Dubai e-Government joins hands with Dar Al Sada

ViewArabia.com is designed to fulfill the need for a professional and integrated one-stop online photo and news aggregrator that will carry content from diverse sources across the region, to be reproduced by newspapers, television stations, publishing houses, research centers and academic institutions.

The portal has acquired rare archival material, including photographs, on the history of the UAE as well as the rest of the Arab world, with the objective of becoming the leading content provider to media organizations.

Salem Al Shair, Director of e-Services, Dubai e-Government, said: "We are pleased to support and work closely with the ViewArabia.com venture because this initiative is in keeping with our objective of facilitating business enterprises and empowering businesses, governments and citizens by maximizing benefits from technology. Our endeavour is to ensure that all community groups move away from the conventional methods to electronic services."

"ViewArabia.com is the first portal to set up a system that brings content and photographs of Arab history, culture, development and current affairs on a single platform, thus filling a vacuum that was felt for a long time in this region. This venture will not only provide easy access to Arab-specific content but also help correct the imbalance in the coverage of Arab issues by providing authentic and original commentary on happenings in the Arab world," Al Shair added.

Dubai e-Government is providing ViewArabia.com with access to its Government Information Network (GIN) that facilitates a fast and secure system for online services, as part of its efforts to support public and private sector organizations that promote e-services.

Saif Al Marri, General Manager of Dar Al Sada, said: "We are proud to launch ViewArabia.com as the first portal in the region to offer a full spectrum of media content and photographs to media organizations online. We are aiming to provide a large collection that offers content on every conceivable subject, including photographs that have not been published before. We are also the first Arab portal to offer video clips that can be used by media organizations in their documentary films or advertisements."

"We have put together a system that makes it extremely easy for exchange of material between the provider and the recipient in a highly professional and secure manner. The requested material, which is available at attractive rates, can be either directly downloaded after signing a deal, or we can send it by ordinary mail, depending on the buyer's preference," Al Marri added.

"The most innovative idea we implemented in ViewArabia.com is to establish a media forum that enables content providers, photographers, artists, freelancers and local writers an opportunity to post their material on the website," added Al Marri. "We don't have to rediscover the alphabet, it's all over there. All we do is invite content providers to host their material on our site and become our partners."

"ViewArabia.com is the ideal platform for creative people and intellectuals who did not so far have the tools to market their intellectual property. We are committed to fulfill this role of becoming a bridge between them and media organizations from around the world," Al Marri added.

ViewArabia.com has already attracted Arab media partners wishing to promote their content on the portal. The London-based Quds Press International, considered one of the most important pan-Arab news agencies, has agreed to post content of nearly 50 million words on ViewArabia.com. In addition, daily news content is being added on the website.

"We can make use of the infrastructure provided by ViewArabia.com to deliver our news more effectively and reach new customers. We believe this is an ideal way of putting our archive online against a stable and secure environment," said Ahmad Ramadan, General Manager of Quds Press International.

Vision for Art Production from Jordan, winners of several international awards, was the first TV production house to join by planning to host its video archives on the site. "We are proud that it will be the first company to provide our valuable video archives of Petra, the ancient city of mystery and beauty in Jordan," remarked Abdullah Jawdat, General Manager of Vision TV Productions.

Another partner is Bayt Al-Sahafa from Jerusalem in Palestine, which specializes in photographic content. "We regard ViewArabia.com as a vital channel that will promote our photographic content and carry the voice of Palestine to the world," said Khaled Al Zeghari, Manager Bayt Al-Sahafa.

Artists and calligraphers are also interested in hosting their innovations on ViewArabia.com. Mohammad Fahmi, the well-known artist, was among the first to host his paintings. Dr. Salah Shierzad, the famous UAE calligrapher, says: "As ViewArabia.com will be promoting Arabic calligraphy, I am hosting my archives on the portal. I would like to invite all my friends to make use of this facility."

Referring to copyright pertaining to the content posted on ViewArabia.com, Al Marri said: "We have put in place a legal and secure system to supply content to the buyers. The project is backed by legal institutions that have examined all aspects of copyright laws. One of them is the Talal Abu Ghazali Institute for Copyright, which handled the registration of the ViewArabia.com trademark. Taking the content from the website in a legal manner will ensure top quality reproduction, and bring home the message that respecting copyright laws has many benefits."

Some prestigious IT corporations and international firms are involved in setting up the infrastructure of ViewArabia.com. The servers have come from IBM, while Microsoft has provided systems for quick and secure Internet access. Televisual is the search engine that powers the portal and the storage tools have come from FlexStorage. The archiving library and back-up copy support have been handled by Qualsar, based on management systems of Veritas. Firewalls from Sun Microsystems are in place to control hacking. Cisco Systems has provided the hardware, while the video cameras and photo scanners offering high quality resolution have come from Nikon.