ICT-TF - Egypt ICT Trust Fund

KenanaOnline.com
A Case study on how a knowledge
Network is forming in Egypt
ICTD 2012 Conference
Georgia – Atlanta
March 2012
Prepared by: Dr. Ibrahim Ahmed
Presented by:
Rehab Yehia - Egypt ICT Trust fund
“Developing countries can no longer expect
to base their development on their
comparative labor advantage.
The competitive advantage that
now counts is the application of
knowledge”*
Peter F. Drucker 1994
*Ref.: The Age of Social Transformation – The Atlantic Monthly
KenanaOnline.com Goal
To be the number #1 web portal
in Egypt and Arab World, to
provide knowledge related to
socio economic Development
Gamila from North Sinai
How to reach this mighty goal?
We adopted two strategies
during the course of the 7
years lifetime of the project.
Centralized Knowledge Repository
KenanaOnli
ne.com
centralized
Portal
= Knowledge Contributor
Strategy I:
Centralized Knowledge Portal
200,000 US$ for 10,000 article in 2004
• ICT-TF Team is doing everything:
– Digitizing Content
– Publishing Content
– Paying for Content
– Updating Content
– Begging for Content
– Failing to answer readers questions
Why centralized portal failed?
1. Resources
2. Incentives
3. Authentication
We were trying to do everything.
Now we are building the network
And everyone is doing only his job.
Challenges: Resources
Knowledge is power. Yes.
only if the contributors take the credit of
sharing and publishing their knowledge.
There should be a
Return of Investment
Challenges: Incentives
Free Partnerships with Top References
From Institutions / Organization
Enables reaching the authenticated and
trusted information
Challenges: Authentication
Strategy II: Loose Decentralize
Multi-level networks
Level 1
ICT-TF
Level 2
Strategic
Partners
Level 3
Knowledge
Contributors
• Who: Professors, Researchers, Practitioner,
Experts, Farmers, Teachers, Students, SMEs,
Physicians….etc
• Benefits:
–
–
–
–
Owns a website
Training on Knowledge Management Skills
Open to new markets and Business Opportunities
Communicate directly with his/her own readers /
potential customers.
Level III:
Knowledge Contributors
Responsibility:
Contribute and publish his / her own knowledge
online on his /her own website.
Comply with the publishing guidelines.
Varies the content formats: video, audio,
presentations, text, links…etc
PS. The contributors will happily to all his
responsibilities because it will all return back to
them in term of visitors.
Level III:
Knowledge Contributors
• Who? : Research Centers, Projects, Faculties,
Ministries, Universities, institutions, Publish houses
• Benefits:
– Own a knowledge portal rich in content in their
respective field, of expertise.
– Modernize their organizations and make them ready
for the information society. (it looks good as an
achievement in the annual report)
– Have their own networks of experts, professors and
practitioners.
Level II: Strategic Partners
• Responsibility:
– Establish a Knowledge Management unit.
– Monitor and filter the network generated content and
publish it classified in the umbrella portal of the
partner.
– Make reports about the content quality, quantity and
topics.
– Host awareness sessions to encourage more
members to join the network.
PS: It is the role of the partner to pull the content
out of his network.
Level II: Strategic Partners
Provide a high quality service
for website, portals and
network creation, free of
charge.
Level I: ICT-TF
Provide Technical and
Knowledge Management
Support.
Level I: ICT-TF
eMarketing for the websites to
ensure a constant stream of
daily visitors.
PS. Each website should be ranked on the first page
of Google search results in its topics of expertise.
Level I: ICT-TF
Organize awareness sessions of
the knowledge economy and
the benefit of knowledge
sharing.
PS. If the contributors know how the new knowledge
economy works, they will join and will happily make their
own knowledge contributions.
Level I: ICT-TF
Competitions, publications, to
develop more partnerships to
increase the networks
members and the quality of
generated contents.
Level I: ICT-TF
+100 Strategic Partners
+100,000 Website
+75,000 Daily Visits
Ranked #1 in Google Arabic Search
Dr Emad Qotb is a professor in Plant
Diseases Institute
He published +300 articles and photos in
one topic “Fungal Plant Diseases”
He publishes in his own website.
Case Study: Dr Emad Qotb
He invested 3 hrs a week in
building his own website
10,000 visits of monthly traffic
His website ranked #1 in Google in
his area of expertise.
He receives consultation requests.
What Dr Emad get in return?
10,000 visits of monthly traffic
His website ranked #1 in Google in
his area of expertise.
He receives consultation requests.
What Dr Emad get in return?
GAFRD +10,000 article
+80 websites 3,300,000 Visit
Future plans
Targeting Partners and provide
our services for the Arab
Region at large.
Future plans
Do more than knowledge
sharing and develop “Expert
Systems” service for the
public. To “Capture
Knowledge” in a methodical
and easily retrievable means.
Contact email:
iahmed@mcit.gov.eg
Web Portal:
http://www.kenanaonline.com
Thank you.