(ANS - Santiago) – From the 12th to 14th the directors and representatives of Salesian publishers, multimedial   enterprises and radio from nine American countries met in the Spirituality House of Lo Cañas  to reflect together on the new challenges of digital communication. The meeting was promoted by the Department of Salesian Communications (CS) and enjoyed the participation of the Councilor, Fr. Filiberto González.

The meeting opened on Thursday the 12th. with a welcome from Fr. Juan Bustamante, Delegate  for the CS of Chile, accompanied by Fr. Filiberto González and by Fr. Jaime González, of the ANS agency. Fr.  Bustamante recalled he Salesian Sistem of Social Communication and the importance which Don Bosco attached to communication as a  means of evangelization and education of the young.  Then  Fr. Jaime González explained the aims of the meeting:  “The idea is to challenge ourselves and to reflect on how to revitalize our Provinces (…) looking at the actual situation which  unites all language in this digital world.” Every communication enterprise present then explained what they were doing.

Two themes were developed on the second day. The first was “Publishing World v. Digital World”.  It was  reviewed in depth by Dr. Arthur Infante, President of the Chilean Book Chamber. He highlighted the many advantages of digital books: cheapness of production, ease of transport,  the familiarity of modern people with  screens…The speaker also recognized that a complete disappearance of printed book is unimaginable. The second intervention was dedicated to the presentation the experience of an enterprise which switched most of its resources from print to digital and passed from offering its products to offering its services.  This was the intervention of Christian Vial of person, an Educational Products firm.

In the afternoon the group visited the premises of various Salesian Communication enterprises: the ”Caetera Tolle Multimedia Centre” guided by the Salesians  Jorge Moraga and Rafael Muñoz;  “Salesianos S.A.”, presented by the administrator , Roberto Tapia; and the “Don Bosco Publications Edebé”.

On Saturday 14th various interventions followed. The author and Latin-American expert on children’s literature  Dr. Manuel Peña, showed the importance of narrative, especially for young children. He presented several outstanding authors in this sector; Leonardo Mollinedo,  of the Salesian University of Bolivia, then presented the Salesian radio coverage in the country, which comprises 13 broadcasting stations;  Daniel Corona, of the ’Edebé (EDB) of Barcelona spoke of the development of didactive digital  devices for school needs; finally Fabiola Poblete, of Chilean Edebé, dealt with the theme of digital devices in relation to improvement of quality, management of costs and the meeting of cultures.

The meeting closed with the intervention of  Fr. Filiberto González, who recalled the principles of the Salesian System of Social Communication and made a brief synthesis of what had emerged from the work of the meeting. He then underlined the participation of the CS activities in the whole Salesian Mission: the need to know how to meet the challenges of the new  technologies; the importance of unity and reciprocal collaboration at various levels, personal, enterprise and Provincial.

Published 16/04/2012