Title: Towards inclusive knowledge societies: a review of UNESCO's action in implementing the WSIS outcomes
Author: David Souter
Pages: 66 pp.
Publisher: UNESCO
Date (published): 06/05/2010
Date (accessed): 17/05/2010
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf, 19.8 MB!)
Abstract:
This report reviews the UNESCO’s work in these implementation areas during the five years since the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. It summarises some highlights of what has been achieved to date and reflects upon the challenges which have arisen in the implementation of WSIS outcomes.
The report looks in turn at UNESCO’s three main roles in WSIS implementation:

as a coordinator/lead facilitator, with ITU, UNDP and UNCTAD, of the overall implementation process, including UNGIS and the WSIS Forum;

as a facilitator of six Action Lines to facilitate the implementation of the WSIS outcomes in specific areas of work; and

as an implementer of programmes and initiatives that seek to build inclusive Knowledge Societies and thereby contribute to the achievement of WSIS goals.

The final section of the report looks forward over the next five years to suggest ways in which implementation of WSIS results might be more effectively integrated in the broader work that UNESCO and other agencies are doing. This work aims at achieving the benefits that can be derived from the Knowledge Societies to whose development UNESCO is committed.

French version: Vers des sociétés du savoir

Title: Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive Intercommunication for Knowledge
Pages: 332 pp.
Publisher: Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and United Nations Development Programme/ Regional Bureau for Arab States
Date (published): 27/10/2009
Date (accessed): 18/11/2009
Type of information: research report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (several pdfs)
Abstract:
Foreword, team and table of contents
Preamble
Chapter 1: The theoretical framework: Concepts and problematic of the knowledge society
Chapter 2: Arab knowledge performance environments: Expanding freedoms and building institutions
Chapter 3: Education and the formation of knowledge capital
Chapter 4: Information and communications technologies in the Arab countries: The pillars and tools of knowledge
Chapter 5: Arab performance in research and innovation
Chapter 6: Building the knowledge society in the Arab world: A vision and a plan
References
Annex 1: List of background papers
Annex 2: Project for a database on knowledge in the Arab region
Annex 3: Measurement of the Arab countries’ knowledge economy
Statistical Annex

See also:
Arab world 'long way' from knowledge society
Science and Development Network

Title: Culture and Vietnam as a Knowledge Society
Authors: Tuyen Thanh Nguyen, Graeme Johanson
Pages: 16 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: EJISDC (2008) 33, 2, 1-16
Publisher: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries
Date published: 2008
Date accessed: 22/06/2009
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Key features of traditional Vietnamese culture are contrasted with modern conceptions of a knowledge society on a national scale. Longstanding features of Vietnamese society inhibit the acceptance of necessary ingredients of a knowledge nation. This article analyses evidence from official publications, recent commentaries about Vietnam, and fieldwork interviews undertaken between 2004 and 2007, relating to economic progress and cultural change, challenges of the market economy to traditional culture, and the contribution of information and communications technologies to the promotion of knowledge.