Innovative web based video encyclopedia of India

UNESCO New Delhi has announced plans for an innovative web based video encyclopedia of India. The site, www.indiavideo.org, will highlight the unique culture, heritage and geography of India. It is being developed by Invis Multimedia Private Limited, one of the premier content development organizations specialising in audiovisual production.

Announcing the agreement between UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and Invis Multimedia, Minja Yang, Director of the UNESCO New Delhi Office, explained that one of the Organization’s key mandates is to safeguard and promote the wealth of the world’s cultural diversity. “India is a vast country with an extraordinarily ancient and diverse cultural heritage. The unique objective behind this project is to develop an atlas of India that covers not just its geographical features but its cultural ones too. We are very pleased to partner with Invis Multimedia in the creation of a format that is easily accessible world-wide and that will raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding India’s heritage.”

The new encyclopedia will have detailed sections on each state and union territory of India. The video clips will be supplemented with text in English language. Kerala is the first state to be covered, with two thousand professionally created video clips, which are to be uploaded by March 2008. The uploading of video clips from other parts of India will begin along with formal launching of the site in April 2008.

UNESCO is particularly known in the field of culture for its World Heritage Programme. There are 28 World Heritage Sites in India, but Ms. Yang said that UNESCO’s principles embrace the protection and promotion of heritage and creativity in a much broader sense: “Cultural diversity encompasses not only landscapes and buildings, but also rituals, performing art, traditional crafts and other traditional knowledge on nature. This is why a video encyclopedia is particularly well suited to depicting the full range of India’s culture.” Ms. Yang pointed out that India is a signatory to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which were both promulgated by UNESCO.

Invis Multimedia has extensive experience in the development of interactive materials for tourism, including CD-ROMs and DVDs on Kerala, Ayurveda, and Indian classical dance, some of which have been honoured with the Ministry of Tourism’s National Award of Excellence.

For further information:

Invis Multimedia
Kaudiar, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India-695 003.
Ph: ++91-471-2311832, 2319892, Fax: ++91-471-2313170
Email: info@invismultimedia.com
Website: www.invismultimedia.com