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| Bridging the Gap between the South East Asian Cultural Heritage & Technology |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
The E-Museum Project aims to make information available and accessible in the electronic form on the cultural heritage and treasures of South East Asia, at the time required for research and development by the consorts of art via the internet, or through a dial-up telephone line. Given the circumstances, E-Museum Project is committed to the use of the Internet and other latest information and communication technologies as the tools for disseminating cultural heritage information of the Indo-Pak subcontinent. Without forgetting other avenues for delivering information (faxing, mails, courier), E-Museum Project believes that the Internet provides the most effective system for the storage, retrieval and dissemination of information vital to cultural heritage preservation and development efforts. It is for this reason that the E-Museum Project has been aiming to bring out databases on various cultural heritage subjects and Faqir Khana Museum being one of them where the E-Museum Project has implemented the first Digital Catalogue of Artefacts that is recording information of over 30,000 antiques, their images and historical information.
Since its inception in early 2004 by Mr. Fouad Riaz Bajwa and Faqir Sayyed Iftikahr, the E-Museum Project has aimed at providing solutions-oriented coverage of the gap between those with access to the web tool and cutting edge technology and those without. It is serving as a one-stop resource for tracking the many practical ways through which Pakistan can disseminate information on it’s cultural heritage to it’s citizens residing in the cities and rural areas to educate our communities as well as open the doors to the hidden treasures in Pakistan.
Today, E-Museum Project has graduated into providing a whole range of information technology services facilitating the preservation of cultural heritage of Pakistan and South East Asia. E-Museum Project is one of the first of its type in the country. It has undertaken work to help preserve the treasures at the Faqir Khana Museum by launching the first e-museum in Pakistan with a pilot example already online at http://www.faqirkhana.com.
The E-Museum Project has clearly identified its niche and role to formulate a strategy to utilize ICT for cultural heritage preservation and information dissemination using the rapidly changing information and communication technology facilities available in Pakistan.
The initial approach and interactions with the Faqir Khana Museum enabled the E-Museum Project to identify its niche and role in the rapidly changing information and communication technology scenario in Pakistan. The strategic partnerships that the E-Museum Project is forging are yielding significant results both on the ground and the internet. Considerable feedback and learning’s are available from local as well as international audiences.
Appreciation and interest -from the corporate sector, government, academic institutions, citizens, and international communities is very encouraging. The E-Museum Project now needs to consolidate and build its operations from a position of strength.
The changing face of E-Museum Project
The E-Museum Project is now stepping towards provisioning of its communication and information service systems to other areas apart from the Faqir Khana and the next target is to bring the Lahore Museum Online. Along with this, the E-Museum Project will be the ICT Services Provider for the upcoming History Street Project in Lahore. Opportunities exist for the E-Museum Project, through strategic partnerships, to prove that the Internet revolution can reach and empower Pakistan and its cultural heritage.
These opportunities have been tapped by the E-Museum Project in the following ways:
• Currently, most of the innovative projects including ICT services are geared towards bringing all the museums in Punjab online with Faqir Khana Museum being the pilot model project.
• The E-Museum Project is not limited to just websites, the E-Museum Project has come up with some very innovative activities offline to target grass root initiatives that includes the production of a cartoon series for children that tells the stories of Punjab, a Cultural Heritage ICT Programme for college level students and a larger ICT Programme for University Graduates which also involves bringing in students from various Universities world wide to study the South East Asian Cultures in Punjab, Pakistan.
• Partnerships have been forged with various tourism related projects in the Province that also includes all the ICT related work for the formation of the new History Street in Lahore.
• The E-Museum Project plans to respond to the growing opportunities being unfolded by electronic commerce. The E-Museum Project recognizes e-commerce as an opportunity to gain business that will fund its cultural heritage support activities. The E-Museum Project will play its role in information systems innovation, especially for the development of the community.
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Fouad Riaz Bajwa
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Comments
Ricky | Oct 12th, 2004
This is very interesting to see such a huge project!
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