India's heritage on digital multimedia platforms

Chennai, Oct 1 (IANS) India's heritage institutions will have a new address - on a multimedia platform in public domain, courtesy the Indian government and Microsoft Research India.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Microsoft Research India Wednesday showcased a pilot project focusing on the Andal temple in Srivilliputur, Tamilnadu.

The temple, dedicated to the poet saint Andal, becomes the first site of the India Digital Heritage (IDH) project.

'This is a scientific effort to push the boundaries of what the media delivers today to the end-user, and is a great example of what collaboration between the government, academia and industry can achieve,' Microsoft Research India managing director P. Anandan told reporters here Wednesday.

'India has an enormous cultural heritage, and this project explores how this cultural diversity and depth can be presented and preserved using novel computer science techniques. We expect this project to throw up research issues that will further advance the state-of-the-art.'

The research project aims to explore the synergistic use of multiple forms of the media such as photographs, video and voice to create uniquely 2D and 3D user experiences of viewing India's heritage.

The IDH project is the first to be taken up under the aegis of the Programme Advisory and Monitoring Committee (PAMC).

'The government is deeply committed to science and research, and we are constantly looking to create platforms for Indian scientists to collaborate and innovate. This PAMC has the mandate of creating innovative tools and technologies through research, and we are confident that the expertise of the committee will achieve this mandate,' V. Rao Aiyagari, adviser and head of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), Seismicity Programme, said at the unveiling of the project.

The heritage conservation project was showcased on the sidelines of TechVista 2008, Microsoft Research India's annual research symposium, in Chennai.