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Johannesburg - Google has granted $1.25m (about R8.6m) to the Nelson
Mandela Centre of Memory to create an online archive chronicling the
life and times of former president Nelson Mandela.
"The Google grant will assist in expanding the online Mandela archive and make it available to the global audiences, scholars and researchers in the future," Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Achmat Dangor said on Tuesday.
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory is a part of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
"We want to make this history available to audiences throughout the world free of charge," said Dangor, adding the foundation hoped nobody would download the information and decide to sell it.
Google SA head Luke Mckend said the company wanted to help bring the world's historical heritage online, and the internet offered new ways to preserve and share this information.
The project involves the digitising of audio-visual material, Mandela's letters and correspondence with family, comrades and friends, his prison diaries and notes he made while leading the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa.
Google was "incredibly privileged" to be part of the project, said McKend.
"We hope South Africans and the world would be excited about this as we are."
Mandela Centre of Memory head Verne Harris said: "We are delighted that Google has come on board to help ensure that our Mandela portal becomes a world class source of accurate and reliable information about Madiba."
Google has made a similar grant to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town for the online archiving of the Anglican archbishop emeritus and Nobel laureate's documents, and an interactive digital learning centre.
"Our grants to the Nelson Mandela Centre and to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre will facilitate new digital archives for South Africa's past, giving the global public an unprecedented opportunity to engage with the history of some of the most extraordinary leaders of our time," Mckend said.
Google had also made additional grants to organisations which would help people across South Africa and Africa access the internet and benefit from access to information, he said.
"The Google grant will assist in expanding the online Mandela archive and make it available to the global audiences, scholars and researchers in the future," Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Achmat Dangor said on Tuesday.
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory is a part of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
"We want to make this history available to audiences throughout the world free of charge," said Dangor, adding the foundation hoped nobody would download the information and decide to sell it.
Google SA head Luke Mckend said the company wanted to help bring the world's historical heritage online, and the internet offered new ways to preserve and share this information.
The project involves the digitising of audio-visual material, Mandela's letters and correspondence with family, comrades and friends, his prison diaries and notes he made while leading the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa.
Google was "incredibly privileged" to be part of the project, said McKend.
"We hope South Africans and the world would be excited about this as we are."
Mandela Centre of Memory head Verne Harris said: "We are delighted that Google has come on board to help ensure that our Mandela portal becomes a world class source of accurate and reliable information about Madiba."
Google has made a similar grant to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town for the online archiving of the Anglican archbishop emeritus and Nobel laureate's documents, and an interactive digital learning centre.
"Our grants to the Nelson Mandela Centre and to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre will facilitate new digital archives for South Africa's past, giving the global public an unprecedented opportunity to engage with the history of some of the most extraordinary leaders of our time," Mckend said.
Google had also made additional grants to organisations which would help people across South Africa and Africa access the internet and benefit from access to information, he said.
