US-Morocco Workshop: Digital Archives for the Maghreb Region of Africa

描述：该项目是为了支持2007年1月25-28日在摩洛哥拉巴特举行的美国-摩洛哥关于“非洲马格里布地区数字档案”的研讨会。美国的组织者是位于缅因州伊丽莎白角的富布赖特科学与技术学院的埃里克·S·霍华德。外国合作者是Khalid Temsmani博士、El Majid Zayer博士和Ilhame Laaziz博士，他们都来自摩洛哥拉巴特高等教育和科学研究部技术局。讲习班的主要目标是为涵盖马格里布地区(即摩洛哥、阿尔及利亚和突尼斯)的数字倡议制定一项愿景和使命声明。会议将汇集关键组成部分，以实现这一愿景：内容开发、管理结构、联网基础设施、研究和教育应用，以及对数字管理人员和用户的培训。调查结果将被纳入一份报告和行动计划，可以向政府机构、图书馆、大学、研究机构和赠款实体提供信息。美国研究人员和学生将参与这一过程。他们的作用将是审查2006年1月在埃及亚历山大市举办的关于数字图书馆和数字基础设施的讲习班的背景文件，并编写更多的文件，以填补我们在与马格里布地区有关的知识方面的关键空白。预计来自北非国家和教科文组织的代表将出席。智力优势：早就应该努力扩大和加强马格里布地区的互联网连接和内容访问。这项提案是在亚历山大早先研讨会的基础上提出的，朝着建立区域资源、连接全球知识环境又迈出了重要的一步，全球知识环境将服务于多种目的，包括提高研究能力和教育资源。这一长期进程的成功既取决于技术进步，也取决于社会和组织行动。讲习班的目的是将整个区域的重要角色联系起来，并与发达国家的高速网络和治理结构建立联系。它将确定现有的区域努力，并推动新的努力，以收集、组织和提供与该地区文化遗产有关的普遍可用的材料，这对美国科学家具有重要意义。富布赖特科学技术研究院拥有组织这次会议并向广大观众传播其研究成果的专业知识和经验。更广泛的影响：发展中国家获取数字信息是国际关注的一个关键问题。2005年秋季在突尼斯举行的信息社会世界首脑会议大大提高了北非各实体对数字世界的兴趣。该讲习班是将北非纳入全球科学和教育传播主流的努力中的重要一步，该主流涉及全球分发的数字内容的共同分享。一个令人感兴趣的领域是数字档案馆，即建立一个涵盖马格里布地区文化遗产的联网数字图书馆，以便利获取世界各地不同机构拥有的相关文化遗产资源。讲习班将推动更广泛地讨论数字图书馆在促进知识和促进国际合作方面的潜力。它应该导致对话、新的话语社区、研究和学术的智力项目以及协调的基础设施建设。预计美国初级科学家和研究生将参加研讨会。该项目由国际科学和工程办公室、信息和智能系统司和网络基础设施办公室联合资助

0634655HowardDescription: This project is to support a US-Morocco Workshop on "Digital Archives for the Maghreb Region of Africa" to be held January 25-28, 2007 in Rabat, Morocco. The U.S. organizer is Eric S. Howard, The Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology, Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The foreign collaborators are Dr. Khalid Temsmani, Dr. El Majid Zayer and Dr. Ilhame Laaziz, all from the Directorate of Technology, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Rabat, Morocco. A primary goal of the workshop is to develop a vision and mission statement for a digital initiative covering the Maghreb region (i.e., Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). The meeting will bring together key constituents so that this vision can be realized: content development, management structures, networked infrastructure, research and educational applications, and training for digital managers and users. The findings will be incorporated in a report and plan of action that can inform government agencies, libraries, universities, research institutes and grant-making entities. US researchers and students will be involved in the process. Their role will be to review the background papers from the January 2006 Alexandria, Egypt workshop on the digital library and digital infrastructure, and to prepare additional ones to fill critical gaps in our knowledge as it relates to the Maghreb region. Representatives from North African countries as well as UNESCO are expected to attend. Intellectual merit: Efforts to extend and enhance internet connectivity and content access to the Maghreb region are long overdue. The proposal, building on the earlier workshop in Alexandria takes another important step forward toward building a regional resource, connecting to the global knowledge environment that will serve multiple purposes including advancing research capacity and educational resources. The success of this long-term process is dependent upon social and organizational actions as much as upon technology advances. The workshop is to connect important players throughout the region and to build linkages to high-speed networks and governance structures in the developed world. It will identify existing regional efforts and prompt new efforts to collect, organize and make generally available materials related to the cultural heritage of the region, which is significant for US scientists. The Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology has the expertise and experience to organize the meeting and disseminate its findings to a large audience. Broader Impact: Access to digital information in developing countries is a critical issue of international concern. The World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia in the fall of 2005 significantly enhanced the interest of entities in Northern Africa with respect to the digital world. This workshop is an important step in the efforts to include North Africa in the global mainstream of scientific and educational communication which involves co-sharing of globally distributed digital content. One area of interest is a digital archive, the creation of a networked digital library covering the cultural heritage of the Maghreb region to facilitate access to related cultural heritage resources held by different institutions around the world. The workshop will promote a broader discussion of the potential of digital libraries to advance knowledge and to foster international cooperation. It should result in dialogues, new discourse communities, intellectual programs of research and scholarship and coordinated infrastructure building. US junior scientists and graduate students are expected to participate in the workshop. The project is jointly funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering, the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, and the Office of Cyber Infrastructure