Sharjah24: Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, witnessed a cultural seminar titled "Literature in the Digital World: Challenges and Aspirations," organised by the Cultural Office as part of the Sharjah Award for Gulf Women's Creativity for the year 2024 in its sixth edition. The seminar was moderated by the author Najiba Al Rifa’i, and it was attended by several female authors who won the Sharjah Award for Gulf Women's Creativity, including Fawzia Al Sandi, Shareefa Ali Al Tubi, Jameela Abdullah Ali, Ameena Rabee Mabrouk, Luluah Ahmed Al Mansouri, and Houria Ali Al Hameli.

The seminar covered several topics, including discussing the positive presence of Arab authors in the digital world, what Arab authors can do to assert their presence in the digital world, the methods of digital literature and its relationship with critical analysis, and the future of the Arabic language in the era of artificial intelligence, in addition to the revolution of electronic literature with the presence of pens that rely on electronic pages to publish their work.

Durin the seminar, Her Highness said, "The importance of digital platforms in facilitating the process of writing literary works cannot be denied, especially with the surge of artificial intelligence, which now produces literary works on behalf of authors. Despite the advantages that digital programmes bring in facilitating the access of authors to writing and publishing tools, they will not carry the creativity and human thought that addresses the mind and heart of the reader, and this is what the writer should strive to achieve in their writings."

She continued, "Over time, people turn to digital platforms to reach a summary that is not always useful. They read a sentence or two of an article and think they have gained knowledge and wisdom, which undoubtedly is not a sufficient source. The river of knowledge is boundless, and we should not be content with a few words from this vast knowledge. We find in His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah a role model in the love of knowledge and learning, as his Highness has in every corner of his house an open book, carrying on its pages various knowledge in literature, history, arts, and other fields to document it in his books for future generations. This confirms the importance of sustaining knowledge and passing on the ideas that shape the history and civilisation of nations."
During the seminar, the author Fawzia Al Sandi spoke about digital literature, saying, "Talking about digital literature is talking about the future of writing. Since the Stone Age, humans have expressed their feelings by carving on cave walls with simple expressive tools such as the chisel. They expressed their feelings through images and drawings, and then language evolved into letters and words. In every era, writing has faced development in means of communication with readers and others. Now, transitioning from paper-based writing to digital writing has presented several positives for the writer. Today, thanks to modern technologies, the writer can produce their text and add music, images, and directorial vision to it. The digital space now allows us to communicate with people around the world in the easiest and fastest ways."

Al Sandi also spoke about her experience in this field, stating, "I established a literary website and posted all my literary, critical, intellectual, and philosophical articles on it, along with my translated articles in various languages of the world, and my poetry books. This allows any reader anywhere in the world to access my writings. It also allowed me to publish all the critical studies that addressed my poetic experience, turning it into a space where scholars, students, and orientalists can learn about our experience and benefit from it in their research. I also converted my books into e-books and created a dedicated website for this with the participation of my son as a novelist. This makes accessing the books very easy. From my experience, I emphasise the importance of utilising digital technologies to convey our books and writings to the world."

Jameela Abdullah spoke about collaborative literature, saying, "Today, digital technologies provide greater opportunities for interaction between the writer and readers. Some participate with the writer in writing the text by changing the ending, for example, or suggesting different events from what the writer presented. Of course, I don't object to the presence of interactive or collaborative literature if the literary work carries an important human message and does not harm anyone. Its goal should be to achieve positive communication and fruitful interaction between the writer and readers, to exchange opinions and share ideas, and to provide solutions to important societal issues, without delving into any problems or confusion or radically changing the original text, which should retain its original themes and ideas."

Ameena Rabee Mabrouk spoke about criticism in the era of digital technologies, saying, "The successful critic is armed with knowledge, thought, and the cultural identity inherited across generations, in addition to the technological tool that supports and facilitates the process of reading and critiquing literary works systematically and accurately."

She added, "Certainly, in the era of digital technologies, the task of the critic becomes more difficult, with the necessity of distinguishing between good texts worthy of criticism. However, at the same time, the critic can benefit from digital technologies in the speed and ease of accessing the texts they wish to read and critique. Therefore, today's critic must keep up with their time and possess a high level of programming culture, leaving behind pen and paper and focusing on the computer."

She emphasised that interactive collaborative texts today are usually diverse and make the critic's task more difficult. However, the critic's eye should always seek the same goal, which is to search for the true text and the aesthetics of its creativity and the distinction of its culture.

Hooria Ali Al Hameli spoke about literature, saying, "True literature is that which touches the soul, what we feel and is close to the heart, regardless of language. Language may be incomprehensible to us, but sincere words find their way directly to the hearts. Therefore, no matter how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, it cannot offer us a poetic text that truly touches our souls. When one of the attendees comes to me, having been moved by one of my poems, even though she did not understand it as a language, yet it touched her soul and emotions. This is what matters. Artificial intelligence cannot write real poetry. We can benefit from these technologies in printing, speed of storage, and transmission. Today, we can reach anywhere in the world through technological devices."

Shareefa Ali Al Tubia spoke about digital literature, saying, "Digital literature is the language of the era, and contemporary humans keep pace with digital literature, coexist with it, and benefit from its techniques to develop their work. However, these digital technologies are designed to facilitate our work mechanism and cannot replace the role of the author. They are characterized by speed and noise, while the author needs peace and isolation to create. From my personal experience, I used to suffer from somewhat bad handwriting when I wrote quickly, and the writer inevitably chases his thoughts and is forced to write quickly. Modern technologies came and helped me overcome this problem by using the computer."

Luluah Ahmed Al Mansouri spoke about her connection to paper books and pens, saying, "Despite all the digital development we are experiencing today, I still write with a pen, and I cannot do without the intimacy of paper. Even my paper books I could not replace with digital ones. How can artificial intelligence, no matter how advanced, write a touching human text? I was thinking of converting my paper library into an electronic one, considering it easier. However, after visiting India recently and noticing the families' interest in reading daily newspapers, and their appreciation of the importance of newspapers and books as a source of information despite having computers and mobile phones, I decided to keep my books and all the intimacy that paper holds."