We are conducting a new academic study about the status of Information Security in organisations in which your participation will be highly appreciated.

Your contributions will have significant value to this research project which aims to construct a holistic picture of organisational information security practices.

The survey should not take more than 10 minutes of your time.

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN THE SURVEY

Or alternatively, copy and paste this entire link into your Internet browser:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=EwrpO5Xfn6kJ4AfGI8n13g_3d_3d

In this report, which was published recently by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), we develop a possible risk assessment and management method appropriate for emerging and future risks. In order to achieve this purpose, a systematic approach was adopted (based on Soft Systems Methodology) to devise evaluation criteria for risk assessment and management methods. An extensive evaluation of existing methods against these criteria was conducted to assess their suitability to tackle emerging and future risk. Detailed requirements were later developed to extend existing risk assessment and management methods to cater for emerging and future risks. We propose such extensions to be developed in a modular approach to facilitate usability and compatibility with different risk assessment and management methods.

On Tuesday, 8th of April 2008, we launched the printed version of the Wireless Networking in the Developing World – Arabic Edition. The event was held in Damascus during The International Conference on Information & Communication Technologies: from Theory to Applications - ICTTA’08.

This event compliments that landmark achievement of 10000 downloaded for the electronic version, a remarkable success for a book of such a technical nature, and a clear indicator of the interest in Arabic content. The launch included a presentation on the evolution of the book’s idea delivered by Dr. Adel El Zaim from IDRC and myself (full presentation can be found here) and copies of the book were distributed to the participants.

Photos from the event:

The fundamental transformations brought by the increasingly rapid developments of science and technology have changed the way we work, communicate, learn, grow and prosper. Probably one of the most significant of these developments is the advent of digital computer and the global Internet. Computers and the Internet enabled information to be collected, stored, processed, searched, retrieved and transmitted at a speed and scale that could not be imagined few decades ago. These capabilities empowered human kind to invent applications that facilitate the undertaking of everyday activities. It can be argued that virtually all aspects of human life have been affected on way or another by the rapid developments in digital computing.

Such powerful impact on all aspects of human development attracted the attentions of countless numbers of corporations that perceived a gigantic commercial opportunity to be exploited. Corporations contributed to the acceleration of the development of digital computers for a usually rewarding return on their investments. Other parties have also played a major role in shaping the future of the industry. These include universities, research institutions, governmental bodies, special interest groups and even individuals. The collaboration between all these parties resulted in the establishment of standard and open technologies that can easily interoperate and work with each other. Additionally, openness facilitated further development of computing technologies. This fortunate did not last long. Several commercial corporations, motivated by the potential to maximise their earnings and profits, decided to change their strategies and to close the technologies and products they develop, particularly computer software.

Creativity and innovation are essential ingredients for the development of human society. Scientific, economic and social evolution requires the orchestrated efforts of many intellectuals, working together on overcoming challenges to human development and inventing novel concepts, theories, tools and technologies that can be effectively exploited to serve humanity and improve the well being of society. Think for a moment of the scale of technological and social developments in our modern world. While some may argue that these developments have been misused, no one can deny the considerably higher quality of life we enjoy compared to our ancestors. Cures now exist for infectious diseases that once could destroy a complete nation, travel and communications became much easier and cost effective that people can now engage in dialogues with each other in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago, and the list goes on.

Such massive developments could only become possible through the empowerment of researchers and intellectuals to capitalise on the gigantic body of knowledge built by their fellow creative workers. Every innovator taps into the knowledge sources produced by others and contributes back to the development of human wisdom. However, with the increasing complexity of creative and intellectual work, appropriate incentive systems should be implemented to motivate intellectuals to invest their time and effort in contributing to the global knowledge creation. Without such systems, very few are willing to devote their scarce resources to expand the borders of knowledge in the highly demanding modern lifestyle. But these incentive systems should be carefully designed to serve their main purpose: motivating intellectuals to produce creative work by guaranteeing them a fair return on their investment of intellectual and financial capital. They should not block access to knowledge in such a way as to prevent others from capitalising on the previous body of knowledge in their pursuit for creativity and innovation.

In wonderful alignment with its adorable historical track record of promoting access to knowledge and the values of openness and scholarship, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina added another landmark into the scene of Access to Knowledge that places special emphasis on the Arab region.

The Access to Knowledge electronic platform that went life on 31 of March 2008 is the result of significant effort and consultations, led by Hala Essalmawi, which followed the first seminar on New Tools for the Dissemination of Knowledge organized by BA in September 2007. The new platform will act as the meeting point for researchers, librarians, students and practitioners interested in the open access movement. The resources section of the platform contains several articles about Creative Commons, Free and Open Source Software, Electronic Content and Access to Knowledge in Arabic and English.

Additionally, the platform offers visitors the chance to interact with each other and discuss issues and topics of relevance through its electronic forum. Discussions in the forum will be consolidated and summarized to provide readable materials for future reference. Future and past events relevant to access to knowledge are also listed with supporting materials where possible. The news bulletin of the website also provides stories in Arabic for visitors in the region.

(Published on iCommons.org)

This has typically been the ending question for any Creative Commons-related conversation in the Middle East that I have been involved in. While drawing on others' experiences and telling success stories from other parts of the world would seem a very appealing answer, there is always the “but here, it does not work like that” aspect of the argument. Well, today I think we have one of our own.

Except for a couple of dozen really popular titles, distribution of published Arabic books is extremely limited given the large size of the potential market. This happens primarily because distribution systems for books in the Arab world are virtually non-existent. Evidence has even shown that some titles were translated and printed more than once in different parts of the region to address this issue. Moreover, the foggy scene of copyright in the region makes it very difficult to leverage publishing and distribution of promising titles and limits the potential of published books. Publishers prefer to diversify across the complete supply chain than to enter into unclear and complicated copyright negotiations.

Today, with great excitement, I would like to announce the release of the Arabic edition of the Wireless Networking in the Developing World book. After the great success that the first English edition has achieved, time has arrived for Arabic speakers to enjoy the content of this remarkable resource.

Here is the official press release:

PRESS RELEASE

Wireless Networking in the Developing World
- Arabic Edition

25 February, 2008: Cardiff, United Kingdom and Cairo, Egypt

One book can often be equivalent to a library, particularly in the developing world..

Today, the Arabic edition of the “Wireless Networking in the Developing World” book is released, following the significant success of the first English edition, to bring the book to the millions of Arabic speaking audiences.

Lets face it, sometime we get very stimulated about a certain topic, and decide to invest some effort into reading and learning more about this subject, but this enthusiasm quickly fades away when we encounter the thick books that require weeks or months of careful reading to be properly digested. I hope that I wont be misunderstood here, as in no way I am suggesting anything against such books, frankly, I personally consider my time while indulged in one the highest quality time I could get. But sometimes, we look for quick wins, finding tips and hints to aid the solving of a particular problem. Therefore, I decided to write this booklet which explains the essential concepts in wireless networking and takes the reader from the apprehension of the theory t to the practical implementation in a relatively short period of time. The book covers the following topics:

• Basics of wireless networking
• Wireless networking standards
• Network design
• Monitoring and troubleshooting
• A practical case study

I hope this contribution would lower the entry barriers to the wireless networking world, and stimulate readers to read its big brother: Wireless Networking in the Developing World.

The Arabic website for WNDW, launched today, aims to become the premier meeting point for Wireless enthusiasts in the Arab world. The entire website is available in Arabic, and contains:

• Announcements and news
• Download links for the Arabic edition of the Wireless Networking in the Developing World book
• Download links for other wireless related materials in Arabic, including the Wireless Networking Primer and the MultiMedia Wireless Networking Training Kit
• Discussion forums on different topics
• Wiki for collaboration and content creation
• Case studies

Your contributions are warmly welcomed at www.lasikly.org.