Following our recent story about how The Cabildo Of Lazarote has commenced the task of digitalising information on line about the artworks and artefacts in their archives, we can now bring you news of how the Department Of Culture is ensuring that when you enter through its portal in future you will step in to altogether, braver, newer and wider world.
The Department Of The Cabildo (government) de Lanzarote, co-ordinated by the councillor Alberto Aguiar, has renewed its web portal. ´One of the reasons for doing so,´ said Aguiar, ´is to adapt to the new circumstances and (to make it easier for all users) to better enjoy our resources online.´
The new website of Cultura Lanzarote, which is located at the same familiar web address (www.culturalanzarote.com), presents a renewed perspective, combining existing functionalities such as a calendar of activities, and a search facility, by genre, of cultural activity, as well as sections identifying cultural spaces with new sections that allow access to digital cultural resources.
´We had been working on the renovation of the portal for some time and just as we were about to present it, the health emergency caused by COVID-19 arose,´ explained Alberto Aguiar. ´Then we decided to go ahead with the web but with some changes to adapt it to the new circumstances and, consequently, that would make it easier for us to share cultural resources online that citizens could enjoy from home.´
The advisor added that these changes include ´(an increased presence of digital resources, current news and also the calendar of (forthcoming) events.´
´However´, he says, ´the versatility and flexibility of this portal will allow us, once normality returns, to travel with a single click, to the design that we initially had in mind, in which again the calendar of activities will have the main weight that it deserves.´
Alberto Aguiar pointed out that all the resources they upload to the web, “will (remain in situ) once the quarantine passes. We will leave them on the web so that they can be enjoyed at any time. The idea is to make the web a space for use of these resources from home,”
The Head Of Culture Lanzarote has clarified that among the resources that have already been uploaded to the web in the previous weeks, and that will continue to be made available to citizens and visitors of the portal, are catalogues of exhibitions in PDF format, videos of local artists, books and publications, virtual visits to the exhibitions, musical and theatrical performances, as well as material for the little ones of the house.
The website has been developed by the company La Rofera, which is run by José Juan Torres, and which was one of the start-ups – a start-up company dedicated to information technologies – established at hub El Almacén thanks to the collaboration agreement between the Cabildo de Lanzarote and the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote.
All the information is on the new website of Culture Lanzarote which is located on the same web address (www.culturalanzarote.com), It presents a renewed aspect that combines existing functionalities (calendar of activities, search by type of cultural activity, sections for cultural spaces,…) with new sections that allow access to digital and cultural resources.
In sharing this news with readers of these pages I have only one caveat that I hope Alberto Aguiar will not view as mischief or nit-picking. This new access all areas on-line initiative is fantastic and deserving of mucho aplauso, but although I am greatly in favour of providing access to such facilities I would add just a word of caution. I myself designed and now run a number of teaching aide via on line sites about creative writing and writers in general as well as specific sites about, for example, the 100th commemoration of World War One.
They can be a fabulous treasure trove of information, but nothing can quite replicate the informed passion shared by experts like Pepe Betancort or some of the island’s best arts-guides like Estefania Camejo who often delivers wonderful walks and talks at Cic El Almacen, and in The Cabildo building. I hope, therefore, that the on-line posts will work as a complement to the human communicators and vice versa.
That, though, is just a very minor niggle, and The Cabildo, and perhaps Senor Aguiar in particular, deserve our praise and thanks for their foresight and initiative. We hope they will continue to spread this news to our English speaking residents, as they have done by sending this press release to Lanzarote Information.
