Asean e-Culture Exchange workshop to guide youths, preserve heritage digitally

Borneo Bulletin, Brunei, P. Marilyn,

The guest of honour in a group picture with participants from Asean
countries in their respective traditional costumes. - PHOTOS: P MARILYN

The first Asean e-Culture Exchange workshop for youths officially began yesterday at the Seameo Voctech Regional Centre in Gadong, marking another significant milestone for the region in guiding youths as potential leaders of the future.

It also aims to provide youths with the necessary knowledge and skills to maintain their respective national heritage using advanced technologies.

Organised by the Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry (AITI), the programme was officially launched by AITI's Chief Executive, Pg Hj Md Zain Pg Hj Abd Razak.

Its objective was partly to create awareness among Asean youths on e-Culture. To be held until March 27, the event sees the participation of some 30 Asean youths from local and foreign institutions.

In his speech, Pg Hj Md Zain highlighted the importance of preserving the Asean heritage digitally for youths, as they are the leaders of the future and hence it is crucial to provide them with the right opportunities, as well as to give them some guidance.

Heritage, he stated, is our national identity and preserving it is vital to allow future generations to learn and understand the extent of what we have become today.

By fully utilising the latest advancements of technology, we can make our life so much better and easier in many aspects every day, said Pg Hj Md Zain.

Her added that the workshop will not only attempt to produce a standard framework for digitising Asean cultural contents, but will also guide the participants to carry out preservations of culture and heritage in a professional and systematic way, thereby leading to a better conservation of the future.

"I hope that this programme will not only promote awareness and appreciation of ICT, but I also hope that it will create a ripple effect as the first major step in maintaining the Asean cultural contents," he told participants.

This, he said, is in line with the Asean charter - to promote Asean identity in fostering greater awareness on the region's diverse culture and heritage. Continuous commitment and support from all Asean member countries will ensure the success of meeting the event's main objectives.

"This workshop will remain as one of the significant platforms through which mutual respect, friendship, solidarity and the cohesive spirit among participating countries can be cultivated and further enhanced," he added.

Throughout the duration of the course, participants will be taught the basic skills and methods of capturing, recording, as well as storing several cultural activities and items, in a more professional and systematic way.

Topics to be covered during the three-day programme include an overview of e-Culture or e-Heritage, as well as the need for digitisation, archiving and sharing information through the enhancements of ICT.

The e-Culture initiatives and possibilities through ICT will also be focused on. This includes digitisation techniques, such as video archiving and the use of Web technology to map, store and edit its contents.

Visits to several Brunei museums are also among the event's agendas, to allow participants to practise a "hands-on" approach with their newly acquired skills and knowledge.

At the end of the programme, participants are also expected to develop a small cultural project that will be presented during the group presentations.

A roundtable discussion will also be held, led by the local project coordinator, expert facilitators and representatives from relevant agencies in Brunei to discuss the way forward for the sustainability of e-Culture and e-Heritage.

To maintain the momentum, a second workshop will also be tentatively held in a few months' time. The current event's participants will be asked to create their own small cultural projects from their respective home countries that will later be developed into e-Culture profiles.

The first workshop is funded partially by the Asean ICT Fund and facilitated by a local project consultant as well as its expert facilitators.