Forum d'Avignon: Steve Crossan's Californian vision

Steve Crossan, the director of the Google Cultural Institute combines two offices simultaneously: he is software developer and historian at the same time. Now, Google has also provided him with the Californian esprit.

 

After the brilliant Google Art Project, Google picks up more cultural gems and historical topics such as World Wonders Project, Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, La France en relief, Le Pavillon de l'Arsenal, Dead Sea Scrolls and Yad Vashem, putting them under the umbrella of the Google Cultural Institute in order to digitise them.

The internet giant Google has been active on the cultural sector for some time now and supports selected museums and archives with remarkable funds and breath-taking technology. This enables the company to make culture available online in an extremely user-friendly way, including multimedia possibilities, too.

 

A cultural hegemony?

Thus, Google interferes with the cultural heritage of mankind, easily overriding national borders and conflicts of civilisation.

By choosing Paris as the new headquarters for its new institution, just proves the enormous strength Google has – even la Grande Nation is enthusiastic about it. Is this the beginning of a paradigm change in policies concerning culture or cultural heritage which have been handled by the respective nations so far? Does Google leave its mark on human culture for good? Is Google our friend, or are we all a bit Google-gaga?

 

 

Text: Boris Alexander Knop