Al-Quds
University
College of Science and Technology
5-6 March 1997
Birzeit University actively participated in the
conference on information technology (IT) in higher education. Mr. Marwan
Tarazi, director of the university's computer center presented two
working papers in the second day of the conference. The first paper entitled
"Developing a Palestinian
Union Catalogue" discussed the
implementation of IT strategy To provide a universal library catalogue interface
to Palestinian universities and research institutions. Mr. Tarazi stressed the
importance of inter-library exchange and information interchange among Palestinian
institutions and added that " such a system will facilitate the pooling of
resources and will avert the duplication of activities" . Mr. Tarazi used the
example of the Birzeit University library system to demonstrate the existing
difficulties present and the improvements that are needed. He said that the
university ‘s computerized library system is on its way to becoming outdated,
and thus big investments in its support and continual use are not justified. He
said that the university is currently studying the development of a simple
interface to connect the university’s library system to the World Wide Web.
"Such an interface" he added , "might be the quick and less costly
solution to make the library system easily accessible and user-friendly." In
addition to the use of more advanced technology, training of both the operators
and users of this system is also imperative Mr.Tarazi said. Mr. Tarazi concluded
his paper by proposing a three-phase implementation policy toward creating the
Palestinian Union Catalogue which utilizes all the resources of the academic
institutions into a wide area network.
In the second paper Mr. Tarazi
introduced IT-SIG (The information technology special interest group). He said
that such a group was created through the initiative of local IT experts who felt
there was a need for a vision towards creating and implementing IT policies in the
Palestine. He also highlighted the need for both a viable infrastructure and
infostructure (information available) were toward creating a Palestinian Academic
Network. He said that these two structures were totally codependent in that "
having all the information without the infrastructure is useless" , and
"investing in a high quality infrastructure without the information makes
such an investment unjustified". He also added that there is a big need today
for training human resources in technology related fields since around 86% of all
Palestinian workers are employed as cheap labor for Israeli businesses. He said
that Palestinian workers must be able to operate and manage efficiently in a
computerized workplace to enhance the quality and quantity of work in that
business or institution.
The conference also had other key-note speakers.
Mr. Nawaf Said , a network engineer representing the UNDP, presented his vision
towards creating the Palestinian Academic Network. Mr. Yaser Doleh, a senior
system programmer representing the UNDP, demonstrated how the INTERNET was first
introduced to Palestine and also his vision for creating the Palestinian Academic
Network . In a later paper, Mr. Doleh provided a basic view of the INTERNET and
the services it provides. Mr. Ma’an Bseiso , owner of PalNet ( the largest
Palestinian ISP), gave a talk about the establishment of the PalNet and the
innovative use of spread-spectrum microwave technology by PalNet to overcome
infrastructure and political difficulties that currently face Palestinian
Telecommunication companies..
In the last session of the conference, a
series of recommendations were issued that stressed the much needed cooperation
among all Palestinian institutions toward creating an efficient and viable
computer network in Palestine. The conference also called for the establishment of
specialized committees to deal with different issues such as infrastructure,
training, as well as information exchange.
Webpage by Bassem Nasir and Nigel Parry. Comments to webmaster@birzeit.edu