Posted on 01/26/2011 4:15:22 PM PST by SJackson
Project will make Holocaust photos and documents available on Internet; first batch already hits web; viewers can add their stories. Talkbacks (1) The world's largest collection of Holocaust documents is going digital.
Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, is teaming up with Google to make its photographs and documents interactive and searchable on the Internet. The first 130,000 photos hit the web Wednesday.
Although much of Yad Vashem's archive was already available through its formidable website, the new project enables users to search keywords and data just like a Google search.
A social network-like component allows viewers to contribute to the project by adding their own stories, comments and documents about family members who appear in the online archives.
Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said even though that feature could be misused to post anti-Semitic comments, the risk is outweighed by the benefit provided to future generations seeking information about their ancestors.
"This is part of our vision — to connect Yad Vashem's knowledge and information to modern technology, and bring it to youngsters," he said.
The project started three years ago in the Tel Aviv skyscraper that houses Google's research operations in Israel. It was inspired by a Google initiative encouraging employees to spend 20 percent of work time on projects they feel are important.
Google used experimental optical character recognition technology to make text within documents and photos searchable in multiple languages.
The move is just the latest in Yad Vashem's digital outreach. Earlier this week, the memorial launched a version of its YouTube channel in Farsi to educate the country's most bitter enemy — Iran — about the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews.
Yad Vashem's next priority is to digitize its collection of survivor testimonies.
The launch comes a day before the UN marks its annual Holocaust remembrance day.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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I am surprised it hasn’t been done before now....
You think this will finally shut up the Holocaust deniers?
Nah, me neither.
It will be impossible for the barbarians to convince people this atrocity never happened.
NO ONE must be allowed to deny it. Or it will happen again.
ping
No, but the availability of the information will be important to a lot of people.
BTW, I didn't post any of the articles, but Yad Vashem is making their site available in Farsi. Interesting, though I suspect the site will be blocked.
It will be a painful horror beyond most peoples' ability to comprehend. But as necessary as it is horrid.
The History channel is "The Nazi All The Time" Channel(except when its has truckers, junk collectors and fat pawn “stars”)
There are plenty of documentaries detailing what the Nazi were. There are so many that they have resorted to making "porn-history" about Hitler's drug addition, his fascination with the Occult and even one about his family. Even one about The "Secret" History of the American Nazi" But hardly anything about the gulags in the USSR, show trials and the close relationship Stalin with Hitler and pre war agreements that set the stage for WW2 Where are the similar documentaries about the crimes against humanity the Communist committed.
It will be, if not already the “Holocaust” history has forgotten.
You are exactly right - because what is simmering in the halls of power here now is more in line with what happened in Russia - the communists were 'equal opportunity' jailers/killers. Their demarcation line was political - and that smell wafts across our land now. We got a little preview from the Tuscon shootings.
The 'Bolsheviks' are primed and ready to go - and we didn't see the president say ONE WORD to reign THEM in.
He takes Reagan's book on vacation to Hawaii - comes back and spouts with a silver (but forked) tongue. Underneath, is a Marxist/Muslim who is also, experts have opined, a seething narcissist. A dangerous combination.
Think of any of history's despots - they all had dangerous psychopathic disorder as well as the goal of total power.
“You think this will finally shut up the Holocaust deniers?”
Given that muslims deny the Temple existed in Jerusalem, the ability of anti-semites to willfully disbelieve never ceases to amaze me.
The Soviets didn’t document their crimes with the efficiency of the Nazi state.
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