Aruba Present at "Creative Commons" in Portugal
ORANJESTAD - As part of the TAROC program (Towards a Recommendation for Open Culture), 'Creative Commons' organized a two-day session to discuss this topic in Lisbon, Portugal.
Fifty experts in various fields such as law, management, and digitization, representatives from UNESCO Paris and the Wikimedia Foundation, and the "Open Access Movement" attended this event.
Representatives from national commissions for UNESCO and many memory and heritage institutions also participated.
The goal is to develop a pathway for a UNESCO recommendation for the free use and access to cultural heritage materials, mainly in digital form. Open Culture plays a role in connecting people from different cultures and fostering an environment of inclusion and diversity. It helps create a global community where people can share and appreciate cultural heritage from various parts of the world. The creative reuse of cultural heritage stimulates creativity and innovation, allowing for the creation of new and inspiring cultural products.
The global experts who participated in the discussions emphasized the importance of Open Culture in strengthening social resilience and fostering an environment of knowledge and experience sharing.
Mr. Peter Scholing, an expert from a small island, a researcher at the National Library of Aruba, and the current President of the Regional Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Memory of the World Program (MOWLAC) of UNESCO, was also invited to the sessions. Along with experts from various other countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Morocco, Qatar, Uruguay, Mexico, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and India, Aruba exchanged opinions and discussed Open Culture.
Mr. Scholing took the opportunity to share his experience and provide information about the Aruba Collection and the work Aruba is doing to preserve our cultural heritage using technology. Additionally, as a pioneer in the Caribbean region, he promotes the digital heritage platform to serve as a model for implementation in the region through cooperation.
Minister of Finance and Culture Xiomara Maduro thanks Mr. Scholing for his excellent work representing Aruba and promoting the cultural heritage portal www.coleccion.aw.