The Chairman of the National Media Council, HE Saqr Ghobash, has warmly welcomed the issuing of a new DVD on the UAE that was released by the NMC today. Commenting on the release, the Minister observed that, “The ubiquitous DVD has become an increasingly popular means of delivering a constantly expanding range of data on the UAE and this year’s offering from the National Media Council, as part of its annual UAE Yearbook project, is a particularly worthwhile production with, quite literally, ‘something for everyone in the audience’”
Not only does the 2009 DVD have full electronic versions of the current UAE Yearbook in English, Arabic and French, together with its abbreviated companions, UAE at a Glance, but it also contains the full English version of the most comprehensive account of the UAE’s natural world ever published (The Emirates – A Natural History). And if this veritable E-Library of well over a thousand pages is not enough to convince the most ‘wired’ affandicios of the E-world, then perhaps the Film Library will provide the extra excitement they seek. This year’s DVD contains films made for Expo 2008, on the theme of water in the UAE together with the fast-paced overview of the country, 24/,7 which played a key role in winning the gold medal for the UAE’s participation at that event. In addition to these new films there is a fresh presentation on Abu Dhabi’s ‘Desert Islands’.
But books and films are only part of this most impressive DVD’s offering. In addition, the developers have provided, through its links to UAE Interact (the NMC’s website), direct access to well over 10,000 pages of news and information on the UAE in eleven languages. This is widely regarded as one of the most useful and easily navigable research tools on the web for people seeking specialized information on a huge range of topics connected with the UAE. The pages can also be accessed without the assistance of the DVD by logging on to UAE Interact’s news archive (
http://www.uaeinteract.com/news/archive.asp).
Extra ‘goodies’ on the disk include an interactive section with a quiz, screensavers, ’wallpapers’ and e-cards. These represent a development from similar facilities offered in recent years and combine entertainment with innovative information on the country.
Taking the ‘edutainment’ theme one step further the DVD also contains a ‘Learning Centre’ that is likely to keep students, teachers and their parents engaged for a considerable time and will find good use in many classrooms. The developers have revamped a clever presentation of the UAE’s finest artifacts in their 2009 Virtual Museum. This is a facility that impresses all those who have encountered it on UAE Interact where it has previously laid somewhat ‘buried’ by the mass of information stored on the site. The new version (available on both DVD and website) works much faster than its predecessor and automatically takes over the full computer screen, displaying impressive revolving images that can be manipulated by the user.
The Learning Centre also contains three other fascinating special features: the scrolling ‘Walk through Time’ that provides snapshots of the land occupied by the UAE over the millennia; another attractive presentation on the UAE’s wildlife in the form of an ‘Animal Factfile’ and finally, an interactive map of Abu Dhabi created by that emirate’s tourism investment entity, TDIC.
The NMC’s 2009 DVD is widely distributed both within the UAE, to an eclectic range of user groups, and to UAE Embassies abroad. It offers a clear picture of the country that has been welcomed by business people, educators, politicians, students and visitors.
The 2009 UAE DVD was developed by Trident Press Multimedia, on behalf of the UAE’s National Media Council.
