Ars Electronica Futurelab at the World Summit Award Gala
The official Austrian contribution to the summit promoted awareness of the importance of high-quality digital content on the part of heads of state, government officials, managers of multinational corporations and representatives of NGOs. More than 500 delighted guests attended the World Summit Award Gala on opening night of the UN World Summit on the Information Society.
Montassar Ouaili, host-country Tunisia’s minister of communications technology, delivered the opening remarks at the World Summit Award Gala on the first evening of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS, November 16-18, 2005) with a message of welcome from Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the president of Tunisia.
The World Summit Award (WSA) Gala singled out for recognition the world’s best digital content as selected by the WSA’s international jury from among submissions from 168 UN member states. The WSA Gala award ceremony included recognition of the winners of the World Summit Youth Award, the Nokia 2 Billion Award and the Arab Mobile Development and e-Content Award.
Morak Stresses the Importance of Young Multimedia Pioneers
Franz Morak, Secretary of State for the Arts and Media in the Federal Chancellery and head of the Austrian delegation in Tunis, delivered the address kicking off the gala presentation of the World Summit Youth Award, a prize designed to nurture up-and-coming multimedia producers, in which he said:
“New communications technologies challenge us to bring creativity to bear in an organized way. In the projects honored by this award, young people have deployed their creative energies purposefully in order to solve problems that impact the whole world. Creativity and content are key factors going into the successful ongoing development of Information Society. The World Summit Award helps to focus the spotlight of attention on issues of tremendous importance for our future.”
The WSA and the World Summit Youth Award, Austria's official contribution to the WSIS, were initiated by the Federal Chancellery and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labor (BMWA).
Prof. Peter A. Bruck, chairman of the World Summit Award, and Manar Al-Hashash, CEO of the Kuwaiti firm Dot Design, moderated a lively evening, which was broadcast live by Tunisian television. Telekom Austria made possible a live webcast of the WSA Gala online at the WSA website www.wsis-award.org.
AEC Futurelab among the World’s Best New Media Projects
The Ars Electronica Futurelab came away with a prize in the e-Entertainment category for “Gulliver’s World,” an innovative “multimedia theater.” More than 500 guests were on hand to honor the 40 teams singled out for recognition at the WSA 2005. The winners in a total of eight categories received their awards from heads of state and government representatives from Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Latvia, Mozambique and Senegal as well as UNESCO General Director Koïchiro Matsuura and designated UNIDO General Director Kandeh Yumkella.
The 40 winning project were on display until November 19 as part of the ICT4all Exhibition in the Austrian e-Content Village. The mission of this exhibition designed to accompany the WSIS was to showcase examples of best practice as a way to illustrate in concrete terms how the development of Information Society can be guided in a way to make it accessible by and useful for human beings worldwide.
Ars Electronica Proud of the High Quality of Linz Productions
“We’re proud of this prize, which once again attests to the high quality of the productions being turned out by creatives in Linz, even in comparison to the international elite in this field. What’s more, our presence at the World Summit offered a great opportunity for Ars Electronica to document its commitment on behalf of the sociopolitical importance of new information technologies and to develop this further,” said Gerfried Stocker, artistic director of Ars Electronica.
Exhibitors in the Austrian e-Content Village included the following five Austrian federal ministries and innovative firms: BKA, BMWA, BMI, BMBWK, BMVIT, the Federal Statistical Bureau, Siemens Business Services, enum.at, Fabasoft, Sonovista, World Summit Award, apc interactive solutions, Brains & Pictures, Bene, :3C!, and the Ars Electronica Futurelab.
Winners of the WSA
At the WSA 05, there were 40 winning projects in eight categories:
e-Learning:
“Stagework” / United Kingdom
“E-Blocks” / Brasil
“Nature Park Kopacki rit” / Croatia
“Advanced e-Learning Objects” / Romania
“Digital Literacy Program (PAD)” / Argentina
e-Culture:
“Aram Khachaturian: Work and Life” / Armenia
“Paris, a Roman City” / France
“Lakota Winter Counts” / USA
“Eternal Egypt” / Egypt
“The Victors: Soldiers of the Great War” / Egypt
e-Science:
“JST Virtual Science Center” / Japan
“Edumedia” / France
“Fauna.hr” / Croatia
“Cape Farewell” / United Kingdom
“Virtual Science Museums of China” / China
e-Government:
“Brisbane City Council Green Home” / Australia
“Municipality Meeting Online” / Netherlands
“Directgov” / United Kingdom
“Bahrain eVisas” / Bahrain
“Vancouver.ca” / Canada
e-Health:
“Medline Plus” / USA
“Contraception Awareness Project” / Canada
“Underworld” / Australia
“Internet Access to Patient Healthcare Information” / Czech Republic
“Sisu Samarakshak” / India
e-Business:
“Jotun Professionals Network” / United Arab Emirates
“WebTelegram” / Tunisia
“Artisanal Shopping” / Morocco
“Daft.ie” / Ireland
“Tianfu Agriculture Information Network” / China
e-Entertainment:
“dvd-kids” / Island
“Kids.net” / Argentina
“Gulliver’s World - a Multimedia Theatre” / Austria
“Mole’s Trip” / Czech Republic
“BBC One Music” / United Kingdom
e-Inclusion:
“Children@Hospital” / France
“Using ICTs for Social Inclusion” / Guatemala
“Womengateway” / Bahrain
“Web Content Translation Engine (English to Arabic)” / Kuwait
“DeafPlanet” / Canada
Additional Information and Contact Info:
For additional information, please log on to the WSA website www.wsis-award.org, where various media information is available.
The WSA and the World Summit Youth Award, Austria's official contribution to the WSIS, were initiated by the Office of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labor (BMWA). This initiative is supported jointly by UNESCO and UNIDO and sponsored by several private firms – MTC, HP, Nokia, Siemens, Omni, era, Internet Society and e-Commerce Directorate Bahrain.
Contact information:
ICNM – International Centre for New Media
Moosstraße 43a
5020 Salzburg
tel.: 0662-630 408,
fax: 0662-630 408 22
www.icnm.net, www.wsis-award.org
The Federal Chancellery/Federal Press Service
tel.: 43.1.531152241
fax.:43.1.5311092241
klaus.mayr@bka.gv.at
www.bka.gv.at/wsis
Mag. Erika Leitinger
WSA Projekt- & Eventmanagerin
leitinger@icnm.net
Dr. Stefan Kaufer
ICNM Senior Writer
kaufer@icnm.net
Ars Electronica
Mag. Wolfgang A. Bednarzek MAS
Pressesprecher Ars Electronica
AEC Ars Electronica Center Linz
Museumsgesellschaft mbH
Hauptstraße 2, A - 4040 Linz, Austria
Tel +43.732.7272-38
Fax +43.732.7272-638
Mobil: +43.664-81 26 156
email: wolfgang.bednarzek@aec.at
URL: http://www.aec.at/press
|
