The international corporation GOOGLE and UNESCO has signed an agreement for making possible for Internet users to virtual visit several World Heritage sites. People can now visit 19 of the 890 World Heritage properties via Google’s Street View interface. All the other sites on the List will be shown on the Google Earth and Google Maps interfaces.
Sites inscribed on the World Heritage List -- the Palace of Versailles in France, the historic centre of Prague in the Czech Republic and the old town of Caceres in Spain, for instance can now be explore online.
The 19 sites are located in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. Street View provides nearly spherical panoramic (360° horizontal and 290° vertical) views taken by cameras mounted on vehicles. Once obtained, these images are overlaid on Google Maps’ satellite views – the process can take several months. When the specially-equipped cars cannot reach sites to be photographed, tricycles are used.
“The alliance with Google makes it possible to offer virtual visits of the sites to everyone, to increase awareness and to encourage participation in the preservation of these treasures,” said UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova.
“Cultural and natural heritage sites are an irreplaceable source of inspiration and fascination. This is an exciting project and we're thrilled to be working with UNESCO to make more World Heritage sites universally accessible and useful to all,” said Carlo d’Asaro, Google’s Vice-President for Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
At UNESCO’s suggestion, Google will soon be visiting and photographing other sites on the List. The focus is on harder-to-access sites, which will be photographed with the permission of site managers. They can then be appreciated by millions of people who might never have the opportunity to visit them otherwise. The sites are located notably in South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands.
In future, Google and UNESCO will also work together to provide online access, via Google Maps, YouTube and Google Earth, to maps, texts and videos pertaining to UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves, to documentary heritage inscribed on the Memory of the World Register and to endangered languages.
Showing posts with label UNESCO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UNESCO. Show all posts
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Int’l Workshop in Kerala on Greenstone Digital Library Software
The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) is going to organize an International Workshop on Greenstone Digital Library Software at its campus in Kerala during November 23 to 28, 2009. To facilitate the workshop, IIMK has come into technical collaboration with Greenstone Support for South Asia, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and UNESCO New Delhi office.
The objective of the Workshop is to propose a six-day long high-end training programme on digital libraries on the open source software 'Greenstone'. The Workshop shall facilitate the participants in creating state-of-the-art digital libraries using the Greenstone open source software, which include software installation, configuration, customization, digitization and other related workflow operations, content development and management, designing and creating standard metadata sets to describe digital objects and encoding it in standard mark-up formats.
Participants attaining the workshop, which will be conducted as a Faculty Development Programme (FDP), are expected to develop professional capacity in their respective countries. Each participant will be provided a PC supplemented with LCD project demos, and will receive a CD-ROM comprising of the latest version of Greenstone Software, other related software packages and faculty presentations.
Registration is open for interested professionals from India and other countries on first-come-first-served basis. Nomination forms duly filled in, along with the Course Fee, should reach the FDP Office at IIMK latest by 12 November 2009.
The objective of the Workshop is to propose a six-day long high-end training programme on digital libraries on the open source software 'Greenstone'. The Workshop shall facilitate the participants in creating state-of-the-art digital libraries using the Greenstone open source software, which include software installation, configuration, customization, digitization and other related workflow operations, content development and management, designing and creating standard metadata sets to describe digital objects and encoding it in standard mark-up formats.
Participants attaining the workshop, which will be conducted as a Faculty Development Programme (FDP), are expected to develop professional capacity in their respective countries. Each participant will be provided a PC supplemented with LCD project demos, and will receive a CD-ROM comprising of the latest version of Greenstone Software, other related software packages and faculty presentations.
Registration is open for interested professionals from India and other countries on first-come-first-served basis. Nomination forms duly filled in, along with the Course Fee, should reach the FDP Office at IIMK latest by 12 November 2009.
Monday, August 24, 2009
First int’l conference on Broadcast Media and Climate Change
With a view to enhance awareness on climate change, UNESCO along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is going to hold an international conference on ‘Broadcast Media and Climate Change: A Public Service Remit’ on September 4 and 5 at its headquarters in Paris.
The purpose of organizing such conference is to raise awareness on climate change as well as to increase the capacities of national broadcasters to report on climate change and foster cooperation among them, as electronic media could be a useful tool in raising awareness. The event is also expected to help improve the quality of information and programmes on climate change.
More than 180 national broadcasters, key international broadcasting associations and scientific organizations will meet to explore current coverage of climate change issues in different regions of the world. Participants will also seek solution to the challenges being faced by broadcasters, particularly those from the developing countries. These challenges include access to essential content and material needed to report effectively on climate change and promote mitigation strategies at local and international levels.
Commenting on the significance of organizing the conference, former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan said that the conference will help to increase awareness and seek better reporting on climate change “at a time when the deathly silence around this crisis is becoming a major impediment for international action.”
The meeting will also look at the mechanisms and frameworks necessary for a global broadcast media partnership on climate change. A number of organizations, including the BBC, France Télévisions, the Global Humanitarian Forum, TVE, the Algerian Ministry of the Environment, and the production companies Dansk AV Produktion and Ki-Productions have partnered with UNESCO to provide a range of quality audiovisual material and resources rights-free to national broadcasters from developing countries.
Three months later in December the United Nations Climate Change Conference will be organized in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The purpose of organizing such conference is to raise awareness on climate change as well as to increase the capacities of national broadcasters to report on climate change and foster cooperation among them, as electronic media could be a useful tool in raising awareness. The event is also expected to help improve the quality of information and programmes on climate change.
More than 180 national broadcasters, key international broadcasting associations and scientific organizations will meet to explore current coverage of climate change issues in different regions of the world. Participants will also seek solution to the challenges being faced by broadcasters, particularly those from the developing countries. These challenges include access to essential content and material needed to report effectively on climate change and promote mitigation strategies at local and international levels.
Commenting on the significance of organizing the conference, former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan said that the conference will help to increase awareness and seek better reporting on climate change “at a time when the deathly silence around this crisis is becoming a major impediment for international action.”
The meeting will also look at the mechanisms and frameworks necessary for a global broadcast media partnership on climate change. A number of organizations, including the BBC, France Télévisions, the Global Humanitarian Forum, TVE, the Algerian Ministry of the Environment, and the production companies Dansk AV Produktion and Ki-Productions have partnered with UNESCO to provide a range of quality audiovisual material and resources rights-free to national broadcasters from developing countries.
Three months later in December the United Nations Climate Change Conference will be organized in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
UNESCO releases a manual on investigative reporting
UNESCO and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) release the Arabic version of an important guide to basic methods and techniques in investigative journalism, filling a gap in the literature of the profession. Story-based inquiry: a manual for investigative journalists, which is also available in English and French, can be downloaded online for free.
The manual focuses on the hypothesis-based inquiry approach, which takes the basic assumption that a story is only a hypothesis until verified. The methods and skills applying to every step of the investigative process, from conception to research, writing, quality control and dissemination, have been thoroughly analyzed and are well illustrated by case studies in each chapter.
The official launch will take place at the Second ARIJ conference in Amman, Jordan, from 20 to 22 November 2009. More than 250 investigative reporters representing 14 countries from the Arab world are expected to attend.
To download the manual in English please click the following URL:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/12494586523story_based_inquiry_en.pdf/story_based_inquiry_en.pdf
For French, click:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/12494586535story_based_inquiry_fr.pdf/story_based_inquiry_fr.pdf
For Arabic,
click: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/124945865311story_based_inquiry_ar.pdf/story_based_inquiry_ar.pdf
The manual focuses on the hypothesis-based inquiry approach, which takes the basic assumption that a story is only a hypothesis until verified. The methods and skills applying to every step of the investigative process, from conception to research, writing, quality control and dissemination, have been thoroughly analyzed and are well illustrated by case studies in each chapter.
The official launch will take place at the Second ARIJ conference in Amman, Jordan, from 20 to 22 November 2009. More than 250 investigative reporters representing 14 countries from the Arab world are expected to attend.
To download the manual in English please click the following URL:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/12494586523story_based_inquiry_en.pdf/story_based_inquiry_en.pdf
For French, click:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/12494586535story_based_inquiry_fr.pdf/story_based_inquiry_fr.pdf
For Arabic,
click: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/124945865311story_based_inquiry_ar.pdf/story_based_inquiry_ar.pdf
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