“-//W30//DTD W3 HTML 2.0//EN”>
|| Return to the Cybrary ||
Welcome to our Viewpoint Page.
Last Month’s viewpoint is now at http://remember.org/educate/professor.html.
Should the Cybrary Survive?
Creating the Holocaust Channel for the Internet
Please read this letter, fill in the blanks, and help the Cybrary helpitself.
Dear Friend,
If you are interested in preserving Holocaust education online, then thisquestion holds particular importance to you.
Should the Cybrary survive?
It’s not just an issue of a Web site, but a challenge we all face with:
Revisionists who have used online technologies better than most HolocaustWeb sites to distribute their message;
Traditional Holocaust Learning Centers with precious books, videotapes, andinterviews that are copyrighted and difficult to put on the Internet;
Survivors who are slipping away
As the originator of the Cybrary concept (a living library based on dialoguebetween interested parties, providing content donated by visitors to share),I’ve seen this cyte go from a few hundred to thousands of visitors a week. Throughout the world people are exploring the issues of the Holocaust, runninginto all sorts of sites.
But I keep getting the same complaint: give me one place to go where I canfind credible, reliable sites to get the information I need.
The Cybrary is at a critical point of growth. We continue to provide freeWeb publishing services to survivors, educators, and others we can help, but asthe cyte grows more popular the challenge is clear.
We are forming the Holocaust Channel for the Internet and have a plan todo that right now. In fact we are doing that right now and want to improveit so that more sites are shown, in more languages. (Send an email below and we’ll mail you a copy in May, after theHolocaust Commemoration). Our goal is to:
Provide easy access to other Holocaust Web Sites, with an editorial board totailor lessons to varying age groups and interest
Add far more pictures, video, and audio to the cyte.
Continue to invite survivors and others to contribute their stories
Create two way forms of communication for online collaborations
Design a chat center so that schools worldwide can meet
Develop this cyte into a distance learning resource center that provides anorganized approach to researching the Holocaust at sites throughout theInternet.
The challenge is clear; revisionist sites abound, using the distribution ofthe Internet to their advantage. Just search on the word “Holocaust” and seewhere it takes you.
But there are things more powerful than links or search engines. Word ofmouth and access to content are the keys to providing a well-rounded educationaleffort. Online businesses are creating the tools to deliver information, news,and research on the Internet.
I’d like to apply those tools here for education, to the advantage of all. This is a learning lab, where people come to listen, question, exchange stories,and learn.
The Cybrary has made it this far with absolutely no funding…look aroundthis cyte and judge for yourself. The passion, the heart of our visitors, iswhat drives this cyte.
To survive, we have to make decisions. Let me know what you think we shoulddo. Is it donations, not just financial but of content as well? Wouldsponsors be an effective solution? Or should we just keep going as we are andhope that the cyte will continue on?
Be sure to fillout the form and press, Try This, to get in touchwith us.
Please enter your Name:
Email address:
What is the best solution?
Sometimes it’s not a case of changing, but finding a few people to help. Orto proceed as we are, falling behind and lacking the ability to keep up with theincredible outpouring of research, stories, viewpoints, and ideas that make thiscyte special. The basic question is, is it important to continue our efforts?
Either way, you are the primary ones responsible for invigorating this cyte. I thank you and invite you to our Holocaust Remembrance Chat in May; I’llspend an hour discussing how to set up online education programs and forums withJoey Korn.
Hope to see your there; send an email to chat@webletter.net to register forthe chat.
Peace
Michael Declan Dunn
Online Education Director
Cybrary of the Holocaust
Go to the Top of the Page || Return to the Cybrary