IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Dubai eGovernment has announced the winners of the Digital Media online course that it recently conducted for 200 residents of the UAE, as part of the eGovernment’s e4all initiative. The course was provided free of cost and was followed by a contest conducted to evaluate the participant’s knowledge on topics relating to the subjects covered in the course.

Among the 200 participants, 30 students were selected for the test to assess their knowledge and skills, out of which, top five students were presented with mobile phones and awarded certificates officially stating the successful completion of the course. The winners this year are Kamyar Rabieena, Umme Abiha, Shirin Patwa, Sujata Ranjit and Budoor Khalid. All students also received participation certificates.

The Digital Media course entailed three topics - digital photography, digital video editing and digital music, integrated into a single curriculum, with a total duration of about four-and-half hours. Salem Al Shair, Director of Dubai eGovernment, said, “The Digital Media course is reflective of our vision of leveraging information technology for rapid social and economic development, aimed at significantly improving the quality of life of UAE residents. We are delighted with the strong response the course and the contest received, which is reflective of the enthusiasm of UAE’s residents to equip themselves with these creative tools, in order to successfully tackle future challenges. We are certain that all the students who took part in the program have understood the importance of familiarizing themselves with digital media skills to exploit the opportunities created by information technology in a range of industries and services.”

The first segment of the Digital Media course, digital photography, dwelled on the basic digital photography concepts, right from the principles for selecting an ideal digital camera and taking a good picture to how to transfer images from a digital camera to a computer.

The digital video editing course introduced digital video editing using MGI Video Wave 5. Participants were shown how to transfer videos to a PC and how to edit and enhance these videos through step-by-step instructions, and storylines. The digital music course taught the students to use Creator Classic, Disc Copier, and Drag-to-Disc to make back-ups of a CD. Students were also introduced to AudioCentral to create audio CDs and DVD Builder to make DVD home movies and photo slide shows.

One of the winners, Kamyar Rabieena, said that he was quite impressed with the program as it familiarized and updated him with recent changes in technology. With a passion for arts and graphics, the training on Illustrator appealed the most to him. Umme Abiha and Shirin Patwa noted that the course was convenient as it provided them essential knowledge on very interesting digital programs. The other winners, Sujata Ranjit and Budoor Khalid observed that the training program was user friendly and convenient. They said that this knowledge would aid their hobby, which was in the field of digital media.

“This course is in line with our strategy to make Dubai a knowledge based economy and to empower UAE residents with modern IT skills, thus aiding their overall development. We believe that through this course, we have successfully fostered the expertise needed to acquire and use knowledge and skills required to take an active role in the diverse field of digital media. We congratulate the winners of the contest and urge all participants to use this knowledge in their future endeavor,” concluded Al Shair.

Dubai eGovernment is a pioneering initiative in the region to provide online services across the spectrum of corporate and community life in the emirate. It also has a vision to integrate individually automated government departments under the single umbrella of the eGovernment initiative, thus empowering employees across lines of businesses and levels of government, besides facilitating the lives of citizens and customers of the government.

Quelle/Source: Strategiy, 21.05.2006