The two-day seminar, entitled the Cultural Encounter for the GCC, was organised by the ministry's department as part of the 2006 Spring of Culture.
"This means it has the minimal requirement of accessibility, where everyone in the society can access it, and read it," he said.
The Bahrain site would be part of a "mother" website with similar links to other countries in the Middle East, said Mr Al Balushi, who is also a member of Bahrain Internet Society.
Bahrain has already established itself as a pioneer in e-business and e-government, he said.
The website would be a "co-operative project, to produce a very comprehensive website for all aspects of the Arabic culture, for each country, with the latest technology," he added.
"We are envisioning that it would be very informative, simple but rich with content, easy to use and accessible to all parties - including disabled people who have difficulties of hearing or vision," said Mr Al Balushi.
The website hopes to follow in the footsteps of local e-culture pioneers "Jehat Al Shi'r", said Mr Al Balushi.
The Bahraini website is a co-operative project spearheaded by local poet Qassim Haddad, and has been set up as a cultural portal to modern Arabic poetry.
It uses modern Internet technology and six different languages to make Arabic poetry available worldwide.
Mr Haddad was chief speaker at the seminar, and spoke about the www.jehat.com project - which has been running for 10 years.
"E-culture is to use the Internet and the digital media in expressing the cultural aspects of the society," said Mr Al Balushi.
The cultural aspects should include poetry, stories, history and music, he said.
The audience will be the rest of the world, said Mr Al Balushi.
"When we talk about Internet we don't talk about geographical area, so we don't think local - we think global."
The website should not only increase access, but also interaction, he said.
Speakers at the seminar included Iraqi PC Association president Dr Akram Othman, Moroccan Alamat magazine director Dr Saeed Bingrad, Egyptian expert in computational linguistics and natural language processing Dr Nabeel Ali and Moroccan expert Dr Saeed Yaqteen.
They were joined by Bahraini actor Khalid Al Rowaie who spoke on sensory perceptions and the effect of technology on human perception.
Dr Al Balushi also spoke on best e-practices in the e-culture, on an international level and in the Arab region, and the best way to produce the content in the e-world.
The seminar also discussed the experiences of other GCC countries in e-culture.
Autor: Kanwal Tariq Hameed
Quelle: Gulf Daily News, 16.03.2006
