Workshop on decoding focuses on digital stereotypes

IDRIS AL BALUSHI
MUSCAT, OCT 9
The Digital Transformation Team within the Ministry of Information organised a specialised workshop at the Government Communication Centre, focusing on the concept of digital stereotypes of nations and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in analysing them.
The workshop was presented by Eng Taha Khalid, who delivered an in-depth exploration of how national perceptions are formed, measured and interpreted in the digital age. He defined a country’s digital stereotype as a commonly held and stable idea about a nation and its people, one that often reflects what the global audience perceives as fact, regardless of its accuracy.
He emphasised that while stereotypes are often viewed negatively, they can also embody positive attributes depending on the nation’s international image and context elaborating on the impact of stereotypes, noting their significant influence across multiple dimensions, including international diplomacy, political relations, tourism, economic cooperation, talent attraction and public communication.
Eng Taha cautioned that persistent stereotypes can pose strategic challenges, as they may undermine public relations efforts, create vulnerabilities, and in some cases, fuel misinformation, hate speech, or digital extremism.
Turning to the formation of stereotypes, he explained that they emerge from both controllable and uncontrollable sources. Elements such as media representation, diplomatic communication and official statements can be actively managed, while regional dynamics, the actions of expatriate communities and user-generated digital content often fall outside direct institutional control.
Addressing the difficulty of measuring a nation’s digital stereotype, Eng Taha highlighted that perceptions are scattered across millions of online sources and social media platforms, constantly evolving in response to global discourse and digital trends. He explained how AI technologies can process and analyse vast amounts of online content within seconds, offering insights that would otherwise take human experts years to compile. Ultimately, he outlined a structured decoding process involving the scanning and analysis of digital material, mapping the prevailing perceptions, and applying validation tests to confirm findings.