Day of Activities Focus Around Theme of “Women and Girls in ICT”
To mark the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2012 (WTISD), the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) hosted a half day of activities for a group of high-achieving young women who are passionate about technology.
The theme for 2012, “Women and Girls in ICT,” aims to raise awareness about what ICT can mean to them and how it can be part of their everyday lives.
“Information and Communication Technology is a tremendous equalizer when it comes to empowering women to be full participants in a knowledge society. Qatari women are among the most educated in the world and they should be leaders in ICT. ictQATAR continues to work with many talented women to connect them to enriching career opportunities in ICT and develop their skills so they can be globally competitive,” said Karen Murphy, ictQATAR Senior Specialist, ICT Profession Promotion.
Around 20 young women from across Qatar took part in ictQATAR’s WTISD activities, which included mentoring sessions with leading women in ICT, as well as tours of Qatar’s Assistive Technology Center Mada and ictQATAR’s Q-CERT program, which is the team leading Qatar’s cyber security efforts. “A lot of people are surprised that a women chose a career in technology and specifically cyber security, but I can honestly say it has been one of the most exciting fields I could have entered. Technology cuts across all sectors of society and impacts all fields, making information security a major aspect to enjoy the facets of technology. If you want to be on the leading-edge of innovation, I encourage you to consider a career in ICT,” said Nora Al-Abdulla, ictQATAR Cyber Security Training and Awareness Section Manager, part of Qatar’s Computer Emergency Response Team, when meeting with the program participants.
The young women also took part in workshops on social media and blogging. The blogging workshop encouraged the women to develop their own blog and took them through the blogging process, from setting up a blog online to creating compelling content for it.
“Having blogged for some time now, I find blogging is a great outlet to share my thoughts with others whilst inspiring and sharing new ideas. I view my blog as a digital journal, where readers can tune in to read my side of a story and understand different life concepts”, said Hind Al-Saad, Market Intelligence Officer at ictQATAR.
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day was created by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies can bring to societies and economies, as well as ways to bridge the digital divide. It is celebrated each year on May 17, which marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the ITU.
