What Can be Improved in Arabnet Conference ?

I loved the organization and the diversity of the panels and the participants. Bravo!

I personally think that at this point in time, the Arabic Web can still benefit a lot from experts from the outside (English-speaking) world, hence it is crucial to use the English language. Headsets were available for automatic translation, and perhaps more emphasis on Arabic bloggers (which were already very active), and perhaps on some real-time subtitles for the streamed videos would help the non-English speakers.

Some people suggested holding different panels in different languages (different topics), and in parallel. That is fine, but please do not mix Arabic and English in the same panel. It is not easy to follow, even for a native speaker like myself, and makes it frustrating for the audience.

As far as the panels went, and not to repeat some of the already very common feedback about a couple of moderators in particular, I would say that in general, the panels were interesting. It seemed like the time was short, though, and not enough audience engagement took place (average of about 5 audience questions, I believe). What I would like to see is more Academia and Government as both play an important role in boosting or stifling innovation, and have a direct link and responsibility as to the progress of the tech world in this region.

I didn't think enough was said about either privacy or the CSR aspect of conducting business. There were a couple of vague questions around these two topics, but both are very important topics that ought to be brought up as a central part of the discussion.

Some other people suggested that the panelists talk more about themselves and then end with Q&A. This would make the sessions longer, but I can see the point. Maybe we can have a mix?

Lastly, I would like to see more female participation in the panels. There was only one Lebanese (Reine Abbas, who was fantastic, btw), and one non-Arab, and that is not representative of the diversity that exists today or that should be capitalized on.

الخطأ الذي وقع فيه المؤتمر هو أنه أراد التركيز على تسويق الويب العربي لباقي العالم، لذلك جعلت الانجليزية اللغة الرسمية للمؤتمر، ولم يكن واضحا وجود ترجمة فورية من الانجليزية إلى العربية.. المشكلة هنا أن الويب العربي غير مهيأ بعد "للتصدير"، وقد كان يفترض بالمؤتمر، في دورته الأولى، أن يكون فرصة للقاء رواد الأعمال العرب لمناقشة مشاكل الويب العربي والعمل على اقتراح بضعة حلول واقعية. وهذا يستلزم بطبيعة الحال التركيز على العرب وعلى اللغة العربية.

ما يحتاج إليه المؤتمر في دوراته القادمة، وكذلك باقي المؤتمرات، هو التركيز على "الإصلاح" وليس "التسويق". نعم لدينا تجارب عربية ناجحة جدا، لكن لا فائدة من تسويق هذه التجارب للعالم إن كنا غير قادرين على تحقيق التراكم. لذلك عوض أن يتم تصدير هذه التجارب وتسويقها لللخارج علينا أن نوجه جهدنا للداخل. لتفحيز الشباب الريادي وتوفير منصات إطلاق مناسبة تساعد المبتدئين على تخطي صعوبات البداية، وتساندهم في استهداف السوق العربي، الذي يتحدث، بطبيعة الحال، بالعربية.

النقطة الأخرى هي التنوع الجغرافي. الدورة الحالية بدى أنها تجاهلت منطقة المغرب العربي. ربما هذه المنطقة لا تتوفر بعد على مثل سوق المشرق والخليج، لكن في هذه المنطقة العربية أيضا ما في الخليج والمشرق من أفكار مبدعة.

إذن، مبدئيا لدي اقتراحين إثنين، يمكن أن يساعدا المؤتمر على تحقيق الفائدة لصالح الويب العربي: جعل العربية اللغة الرسمية والأساسية. وتوفير آليات معينة لتسهيل مشاركة رياديي منطقة المغرب العربي.

I second Des' comment about more government involvement. One way we might achieve this is by kick-starting Government 2.0 in the region at the next ArabNet conference. Government 2.0 is about using the Internet to enhance democratic governance through transparency, participation and collaboration. This movement is growing worldwide and there are already many initiatives and case studies we can learn from.

A panel discussing the possibilities would help spread awareness and spark interest. For example, we could have a panel on the use of social media in government, like at this recent event in Malaysia. However, we may want to focus initial efforts on communicating more obvious benefits that Government 2.0 can bring to government agencies, such as making them more effective and efficient by reducing costs.

My hope is that these efforts might encourage government agencies to remove legal constraints and other barriers to better Internet related services, some of which I was happy to see mentioned at ArabNet by Fadi Ghandour and Hassan Mikail of Aramex and Abdul Malik Al Jaber of Zain. Of course, gaining the corporate sector's support behind this initiative would come a long way in achieving these goals.

I recently started posting Government 2.0 related links on Twitter (@Lebanon20). I'm still new to this myself and would love to do more in terms of engaging with the online community, but like most of you, my other work is keeping me busy… Together, however, we can create the big buzz that this movement deserves, especially in this part of the world. I hope to see more people from the ArabNet crowd get involved. Let's pave the way to an ArabGov 2.0 conference! Everyone can participate as this "Cycle of Transparency" demonstrates.

A good place to start reading is Tim O’Reilly's free chapter, "Government As a Platform" from the book "Open Government." As you probably know, Tim O’Reilly helped us understand Web 2.0 back in 2005. He's also behind some of the biggest web related events, such as the Web 2.0, Where 2.0 and Gov 2.0 conferences.

Finally, I think it's important to note that every conference has its challenges, even SWSXi, but as noted in this review by Cameron Moll after this year's event, "there's simply no other web conference like SWSX on the planet." I think we can say the same about ArabNet for the region, and we need to do our best to support this excellent initiative and keep contributing to the conversations that it has started.