About the Arab Digital Expression Foundation

Who?

The Arab Digital Expression Foundation (ADEF): is a Cairo-based non-profit organization that works on promoting the use of ICTs by Arab Youth for digital expression and artistic creation: a network of artists and experts supporting and mentoring young talents in the Arab region.
The foundation aims at giving the young Arab generation a free and constructive environment and the opportunity to produce ideas of their own using ICTs in an attempt to improve and add to the content of this world of media. It aims to give youth from various Arab countries digital tools to express themselves and discover their identity in both culture and heritage.

How?

The Arab Digital Expression Foundation believes the most effective model to achieve its goals for youth aged 12 to 15 is through a residential summer camp. The impact of summer camps on youth has been recorded and noted for years by educational experts and parents. Residential fun-based summer camps allow for the creation of an environment conductive to free expression. Coupled with a carefully developed program - a series of workshops children join daily - and highly trained, involved and enthusiastic trainers and staffs, the results are astounding. Youngsters and trainers share experiences and bond through both the physical and digital spaces they create. ADEF provides the structure and then leaves the participants to explore and experiment in filmmaking, animation, digital sound and music, graphic design and web 2.0. They also share fun and creative sports and art workshops. Because of the diversity and intensity of the program and participants, the two-week time frame is often life-changing, for both youngsters and trainers.

ADEF also organizes digital expression workshops where Arab youth aged 20 - 30 explore digital techniques and open source concepts and software in film-making, sound and music, animation and web 2.0 as well as training skills that enhance their own work. Young artists and techies meet and produce collaborative works of art and learn to upload and share over the internet.

 

Camp Program

Each camper will choose one of the four fields as his/her focus track and will get the opportunity to work and interact with campers in other fields. The learning approach allows the children to obtain their theoretical and practical learning skills through custom-made and experience- and fun-based curricula. The extracurricular activities offered (theatre, sports, plastic arts, science, printing press club, etc.) will expand the campers' exposure to different creative fields and enrich their work. Arabic is the language used during the training and all equipment is programmed to work in both Arabic and English. All trainers and supervisors are Arabs who also speak English and/or French. Our training rooms will be equipped with the latest computer systems and other corresponding equipment and each camper will have his/her own computer to work on for at least five hours a day. Other equipment such as video cameras, still camera, recorders, printers, etc will be available for the use of the campers throughout the training sessions. Each camper will go back home with a CD/DVD that includes a resource bank to keep as a reference to what they learned in addition to their final project be it a short film, design or piece of music. Several open-source software will also be included in the CD/DVD. The curriculum, developed by a group of Arab experts in arts, technology and education, is devised for children regardless of their IT background to insure widest eligibility. The extracurricular activities, available through sports and arts - and the cultural and social activities that will take place - will also be material that the campers will use in this fun-packed experiment of free expression. A Journey of Discovery The children will have the opportunity to rediscover their own space before they arrive to the camp. Before leaving home, their first mission will be to take pictures of their home, street, city and family as a preparation exercise of self-introduction. They will be asked to bring their favorite book, music, and movie and present them to their peers. The material brought by each child will serve to introduce the youth to one another in addition to being used in digital exercises.

Tracks

The fields offered to children at our camps are as follows: Graphic Design The curriculum aims at providing the campers with the knowledge, the skills and the sensibility towards visual design as a mean for expression. The first stage, the Foundation, starts with the fundamentals of design and then branches out, according to each participant’s choice, into either Print Design, or into Digital Design. The foundation focuses on the development of skills in drawing, visual perception, and representation. Participants will be exposed to a wide range of visual designs that they will discuss and use as a reference for their work. They will explore form and the meaning of form, through the configuration and the representation of the line, the shade, the texture, the type and the color. They will also learn digital imaging, saving, scanning and printing, using software for both rastor and vector imaging. Print Design emphasizes on graphic design and illustration as a mean for communication. Through different applications of type and image, participants will explore the possibilities of expressing meaning in a logo, a poster and a brochure. Digital music and sound It aims at motivating youngsters to open their ears and fuse in the sonar and musical world around them, where they become part of it as listeners and performers, expressing themselves by means of digital and non digital instruments. The curriculum targets youngsters with no musical background or skills, introducing them to digital recording, editing, mixing, modern music creation and production, using open source software tools. On the other hand, the curriculum inspires the campers to craft their own musical instruments using household materials, creating their own musical language, understanding and manipulating the basic elements of sound, learn about musical forms, notation and composition, in addition to developing their listening and team work skills. The above objectives are realized by means of activities, games, discussions, and intensive field and lab experimentation. It is self expression what really matters. Digital Video The curriculum focuses on exploring the characteristics of a visual story to enable campers to use technological tools without inhibitions. The goal is to be able to express their stories through digital filming and offline editing using software for multi-track editing and for visual effects. Other elements campers will explore is team work, where each will experience the work of a film crew including lighting, sound, production, acting and directing. Campers will also exercise different forms of interaction among one another through constructive criticism of each other's work. Animation The Animation curriculum aims at providing the youngsters with the skills to animate and bring to life their drawings, photographs and their clay models. They will learn to plan their stories into a script, and to draft out the storyboard. They will also learn how to create animation in stop motion, and in vector animation. The curriculum targets youngsters who like cartoons, films, stories, and mostly magic. They can learn through the program the different ways of bringing life to objects, drawings and photographs, and making stories out of them. The above objectives are realized through activities, games, discussions and intensive field and lab experimentation. It is self-expression what really matters. Web 2.0 Camp participants are digital natives, a generation of young people who have been exposed to technology very early in their lives, even within our underdeveloped societies. The basic assumption behind the Blogging/Web2.0 track is that participants do not need to learn how to use Internet technologies, they already know all about it. But digital natives tend to take technology for granted, the track will encourage participants to examine the Internet and digital technologies critically, to see ICTs not just as background noise or mere tools but as spaces to be claimed and extensions of ourselves.

Sports and Workshops

Sports and Workshops and more Parallel to our tracks in digital technologies, campers will explore the different sports and clubs offered at our camps. Sports activities include: basket ball, hand ball, tennis, table tennis and swimming. Horse-back riding and desert explorations may also be offered during the weekend. The extracurricular activities comprise of different workshops including Printing Press, Dancing, Theatre, Storeytelling, Carpentry, Industrial Design and many more. The sports and cultural activities are no less important than the four disciplines available during our camps and have been carefully designed to develop other important skills among campers such as team spirit, creative spirit, communication skills all of which will contribute in the development of the campers' characters. Workshop includes: Swimming Tennis Ping Pong Football Basketball Volleyball Physical Fitness Speed Ball Portraits Carpentry Theater Photography Hand-made instruments Nylon orchestra Tele-match Storytelling Cooking Mobile phone films Industrial design Electricity Decoration Dancing Mask Making Advertising Plastic Arts Pottery Gardening Theatre Recycling Paper Making and Book Binding Arousa Scientific and Cultural competitions

Sample for a Day Schedule

The camp duration is two weeks – fully residential. Each week will include five days of fixed schedule, a field trip day and a free day. Each camp session will include 80 children from different Arab countries aged between 12 and 15. Each track will include 20 campers. While campers, girls and boys, work together in groups of 10 during the day, they are separated at night where the camps' administration has provided separate sleeping quarters for them. A typical weekday schedule includes: 7am Wake-up 7.30 – 8.15 am Breakfast 8.15-8.45 am Morning circle 9.00 – 10.30 am Field Experimentation Session 10.45 – 12.15 pm Blogging 12.15 – 12.30 pm Snack 12.30 – 2.00 pm Lab Session 2.00 – 3.00pm Lunch 3.00 – 4.00 pm Break 4.00 – 5.30 pm Sports Session 5.45 – 7.15 pm Workshop Session 7.30 – 8.30pm Dinner 9.00 – 11pm Samar Midnight Light Out

Weekend Trips

Running parallel to the educational program and the extracurricular activities, visits to monuments, historical places and natural enclaves are planned for the weekends. Cairo’s wide variety of interesting monuments, museums, markets, lends itself to instructive and sports-related activities. Visits to events at the Cairo Opera House and other cultural centers will be planned as well as trips to Studio Misr and Media Production City where campers will have the opportunity to witness productions performed by well-known Egyptian actors and actresses on location and even join in some of the activities planned for them there.

Celebrity Visitors

Arab Digital Expression Camps has approached many Arab celebrities in the music, film, graphic design and arts fields who showed enthusiasm about visiting our premises this summer and spending time with the children. To make the most out of these visits, we've incorporated some into either our curricula or extracurricular activities. Hence, a well-known Arab film director would not only meet the children but also watch his/her film with them and then discuss it. A well-known Arab actor or actress would conduct a sketch with children and show them acting tricks and techniques. A well-known Arab graphic designer would lead a workshop during which children will be exposed to his/her techniques. While it would be a memorable experience for campers to have met a celebrity they usually see on TV, our aim is to show the children that their work is being taken seriously and dealt with professionally by people established in these fields. Click here to view the list of this year's celebrity visitors to our camps.

Camp 2007

August 2007: Arab Digital Expression Camps A three-week summer camp was organized in Cairo for 64 children coming from Gaza, the West Bank, and Egypt, in partnership with Give Gaza and with funding from Give Gaza, Team, ABB, and individual donors. Children were trained in Digital Sound and Music, Digital Filmmaking, Print Design and Digital Design, and attended numerous extra-curricular activities.  The running staff of 27 trainers from different Arab countries supervised the children's 3-week adventure into the world of digital expression. The children had two day-long recreational trips; one to the Giza Pyramids and Old Cairo and another to Alexandria where they went to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Qaytbay Citadel. They also went on specialized trips to Studio Misr, Media and Production City, the Smart Village and the Egyptian Museum for Contemporary Art. Several renowned artists visited the children during their stay, interacting with them and presenting their work. Those included photographers Randa Shaath and Thomas Hartwell, folk singer Donia Akl , Eskenderella Band, Dancer Tamer Fathi, among others. The children produced various films, animation, designs, logos, posters, musical compositions and paintings. To view the children's work, go to: www.arabdigitalexpression.net

Camp 2007 Participants

Sherihane nouafa bessesso Gad Ibrahim Edriss Massa Sabbah Salma Amir Salem Rana Bakr Tallah Aly Ibrahim Abou Kottesh Mohamed Borhane Garar Mohamed Abou el Kheir Rasha El Khamour Maen Nagy Ahmed Amed Oda Serry Nasr Allah Mohamed Emad El Mashharawy Rasha Gamil El Khawaga Ahmed Mazher Asmaa Mahoud Daher Tarek Magdi Diab Fady Helal Hoda Deeb Daher Bashar Lameei El Ayssar Hahem Rezk Gabr Nadeem Emad El Sherif Raed Mohamed Modya Nour Terek Zayed Mohmed Rezk Mohamed Gabr Ahmed Khaled Zakareya Nabeel Aly Shaath Saher Gadallah Mohamed Saeid El Sousy Bayan Soliman Mohamed Salleh Soliman Wafaa Khalil Abdel Hamid Saada Nermeen Mamdouh Abdel Fattah Zein Fawaz Neyazi Jarrar Tamer Wael Zerena Amir Refky Khaled El Asmr Haitham Omar El Rashidi Ahmed Abou Gazallah Mohanad Sakallah Samy Mazen Soltan Razan Sallah El Shobky Lara Abou Ramadan Leen El Shami Raged El Sherif Hesham Amaar Hamad Shorab Nehaya El Kady Sarah Amir Salem Mohamed Kareem Hadia Labib El Helw Hadil Daher Bassel Beshir Emad Razeinah Batoul Issa Dababnah Mostapha Mohamed Mohamed El Sayed Ahmed Mamdouh Fallah Khamiss Ghabayen Ahmed Gamal Abdallah Saeib El Shayah Sanaa Ahmed Seif Sarah Seoud Abou Ramadan Mariam Ramy Shaath Yasmeen Samy Elias Israa Ayman Hanafy Rana Motei El Ayssar

Camp 2007 Staff and Trainers

Camp Manger: Magdi Negm Logistics Manager:Sayeda Gad Sports Supervisor: Hany El Metennawy Clubs Supervisor: Mahmoud Hanafy Curriculum Coordinator : Ola Shehba Graphic Design Trainer:Helena Nehmeh Graphic Design Trainer: Sahar Malek Web Design Trainer: Maha Sherin Web Design Trainer: Nesma El Messiry Digital Video Trainer: Mohamed Rashad Digital Video Trainer: Eman El Banna Digital Music and Sound Trainer: Jawad Shaaban Digital Music and Sound Trainer: Maysara Omar IT Consultant:Alaa Abdel Fattah IT Consultant: Manal Hassan Logistics Officer: Essam El Sayed Group Leader: Mohamed El Maymouny Group Leader: Ahmed Hossam Group Leader: Abdel Rahman El Nouby Group Leader: Doaa Mohamed Group Leader: Waleed Group Leader: Oday Mohamed Group Leader: Mohamed Salah Group Leader: Abir El Sayed Sports Trainer: Mohmoud Fawzy Sports Trainer: Ahmed Gomaah Sports Trainer: Rana Ahmed Sports Trainer: Lamis Mohamed Clubs Trainer: Yara Rabei Clubs Trainer: Mostafa Abdel Shafy Dance Trainer: Tamer fathy West Bank Liaison officer: Ghossein Abou Gazaleh

Sports and Clubs 2007

Sports and Clubs and more Parallel to our workshops in digital technologies, campers will have the opportunity to explore the different sports and clubs offered at our camps. Sports activities include: basket ball, hand ball, tennis, table tennis and swimming. Horse-back riding and desert explorations will also be offered during the weekends. The extracurricular activities comprise of different clubs including Printing Press Club, Dancing Club, Theatre Club, Plastic Arts Club, Carpentry Club, Chess Club and many more. Towards the end of our camp, all 160 campers, divided in different teams, will spend a day competing in an elaborately-designed treasure hunt for which our camps have been famous since the project's establishment in 1984. The sports and cultural activities are no less important than the four disciplines available during our camps and have been carefully designed to develop other important skills among campers such as team spirit, creative spirit, communication skills all of which will contribute in the development of the campers' characters. Clubs include: - Swimming - Tennis - Ping Pong - Football - Basketball - Volleyball - Physical Fitness - Speed Ball - Horse-back riding - Biking - Plastic Arts - Pottery - Archeology - Theatre - Printing - Book-Binding - Chess - Puppets and shade puppets - Treasure Hunt - Scientific and Cultural competitions

Camp 2007 Visitors

Several renowned artists visited the children during their stay, interacting with them and presenting their work. Those included photographers Randa Shaath and Thomas Hartwell, folk singer Donia Akl , Eskenderella Band, Dancer Tamer Fathi, among others.

2007 Trips

The children had two day-long recreational trips; one to the Giza Pyramids and Old Cairo and another to Alexandria where they went to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Qaytbay Citadel. They also went on specialized trips to Studio Misr, Media and Production City, the Smart Village and the Egyptian Museum for Contemporary Art.

Pyramids Trip: A very successful trip to the Giza PyramidsPyramids Trip: A very successful trip to the Giza Pyramids

Our supporters

Our supporters

Team (www.team-group.org) 

ABB (www.eg.abb.com)

Give Gaza (www.givegaza.org.ps)

Individuals

Nadeem Shaath

Samir Khoury

Timothy Rothermel

Local Workshops

Local workshops will be organized at the national level with partner NGOs by the trained trainers for disadvantaged youth. Trainers, after having worked for the camps, will continue mentoring the kids, and will work to extend their support to other disadvantaged groups. Our experts will develop a model that adds a community dimension to the curriculum at which the children will learn how they can integrate or utilize the passed on skills to their communities. This will be incorporated in the workshops activities. ADEC plans to conduct local workshop in different countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, etc… in partnership with local trainers and NGOs. One or two members in local NGOs where workshops are conducted will be trained to assist in the youngsters' training process throughout the year. The local workshops' structure will be the same as that of our summer camps excluding the residency. Each group attending one of our tracks will have combined sessions of their digital and non-digital dimensions. Each local workshop can be conducted for one or more of our four tracks, depending on the requirements and needs of each specific NGO. The day format will include the specific developed tracks as well as an integration of different activities such as clubs (extracurricular) and sports. These tools are vital as the program is designed as a whole to create a spirit conductive for expression and creativity. The sports and clubs activities are no less important than the four disciplines available and have been carefully designed to develop other important skills among campers such as team spirit, creative spirit and communication skills - all of which contribute in the development of the campers' character. Ten days for each track, each day will include two track sessions, one for sports and one for clubs. Each local workshop, depending on where it is conducted, has its specific nature. Thus the curricula will be tailored to answer these specific needs. Each curriculum developer will have a separate assignment to work on the developed curriculum.

Empty Cans - July 2007

Empty Cans, an international multimedia workshop for teenagers The Empty Cans project is a music and video workshop destined to teenagers aged 12 to 18 years old. It is about working with groups of 12 to 16 persons over five days, on building a collective multimedia work that they perform at the end. Empty Cans is based on a software of the same name designed for this project. It is a computer application that runs music and video in a synchronized way, and that is controlled by Play Station joysticks. The Empty Cans software allows to connect 16 joysticks to one computer and to have several persons playing collectively and recording their performance at the same time. A “solo” version of the Empty Cans game has been developed allowing one person to play individually. The aim of this version is to leave to the participants a copy of the software so they keep on using the tool and creating video and music objects with it after the workshop. The performance of the participants is also recorded and given to them on DVD. The aim of this workshop is to involve the participants in an artistic process that introduces them to the world of digital video and music. It is also about having them listening and respecting each other through the notions of collective play and collaborative work. Finally, it is putting the participants in the situation of performing their work in front of a public and rehearsing for this. Empty Cans workshop in partnership with the Arab Digital Expression Camps project: July 2007 One six-day workshop was organized for 20 children from the Zizal area in Mokattam (Cairo, Egypt), in partnership with LINK Alwan wa Awatar (www.alwan-awtar.org). Children were trained by Tarek Atoui, a Lebanese musician and programmer, and Hisham Jaber, a Lebanese theatre and film director, on video and music live mixing, using an innovative technique for collaborative music and video mixing with joysticks. To view the children's work, go to LINK : http://wart.dischosting.nl/video/library.php?i=3 Works schedule with the participants : Day 1: - presentation of the concept and the software - examples of digital music and video works by known international artists - choosing the theme and building the “scenario” of the collective composition Day 2: - video, photo and audio recordings - data collecting of sounds and images over the Internet, in books,… Day 3 - computer integration of the collected material - editing work - determination of each participant’s role and intervention during the performance Day 4 - coordination and setting of the different parts of the creation - individual rehearsals and familiarization with the used device Day 5 - finalization of the work, and collective rehearsals Day 6 - multimedia concert and work presentation Technical requirements for a work cession: - 1 stereo system - 1 video projector and screen - 2 digital video cameras - tables and chairs - computers and joysticks and cables are provided Duration: 5 days of workshop, 1 day of presentation Number of participants : 12 to 16 Age: 12 to 18/19 Number of hours/ day: 3 to 4 hours Duration of the performance: 15 min / 20 min Contact: Tarek Atoui 27, rue Polonceau 75018 Paris France atouitarek@yahoo.fr

Arab Computer Camps (1984-1994)

Arab Computer Camps (1984-1994) In 1984, pan-Arab management and training company Team started a project to train Arab youth on computer programming. The idea stemmed from the realization that human resource development needed to be addressed at a much earlier stage of life. Over a period of ten years, Team organized 42 Arab Computer Camps for children aged between 8 and 18. Close to 10,000 Arab children took part in this project, 70% of whom later joined the rising IT sector in the region. The aim of the project was to disseminate computer literacy, abolish the intimidation to the machine prevalent in the region during the 1980s in the hope of contributing to the increase of professionals in the IT industry. The CompuCamps, as it is warmly referred to by its alumni, produced much more than exposure and skills in computer programming. The three-week residential summer camps were held in various Arab, African and European cities including Tangiers in Morocco; Cairo, Alexandria, and Sinai in Egypt; Hammamat, Tunisia, and even in Accra, Ghana; Harare, Zimbabwe and York, UK. The diverse locations gave opportunities for Arab youth to experience a new country and the diverse group of youth from different Arab countries provided an unprecedented experience for campers. The Arab Computer Camps project was financed by Team. However, Team adopted an early form of corporate citizenship, contacting many of its corporate partners and colleagues and encouraging them to fund underprivileged Arab youth to share the experience. The initiative was so successful that by the third year, 60% of campers in each camp were fully funded, allowing for the sustainability of the project. In addition to learning computer programming skills (Logo, Basic, Pascal and Robotics), the campers were exposed to an enriching cultural experience through a fun-based extracurricular activity. The Arab Computer Camps motto was "Where Learning is Fun." Theatre, pottery, astronomy, music, singing, radio broadcasting, poetry were among the various activities that youth experimented in. Another contribution the Arab Computer Camps project achieved was to spread computer literacy through a wider circle through two ways. One was to sell - at a nominal price - computer machines to campers who did not own a machine after the camp was over. The other was donating computer machines to public schools in the country where the camp was located, thereby increasing the opportunities of computer literacy.

Arab Computers Camp Testimonies

Sarah Sabry

I would consider the Compucamps to be one of the most significant experiences of my formative years. I attended them three times when I was 9, 10 and 11. They provided me with my first opportunity to interact with and make friendships with a lot of young Arabs, mainly Palestinians. Hence at a young age, the camps made the world bigger, more interesting and more diverse. Naturally, this encouraged me to become more engaged with the world, with diverse cultures as well as with different issues. Compucamps also allowed me to be challenged, to be part of many different teams, to explore new sports, new hobbies and to have a lot of fun. This is besides becoming familiar with computers and technology in the 1980s at a relatively young age back then.

–  Sarah Sabry is responsible for marketing and research for Arab Learning Initiative. Ms. Sabry is also a consultant to the Ford Foundation in Egypt. She held a number of management positions in the IT sector, was chairwoman of a local Egyptian microfinance NGO and established the Community Service programme at the American University in Cairo. She obtained her MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a BSc in Computer Science from the American University in Cairo.

 

Mohammed Mabrouk

"This is the experience of a lifetime. I always thought that life is about friends, but I never thought that events could be arranged to make friends more enjoyable, and more understandable. Thank you, TEAM."

Mohammed Mabrouk volunteered as a group leader in CompuCamps during the years 1986, 1987 and 1988. Mohamed is the founder of Cairo-based SaharaSafaris.org, a large community network with thousands of people interacting and learning about this universe. His formal education is Civil Engineering and has spent part of his career consulting in GIS implementations. Specializing in Sinai, he studied how Bedouins' lifestyle has changed over the past decades and has since acquired much knowledge on Sinai's geography, history, ecology and people. Living now in city of El-Tor in Sinai working for SSRDP (EU Program for the development of South Sinai), Mohamed has reached far in his lifetime dream. It might have started during one of the TEAM Camps in Cairo when he noticed that different people from different cultures and different geographies are entirely amazing. He went on to explore the world and even deeper to explore his own country--Egypt. His fascination with people and land has expressed itself in few sides of his life: a SCUBA diver, a trek leader, a 4x4 safarist, a photographer, a writer and a Navigation Instructor where he teaches how --beyond GPS-- to establish astronomical-fixes for coordinates. He thinks that life is exciting and full of answers if you only ask the questions in the right places of the universe.

 

Hossam el-Hamalawy

 When I joined my first summer CompuCamp in 1986, computers were then a new invention in Egypt, we used to see only in science fiction movies. These little machines were then the finest products of human civilization, in the form of electronic micro-digital things--and the idea for an 8 year old was intimidating to say the least. That first camp, however, was to be a turning point in my life. TEAM computer scientists, patiently sat down with me and hundreds of other Arab kids, explaining step by step, and with great patience, what those machines were all about. I, as well as the others, got over this initial fear of that digital mystery. We were taught basic computer programming languages for kids, like Logo and Pascal. With great pride I was moving my "Logo turtle" back and forward, left and right, drawing squares, rectangles, and geometric figures. I felt then I could drive a space ship one day. I spent a month with kids from different parts of the Arab World. We played sports, did art activities, went on trips, and most importantly, we exchanged ideas, experiences. I got to learn a lot about other Arab countries I never visited, and embarrassingly, still haven't till today. On the last day of the camp, when the month was over, we bid one another farewell, and we were all in tears. I attended three more camps the following years. Today, I work as a journalist, not a space ship commander as I dreamt once as a CompuCamp attendant. But I still look back at the camps experience as days where my mind was eager to receive new information with no restrictions on the power of imagination.

---  Hossam el-Hamalawy is an Egyptian journalist and blogger based in Cairo. He worked for several news outlets including the Cairo Times, The Los Angeles Times, the BBC and Bloomberg."

Advisory Board and Management Team

A dynamic cohort of artists, digital activists, techies, educational specialists, management and institutional development consultants form ADEF’s Board of Directors. All of the board’s members are social activists and have different experiences of digital art and community engagement, whereby they share their specialized skills for the purpose of digital expression, shared learning, critical thinking and social change.

Honorary President: Nabeel Ali Shaath, founder of the Arab Computer Camps (1984-1994)  

Curriculum development consultants:

Open-source software consultants:

Educational consultants:

Institutional development consultants:

Key Staff Members:

A team of six in-house executives besides a number of trainers and curriculum developers ensure the project’s implementation on various levels.