Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Virtual Memory

This week, the U.S. National Archive in partnership with footnote.com has unveiled a new Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The project used over 6000 images of the Vietnam Memorial Wall to create a fully searchable tool that allows visitors to the website to search for the name of a friend or loved one killed in the Vietnam War. Additionally, the website works as a type of memory project, allowing users to enter in a story or tribute for any of the people listed on the wall.

This project is an excellent example of how digital archiving and online memory projects can join together to create a highly relevant and much-needed accessible memorial for a national event. Let's hope that this is not the last memorial project for the National Archive.

2 comments:

ArmyVet said...

A web site similar to the one you described above opened in 1997.

THE VIRTUAL WALL Vietnam Veterans Memorial at www.VirtualWall.org
has thousands of personal tributes to the fallen in the form of letters, photographs, and citations.

THE VIRTUAL WALL does not accept donations, fees, or advertising in order to honor the fallen.

Sarah Waugh said...

Thanks for pointing me to the link! I was only aware of the National Archives project because of all the media attention it has received this week, and it's nice to see an example of another similar and older project.