This NY Times article got me excited about access and (hopefully) what will lead to a somewhat smaller gap in the digital divide. The World Digital Library was launched on April 21st, a library supported by Unesco and the Library of Congress. It “aims to promote international and intercultural understanding,” and its contents, made up of about 1,250 books, maps, and other historical items from more than 30 libraries and cultural institutions around the world, are accessible via the site. This is not the only institution of its kind – there is Europeana, supported by the EU, and Gallica, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s digital archive.
I (unfortunately) was not aware of those other institutions. It’s so wonderful that all of these amazing historical items, items that cannot be found in just any museum or library, are freely accessible online. What a great resource for schools and libraries of all kinds. I immediately showed the article and site to my husband (he teaches World History to 9th graders), and he was especially excited because a lot of his kids do not have internet access at home, so the more he can do in school and the more interesting things he can show them online to get them excited about World History, the better.
When I started reading this article, I was reminded of the Google Book Search project (and it was mentioned that Google gave a $3 million grant in support of the World Digital Library). But Google’s goal is quantity - to make every book they can get their hands on available online. The World Digital Library is focused more on quality, and providing people with access to fewer, unique pieces. This project just seems so open and refreshing – no quotas, and institutions can donate whatever they want to multiple archives. I think that sort of making themselves easily accessible will cause more institutions to donate, thus, making even more cultural content available to people around the world.
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3 comments:
Dang, I just wrote a blog about the same thing without seeing that you had already! Oh well, we did focus on different things...
I liked how you pointed out similar projects that already exist. I think it would be more useful if they could somehow combine these depositories, or perhaps have a list of such websites linking from a central hub (perhaps there already is one?).
I love when I see unique items freely accessible online. Google may have a lot of items, but most of them come with a price. I think these kind of databases are great for scholarly works or historical items--not works that people will fight over copyright infringement. I hope your husband's class enjoys this new information!
The United States has dominated the Internet so much that other countries, especially non-English speaking ones like France, have made a real effort to balance things out by digitizing their own content. That can only be good for all of us.
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