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Egyptian online service Erada Portal receives UN-based World Summit Award An Egyptian online initiative to help the visually impaired communicate is one winner of the 2012 World Summit Award, to be honoured at the Cairo ICT 2012 trade fair
Erada Portal was created by Wael Zakaria, website developer, languageteacher, Facebook user and blind.With Erada Portal, Zakaria provides other visually impaired people with valuableinformation, empowering them to communicate on Facebook. Togetherwith 39 other winners, Erada Portal was selected from 460 projects across 105 countries to receive the UN-based World Summit Award (WSA) on 27 April at the Cairo ICT (Information and Communications Technology) 2012 trade fair. The WSA will celebrate the best e-content producers worldwide in cooperation with the international trade fair Cairo ICT 2012 and the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) under the patronage of Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohamed Salem and hosted ministers of communication and information technology from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, as well as thesecretary general of the Supreme Council for ICTin Qatar. Winners were announced last June and include 18 from Europe, eight from Asia, two other Arab winners (from Tunisia and Lebanon), in addition to some winners from Africa. The award and exhibition event will take place from 26-29 April at the Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Centre (CICC). The WSA is the global follow-up initiative of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) organised by the International Centre forNew Media (ICNM) in Salzburg, Austria. It partners with the key UN organisations andagencies in the framework of the UN Geneva Agenda and the Tunis Action Plan, selecting and promoting the world's best e-content and innovative ICT applications. To datemore than 160 countries are actively involved. Through national pre-selections andcontests together with a global jury process, WSA demonstrates local diversity andrich creativity in ICT use. WSA is a global hub for everyone that values the crucialimportance of local content to make today's information society more inclusive. Programme The event opening ceremony starts on Thursday, 26 April, at 10:00am at the Mycerinous Hall at the CICC in Nasr City. Activities of the conference will start on Friday, 27 April, at 2:30pm with a session on the UN future challenges called, “It´s Spring in the Region: Opportunities and Challenges for UN Organisations." Saturday, 28 April, sessions will start at 12:30pm to discuss “e-Culture and Heritage and e-Entertainment and Games.” Sunday, 29 April, sessions will start at 10:30 and discuss “Digital Delicacies: Tasty e-Content from the Region." http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/40144.aspx
