AlMalik Calls for Supporting Young People to Create Digital Content to Enhance Status of Arabic in Cyberspace

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), stressed the importance of producing purposeful digital Arabic content, which raises awareness and stimulates moderation and openness given their significant impact on a large number of young people, pointing out to the need to encourage them to create digital content that enhances the status of Arabic in the cyberspace and disseminate Arab culture to save it from extinction.

This statement was part of the address that Dr. AlMalik gave at the closing ceremony of the three-day Attaa Digital Hackathon in the Arab Republic of Egypt, on Wednesday evening (August 31, 2022), held in partnership between ICESCO, the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and RiseUp Summit. Thousands of content makers competed to win one of the Hackathon’s three prizes.

Dr. AlMalik also highlighted the key role of young influencers in shaping media and socio-economic trends, which necessitates paying further attention to the purposeful digital content, explaining that holding this Hackathon in Egypt is a milestone to enrich the Arabic digital content with various cultures, sciences and arts.

“It is necessary to promote and enhance the status of Arabic online given its rich vocabulary. In this regard, ICESCO seeks to achieve this objective through its new modernization approach and vision to increase the outreach of Arabic,” he added.

ICESCO DG concluded his address by thanking the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Saudi Crown Prince, which strives to give new impetus to the digital Arabic content through activities such as Atta Digital Initiative based on the ambitious 2030 Vision.

In the award ceremony, the prize money amounting to 100,000 Egyptian pounds was shared among the three best teams. The hackathon organizers then exchanged memorial shields.

Atta Digital Hackathon in Egypt aimed to spread the culture of creativity, innovation and teamwork to enhance Arabic educational technical content by motivating Egyptian young people to share their ideas and compete to provide relevant solutions and proposals. Such an objective is in line with the strategy of ICESCO, which seeks to promote the use of modern technologies for the development of education, science and culture.