Nagla Rizk

ICT and Building a Knowledge-Based Society in Egypt

This article aims to evaluate Egypt’s progress on the road towards a knowledge society. The paper discusses the evolution and assesses the outcomes of ICT initiatives in place in Egypt. Equally, the paper analyzes the status and potential of factors that are necessary for the realization of such a society at this turning point in the country’s history. The paper pinpoints the progress achieved on many fronts and identifies necessary steps to match leading knowledge and digital societies. The paper suggests some useful strategies for the government to expand access and contribution to knowledge – promoting a shared knowledge society in co-operation with the private sector in order to bridge the gaps. Efforts should not only be focused on expanding and enhancing connectivity and technology, but should also promote content development, provide educational opportunities and foster a comprehensive enabling environment.

Free and open source software (FOSS) as a vehicle for human development in Egypt: some evidence and insights

This paper is based on the hypothesis that free and open source software (FOSS) has a developmental potential in Egypt as it relies on a democratising technology and a collaborative liberalising knowledge production model that encourages smaller business structures rather than proprietary conglomerates. This hypothesis is tested through in-depth interviews with stakeholders. Fieldwork reveals a strong potential for FOSS, particularly towards enhancing different layers of human capital. As FOSS in Egypt is at its infancy stage, its developmental potential is stunted as market forces point towards reinforcing larger proprietary software models at the expense of smaller FOSS-based businesses. This is compounded by limited political will, lack of awareness and absence of FOSS from educational curricula, all of which pose additional challenges. This paper provides recommendations for action in the short and long-terms to promote FOSS as a vehicle for Egypts development.

ICT Strategy4Development: Public-Private Partnerships-The Case of Egypt

In 2011, Egypts uprising was realized due to a large number of reasons, including the capitalization on information and communication technology ICT as an enabling platform. The experience in Egypt demonstrated the impact of ICT. However, its effect on societal transformation is not yet completed. A need exists to revisit the newly emerging role that ICT can play in the 21st century that goes beyond socioeconomic development and growth. ICT strategy development and implementation must cater to the different needs of the community while realizing universal access in terms of ICT literacy and its effective utilization for developmental purposes. Building the ICT infrastructure and infostructure in the development process must be coupled with concrete projects and initiatives that engage the society at large with its multiple stakeholders from public, private, government, and civil society organizations irrespective of their locations or background. This article describes the evolution of the ICT sector in Egypt with an emphasis on national ICT strategy development and deployment as an integral element of Egypts overall development process within the context of a an emerging economy and the various growing potentials ICT offers for its socioeconomic development.

Revolution, graffiti and copyright: The cases of Egypt and Tunisia

During and after the Arab uprisings in 2011, there was an outburst of creative production in Egypt and Tunisia, serving as a means to counter state-controlled media and to document alternative narratives of the revolutions. One of the most prominent modes of creative output was graffiti. Within an access to knowledge (A2K) framework that views graffiti as an important knowledge good, this article outlines the author’s findings from research into perspectives towards revolutionary graffiti held by graffiti artists and graffiti consumers in Egypt and Tunisia. The main quest of this work is to identify a copyright regime best suited to the priorities of both the revolutionary graffiti artists and the consumers of this art, cognisant also of the possibilities offered by increasingly widespread use of, and access to, online digital platforms. The research looked at how artists and consumers relate to the revolutionary graffiti, how they feel about its commercialisation, and how they feel about the idea of protecting it with copyright. Based on the research findings, the author concludes that an A2K-enabling approach to preservation and dissemination of the revolutionary graffiti – and an approach that would best cater to the needs of both the artists and the consumers – is provided by the Creative Commons (CC) suite of flexible copyright licences.