Speakers

Lucinia Bal-Doebel is the manager of OSCE's public website. After joining the OSCE in March 2003, she initiated and planned the redesign of the OSCE public website, bringing together individual websites (maintained by individual offices). At the moment, she is managing the creation of a multilingual OSCE public website.

The OSCE Public Website Unit is in the Press and Public Information Section in the Office of OSCE's Secretary General. The Unit managed by Lucinia is in charge with both the content (editorial control) and the software (content management system and applications) of the public website. The team has one manager, two English-language editors, one architect/developer, one assistant editor.

Lucinia's background is in Organizational Behaviour and Computer Science. Her main expertise is in information systems for development, including web-based systems. She worked over fifteen years in development co-operation, especially in the fields of education and policy-making. She has over twenty years of experience in designing and developing information systems.

Jeffrey Cole has been at the forefront of media and communication technology policy issues in both the United States and internationally for the past 25 years. In July 2004 Dr. Cole joined the USC Annenberg School for Communication as Director of the newly formed Center for the Digital Future and as a Research Professor. Founded on the belief that the best policy arises from the best information, the Center is a research and policy institute committed to work that has a real and beneficial effect on people’s lives, while seeking to maximize the positive potential of the mass media and our rapidly evolving communication technologies.

Prior to joining USC, Dr. Cole was a longtime member of the UCLA faculty and served as Director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, based in the Anderson Graduate School of Management. At UCLA and now at USC Annenberg, Cole founded and directs the World Internet Project, a long-term longitudinal look at the effects of computer and Internet technology on all aspects of society, which is conducted in over 20 countries. At the announcement of the project in June 1999, Vice President Al Gore praised Cole as a “true visionary providing the public with information on how to understand the impact of media.”

Cole was Principal Investigator of the Network Television Violence Monitoring Project, which in 1995, 1996 and 1997 issued annual reports to the television networks, Congress and the nation. Upon the release of the 1996 report, Cole held a joint press conference with President Bill Clinton, who referred to the Center for Communication Policy as “the premier educational institution setting trends in entertainment.” Nationwide there was unanimous praise for the quality of the reports and their contribution to the television violence debate.

Cole has testified before Congress on television issues and has spoken as a keynote and panel member at more than 500 conferences on communications issues. He has worked with both the Clinton and George W. Bush White House on media and telecommunications issues, including detailed briefings on the Center’s work.

In 1994, 1995 and 1996 the Center co-authored with U.S. News & World Report national surveys examining attitudes and values of decision-makers in the entertainment industry. In 1994 the Center co-sponsored “The Superhighway Summit” in UCLA's Royce Hall with the leaders of most of the nation's major media companies. For the annual Family Reunion Conferences in Nashville, Tennessee, Cole has worked with Vice President Gore to produce films opening the 1995 through 2002 conferences. The annual films were screened before an audience of 1,400 including the Vice President and President Clinton.

Cole has lectured extensively in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and Australia and throughout the U.S. He regularly consults with top government officials and leaders of the telecommunications industries throughout the world on communications issues. He currently is a member of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Forum Programme Committee. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) from 1997 to 2001 and was the founding governor of the ATAS Interactive Media Peer Group.

Over the past 29 years, Cole has taught to over 35,000 students. In 1987 he received UCLA's Distinguished Teaching Award.

Ahmad Fawzi is Director of the News and Media Division in the United Nations Department of Public Information. The Division generates the daily United Nations news materials for television, radio, newspapers and the Internet, and is responsible for establishing links and cooperation with the media in all regions.

Mr. Fawzi was previously Director of the United Nations Information Centre in London for six years (1997-2003) and as such was the representative of the Secretary-General in the UK and Ireland. He has travelled with Mr. Kofi Annan on various missions, including to the Middle East and Africa.

From 1992-1997, he was the Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali.

He has also served on special assignment as the Spokesman for the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Afghanistan, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi in 2001-2002. He attended the Bonn talks and later travelled with Mr Brahimi to Afghanistan for the Transfer of Power and helped set up the new UN mission in Kabul. In February, April and May 2004, he was once again Spokesman for Mr. Brahimi on his missions to Iraq.

Mr. Fawzi was the first Spokesman and Director of Information for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, in June 2003. He was also Mr. de Mello's Media Advisor in East Timor in 2001.

Before joining the UN, Mr. Fawzi was a broadcast journalist, working for Egyptian Radio and Television and then Visnews (now Reuters Television) in London, Prague, Moscow and New York, as well as most of the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

During the seventies, Ahmad Fawzi was Press Secretary and Chef de Cabinet for Egypt's former First Lady Jehan Sadat. He travelled extensively with the Sadats, and was with President Anwar Sadat on his historic visit to Jerusalem in November 1977.

Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations since March 2003.

Born in 1946, Mr. HACHANI, after primary and secondary studies, graduated in English Language and Literature from Tunis University (1968). He then followed a course in International Relations at Columbia University (New York) within the framework of a training program for diplomats (1969-70).

He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tunisia in November 1968. After having served in the Department of International Co-operation, he was appointed (September 1972 to September 1979) Counsellor at the Tunsian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. In this capacity, he took part in a great number of regular and extraordinary sessions of the UN General Assembly as well as Technical Committees and International Conferences.

On his return to Tunis, he joined for six months the Prime Minister’s Office before being appointed Deputy Director for Multilareral Co-operation, then Director of Multilateral Cooperation and Co-operation among Developing Countries, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From September 1, 1985 to September 30, 1990, he was Ambassador of Tunisia to the United Arab Emirates. He was later appointed Director of Bilateral and Regional Cooperation with Arab, African and Asian Countries in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From 1992 to 1995, he was Ambassador of Tunisia to Senegal. He was equally Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea, the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Gambia and the Republic of Cape-Verde, with residence in Dakar.

Returning to Tunis (September 1995), he was Director for Research, Analysis and Planning, then Director for relations with countries members of the European Union and finally Director-General for Europe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From September 1, 1997 to January 5, 2000, he was Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations in New York.

From February 1, 2000 to July 31, 2001, he was Ambassador of Tunisia to Greece.

From September 2001 until his recent and new nomination as Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations, he was Director-General of International Organizations and Conferences in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He was promoted to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary in 1983 and in 1995 to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary “Hors Classe.”

Mr. Ali HACHANI is married and father of four children.

He is « Officer de l’Ordre de la République Tunisienne ».

Gary Pantin has been designing and developing websites for well over ten years. He spent four years at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, in the Information Technology Section, where he worked on the technical development of a range of OCHA websites including CERF (Central Emergency Relief Fund), OCHA's field websites, an intranet and off course OCHAonline. Gary has also worked as a web developer in other UN agencies, including UNIFEM, where he recently developed a new version of their Women War and Peace web portal, which is expected to be launched shortly. He is currently attached to UN Department of Public Information, DPI, in the Evaluation and Communications Research Unit.

Prior to joining the United Nations he served as the CEO of CECP Limited, a communications company based in his native Trinidad and Tobago. He also coordinated the development of new products at Republic Bank Limited, the largest bank in the English speaking Caribbean.

Caroline Petit is the Promotion and Distribution Manager for the audiovisual catalogue of the United Nations in New York. For the past 5 years at HQ, she has been responsible for establishing innovative partnerships with major international radio and television broadcasters in order to increase the visibility of the UN message and of the UN agencies to a worldwide audience. She is also responsible for the presence of the United Nations family at key television market such as the MIP TV in France where the audiovisual UN reps presents a one UN voice to the media community at large.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms Petit has been promoting the European cinema and television industry for 15 years for the prestigious European Union 's Media programme in Brussels, for the National Film and Television Group in London and for Milos Forman's European Film College in Denmark.

After a career in banking and aviation, Penelope Price joined ADB's training division in 1993 and focused particularly on technology and learning issues, how technology is impacting the development process, and incorporating learner-centered activities into training design. From 1998-1999 she was posted to the ADB Institute in Tokyo to work on capacity building programs.

In 2000 she joined ADB’s Office of External Relations in Manila. As well as media-related activities she managed ADB's new web site, promoting web technology as a strategic communication tool. Ms. Price traveled to many countries in the region conducting communication workshops for government agencies, NGOs, and ADB country offices. These workshops focused on writing and web content development and usability.

She rejoined ADBI in late 2003 specifically to revamp and manage ADBI's website and oversee ADBI’s communication activities. Since late 2004 she also managed ADBI's CD-ROM Review program, which now lists over 500 development-related CD-ROMs. In late October 2006 Ms. Price returned to ADB, Manila, to run the website there.

Linda Stoddart, was appointed the Head of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and Chair of the Task Force on Knowledge Sharing at the United Nations in June, 2004. She was previously Director of the Bureau of Library and Information Services of the International Labour Organization (ILO), in Geneva, and Professor of Information Management at a business school in the "Silicon Valley" area in France, where she was responsible for an executive education programme for senior managers.

From 1992 to 1999, as Director of Information Systems at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, based in Geneva and later in Harare, she lead the implementation of a global knowledge management strategy in field delegations and Red Cross national societies worldwide. She also worked at IMD, (International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, as Director of Information Services. Linda also served as an adviser to government agencies on information management issues for the International Trade Centre in Portugal, and for the ILO in Asia (China, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand), and in Africa (Cameroon, South Africa, Zimbabwe). Her academic degrees include a PhD from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; MLS, State University of New York; BA, University of Denver. Linda is the author of a number of articles and other publications on information and knowledge management issues.