Google to Digitize National Archives Footage

Anil Kandangath writes "Google today announced their pilot program to digitize the entire video content of the National Archives and make it globally accessible for free on Google Video. The history of the world should be universally accessible and this is definitely a great step towards making sure that our history is not lost, and that everyone has equal and easy access towards such information. Google has provided some sample videos from the National Archives, such as the 1969 moon landing."

Comments

Like archive.org...

[GillBates0]

...only a different target collection (archive.org has a "moving images" collection too).

Archive.org could use their support too...their site performance is usually sluggish, though they already have some biggies sponsoring them, including HP, NSF and the LOC.

History of the World Part 4.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The history of the world should be universally accessible and this is definitely a great step towards making sure that our history is not lost, and that everyone has equal and easy access towards such information. "

So put the entire thing on DVD's and mail everyone a copy who asks.*

*It's also the answer to the question, "what if the internet's down"?

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[account_deleted]

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And when the documents become "reclassified?"

[blastard]

Will this lead to the administration reclassifying more documents, or at a greater rate in order to prevent their global dissemination? BBC Story on Reclassification. There is some legitimate concern that having all those documents so readily available can pose a problem. I am less concerned about someone coming to city hall and looking at tax records than I am with universal availability of the same information online, and in a readily searchable form. I generally land squarely on the more access side, but this issue could lend credence to administration concerns.

Hey buddy, I'M an American...

[Anonymous Coward]

and _I_ wish the US would remember that they are ONE country in a VERY big world.

You should live here, it is unbelievable. One guy falls from a building in Chicago and it gets three minutes of the evening news. A mudslide in another country kills thousands and it only gets a few seconds.

Some other country may as well equal some other planet to most of my neighbors.

The net's killer app -- now come on, BBC!

[toby]

I applaud this initiative very loudly and long. So few people seem to understand that this is part of the web's mission. Let's hope Google succeeds where the BBC's grand plan to share their UK public-owned radio and TV archive seems to have stalled (100 clips in 2 years?) - although they are giving the world some top-notch video processing software in the process.

Here's my favourite line from that page:

For the BBC, open source software development is an extension of our Public Service remit.

You can't get less evil than that.

From the BBC's announcement in August 2003:

The service, the BBC Creative Archive, would be free and available to everyone, as long as they were not intending to use the material for commercial purposes, Mr Dyke added.

"The BBC probably has the best television library in the world," said Mr Dyke, who was speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

"Up until now this huge resource has remained locked up, inaccessible to the public because there hasn't been an effective mechanism for distribution.

"But the digital revolution and broadband are changing all that.

"For the first time there is an easy and affordable way of making this treasure trove of BBC content available to all."

He predicted that everyone would benefit from the online archive, from people accessing the internet at home, children and adults using public libraries, to students at school and university.

Valid question...

[CarpetShark]

He happens to be wrong regarding the actual resolutions involved, but his question was entirely valid. Please don't knock people for asking questions. If no one asks questions, you only get what the first guy thought of. If everyone questions and debates (in a mature manner) however, you get the best people can come up with.

Actually, I'd like to ask a related question. Are Google also providing the national archives with their OWN copy, in an open format, which they are free to use as they see fit? I know that's part of what the Libraries involved in Google Scholar/Books have been offered, and that's the only reason I think they should participate. It's all well and good that Google makes this stuff available online for free, but the stuff belongs to us all, and its digitisation shouldn't be restricted to google.com, or any other .com

Re:History of the World?

[rts008]

Don't take it so hard...you had a valid point, but just let your frustrations color your post- a natural reaction. :)
One thing to remember is that this "coloring" of history has happened since the beginnings of recorded history, no matter which culture/nation espouses it.

To counteract this, we should embrace ALL information available about whichever subject is "on topic"- the more info availabl, the better our chances to find the "truth".
It reminds me of what my maternal grandfather used to try and pound through my thick skull:
There are three sides to every story....
1. my version
2. your version
3. what actually happened

That reminder has stuck with me, and has "saved the day" for me many times.

Keep an open mind, but also, don't be easily swayed until you get a chance to do some of your own research- it can be enlightening! :)

BTW, I respect your sense of honor and courage for your admitting you may have been hasty or wrong, that is a diminishing trait nowdays it seems! :)

No sarcasm is meant nor implied here- honestly, my hat's off to you! :)

For what it's worth, I'm an American, but I also know better than to believe WE have the only version of "correct history"- I know it is tainted by our perspective, but also know opposing views are from opposing perspectives, so somewhere in the middle usually gets me more useful info on any subject.

Just my thoughts, and... Cheers!

Re:YAY!

[shaitand]

"Our collective information is great, now we just need to do something with it!"

Things like flying to the moon? Sending robots to another planet and then controling them via invisible forces that we have mastered and harnassed to do our bidding. Perhaps you were thinking more like capturing the forces behind the flashes of light in the sky, storing their power, and then harnessing that to send devices floating around our planet so that they can map and pinpoint every position on it within a few centimeters? How about recording the very visions and sound around us and broadcasting it live across the globe?

Those aims are a bit too grand really. Lets stick with simpler things. Perhaps we should master ourselves first. Perhaps learning how neuron chains link in the brain could teach us how to use chains of mneumonics and imagery to train near perfect memories. Perhaps studying eye movements could teach us how to read and retain materials at incredible rates. Perhaps studying the electrochemical processes of the brain could allow us to implant an interface device in a monkey's brain and we could study how the brain learns to interface with the device and control a robotic arm. Maybe we could learn further about lack of need for a soul to define intelligence when we place a pile of rat neurons on a sensor plate that is in turn connected to a flight simulator; then watch the neurons successfully figure out how to keep the plane airborne... and perhaps greater significance could be placed on the fact that they were able to determine that keeping the plane airborne is an objective in the first place.

It seems to me, that we have done quite a bit with that information. How do you think it got there in the first place?