Thanks to their family heritage, most Arabs have very old photos of cities, celebrities, monuments and events. Some photos have historical value that deserve to be put in museums, to be kept and shared with the world.
from this observation we can detect two problems,
old photos are not well preserved and may deteriorate over time
may never be published with the world, if they remain in families archives.
Arab e-story is a collaborative digital photography museum where rare historical photo owners can collaborate with historians and art historians to provide information about the photos to the public. the content of the photos can reveal a lot of hidden facts about arab history and be a base for academic research concerning arab history, arab art history, anthropology, sociology,etc..
A big part of rare historical photos of arab culture is hidden in families archives and can't be shown to public since it's a private property.
Arab e-story will be the largest rare historical photos database, a platform based on a collaboration between photo owners, historians and history of art experts from all the arab countries to conserve the arab history
If the problem persists old photos may:
-deteriorate over time
-lost without leaving a trail (not even a digital one)
-never be published with the world
-deprive arabs from a valuable historical information
Arab e-story will contain 2 different platforms:
-Arab e-story community: A backoffice where photo owners put their scanned photos and fill a form to provide historians, art historians and other experts all the data they need to identify the authenticty, rarity of photos, credibility of information and the historical value
-Arab e-story visitor: Is the result of the hard work where visitors choose between a guided virtual visit in a chosen theme and a free visit.
