The story of a project: a collective memory (1950-2000)

Abstract

Conceived and started in 2007 as a result of a private initiative, the collective memory 1950-2000 transdisciplinary project is one whose story (creation, evolution, valorization) is of great interest in the history of digitalization in Romania. As one of the pioneering project of digitalization in the country, it focuses on the creation of an online image archive (www.memoriecolectiva.org) and of its contemporary cultural use. Dedicated to Romanian images especially but not only from the 1950-2000 period, is unique in the field both on the Romanian and international level by how it was conceived, theme, concept, complexity and display. Part of its uniqueness and values is due to the fact that besides collecting, preserving, archiving, digitalizing or presenting the images online it has an oral history component by presenting all the images together with records (voice, video, text) of their stories or/and the stories of their collectors or photographers. Thus an interesting and important asset of the project come into be discuss: the fact that the archive is an emotional one even if is created to be impartial, to have a scientific approach, to promote and encourage researchers and artists to work with it patrimony and an important part of the project it’s dedicated to research, study and to the cultural exploiting of the online archive.