1. Information Society Portal for the ESCWA Region September 5, 2007

2. Background

3. Online tools can greatly increase the efficiency of development work, communication and cooperation. Currently, no online portal system exists to catalyze action around the Regional Plan of Action. Online systems for capacity building in Information Society indicators are underdeveloped.

4. Communication The Information Society Portal for the ESCWA Region deploys modern online tools for collaboration among stakeholders.

5. Communication Real-time discussion forums Collaboratively generated content Syndicated content feeds

6. Communication Up-to-date content on projects and priorities in the ESCWA region Real-time dissemination of statistical indicators

7. Regional Plan of Action Source of information on the strategy One-stop-shop on implementation details Catalyze partnerships between project implementers and donors

8. Regional Plan of Action Foster partnerships by: Raising awareness of available project concepts Providing market intelligence Catalyzing community of practice

9. Information Society Indicators Project implementers and policy makers struggle with a lack of reliable data in the region. Awareness of the current situation is the first step. Future progress is catalyzed by greater knowledge.

10. Information Society Indicators The ISPER online system brings together indicators from a variety of sources in an easy to access, real-time platform.

11. Information Society Indicators Users can flexibly select and compare multiple indicators for causality and correlation, with a wide variety of multi-lingual reporting options.

12. Timeline and Future Steps The portal system is a fully-committed, long- term project with new content, features and versions available in the coming months and years.

13. Timeline and Future Steps Community feedback and comments are vital to insuring that the portal contains the features and content needed to be useful.

14. Timeline and Future Steps Registration for premium content Content partnership Site feedback

15. Thank you