Editorial
Editorial nº 78
Leather Technology Magazine
![Summary](imagenes/sum78.jpg)
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Editorial
I am writing this Editorial on the 20th day of June, the “Argentina’s Flag Day,” a date on which Argentina
commemorates the death of General Manuel Belgrano,
the creator of its flag.
Belgrano was a passionate patriot, a lawyer by choice,
but a military man owing to the historical circumstances
he had to face.
People might have almost no recollection of Belgrano’s
concern for education, revealed during his office as
Consulate Secretary, which he held as from 1798.
Belgrano devoted three memoirs solely to the promotion
of technical education.
One of them – released on June 14, 1802 – is strongly
related to the Argentine leather industry. It is called “Establishment of Tanning Factories.”
According to this memoir, the key was to bring master
tanners from Europe to convey their knowledge to the
people engaged in these tasks in the Viceroyalty of Río de
La Plata or send six students to Europe to be trained in
that skill.
Training is a concern that continues up to these days.
One of the goals set by the members of the current
AAQTIC’s Board is to promote training in issues such as
leather technology and production throughout Argentina.
However, such an ambitious purpose – let us say “dream” – is not easy to materialize from Buenos Aires.
This is how the idea of distance learning arose, but
many doubts also appeared: would this way of learning,
which is spreading rapidly in other disciplines, be
accepted in our industry?
Nowadays, we can say “yes,” that what seemed a crazy
idea at the beginning, is starting to flourish.
The first distance learning module on “Beamhouse and
Tanning”, which started on June 6, 2010, is training 47
students, most of them from Argentina, but also from
other Latin American countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador,
Peru and Uruguay.
Our dream is growing, shaping itself as a network of
people who interchange their knowledge and experiences
from very distant places.
Now we go for more, by re-editing activities that
AAQTIC started years ago: our next goal will be to offer
in-company courses to tanneries located away from
Buenos Aires in order to meet all the existing training
needs.
Lic. Patricia Casey - Presidente
AAQTIC’s website and the media
A few days ago, APTA held its Convention for the 4th
consecutive year.
APTA is the Technical specialized Press Association in
Argentina, and Technología del Cuero is part of it.
These conventions are a space for communication and
reflection for the media and we all benefit by participating
in them.
A relevant issue in this 4th Convention has been the
Digital World and the recurrent question about whether
publications will continue in paper format or not.
It is been 10 years since AAQTIC launched its website.
In addition, it has been editing a digital Newsletter for 3
years so far.
Four years ago, our magazine started to include a section
called “Leather on the Web.” Nowadays, distance learning
courses are being organized through digital media. Our
President’s Editorial in this issue deals with that subject.
Almost 4 years ago, we published an article about
interactivity on the Web, where we did not actually use a
term that was becoming astonishingly widespread: Web 2.0
In this period, we have witnessed how blogs expanded
rapidly; and we have had to give in to social networks even
faster.
We have also witnessed how the use of Wikipedia became
more widespread, and started to wonder once and again:
what can we say about the reliability of sources? Where is
the role of the editor?
However, back in 2006, the term Web 3.0, the discussions
on the semantic Web and the road towards artificial
intelligence started to show up.
However, all this debate – albeit important– goes beyond
AAQTIC’s concerns, at least for the time being.
Going back to our modest situation, the current AAQTIC’s
policy is based on the fact that spreading news through the
web and other digital media is joint and supplementary.
These media should not work in isolation or compete with
one another.
An international event or an event organized by us, such
as a Congress or Symposium, may be communicated quite
in advance; it will appear simultaneously on the Web and in
our magazine and will be reminded of in each Newsletter.
After that, an article will appear in the magazine. The facts
determine certain methods: the Website includes the texts in
English and in Power Point format used in presentations;
however, the magazine can only include texts in Spanish,
correctly edited.
The Web is more informal and fast, and is open to the
public at large; the Newsletter shares these characteristics
and is aimed at members and related people. It is the most
suitable means to announce events that will be held in
the short term; the magazine is more formal, durable and
suitable for more thorough reading.
During the latest months, AAQTIC became more
active in communicating its activities to Web media and
local and international magazines as an additional way of
communication. So far, AAQTIC has not resorted to social
networks.
On the other hand, certain utilities have been added to our
Website: payments, accounting queries, and the edition of
the magazine itself. Currently, we are adding online surveys
to our Website.
Though not as stunning as the changes we may read of in
other areas, these changes are still very important.
A last remark: it would be interesting to re-read these
lines in a few years from now.
About this issue of the magazine, it includes, among
other things, 1 important work presented at the 2009
China Congress, on artificial colors, with an Argentine coauthor.
It also includes a Round Table review on cyanide
in effluents held at the 3rd Technical Symposium of the
Tanning Industry.
The usual subjects are still present, such as international
exchange, we also introduce a world panorama on tanned
leather, partly based on information from the ICT, an
interview to the IULTCS President, by courtesy of Leather
International magazine, and an article about the CIATEC
Institute in Mexico.
Notes:
ICT: International Council of Tanners
IULTCS: International Union of Leather Technologist
and Chemists Societies.
CIATEC: Center of Applied Innovation in Competitive
Technologies.
Claudio Salvador Director
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