Camagüey’s “innovative potential”

Camagüey's "innovative potential" / 14ymedio, Sol Garcia Basulto
Posted on February 15, 2016

14ymedio, Sol Garcia Basulto, Camaguey, 14 February 2016 – Perseverance
and optimism are Juan Antonio Garcia Borrero's inseparable allies. Only
the perseverance of this movie critic who is passionate about new
technologies has allowed him to pull off the First Meeting on
Audiovisual Culture and Digital Technologies in Camagüey. The event,
censored last November, took place this week (11-12 February) and
attracted an audience interested in audiovisual culture.

The meeting was held in The Alley of Miracles and the Alhambra room at
the Casablanca cinema, and included lectures, workshops and other
activities that show "the innovative potential" in the city, according
to Garcia Borrero, who called on the guests to "listen, share and learn."

The event set out to make Camagüey a a "stronghold in the creative use
of new technologies related to the audiovisual culture." Among its
highlights was a panel moderated by Yoan Pico on the importance of media
libraries in the digital revolution, with the presence of Jorge Santos
Caballero, Luis Alvarez Alvarez and the host. The discussion concluded
that the computerization of Cuban culture is imminent.

Digitizing books for the Net generation, born in the digital age, is the
only way to guide young people to a healthy and well-informed consumer
environment, the panelists pointed out. In this event they listed some
of the aspirations of the project with regards to audiovisual
dissemination, among them, "reaching a wider audience with
cyber-literacy and new technology resources."

Participants were able to access a digital media library, from which it
was possible to download, from the wireless network in the lobby of the
Casablanca cinema, the fifth installment of "A Thousand and one Texts,"
a compilation from the researcher and critic Desiderio Navarro. Also
available was a compendium with "The 220 best movies in the history of
the cinema" selected by the Saiz Brothers Association.

The workshop addressed tricks and ways to get information and distribute
audiovisual material in a session on the experiences that made up a part
of the technology encounter. The public had the chance to question,
criticize and suggest ideas for new digital literacy projects to
representatives of the institutions involved: the State
telecommunications monopoly, the Youth Club, the Information Faculty at
the University of Camagüey, Citmatel, Portal Príncipe, and the Cuban
Union of information Scientists.

Also invited were the so-called Wifi instructors, staff prepared to
provide information and advice to users in the different Wifi zones that
provide wireless access to the internet. These young people explained
the importance of their work, which they defined as supporting "the
population on a journey away from digital ignorance."

There was no discussion of the sites censored on national networks,
several of them made within Cuba. Some of the attendees believe that the
next session of the event should include representatives of other
sectors that work in new technologies and not only figures from the
cultural audiovisual scene.

However, it seems to have unleashed in Camagüey one of the first battles
for "technological emancipation," as defined by Garcia Borrero, an
initiative that "will demand long term collaborations and contributions
from people who are immersed in the digital computerization supporting
Cuban culture."

At the end of the event, the manager of this First Meeting on
Audiovisual Culture and Digital Technologies wrote in his blog that the
dreams raised "now seem elusive," but "it doesn't matter how few there
are, for now, involved in the enterprise." In his judgment, "we must
continue doing things however shocking that others ignore."

Source: Camagüey's "innovative potential" / 14ymedio, Sol Garcia Basulto
| Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/camagueys-innovative-potential-14ymedio-sol-garcia-basulto/