1- The Birzeit University Computer Center/IT Unit

• In 1979, Birzeit University was the first university in the W.B. and Gaza to introduce a computerized information system for it’s administrative applications, and in 1981 the university was the first to establish a Computer Center; a central unit established to service the computer needs of the university. In the mid-eighties, the university was the first to computerize its library information systems.

• At a time when there were no local skills and expertise in these areas, the university had to build and develop resources and skills to run and expand these systems. The university’s experiences in these areas became pilots for similar projects that began to develop in the area.

• Birzeit University was the one to introduce electronic mail in the W.B. and Gaza. Its faculty members, in cooperation with the Committee for the Advancement of Sciences in Palestinian Academia (CASPA), an international Palestinian expatriate group setup the first Palestinian Email system in the early 90s. At the time, the university carried out several workshops, seminars and demonstrations for the community on using and building electronic mail systems. Later on, the Birzeit/CASPA team worked with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to establish the first Palestinian on-line Internet access node at the UNDP. Through this node, the university participated in the establishment of the first academic electronic network. This network provided all Palestinian universities with dial-up email connectivity. In 1993, Birzeit University became the first Palestinian institution of its size to link its internal networking facilities to a semi-on-line email system. This provided all of the network users at the university with personalized email accounts almost one year ahead of any other large institutions. Again, the university continued to exercise its community out-reach, by carrying out workshop and seminars to chambers of commerce, the engineering union, municipalities, the health sector, NGOs, etc. on how to develop similar systems. Finally, when Palnet, a Palestinian ISP, was able to use wireless technology to provide on-line Internet access to the PA areas, Birzeit University was amongst the first institutions to provide on-line Internet access to almost all of the 700 stations connected to its network.
• Birzeit University has developed the most advanced and diverse networking infrastructure in any Palestinian institution. A WAN connects the three campuses of the university: The Main Campus, located at the outskirts of the town of Birzeit, the Old Campus, located at the town of Birzeit, 3 kms to the north, and the Ramallah offices, located in Ramallah city 7 kms south of the Main Campus. Most of the buildings at all campuses or sites have local networking infrastructures that extend throughout the buildings. The university uses various technologies in its Intranet backbone: fiber optic, leased lines, and wireless technology. The major technologies used in this backbone were the first such technologies to be introduced in the W.B. and Gaza. Birzeit University’s Intranet serves approximately 3650 students, 300 faculty members, and 300 adminstaff, as well as members of special units or programs. The University has approximately 700 startions. There are over 20 servers serving this network that range from RISC based processors, Intel based processors to Mini-computers. They run a wide range of networking operating systems.

• Like all Palestinian universities, Birzeit has been suffering from severe shortages in resources, both human and financial. Nonetheless, the university has taken a systematic and creative approach to address the developmental needs of the university’s networking facilities while adhering to the financial constraints that the university was facing. In fact most of the networking development that has taken place up to date was done through the standard university’s budgets and not through any external funding. In order to achieve this, the Computer Center at the university adopted the following strategy:

  Planning: Connecting the whole university onto one LAN, required over four years. The building process was prioritized and the development was done according to needs and available funds. The network began as small pockets and separate segments. Now there is one Intranet running on a fiber optic, leased lines and wireless backbone. This building process has proved to be very effective as it gave the university the time to develop the experience and expertise needed to grow from small networks into one of the most versatile networks in Palestine.

  Equipment: Equipment for the network was chosen “only as needed”, and only systems which met the bare requirements of the network were chosen most of the time. This allowed us to extend our network with minimum costs and to conserve some funds for newly developed technologies or advanced equipment in critical areas. This policy allowed us to gain the necessary experience, provide essential networking services to a large number of users, and build the network to where it is now. In certain areas, such as cabling, the university did not compromise. This was necessary for two reasons: (1) the cost for installing and laying cables out is very high. It was important to choose a cabling type that would meet the technological developments for at least one decade. (2) Compromising on the quality will result in serious problems in a network the size of ours.

  Technical Expertise: Most of the expertise that was needed for the network was developed during the building process. Part of the process for developing the expertise was through training courses. The university organized several training courses, through the Continuing Education Department. The Computer Center team participated in these training sessions either as trainees, assistants or trainers. This was very instrumental in developing their skills. In general, the Computer Center’s staff was very keen on developing and expanding the network, and has the networking team has taken very serious personal initiatives in self-development.

• The computer literacy training programs offered by the Continuing Education at Birzeit University around 1993 were the first such programs in the W.B. and Gaza. Prior to this, the majority of the computer literacy programs was done in small “shops” with small computer/trainee ratios, and was done in an ad-hoc manner. Birzeit University started an advanced computer laboratory, developed curriculum and began its literacy programs at a large scale with a one-to-one computer to trainee ratio. Not only did this situation set precedence for computer training in the W.B. and Gaza, but also significantly raised the competitive standards for the Palestinian computer training centers. This had a major impact on the quality of the computer training programs offered to the community. The computer training programs at the Continuing Education Department have now moved from general literacy programs to more specialized and technical training. It is important to note that the policy of the university is not to compete with the private sector, but rather address specialized areas that are lacking in the community and contribute to improving them, and then move on to newer issues.
• In 1992, Birzeit University, launched a program for the introduction of computers and the development of Arabic computer curriculum for Palestinian schools for grades 6-11. This initiative went on for several years and the role of Birzeit in the project was completed with the coming of the Palestinian Authority when the program was handed down to the Ministry of Education.
• In 1994 Birzeit University was one of the first Palestinian institutions in the W.B. and Gaza to develop its Web site. Birzeit’s Web site is now one of the main Palestinian Web sites. Again, the university began this project at a time when there were practically no local skills or expertise in Web development and publishing. The university took it upon itself to begin the self teaching process, and developed the human resources necessary for this project. Once the work was under way, the university began to assist other institutions in their Web development, and hosted several of the non-commercial sites. The university also carried out several training programs in this area. Birzeit’s Webmaster has a special guide for all Palestinian produced Web sites. This guide describes the sites and critiques them on a periodic basis.
• In 1989 the Birzeit University library system was the first in the W.B. and Gaza to be computerized. As the university networking infrastructure grew to link all buildings, campuses and users at the university to a single backbone, the library information systems were integrated within this infrastructure. This included developing an electronic system for linking all five libraries within the university, and making the library computer catalogues available on the Internet through Web browsers. At present, the university is working on a pilot project that will lay the technical foundations for developing a Palestinian Union Catalogue. This entails collecting library catalogue information from all computerized libraries in Palestine, transferring this data onto the university’s Web site, and making it available to the community at large through the Internet. It also includes testing possible mechanisms for using electronic media to improve the efficiency of this process and to ensure the continuous flow of updated information amongst Palestinian libraries. The university is coordinating this project in cooperation with all Palestinian libraries.

During the past decade, Birzeit University has been the focal point for library information systems for Palestinian libraries. It has run several training programs on developing and implementing library information systems, participated in almost all of the regional electronic library conferences, and acted as the national contact point for the major library IS used in the W.B. and Gaza.

• Birzeit University has been directly involved with initiatives, committees or groups related to the development of IT in Palestine. The Committee for the Development of Sciences in Palestine (CASPA), and the Information Technology Special Interest Group (ITSIG), are two examples of this. Birzeit faculty members have been active and quite visible in those two national/international entities, and have contributed considerably to their programs.
• The Law Center at Birzeit University is currently building a an extensive database for all laws and regulations in Palestine ranging from the Ottoman rule, the British mandate, the Jordanian rule, Israeli Occupation, and the Palestinian Authority. The Center is developing an advanced IS for this database so that all information will be available electronically, and advanced context searches and image parsing (for scanned documents) is being introduced. The search engines being explored and developed will handle multiple languages. This project is the most complex information system for document management being developed in the PA at present. The results of this project will are being made available to the PA and to the people interested in the legal issues of Pa.