Last week a festival to promote web-based technology was put
on in Cuba. Although some Cubans
blog, tweet, and communicate with the world through technology, phone based
Internet access is not available, regular Internet access is hard to come by,
and most people do not have the resources to purchase devices to utilize them.
According to an article in Translating Cuba,
specifically http://translatingcuba.com/?p=19208 the event originated in Spain, where it was begun in 2006. José Luis Antúnez states
that the promoters, of which he is apparently the leader, “are motivated and encouraged by the
will to serve. To contribute in
some way to the use of the web in different sectors of society.”
Another fundamental reason was that there wasn’t any kind of
national conference to analyze blogging and the latest trends on the web in
Spain. In the United States, from the early 2000s, they already had these
events. And in Europe they are starting to take off. Paris organized “The
Blogs” in 2005, now known as ‘The Web,’ and this was the trigger for me to try
to organize something similar in Spain.”
Antúnez
says he met with Benito Castro and Luis Rul in 2006 and proposed the
idea of “trying to differentiate ourselves right from the start from the events
in other countries, with a very relaxed atmosphere, approachable, family-like.”
He says that he was in Havana for the Click festival, and
“was very positively impressed by the hunger for technology that I saw in some
people and especially in some university freshmen who are forbidden to connect
to the web until they are sophomores.”
“And what struck me most is that Cuba is a country that is
disconnected from the world. Internet access is exceedingly slow, expensive,
and available only in some hotels, the universities, in Government buildings
and in the embassies. At least cellphones have arrived and despite the high
prices of text messages it’s a technology in common use. If right now they shut
off your Internet connection at home and on your cellphone, and you had a
black-and-white screen Nokia, and a Pentium I PC without access to the web, do
you think you would continue to Tweet? To blog? How? … one of my worst
nightmares. Sadly it is a reality in many countries.
Mr. Antúnez says, “the CLICK Festival
(#FestivalCLIC )was born from a collaboration between several Cuban initiatives
such as Estado de Sats, the Blogger Academy… and EBE from Spain, to create in
Havana a reference point to evangelize about the use of the web in Cuban
society.
The first CLICK Festival was held June 21 to 23 and “every
Cuban is welcome, regardless of their ideology. [emphasis added] The
Festival is a technological and inclusive event. We will be talking about new
trends in the web, there will be blog workshops, there will be music…”
In the article, the following question was posted, and Mr. Antúnez answered: “What
technological object would you take on a one-way trip to Cuba… to that other
island of the disconnected?”
Answer: “an iPad full of applications that could be used offline.”
The author was asked about the hottest topics regarding
Internet usage in Spain, and he said he is “very interested in seeing how
politicians go after what they call “the internet vote” without understanding
that it doesn’t exist. It’s as if we said “the vote of the people walking down
the street.” And this is in Spain where 60% of homes have Internet and 55% of
people have a smartphone. If we talk about hot topics from the perspective of a
citizen who connects every day, the “fever” for mobile applications is the
theme of the year. The “app-economy” is here to stay and is going to generate a
great debate: The internet of the web browser versus the internet of
applications in a closed environment.
When asked “who is under the skin, under the Twitter nick
and in the depths of the blog and the Skype account of Jose Luis Antunez?”, he
answered, “… a person who every 5 to 6 years needs to find new challenges in
which design and empathy with the user are the stars of the show.”
Famous dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez wrote a blog about
the Click Festival, called A CLICK From Afar.
The above photo is from Yoani Sanchez's blog. The caption is "Girls playing with an iPad for the first time at the Click Festival"
Yoani's Article shows the above photo and says, "The Click Festival Cups Reproduce Our Smiles."
The article is so good, I am quoting it in its entirety. In the English translated version, Yoani says:
“As I write this brief text the clothesline seems to be
protesting under the weight of the laundry, the dog scratches at the door
begging for his food, and my son asks me if there will be lunch today. After
several days of neglecting the house the domestic routine calls me, pulling me
away from the dream of kilobytes and returning me to everyday life. But it was
worth it. Since last Thursday I have lived a preview of the future, a piece of
tomorrow in the midst of this Havana trapped in the past. The CLICK Festival
was just a foretaste of the topics that Cubans will discuss in the year 2020,
and my restless grandkids in 2050. Three days to ‘think about technology, plan
for it, and make it ours…’ developing an inclusive and plural atmosphere. The
issues addressed ranged from discussions about artistic production in the
digital age to the outline of a possible bill of rights for Internet users.
It proved to be very difficult to organize this event
through alternative channels, in a society where each action is surrounded by
obstacles and impediments, much more so if it is undertaken independently. So,
several times, someone invited to be on a panel was not able to arrive in time
due to transportation problems, the rustic audio equipment deafened us with its
feedback, and the frugal snack was delayed longer than our stomachs could bear.
But that was just the stage, the improvised physical context where the
transcendental took place. With material simplicity, the CLICK Festival managed
to exceed our expectations. The frank and open debate, uncensored, the great
participation by the audience, and the success in pulling off a technological
and futuristic event, were some of the major achievements. More than 200 people
passed through the doors during the three days of the meeting, and on Thursday,
in the afternoon, 102 of us, interested in social networks and Web 2.0,
gathered. All the planned workshops took place and even the heavy rains falling
over the city didn’t manage to dim the enthusiasm, although several people came
down with colds thanks to wet shoes and the damp.
We could not, however, achieve as diverse as representation
of Internauts as we desired. And not because we imposed an ideological or group
filter, but because many of those invited preferred not to come. Fear of
exchanging opinions, fear of the embrace, continues to dominate the Island —
including the virtual scene. An editorial in Cubadebate — threatening and
extremist — must have scared off some who would have liked to join us. Thanks
to us the Cuban government hastily organized a “Knowledge Festival” for the
same days, to teach people how to create blogs and Twitter accounts. Which to
me is one of the best outcomes of our little CLICK Festival. If pushing the
wall forces them to move it a few inches… then… then we have achieved part of
what we want.
Next year the CLICK Festival will have to improve the level
of its panels, create a WiFi network for the participants to download event
materials, shed a certain level of seriousness in favor of making it more
interactive, and manage to attract those journalists, bloggers and Twitterers
who, this time, preferred not to join us. We need to reach younger people for
whom the cellphone, keyboard and mouse are like extensions of their own bodies.
Although — and it makes me happy to say so — several of them gatecrashed this
edition. As a brief tweet on the #festivalCLIC said, “We are not only an event.
Today a community is born.” So we see again, with the collaboration of Spain
Blogs Event (EBE), the clumsiness of the official editorials and the playful
and rebellious spirit of our internauts.”
It’s interesting that a country that is constantly tormented
by Yoani Sanchez and others, and also by tweets from a number of dissident
groups, would openly promote Internet-based instant access to the world. But that is what the Click festival is
all about. We hope Yoani’s dream comes true and next year’s Click Festival will
move the country forward in its quest for communication, unimpeded by
government concerns and strangulation.
No comments:
Post a Comment