollaborative software developmentoutside the monopoly imposed by majorcompanies is expected to continue.Freeware, or open source software, isanticipated to present a serious challengeto proprietary commercial products interms of cost, speed of evolution, andreliability.Expected advancement in networks,infrastructures, and software over thenext few years will lead to the availabilityof a wider group of ICT applications,such as e-commerce, on the internet andto improved conditions for cooperationin various arenas including engineeringdesign, distributed industrial manufacturingprocesses, and networked research anddevelopment activity. The most prominentexample of the benefits that will accrueto users of next generation networks willbe apparent in easier and more effectiveaccess to distance learning and continuingeducation services, with the possibilityof tailoring educational programmesto suit the learner’s requirements andprevious qualifications. These serviceswill come to rely to a greater extent onvirtual reality applications and artificialintelligence software. Ideal utilisation ofthe coming technologies, particularly nextgeneration network technologies, requiresdevelopment of the communicationsinfrastructure towards a unified formatfor the transmission of data in its variousforms together. 13 Once this is done, itwill be possible to offer such services atlower cost and in broader scope, which willgenerate the revenues and opportunitiesto develop these services and offer moreof them, and in the long run achievenumerous economic and social gains.However, this is subject to the provision offavourable policies that permit competitionin introducing the new technologiesand that channel this competition in theinterests of the consumer. Regional andinternational cooperation aimed at the152 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009
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United Nations Development Programm
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This Report has been produced throu
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This year’s report may perhapsbes
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ICT in the Arab countries and reinf
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CONTENTSPREAMBLEIntroductionPrelimi
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Quantitative indicatorsTertiary edu
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LIST OF BOXESBox 1 The Effect of th
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Figure 5-7 Published scientific art
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Table 21 Time devoted to secondary
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The knowledgefield and revolutionto
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The literature onhuman rights place
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Arabic istechnologicallypoor in com
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Intercommunicationwith the self mea
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Table 2CountryGroupGroup 1: Oilecon
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Figure 2504540353025201510508070605
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In the period2003-2007, morethan 83
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eversion, in many cases, is not ass
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Thus the Arab region in general, an
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knowledge over recent years. This w
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However, this progress remains limi
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CHAPTER ONETHE THEORETICAL FRAMEWOR
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The successfuldeployment ofthe know
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The knowledgerevolution atthe end o
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Technology, theeconomy, andsociety,
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No one pursuesknowledge forits own
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The Report adoptsa concept ofknowle
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The goal of thiscritical review isn
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In our bidfor economicand humandeve
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The political reformproject remains
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Globalisation isdependent oninforma
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The battle overknowledge in oursoci
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The most obviousexample of the gapb
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BOX 1-9The Virtual as an Interrogat
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The upsurge intechnologicalprowess
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Collective humaneffort must bedirec
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End Notes1Epistemic saturation refe
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CHAPTER TWOARAB KNOWLEDGE PERFORMAN
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current economic crisis in the autu
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FIGURE 2-3Perceptions of corruption
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technology infrastructure, blogs ar
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nations continue to occupy their pr
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to the third oil boom, which reache
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have realised a degree of progress
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FIGURE 2-8Index of global competiti
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FIGURE 2-10Net exports of manufactu
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namely the spread of poverty, socia
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TABLE 2-2Arab Countries according t
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while some of these nine countries
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and political participation. All of
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first INTEL computer club; INTELis
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from the ages of thirteen to twenty
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solutions that allow use of the ava
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to this trajectory, a consumer, not
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specific cases.These flexibilities
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CHAPTER THREEEDUCATION AND THE FORM
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FIGURE 3-1Education and human resou
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Page 120 and 121: TABLE 3-1CountryOpportunities for b
Page 122 and 123: Virtually the only area in which Ar
Page 124 and 125: must possess if they aspire to part
Page 126 and 127: TABLE 3-2Opportunities for the form
Page 128 and 129: General secondary education andthe
Page 130 and 131: elatively high enrolment rates of b
Page 132 and 133: Available data shows large discrepa
Page 134 and 135: TABLE 3-3Comparison of overall resu
Page 136 and 137: females. According to this data, to
Page 138 and 139: show educational accomplishments am
Page 140 and 141: inroads well beyond their current f
Page 142 and 143: FIGURE 3-6aMaths performance of eig
Page 144 and 145: BOX 3-8The Contribution of Non-Publ
Page 146 and 147: Kuwait, and the worst performers su
Page 148 and 149: emained encumbered by the prevailin
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Page 152 and 153: countries and providing a picture o
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Page 156: 89Finland, for example, whose stude
Page 160 and 161: CHAPTER FOURINFORMATION AND COMMUNI
Page 162 and 163: FIGURE 4-1ICT index values for Arab
Page 164 and 165: countries and the Arab countries. T
Page 166 and 167: Arab countries-Egypt, Algeria, Leba
Page 170 and 171: exchange of future technology servi
Page 172 and 173: of national partnerships aimed at s
Page 174 and 175: TABLE 4-2Readiness of Arab countrie
Page 176 and 177: as the implementation of programmes
Page 178 and 179: BOX 4-2Evaluating the Performance o
Page 180 and 181: of common principles that guarantee
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Page 184 and 185: FIGURE 4-11Paper consumption and in
Page 186 and 187: processing and the methods and tool
Page 188 and 189: TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEAND FUTURE INI
Page 190 and 191: within bounds that do not hinder bu
Page 192 and 193: preservation and the consolidation
Page 194 and 195: 21As a result of the nature of comp
Page 196: CHAPTER FIVEARAB PERFORMANCE IN RES
Page 199 and 200: FIGURE 5-1Innovation system index f
Page 201 and 202: The extremely lowamounts spentby Ar
Page 203 and 204: It has become clearthat the wager o
Page 205 and 206: Joint researchprojects among Arabsc
Page 207 and 208: Theoretically, themore researcherst
Page 209 and 210: Average expenditureon scientific re
Page 211 and 212: BOX 5-6Jordan’s “A Professor in
Page 213 and 214: BOX 5-8For the last three decades,
Page 215 and 216: FIGURE 5-7Published scientific arti
Page 217 and 218: A review of theperiod from 2002to 2
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Social scienceresearch holds aspeci
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Most Arabic-languageperiodicals in
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Arab societies arefilled with examp
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Human capitalis among Arabcountries
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TABLE 5-12Trade in technological pr
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It is ironic thatalthough the Arabw
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End Notes1UNESCO Institute for Stat
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CHAPTER SIXBUILDING THE KNOWLEDGE S
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The most conspicuousfeature of thek
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A review of nationalplans in the Ar
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The positiveachievements inthe Arab
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One of the keyfoundations of thevis
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Freedom andinstitutionalisationare
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Priorities are subjectto a great de
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If we admit thatlanguage is avehicl
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The major challengelies in changing
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Deployment is linkedto the creation
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The variousproposals includedin thi
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ReferencesReferences in Arabic‘Ab
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the President of the ICRC Expresses
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al-Duwal al-‘Arabiyya, UNESCO’s
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Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development asF
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Castells, Manuel. (1998/2001). LaSo
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the Age of Technology).• Binsa‘
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egional and international levels an
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ANNEX 3. MEASUREMENT OF THE ARABCOU
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indicators that make up the pillar.
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countries’ rankings among the cou
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of the Arab countries and suffer fr
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Freedom House and Heritage Institut
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Endnotes* This annex was prepared b
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STATISTICAL ANNEXGENERAL INDICATORS
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Table 3: Economic IndicatorsCountry
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KNOWLEDGE PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTST
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Table 7: Press Freedom Index in the
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EDUCATIONTable 9: Adult literacy ra
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Table 11: Gross enrolment ratios in
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Table 13: Adult illiterate populati
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Table 16: Net and gross enrolment i
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Table 18: Lessons in basic educatio
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Table 20: Literacy rates among youn
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Table 22: Evolution of enrolment ra
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Table 24: Student enrolment rates i
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Table 26: Distribution of graduates
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Table 28: Estimated educational lev
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Table 30: Enrolment rates in non-go
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RESEARCH AND INNOVATIONTable 32: Nu
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Table 34: Indicators on research an
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHN
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FIGURE b-2Growth in average number
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competition between the internet se
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Table c-4: Ranking of a group of Ar
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United Nations Development Programm
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