IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly has welcomed the forthcoming, 3 June, launch of Historypin, a web-based image gathering initiative developed by social development organisation ‘We Are What We Do’, in partnership with Google, which creates ‘a digital time machine that allows people to view and share history in a totally new way’.
Sean O’Reilly said: “We’re hugely impressed with Historypin’s developing ‘Wiki’-style image collection system, and it’s potential to reveal the extraordinary in our ordinary places by introducing visual, personal and historical dimensions across time. Historypin gives the idea of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ we manage places a distinctly 21st-century presence through partnering with Google: making it at once global and local, personal and public. It’s like the Facebook of ‘Place’.
While Historypin is first and foremost a community resource, the ability to match images of places across old and new may well make it an essential tool for the conservation professional of the future, while it will certainly grow into an invaluable resource for communities that want to show why and what they value about the places where they live and work.”
Historypin says: ‘Using Google Maps and Street View technology, Historypin aims to become the largest user-generated archive of the world’s historical images and stories. Historypin invites the public to dig out, upload and pin their own old photos, as well as the stories behind them, onto the Historypin map. Uniquely, Historypin allows users to layer their old images onto modern Street View scenes, revealing a series of windows into the past.’
‘We Are What We Do’ has created Historypin as a simple way for different generations to share their history and digital know-how, as part of its new campaign to get generations talking more, sharing more and coming together more often. Have a look at wearewhatwedo.org/generations.’
www.historypin.com
Youtube: LINK
We Are What We Do: LINK
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