Categories & Rules

From health to business, from participation to inclusion: the eight WSA categories reflect most crucial social issues of every-day life around the globe. Your e-Content adds substantial value to one of the following categories? Then it's high time to get in contact with your national expert and apply for WSA 2013. He or she will nominate one product for each of the eight categories.

1. e-Government & Open Data
Delivering content rich solutions from administrations to the public including individuals, businesses and organisations and to significantly improve service depth and quality as well as democratic processes; strengthening public policies, fostering efficiency of information exchange, increasing transparency and facilitating participation of citizens and public services clients; using public access to data for innovative products and services on a commercial or non-commercial basis.

2. e-Health & Environment
Using content and innovative applications to meet the health care needs of citizens and patients, supporting healthcare professionals and healthcare providers, as well as the broader public and policy makers; implementing client-centred models of health care where stakeholders collaborate, utilizing ICTs to manage health issues as well as the health care system; addressing important issues of the environment and supporting the “greening” of societies and economies for sustainable ways of living.

3. e-Learning & Science
Serving the needs of learners to acquire knowledge and skills for a complex and globalizing world; transforming schools, universities and other educational institutions through interactive, personalized and distributed learning resources; addressing the learning needs of all and creating active e-learning communities and solutions for corporate training as well as life-long learning; making science accessible to citizens; presenting results of scientific projects as well as supporting forms of scientific inquiry; fostering global collaboration in science, and providing measures to promote science and demonstrate its results and their value to society.

4. e-Entertainment & Games
Supplying digitized entertainment products and services; entertaining the user in this world’s variety of languages and its cultural diversity; supporting movement from one-way to two-way, from single to multiple players, interactive entertainment and the synergy between analog and digital platforms.

5.  e-Culture & Tourism
Preserving and presenting cultural heritage in line with the challenges of the future; demonstrating valuable cultural assets clearly and informatively using state-of-the-art technology; developing the diversity of cultures and sub-cultures and the multilingual nature of societies. Enabling travellers to find attractions, to be informed and enlightened, to enjoy safe travel and have access to up2date travel information; enhancing intermodal use of public transport, supporting orientation in cities and countryside, allowing the hotel industry to address customers, and providing navigation-based content.

6. e-Media & Journalism
Using ICTs to report the news and present stories in an interactive way, crowd sourcing new data and sharing information, presenting the works of citizen journalism using the web for text, picture and video reporting, covering natural disasters, public campaigning, multimedia news, mobile media aggregation and search services; new forms of mobile video and m-&e-TV, movies and current affairs.

7. e-Business & Commerce
Support and optimization of business processes; creation of new business models in e-commerce and m-commerce, business to business, business to consumers, internet security and other areas; supporting SMEs on the marketplace; using ICTs for buying and selling as well as servicing customers and collaborating with business partners.

8. e-Inclusion & Empowerment
Measures supporting integration of the global information society; bringing least developed countries into the knowledge society; reducing “digital divides” between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities and groups such as rural areas and women, senior citizens, disabled citizens and children; bridging society and strengthening social and political participation of individuals and groups through ICTs; empowering citizens and stakeholders in public services.

The Rules of the Game

• The WSA is open to any company, organisation or individual in the content industry in any UN member state.
   
•  The only way to take part in the WSA is (1) to be nominated by a national expert, (2) to be nominated by a National WSA Committee, established by a national expert, or (3) to win at a national WSA pre-selection contest.
   
• There is no limitation regarding the platforms or channels the projects work with.
   
• All entries have to be real products. No drafts, demonstrations or unfinished projects can be accepted.
   
• All submitted products must have been completed after January 1st 2011.
   
• The same product cannot be submitted twice (i.e. submitted again).
   
• The producer must own the copyright of all pictures, sounds, contents etc. related to the production of his project. All software used must be licensed.
   
• The interface of the products can be in any of the United Nations official languages. All producer and project information must however be in English.
   
• A product can only be submitted for one category. In case of multiple submissions by the same organisation, company or team, each product requires a separate registration.
   
• None of the materials submitted will be returned. One copy/version of each product submitted will be kept in the WSA archive. No commercial use of this archive will be made.
   
• Incomplete submissions and those not following the WSA guidelines will be withdrawn from the WSA selection process without notice. There is no way of challenging such a decision legally.
   
• When submitting a project to the WSA Experts (and later Jury), participants automatically agree to the guidelines set out by the WSA team.
   
• Submitting a product to the evaluation and selection process does by no means entitle a producer to any benefits. There is no way of challenging this decision legally.
   
• All hard copies/products to take part in the WSA selection process must be sent by mail by the producers / national experts / contest organisers to the WSA Office in Salzburg, Austria, and arrive no later than July 2013. The WSA Office does neither pay for any mailing or transport costs nor for customs duty. All products must be mailed at the cost of the sender.
   
• Entries in the WSA award have to respect in their contents and user interaction the UN Declaration on Human Rights. Submissions therefore which encourage war, the exercise of violence, fraud, racism or discrimination will not be accepted and eliminated from the jury processs. Similarly, submissions which violate international copyright provisions will be excluded from the jury process.
   
• The WSA Organizers have the right to reject submission / entry without providing any further reason. The WSA Organizers can not be held liable for accepting of submissions or their contents and rights.

Evaluation Criteria

WSA evaluation criteria for best practice in e-Contents and applications

• Quality and comprehensiveness of content
• Ease of use: functionality, navigation and orientation
• Value added through interactivity and multimedia
• Quality of design (aesthetic value of graphics / music or sounds)
• Quality of craftsmanship (technical realisation)

S — Strategic importance for the global development of the Information Society

A — Accessibility according to the Web Performance Working Group (W3C).