When Swine Flu = eLearning push.

Continuing your child education and making use of technology

What is worst than a backward Ministry of Education? It’s plans and decisions.

Bahrain is small country with almost 1 million population.  Most of Bahrainis are good computer users. Nevertheless , the only noticed discussions to control H1N1  focuses on delaying the school start dates.

Yes, child’s health worth it, but it’s not the only solution. I think it’s a good chance to apply smart schools and eLearning techniques.
Thanks to British School of Bahrain (BSBH) for consulting me. I will rise this issue in my meeting with BSBH  next Saturday. I will be suggesting eSolutions for the students to attend virtual classes under the supervision of the parents and school. Teachers will be chairing this online classes, materials a exercises can be exchanged in a private work space.

I think eLearning is a trustful solution and the feer of Swine Flue (H1N1) can give it a push. Let’s hope will listen to my advice so I can take it to the Ministry of education as a live example.

New Palestinian Order!

I apologize to the sacrifice and views that kept the hope of Palestine in the memories.

The title is a new “term”. I found it the most suitable adjective to the situation after Yaser Arafat.
Five years were enough to make it clear -for me- that the title of Palestine could have been lost without the duplication of resistance and peas forces he was covering.

I wanted to title this post as an apology. Apology to Arafat. I spent days thinking if my apology should go to Arafat or to the case he represented.

Five years of thinking of the expressions of mistrust to Arafat that I was accepting as facts and turned to be part of the politics I hate. I have to admit it with the conscious that Arafat like all politicians has his victims and mitakes. I dont have to agree with him on all his actions as a leader.

I apologize to the sacrifice and views that kept the hope of Palestine in the memories. To Arafat, or accurately, to what he represented. I write this ashamed of my self , Fateh and Hamas.

I feel insecure, I want to cross the red-lines.

Isn't it the right time to use the capitals power to cross the red-lines? Isn't it the right time to move from being consumers/users to producers?

Was 10 years of economic boom wasted in realstate?!

This is bad. The worst is the way the national capitals in the Arab word is directed. I am not proud of %17 shares in Porsche announced by Qatar, or Ruf customization owned by GBcorp of Bahrain. Can this be called strategic investment? let me call it lust business!

The region is suffering for decades from the investments red-lines energy and industrial  research. Isn’t it the right time to use the capitals power to cross the red-lines? Isn’t it the right time to move from being consumers/users to producers?

Believe it or not, all the technology we are proud of  it’s utilization is based on foundations that we don’t own it’s keys and can be always used against us. Starting from oil refining to engines and computers.

It’s the time to go beyond gaining education, It’s the time to use the capitals power to share technology ownership. I really feel insecure and wanted to share my fears with you.

IT was also affected.. positively

There is hope.. what we need is mind.

image from Aziz

Back to my (sweet-simple) blog. Life is hot.. and I meant temperature. If someone is looking for open sauna, Bahrain offers 120 square Km of open sauna with nearly 50C and %95 humidity!

However, am not running away. I will continue to prove that continues open sauna has nothing to do with loosing weight. Thanks for the financial crises!

I also have some happy news. Apart from the daily  news papers headlines lies about strong economy, I had bought several IT items for companies that had left or closed. 5KVA MG UPS with additional 15 min battery for $1800 with shipment is nothing.

I feel sorry for those who lost their jobs or  those who had a major salary cut. I will not comment about the ability of some Bahraini economical icons e.g. Essam janahi and his ability to lead KFH. I want to comment about the economical and business model being introduces to expose the small unproductive services economy to the  worldwide competition.

From what I read and noticed, we have ignored our limitations and focused on abilities but this is NLP than it economy. CEO’s where not paying attention to the calls of investing in green technology and save long term expenses. It’s good that some of them are now considering cost effective IT solutions such as vitalization and hosted services. I will take this thoughts to Tamkeen and EDB.. let’s see where things go!

In Bahrain, then be careful… you might be browsing an old version of webPages

In addition that you have neither privacy nor freedom, now you might be browsing old versions of websites while the rest of the word is updated!

As expected, monitored Internet browsing will never going to be stable. If the Authorities really care, this is an ongoing running cost, but they don’t.
Web monitoring  tools comes with features to cash latest browsed versions of websites pages and stream, this is normally used based on rules set by ISP administrators to cash and check for web content updates before sending the replay (web content) back to the clients.
Bases on the tests I run, it’s not always the case I get the latest/updated versions of the WebPages I request. Although I had turned off my local cashing features, I have to keep refreshing and add strange variable to the URL such as /?343 to get the updates.
I assume this is a direct cause of applying wrong cashing rules by ISPs since the start of new web banning  and monitoring activities by the ministry of Information.
So, just be careful that in addition that you have neither privacy nor freedom, now you might be browsing old versions of websites while the rest of the word is updated!

For those who wants to see God, we have new Gods in Bahrain.

Microsoft: We don’t hack (support)! Is microsoft a clown fooling woman?

You want my opinion? Good treatment is %50 of the support. The other %50 is a split between understanding the problem and the ability to provide a solution.

I had received a call of a client (an investment company) complaining about Microsoft. The Network administrator opened a backdoor and left the company. They wake up and found that Windows 2003 administrator password was changed and most of the employees were unable to access the network. Microsoft response to the problem started with investigations about their licenses status and then offered opening investigations… after hours of communications, the worried client received a response from the amazing support team, “Microsoft Support: We don’t hack.”.

Karl L. Gechlik published a post on Geeks are Sexy,  HOW TO: Reset your Lost 2003 Active Directory Admin Password. Microsoft consider this as hacking! Ok, but that company didn’t need this solution as by simple traversing throw the domain accounts some users found promoted to domain administrators where granted access. Perfect 20 minutes solution for none perfect security configurations.

Yes, this rise the issue of how some companies misjudge the need to invest on their security policies and configurations, but more importantly it rise the issue of how enterprise providers are dealing with their medium and small size businesses clients. I wonder if Microsoft employees will be brave enough to apologize to that client and thank their partner who supported their solutions and solved the problem plus guaranteed a loyal client. Dreams are still free but, is microsoft a clown fooling woman?

Deception and Ziestguiest… to know the world we are living

 

The world looks different as you know more. Truth is not necessary to be “the truth”, change can be what you are not looking for.

I cannot comment on the content of the documentaries directed by Peter Joseph and Alix Johns, I wanted to show my respect by publishing them on my blog.

I don’t take information as facts, they are links to an open gates for those who are looking for explanations and better understanding.

zeitgeistmovie.com by Peter Joseph

 

 

 

 

 

 ZEITGEIST: The Movie (released 6/25/07):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-594683847743189197

"ZEITGEIST: ADDENDUM\" (released 10/02/08):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912

 

The Obama Deception by Alix Johnes  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw

Foreign solutions caused a Bahraini puzzle!

 

 

Bahrain -also- creats puzzles!

 

 

 

 

 

I received a call from Albilad Press yesterday. They needed an opinion on how the Web blockage is being operated in Bahrain.

It’s very clear for any IT specialist that solutions for this purpose are available as part of network security packages. I had published a paper and stated that controlling web and Internet traffic is a well known procedure within work environments. Governments are taking the advantage of this to filter/monitor/control the freedom of Internet traffic.

With the new structure of telecom authorities in Bahrain, the ISPs are forced to obey the TRA’s and local ministries regulations. Based on order # 1 for the year 2009, all ISP’s must fix a “UNIFIED” solution to block the websites being reported by the Ministry of Culture and Information.

As a provider, I know that deals for installing and configuring censorship solutions are held between the ISP’s and the providers. The providers are at most agents\resellers for an international provider. The new thing is that the “UNIFIED” solution is suggested by the government, bought by the ISPs, billed back to the government. The puzzle is: who owns the licenses?

Below is the news publication at Albilad:

 

 

 مع التحفظ الشديد على لغة وخطاب وزارة الثقافة والإعلام ببيانها الصادر يوم أمس بخصوص الخبر المنشور في الصفحة الأولى بصحيفة “البلاد” والمذكور أعلاه، تؤكد “البلاد” أن مصادرها في الخبر الذي قامت بنشره هي بالفعل “موثوقة” وأن ثمة دراسة لجدوى وجود بعض الإذاعات، بكامل التفاصيل التي ذكرها الخبر، وكذلك فيما يتعلق بالاستعانة بخبرات أجنبية لتنظيم عملية حجب المواقع الإلكترونية.
كما تتساءل “البلاد” عن مهنية بعض المفردات الواردة في بيان الوزارة، خصوصًا مثل مفردة “الخفة” وتتساءل أيضًا عن البنى الموضوعية في الرد وعما إذا كانت مفردة مثل: “الخطل” و “الخفة” تستطيع أن تكون دلالة على أن الوزارة تسعى إلى إعلام محترف أو أنها تضرب مثالاً للإعلام المحترف. فالخطل في اللغة: فاسد المنطق والخاطل هو “الأحمق”!
وتترفع على أن ترد على مثل هذه المفردات وتتمنى وزارة الثقافة والإعلام التدقيق فيما تنشره وتبعثه للصحافة؛ إذ إن مثل هذه المفرادات لا تصدر من جهة حكومية مسؤولة من المفترض أن تكون قدوة ومثالاً للمؤسسات الإعلامية.
من جانبه، أكد الخبير في شؤون الشبكات الإلكترونية والإنترنت حسين يوسف أنه لا يوجد في البحرين أي شركة أو مؤسسة تنتج برامج حجب للمواقع، وهو ما يعني، بحسب الخبير، استحالة إتمام الحجب دون اللجوء إلى شركات وخبرات من خارج البحرين.
وبخصوص أن هناك شركة بحرينية أو أي كوادر بحرينية تستطيع فعل ذلك فقد نفى الخبير وجود أي شركة بحرينية قادرة على هذا الجوانب. وقال: أشتبه في أن الوزارة تستخدم برنامج BLUECOAT أو WEBSENCE.
http://albiladpress.net/web/localnews.php?id=19897

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear liars, at least say it in a way that make sense!

Paul Gauguin- Eve - Don't Listen to the Liar

Liars forget quickly.  Some of them lie and start building on that lie to the level they forget the starting point. And when you refer to them, they will tell you another lie!

The worst is when they believe their own lie! And they expect you to do so. Well,  I can’t hold it. …most of the time I start laughing. Please try it, it’s feels good when the liar ask you “What are you laughing at?”

Dear liars,  solution founded. You lie, we insult.

Liars, solution founded, You lie, we insult.

I mean it.. some Bahraini Ministries’ websites need to be shutdown\blocked

They need time?!!
If more than 10 years is not enough, what can be?

I had talked to the media three times about this specific point.
Some Bahraini Ministries’ websites need to be shutdown\blocked unless changed\updated. Some of you might think this is a subject of ridicule. I am telling you although it sounds funny, but it’s very sad indeed.

I think the Bahraini Minister of Culture and Information -May Alkhalifa- took a bold decision on the wrong direction. She blocked public media websites based on a thought that they detriment Bahrain, I want to correct this, Bahrain is not only government, there are people living in Bahrain and the action of blockage detriment them, hence Bahrain.

Moreover, this websites are not properties of the governments. Ethically, the Government should not abuse it’s power to block them or in a later stage -I am warning- tiring to shut them down. But the government owns good number of websites (directly) and they are being administrated by the ministries. I think the bold decision is to shut some of those website down since they are not representing the right and developed  Bahrain and are below the international standards. Simply, I am not proud of most of them.

I wish the minister asked for consultancy to study the status of this websites. I want to remind her that she is the minister of Culture and Information, hence I believe she is responsible for developing the way Bharaini people and the entire world think of or look at Bahrain. Internet is -fore sure- an important part of this.

Although this is part of my profession, I will give this free consultation to my government and I wish it will make difference. I want to tell you that at this stage I am confused about what to choose as a case study. I will talk about Ministry of Culture and Information due to the point that H.E. May Alkhlifa is directly responsible for it and she can directly take the decision to shut it down without entering the debate of the rights on other ministries websites.

Although this is not standard,  The case study will focus on the following points:

1. Availability of information.
2. Information Updates.
3. Electronic Services provided.
4. Presentation (look & feel) and accessibility.
5. Technology.

Main English Portal of Ministry of Culture and Information 11/2/2009

• Availability of information

10/2/2009
Accessing the main English portal, an advertisement of what looks like an ongoing or upcoming event for “Bahrain Annual Fine Are Exhibition”. The advertisement guides to nowhere and when trying to access the Events (top page) link, a page with three words (daily, weekly, monthly) with no links is presented.
On the left menu, an active link to the Daily and Monthly events. both  guides to a table full of coming soon that seems to be a trial data entry.
On the left menu a link showing the latest events holding the events name, when clicking on the event name  page 404 is presented!

information about Fine Are not found instead 404

Accessing the Arabic portal seeking for the same information and trying the same link structure. More information is presented for the fine art  event. Yet, the main link didn’t show further information other than the exhibition location and period starting 15thFeb and ending 31st.

The events (top page) links showed an empty page. However, active links to daily weekly and monthly are presented at the right of the page.

Monthly link showed activities of 21-11-2006 up to 21-12-2006.
Weekly link showed activities of  19 – 3 – 2008  up to 26-3-2008
Daily link showed activities of  21 & 23-11-2006.

All the shown activities has a title and date and one line description without links to further information.

11/2/2009

The sign of the adv on the main page was changed. The advertisement picture in the English section is the same as in the Arabic section with Arabic-only text for “Awal 5th theater festival”.
English URL: http://www.info.gov.bh/en/media/Media,2939,en.gif
Arabic URL: http://www.info.gov.bh/en/media/Media,2939,en.gif

11th Feb: Main English portal shows Arabic-only advertisement with no active links

Again, the English section advertisement is also not linked where the Arabic section advertisement is linked to the  simple description page with limited information about the event, the location and timings. Nothing declared regarding the participants or the content or the history of the event and no links are provided for further information.

In the English section, “Important Links” link on the top of the main page leads to an empty page. The same fact is applicable for the Arabic section. Where  “Achievements” link on both the Arabic and English sections shows six sections talking about “Bahrain Achievements 2003″. However, the links are active on the English section only.

The most top section of the page contains staic links of the directorates and sectors of the ministry. The links leads to simple discription of the directorate (around 5 lines). However,The content of the directorates and sectors pages are not consistant where some of them talkes about strategy and planes e.g. (Directorate of Public Relations) . Moreover, some of the links are available in arabic only and guides to empty page in the English section. e.g.(Culture & National Heritage). In the case of the “Tourism Affairs” sector link, the page shows different pictures without any discription or comments.

The search engin is not accurate and have no advanced search features. In the english section, searching for the key word “King” shows 19 results only, the most updated result is on the 7th Feb. This is still better than the Arabic section where search engin is not working at all and it dosne not matter if the key word is arabic or english, the browser is redirected to http://search.terminalfour.com and “No results were found for your search.” sentense is showed.

• Information update
  

13/1/2009
The main English and Arabic portals shows an advertisement for invitation to book signing activity.
Although the activity was held on the 11/1/2009,  the advertisement was not moved out from the main page. The advertisement is presented in Arabic on the English and Arabic portal and it’s linked to the invitation on the Arabic section only without any update since published.

13/2/2009 Invitation to activity but two days back (11/2/2009)!

The website has a “Calender of Events ” for the years 2008 and 2009. The calendar is table with showing activities title, date,  venue and  organizer. Although it’s accessible through the link named “Lear More” , no farther information of the events are presented.

Event's... Do update = list?!

The website has a link on the main top links for “Electronic Books”. In the English sections two books are listed which are “King and five years of Achievements” , “Culture in Bahrain in three decades”. The link to the last book is not active! Where in the Arabic sectoin, three books are listed where “Eminent from Bahrain” is added. All the books are PDF files without indexing or electronic capabilities.

With a link from the main page, two books are listed but only one is available.

15/2/2009
Both the Arabic and English sections main pages where updated with a link to an exhibition for H.M. The King Abdulaziz Bin Saud. The advertisement is written in Arabic only and the English section link leads to a Page 404 error.

• Citizens Services.
  

The e-services are supposed to be part of this main link. The content of this section is two lists showing the services provided by the ministry for Press and Publication and Tourism. No link or further information. The arabic section contains a note that electronic version of the forms is being prepared.

• Presentation.
  

Decent colors combination of light and dark gray mixed with red and white and greenish\oily colors combinations are used. Althow it’,s a goernmental website, it has no identity when it comes to the theme and content.

• Technology.
  

Since no e-services are provided -yet- there is no need for high availability design. But since the website represents and official governmental organization, security and availability should not be an option.
No chance for stress testing as it might be considered as a crime. Comments will focus on different areas.

good portion of the website is based on Terminal Four Site Manager (http://www.terminalfour.com/news/press-releases/body-text-3992-en.html). Based on TerminalFour, “The deal, delivered in partnership with local internet services company DINAS, is TERMINALFOUR?s first content management client in the Middle-East”. However,  based on Ministry of Industry and Commerce, search for “DINAS” is attached.

DINAS, as found at Ministry of Industry and Commerce CR

Search engine is hosted on TerminialFour and published under their name: http://search.terminalfour.com/moi/query.html?col=moien&qt=Bahrain&charset=iso-8859-1&style=moien
This explains why Arabic content is not supported.

The design of the website supposed the existence of bilateral content of each page, this can be helpful, but if the Arabic or the English content is not available, 404 page error is presented.

Conclusion:

Webmasters and founders should always know why their website is published. The visitors of the ministry of culture and information website will notice that the nature of the website is not cultural nor informative but wants to point to both which is confusing. I think the webmasters are confused and this is affecting the content.

In terms if information,  It’s not easy to reach basic information like the name of the minister. The user should dig throw Home -> Public Relation -> Senior Officials List -> Ministry Of Information Officials where such information is missed form both the “Contact Us” and “Organization Chart” links where it is expected.

Moreover, information published has no depth or updates, it would be more useful if events sponsored by the ministry or announced on the website are followed up with media coverages using web2.0 facilities like video streams and images or at least reported.

When it comes to updates,  it’s clear that certain areas within the website has no updates, however, it’s still presented as main sections\links (e.g E-books and Achievements). Titles inherits it’s importance form the content and information it delivers. And there would be no use publishing wish lists on public. This is also valid for the e-services promised to be developed. Such news is better to be well reported instead of (coming soon) sentence published in Arabic section only.

It was not easy to detect a pattern to brows the website, the presentation of the website is not a welcoming design. e.g. It’s not always true that navigation information are presented, moreover, links to other websites like BNA and Bahrain TV totally moves the visitor out without delivring the message of the meaning of thier presence on top of the Ministries links, in this case, the suitable placement would definitly be (usefull links) which is named (important links) which is again plased on the top and and which is an empty page.

What is the meaning of listing the complaiance logos if the main concerns of webbrowsers are not answered?
If having an error free website was the main concern, then an empty page will fulfill this requirement, but this is not the case specially for the ministry of both culture and information.