Heritage Information will be linked to place through a multi-dimensional seamless environment
Through a grant awarded by the National Endowment of the Arts, the ESC and the Museum of Chinese in the Americas moca-nyc.org have brought the Museum's unique archival collection together with pioneering multi-technology to create an innovative and new vehicle for community documentation, interpretation and reflection. The rich history of New York City's Chinatown and the people and memories of its community will be made accessible to its expanding constituency by linking a database (statistical and biographical data, historical photos, documents and artifacts) with a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to a photo realistic 3D model of Chinatown.
As a gallery kiosk and a future interactive web site, the project uses innovative technology to stimulate a cross-cultural and inter generational dialogue through the Museum's repository of collective memories and cultural artifacts and provide a user-friendly environment that encourages visitors to explore and contribute their own knowledge of Chinatown. MoCA's Mapping Our Heritage project will serve as a model for other small museums seeking to develop on new ways to present social histories and to reach out to larger audiences nationally and internationally.