A consultative meeting was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris to UNESCO Global Project Creation of an Open Digital Library on Traditional Games. This global project was initiated by the UNESCO Beijing Office.
The meeting was opened by Moez Chakchouk, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Communication and Information. The keynote address was delivered by Marielza Oliveira, Director of UNESCO Cluster Office in Beijing, UNESCO Representative to the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea. A keynote address was delivered by Qingyi Zeng, National Professional Officer, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO Cluster Office in Beijing.
Alexander Schischlik, Chief of Section – Youth and Sport of UNESCO Sector for Social and Human Sciences, spoke about the prospects of the project’s interaction with sports. Giovanni Scepi, Programme Specialist of UNESCO Culture Section, spoke about the prospects for interaction with traditional games and competitions on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. Davide Storti, Programme Specialist of UNESCO Communication and Information Section, spoke about youth initiatives and linkages to the ODLTG project.
In a panel discussion on expand the volume and variety of open access content on traditional games and sports available on the internet for wider access by the general public, Dr. Alexey Kylasov, President of the World Ethnosport, was the first to speak. He spoke about the Russian experience of the Scientific Library for Traditional Games with the support of the National Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and the International Journal of Ethnosport and Traditional Games, established this year.
The panel discussion was attended by Beatrice Kaldun, Head and Representative UNESCO Dhaka Office, as well as members of the communications and information sectors of the UNESCO: Sergey Karpov, UNESCO Office in Almaty; Carlos Tejada, UNESCO Office in Mexico City; Jaco du Toit, UNESCO Office in Kenya, and others.
Based on the results of the meeting, it was proposed to include a scientific section in the global ODLTG project, the partner of which will be the International Journal of Ethnosport and Traditional Games. The World Ethnosport may become an event partner of the ODLTG project.
