Earthview to develop digital online library

Earthview ¨C home to the largest environment and development related video library in China ¨C has recently begun to put its vast collection of films online, making them available to hundreds of millions of people.

The new digital library will eventually host over 500 films, together with thousands of photographs and text files. It is the next step in Earthview¡¯s stated aim of making environmental education materials easily available all over China, and is expected to be fully operational by April 2004.

The ambitious project was made possible through a grant from the Canada-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC). They are convinced that Earthview's new digital library system will play a vital role in promoting public environmental education, particularly in rural areas where illiteracy levels are high and films can have much more impact than the written word.

IDRC¡¯s grant was matched by the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who will not only help fund the library but will also play an integral role in setting it up. The library will be based on an innovative grid technology system ¨C the VEGA system ¨C which was designed by communications experts at ICT. Earthview¡¯s library will be the first practical application of such grid technology in the public education in China.

While Earthview's extensive collection of films is extremely popular with its many visitors and library members, not everyone can make the long and often expensive trip to Beijing.

According to Dr Li Hao, the Director of Earthview, "China's immense size is such that visiting Beijing is not always possible ¨C particularly for those thousands of miles away in remote areas of the country. And even if a person can find the time for such a journey the cost makes it impossible for much of the population."

The digitised library is to include over 500 films, 2000 still photographs and over 1000 text documents, supplementing the images and film content by providing detailed explanations and further information for the viewer. Accessible over the Internet, this information will now be available to people all over the world, including the hundreds of millions in the Chinese diaspora across Southeast Asia, Europe, North America and elsewhere.

Dr Li emphasised that the digital library project is vital for the continued good work of Earthview:"Our aim is to serve everybody ¨C the whole population, not just part of it. China's sustainable development cannot be achieved by only educating a small minority ¨C informational tools must be available to all sectors of society: rich or poor, urban and rural, educated or illiterate. This digital library will go someway towards realising our aim."