WSA 07 Awards in Venice (14)

Category: e-Inclusion

The category e-Inclusion demonstrates how content products and services play an important role in including groups in society such as blind and unemployed people. But it includes also an admission system for students in Oman, which puts together the applications for further education straightforward. Infoblago is a site informing people about charities organisations.The Brazilian telecenters project helps SMEs with running their businesses.

Title: IBSAR - Vision for Blind
Media Format: offline/DVD, CD-ROM
Producer: Sakhr Software Company
Country: Kuwait
Description of the Product
Ibsar is a powerful Screen Reader that converts the output of the screen into high quality human voice so that the blind users can professionally use most of the software programs both in Arabic and in English. It also enables users to write texts in the two language and allows saving and printing these texts in Braille format. This integrated solution enables blind users to have full access the Internet and read Arabic and English Web sites using a friendly easy-to-use method designed for visually impaired and blind people. Moreover, Ibsar empowers users to send, receive, write, read, and manage E-mail messages, helping users reach out for a wider world.

Title: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Original Title: Digital Inclusion for Communities in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Media Format: broadband/online
URL: http://www.ctph.org/
Producer: Conservation Through Public Health
Country: Uganda
Description of the Product
Multimedia for sustainability. Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a site on the world wide web and in Uganda where solar powered, high speed wireless Internet access produces income for gorilla monitoring as well as a human health project. The Telecentre serves important educational purposes and provides health and environmental awareness through multimedia. People trained in the use of ICT at the Telecentre include 40% women. The project encourages ecotourism and catalyzes economic activities and spin-offs. It provides employment opportunities to the community and is a good example of effective e-inclusion built on an innovative ICT and e-content initiative.

Title: Higher Education Admission Center
Media Format: broadband/online
URL: http://www.heac.gov.om/
Producer: Higher Education Admission Center
Country: Oman
Description of the Product
Educational divides run through many societies. The Online application for the Higher Education Admission Center in Oman was designed to help thousands of students to apply for college and universities no matter where they live in the country. The system has unified all admission procedures for higher education into one application. This portal includes all needed information, checks the requirements and allows online applications for all matters including financial support without travelling long distances or insider know-how. The system allocates places to students according to their exam results and their program preferences, and does so with great accuracy, equality and transparency.

Title: Infoblago.ru
Media Format: broadband/online
URL: http://www.infoblago.ru/
Producer: Information centre « Charity in Russia »
Country: Russian Federation
Description of the Product
Civic responsibility can be based on e-content. The Infoblago web-site links charity organizations in Russia to those willing to help or in need of help. It fills an information gap and is meant to counteract an “information blockade” of the social and charity themes and subjects in the mainstream mass media. It provides daily updated information on events, legislation and other topics relevant to charity in Russia. The web site also contains an active forum and allows to perform on-line searches to find both organisations which provide help in a specific field or persons who are looking for helping hands themselves. www.infoblago.ru sets a good example of e-inclusion through multimedia.

Title: Telecenters of Information and Business
Title in Original Language: Telecentros de Informação e Negócios
Media Format: broadband/online
URL: http://www.telecentros.desenvolvimento.gov.br/
Producer: Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Commerce
Country: Brazil
Description of the Product
The Telecenters of Information and Business Website - TIN - is entirely focused to the inclusion and digital education of small Brazilian businesses and people who run and own them. TIN promotes entrepreneurship and the creation of telecenters which then are able to provide news, information, services, courses and training on subjects that interest micro and small-sized Brazilian companies. Users can find several tools on the website: basic internet and computing courses, management courses, courses on IT tools. It also offers links to relevant government services as well as links to the main sources of commercial, economical and technological information. TIN also acts as 'Meeting Places' for community members.

Blog Posting Number: 925

Tags: e-Inclusion