Technology Doesn’t Inspire, Content Does: How the World Summit Award, an Global Initiative, Promote the Best Practices of e-Content Development

Elizabeth Quat, Internet Professional Association, Hong Kong

While world economies are focusing on creating and improving technological products, the issue of content remained insufficiently considered. Technology and what technology produces belong together – one cannot exist without the other. The ”what”, however, being the core of it all, remains a fraction of what it could be – due to an appalling lack of financing.

The World Summit Award (WSA), a global initiative to select and promote the world’s best e-Content, started in 2003 in the framework of the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). WSA puts its emphasis on a core part of the Information Society that is often overlooked: high-quality e-contents and applications. By selecting, presenting and promoting the best products from all over the world in their respective field, it makes a contribution to bridging the Digital Divide and narrowing the Content Gap. This is done through national contests, a biannual global contest, and numerous content-focused national and international conferences, workshops, and the WSA Road Shows. As of today, 168 countries are actively involved in WSA.

China and Hong Kong have won four best practice awards in e-content & creativity in the World Summit Award (WSA) 2003 and 2005.  The presentation will introduce the World Summit Award initiative, its evaluation criteria for best practice in e-contents, and showcase some of the world best eScience awardees of the pass years.