Last September 27th, the first meeting on digitization of cultural and natural heritage of Castile and Leon region was held at the headquarters of the Santa Maria La Real Foundation in Valladolid, at the Luelmo House.
Twenty representatives from archives, museums and natural areas from Castile and Leon attended and participated in the meeting, which is part of the CD-ETA Project (Collaborative Digitization of Natural and Cultural Heritage), aimed to generate joint policies for the digitization of the cultural and natural European Heritage.
Alfonso Sánchez Mairena, Head of the Institutional Relations Department at the Spanish Archives Website (PARES, in Spanish) did attend the meeting.
Sánchez Mairena focused his speech on the new challenges faced by this kind of projects, i.e. digitization, and he also announced some of the new features that the website PARES will offer in the coming future.
Gumersindo Bueno and Maximiliano Barrios, both members of the technical staff of the Santa Maria La Real Foundation, had previously provided some information of the CD-ETA project to those participating at the meeting.
Among the interested parties being present at the gathering were the representatives from the Historic Archive of Palencia, Zamora and Salamanca; representatives from the National Sculpture Museum of Valladolid and the MUSAC (Contemporary Art Museum of Castile Leon); representatives from the Natural Heritage Foundation and a member of the Head Office of Heritage at the Castile and Leon regional government.
The main purpose of the meeting was setting up a work team for the promotion of digitization of the natural and cultural heritage policies which, at the same time, will act as a good practice guide to be shared by the rest of European regions participating in the project.
The results of this project are expected to inspire other professionals involved in the field of the digitization in Castile and Leon to implement new and common policies intended to improve growth and employment, within the strategy of the single European digital market. In order to consolidate and secure this regional work team, further meetings with the involved parties will be held in the future.
The CD-ETA project is launched with two goals: promoting the necessary policies that contribute to the digitization of the cultural and natural European heritage on one side, and to establish common criteria to help a better understanding and access to the shared information, on the other.
