The Syrian Computer Society (SCS, www.scs-syria.com ) is the main organiser of awareness actions leading to the promotion of Information Society. Being a semi-public association of IT professionals recognised by the government, SCS collaborates with concerned ministries in various activities that it organises. The ministries involved in the promotion of IS and their respective awareness programmes carried out in collaboration with SCS are:

• Ministry of Education: National Programme for IT Dissemination.
• Ministry of Higher Education: Universities Programme for IT Dissemination.
• Ministry of Information: Television Programme on Informatics and Society
• Ministry of Culture: Series of Lectures on IT and Applications.

2.1 Syrian Computer Society Promotional activities

Since 1998, SCS has started a yearly awareness programme of Symposia aiming at valorising the various experiences in applying information technology, together with an exhibition showing real applications. These symposia are becoming important local events and are having bigger success year after year. Between January and March 2000, the different branches of the SCS organised the following symposia in three different cities:

• "First Symposium on Informatics", Deir-Ezzor, 27-29 February 2000
• "Third Symposium on ICT and applications", Tartous, 4-7 March 2000
• "Second Symposium on Informatics and application in Management", Raqqa, 26-28 March 2000

SCS also institutes a professional training programme that is open to the public-at-large and is carried out at its headquarter in Damascus. The aim of this programme is to promote the use of IT in all facets of life and in particular by professionals (e.g., medical doctors, lawyers, and engineers). The training courses that were given during the last 3 months are as follows:

• Design and film production (22/1-22/3/2000)
• Advanced IT training for medical doctors (22/1-18/3/2000)
• Industrial automation (22/1-29/3/2000)
• Database design using Developer 2000 (23/1-23/3/2000)

A weekly programme, organised by SCS in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, is broadcast live on Syrian TV every Friday morning. This IS awareness programme is oriented towards the lay person who would like to learn about computers, their capabilities, usefulness and how they are affecting the everybody’s life. Some of the interesting subjects that were treated during the past few months are:

• Information Society: its elements and transformation.
• Kids and IT
• Medical Infomatics
• Investments in IT and marketplace
• Information means and tools with the Internet
• IT and preservation of heritage
• Search methods on the Internet
• Educational software at the Ministry of Education
• Ways and means of developing a software industry in Syria
• IT and the Arabic language

SCS organised public lectures in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture at the National Library in Damascus, usually every fortnight. These lectures relate to new information technologies and their (potential) use in Syria. The latest of these lectures are:

• Industrial networks and applications in manufacturing (23/11/1999)
• New trends in computerised banking services (30/11/1999)
• Software industry and its impact on the national economy (25/1/2000)
• E-Commerce: importance, perspectives and means of application (1/2/2000)
• Requirements specifications for corporate information systems (29/2/2000)
• Medical imaging techniques in building the human brain atlas (14/3/2000)
• Mobile communications (28/3/2000)

2.2 Other IS promotional activities

• The Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (HIAST) has held a one-day workshop on E-Commerce and EDI in Tourism on 8 February 2000. It included several presentations on the importance of e-commerce in the tourism sector and a real-time demonstration on carrying out some of the operations carried out by a tourism office.

• The National Information Centre (NICE, www.niceonline.org) has published in January 2000 a Special Issue of its "Informatics" magazine on "IT Applications in Syria and the Arab World".

• The Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce (FSCC, www.fedcommsyr.org) is in the process of building an Electronic Catalogue for Syrian Businesses, in preparation for inclusion on their web site.

• The First Syrian-Lebanese Symposium on Informatics Development on the theme "Assessment and Perspectives for Co-operation" will be held on 25-29 April 2000. It is the first joint promotion action in IT between the two neighbouring countries that aim at co-operation in the field. SCS is the co-ordinator and main sponsor for Syria, while the Professional Computer Association together with major Lebanese universities and key ministries are the promoters for Lebanon.

• A University IT Dissemination Programme has been carried out by all four state-owned universities, whereby courses on the use of computers and their basic applications are being carried out for the past two years. Attendees are university staff or students that register for token fees. The idea is to make use of the university computer laboratories after teaching hours in order to promote the use of computers among university population.

The Ministry of Higher Education together with the UNESCO and UNDP has launched a project for establishing an academic network called SHERN (Syrian Higher Education and Research Network). SALEC, a Saudi telecommunications company, has signed a contract to supply and install the necessary infrastructure and to train local staff on installation, configuration and operation. The nucleus of this project will be completed by the end of 2000. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Higher Education, the project involves all four Syrian universities (University of Damascus, University of Aleppo, Tishreen University and Al-Baath University) and HIAST (Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology). The aim is to establish an academic Intranet with a gateway to the Internet coupled with technology transfer to permit the expansion of the network with local staff. The project should lead to the development of intranet-based academic applications such as tele-teaching, course content sharing and development, and tele-working and research.