Dr.

Hessa Al-Jaber Remarks

Digital Communications Literacy Forum

Doha, the Sharq Village

February 9, 2010

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you all – speakers and guests - for accepting the invitation to join us in this
important event. And a special thank you goes to our good friends at the
International Institute of Communications for helping ictQATAR in planning and
organizing this exciting day. They continue to show why they are one of the
world’s leading conveners and thought-leaders in the communications field.

This forum will address the impact digital literacy will have on the development of
a new communications environment in the Middle East. We have much to explore
in this realm and I am looking forward to some truly thought-provoking
discussions today.

We have representatives from entities as unique as the World Internet Project,

the Australian Communications and Media Authority, BBC, Al Jazeera, Vodafone,
the US Center for Media Literacy and others.

Today I would like to talk about “Community” and “Youth” and what these mean
in today’s digital age.
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Throughout time, the term community has taken on different meanings. It’s
referred to people who live in close proximity to each other. It can also mean a
group of nations that share common interests, such as the GCC or the Arab
league.

Now, we have a new, evolving definition—a community of people who interact,

discuss, research and learn together via digital communications. Technology has
created a global, interactive community where scholars, researchers, business
leaders and governments can share ideas and work together for our collective
future.

Qatar and the Arab world are certainly beginning to embrace this Web-focused
definition of community. We realize it’s essential role in today’s economic, social,
and political structures, but still lag behind much of the world in usage.

The region’s Internet penetration rate at the end of 2009 was 28.3 percent, which
is higher than the current penetration rate in Asia. This means that more than a
quarter of the people in the Middle East now are taking advantage of digital
technology.

However, as we reach for the future, we recognize the importance of being true
to our values, traditions and culture. We recognize that virtual communities will
continue to grow and thrive, but that they cannot replace the sense of community
we already have here.

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The question is whether digital communications will ultimately help make our
society more cohesive or whether it will fragment the society and encourage
people to only interact with other like-minded people?

A friend of mine who works in an International advertising company in China and

the US told me that they are noticing an increase in internet users who are only
interacting with other like-minded people. They use a variety of filters to limit
what they see, read and hear. This is not just a challenge for advertisers, but has
much broader implications.

Too often, instead of breaking down barriers created by race, gender, and
religion, digital media is enabling people to only seek out those with similar views,
which could lead to ideological polarization and intolerance. One important way
to avoid this and ensure that our communities are enhanced through digital
communications is by growing digital literacy among our citizens.

We all recognize that media literacy has parallels with traditional literacy—the
ability to read and write text. Yet media literacy is the ability to ‘read’ and ‘write’
audiovisual information rather than just text. Media literacy is the ability to use a
range of media and be able to understand the information received.

But the ability to understand the information received is not enough -- being able
to process this information critically - questioning, analyzing and evaluating that
information is essential.

To me, media literacy holds the most promise and potential for empowering
young people.

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Today’s youth are true digital natives. They were born into a digital world and
can’t even imagine a world without computers, mobile phones or the Internet.

Communities must embrace the potential of these digital natives and find a way
to empower them to take ownership of the digital world they live in and the
digital world that they are helping to shape.

We need to better understand their digital world and must equip our youth with
the knowledge of what it means to have constant connectivity, a public profile, of
sharing everything, of constant availability and of being global citizens.

But we need to remember that just because they are digital natives does not
mean they are digitally literate. Digital natives need to learn how to be critical
thinkers and not just consumers in today’s digital age – and this is certainly
something we can help them with.

I was amused recently by a conversation between a mother and her daughter

where the daughter said: “You parents don’t get how important the mobile has
become in our lives. You think it is only for talking to our friends, but totally miss
the social meaning.”

I think she is right. Sometimes we just don’t get it!

In the Arab world, we should understand how the culture of digital natives
impacts and will continue to impact our world. We should also conduct serious
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studies on the attitudes of Arab youth towards technology. So far we have seen
studies only driven by human rights or freedom of speech principles like the
Initiative for An Open Arab Internet with a heavy focus on censorship and internet
filtering. I believe it is important to understand how our youth are truly shaped
and influenced by technology.

Ensuring that digital natives thrive in our global world also means ensuring that
our young people use the technology safely.

Today, many around the world are marking Safer Internet Day. For our part,
ictQATAR is launching a special website for children, parents, and teachers called
“Safe Space.” This site will provide tips for children on how to use the Internet
safely – from cyber bullying to cyber predators. And the site will guide parents
and teachers on how to help children and students use the Internet safely and
effectively and empower our youth to make smart decisions.

For those of us in the region, we cannot be fully successful in increasing digital

literacy unless we increase the amount of Arabic content on the Internet. Today,
Arabic is the fifth most spoken language worldwide yet only about one percent of
all content online is in Arabic. Arabic ranks 27th in Wikipedia, less than one
percent of total pages. And only three percent of Internet users worldwide speak
Arabic. One more fact: Arabic is not among the top 10 languages used in blogs
on Blogger & World Press.

By 2015, Qatar intends to develop digital archives of significant Arabic texts for
on-line distribution. In addition, we will be offering a grant program to individuals
and organizations that develop digital media in Arabic.

With Doha being the 2010 capital of Arab Culture, now is a perfect time to make
sure we better share and preserve our culture digitally. We already have

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examples of success right here in this room, with representatives of Islam Online,
Islam web and Al Jazeera network in attendance.

Our community—like yours—has a story to tell. About our history, our people
and our struggles. This story is unfolding every day, in millions of bits of digital
transmissions. It unfolds via status updates on Facebook and tweets on Twitter. It
unfolds during dialogues that occur through online learning and research
sessions. And it will further unfold as we empower our citizens with digital
literacy.

The basis for literacy is the desire to capture history for the next generation. This
is how history is passed through the ages.

In the next decades we can look forward to advances in virtual reality, 3-D
technology, cloud computing and other frontiers. Perhaps in 2020 we won’t
gather in a room like this but can all meet via online hologram. Whatever the
case, I urge you to keep community in mind. Digital literacy is the way to ensure
we can bring everyone along with us.

My best wishes for a successful and engaging forum.