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

这个项目是为了支持2007年1月25日至28日在摩洛哥拉巴特举行的“非洲马格里布地区数字档案”的美国-摩洛哥研讨会。美国组织者是埃里克·s·霍华德，来自缅因州伊丽莎白角富布赖特科学技术学院。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。讲习班的一个主要目标是为覆盖马格里布地区（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、网络基础设施、研究和教育应用，以及对数字管理人员和用户的培训。调查结果将纳入一份报告和行动计划，供政府机构、图书馆、大学、研究机构和资助实体参考。美国研究人员和学生将参与这一过程。他们的作用是审查2006年1月在埃及亚历山大举行的数字图书馆和数字基础设施研讨会的背景文件，并准备更多的文件，以填补我们在与马格里布地区有关的知识方面的重大空白。来自北非国家和联合国教科文组织的代表预计将出席。智力优势：在马格里布地区扩展和加强互联网连接和内容访问的努力早就应该出现了。该提案以早前在亚历山大举行的研讨会为基础，朝着建立区域资源迈出了重要的一步，连接到全球知识环境，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的行动。该讲习班旨在将整个区域的重要参与者联系起来，并与发达世界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，并推动新的努力来收集、组织和提供与该地区文化遗产有关的普遍可用的材料，这对美国科学家来说意义重大。富布赖特科学技术学院有专门知识和经验来组织这次会议，并向广大听众传播其研究结果。更广泛的影响：在发展中国家获取数字信息是国际关注的一个关键问题。2005年秋天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。这次研讨会是将北非纳入科学和教育传播的全球主流的重要一步，其中包括共同分享全球分布的数字内容。其中一个感兴趣的领域是数字档案，创建一个覆盖马格里布地区文化遗产的网络数字图书馆，以方便访问世界各地不同机构持有的相关文化遗产资源。研讨会将促进对数字图书馆在促进知识和促进国际合作方面的潜力进行更广泛的讨论。它应该带来对话、新的话语社区、智力研究和学术项目以及协调的基础设施建设。预计美国青年科学家和研究生将参加该研讨会。该项目由国际科学与工程办公室、信息与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