Egypt's Culture Ministry Pushes Digital Transformation, Tackles User Reach Challenge

Dr. Jihan Zaki, Egypt's Minister of Culture, emphasized that creativity is our first line of defense against extremism. She really stressed the importance of boosting arts and cultural content in the digital world, especially for kids and teenagers, as they're the ones most influenced by what they see online. This discussion happened during her participation in a meeting with the Communications and Information Technology Committee at the Egyptian House of Representatives. She explained that shaping a child's awareness is a shared responsibility between family and school, with moms playing a super important role in guiding the content their children are exposed to. She firmly believes that investing in arts and creativity on digital platforms helps build well-rounded personalities who can interact positively with society. She also pointed out that the Ministry of Culture has a bunch of digital platforms and apps that offer incredibly rich content. However, they haven't quite reached a wide audience yet because of weak online marketing. This is a major hurdle to getting the most out of these resources. In this context, she highlighted the "Kitabi" platform, which boasts over 30,000 books, including both new releases and classics, with plans to add even more soon. This will definitely boost access to digital knowledge for everyone. She also showcased the "Memory of the Homeland" app, which offers users an interactive experience. It lets you learn about the history of streets, landmarks, and famous public figures just by being in their general area! She explained that when you're walking through places like Downtown Cairo or Heliopolis, the app can show you historical facts about street names and where they came from, along with cool info about famous gardens like the Giza Zoo and Orman Garden and their stories. The Minister of Culture also praised the "Wa'ey" platform, which was launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. She sees it as a really important step in supporting digital awareness and encouraging safe and responsible technology use, especially for our younger generations. Dr. Zaki stressed that the real challenge isn't a lack of great content, but rather that people don't know about it! This means we need a team effort from different organizations, especially those in education and culture, to make sure this content reaches the right people. When it comes to protecting children from the dangers of social media, she said she doesn't like the traditional idea of "monitoring." Instead, she prefers the concept of "content regulation." This approach aims to find a balance between giving access to knowledge and keeping our youth safe. She noted that helping people grow and develop is always the main goal of any policies or laws in this area. She also mentioned how important it is for student union representatives to join these committee meetings. She believes that listening to different age groups helps us create more realistic plans that truly reflect society's needs and challenges as digital transformation speeds up.