Thaindian News

London, Mar.10 (ANI): Google will be donating 1.25 million dollars to the Nelson Mandela Foundation center of Memory for a project that aims to archive his life by digitizing photographs, letters and other documents related to the former South African President.

The money will be used to collect and archive documents, audio clippings, film clippings, photographs, letters written by Mandela to family, friends and colleagues from jail, his diaries and notes he made while negotiating the end of the apartheid system in Africa, among other things and will also ensure that poor, rural communities can access them.

Google has spent the past seven years scanning millions of texts as part of its Google books initiative and will also contribute its expertise in document digitization and archiving for the Mandela project.

Sello Hatang from the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory has welcomed Google’s involvement in the project, but said that the grant did not oblige them to adopt Google’s systems.

He said: “We have been worried about the cost of helping people access the information. This will ensure we can make it available as cheaply as possible.”

The Nelson Mandela foundation was formed in 1999 after Mandela retired and leads the development of a living legacy that captures the vision and values of Mandela’s life and work.

The foundation also runs outreach programmes, which help communities that don’t have Internet connections to experience the Mandela archive, BBC reports.
When it is complete, the Memory project will include extracts from Mandela’s personal correspondence including letters sent during his 27 years in prison for his role as an anti- apartheid activist. (ANI)