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We all know the numbers 5-0-1 are Belize's International Country Calling Code, but for the Ministry of Education and Culture, it's a cultural identity. They today launched a new website called "Access 501" as an expression of that.
Jules Vasquez was there:
The jade head, you don't ever see it in the wild, but it was at the House of Culture today
Under heavy guard from a full cordon police and Institute of Archaeology staffers
And it turned these politicians into instant fanboys
The jade head - and its inner mysteries - was used today not so much as an attraction but
as an illustration of malleability, permanent and intangible artistry so easily turned into plastic by this 3-D printer
ending with a mold like this.
This plasticity, reducibility and reproducibility is championed in this promotional video for the site, Access 501, that you might call the "internet of everything Belizean"
Carlos Quiroz, 501 Academy Coordinator
"Access 501 is them, the people I just listed and many more. It is them. They are us. It is a project to harness energy. 501 energy. It is an attempt to provide access to every Belizean to the raw materials for our imagination."
DIAN MAHEIA, CEO - MOECST
"Access 501 is also an answer. Access 501 answers the questions of teachers who don't know where to find material. It answers the questions of teacher educators. It answers the questions of students, of parents, of people who say, I don't know, even know where to look. I don't have books. Where can I find this? How can I find this?"
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education and Culture
"This isn't merely an archive. It's a living, breathing reflection of our collective journey and aspirations."
"Let us be open. As we meet at the intersection of technology, education and culture. The Access 501 is not just another web page or website. It is cultural and digital attitude."
And while the conceptual declarations may have gotten a little high flown, physically it's this: a website with 15 areas of knowledge and creative interest. Just click on a subject and it takes you into previously inaccessible archives:
Carlos Quiroz, 501 Academy Coordinator
"This is what access 501 look like."
"15 frames of studies. 15 capsules. Harnessing 501 energy. 15 opportunities to teach Belize 15 opportunities to learn Belize."
DIAN MAHEIA, CEO - MOECST
"For the first time ever, all Belizean, any Belizean will be able to open books, newspapers, magazines that they would not ever have seen before. They will be able to hear music, view photos, artwork, learn of the lives of Belizean nation builders that they would only have heard of if they were lucky."
It is also a powerful and still developing tool for researchers - but more than anything it puts in one place a defining collection of the Belizean experience:
Kareem Musa,Minister of Home Affairs
"This is truly an impressive, incredible moment. I was even emotional, just watching it, because you see all of the people that have led us to where we are as a country today, whether it's in politics, whether it's in history, whether it's in art and music. And so it's truly a powerful moment."
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education and Culture
"If we don't internalize this, others will take its value. If we don't say this is us, then we will struggle to explain to our children who we are. Access 501 is not idealism. It's full meaning, impact and purpose truly escapes explanation."
You can log unto Access 501 at "501academy.edu.bz" - the site went live last night.
