IP Democracy: Google Takes Historic Films to the Web

Google seems to announce something new every day and for the most part Google’s announcements seem…well, scattershot and not that interesting. But today is an exception. Google and the National Archives announced the launch of a pilot program to make holdings of the National Archives available for free online. The pilot program will make available 103 important historic films online including newsreels, documentaries and even a preserved film from 1894.

The program doesn’t extend to documents contained in the Archives but both parties are talking about it — they also hope to expand the number films from the Archives. The films are made available via a special section of Google Video as well as on the National Archives web site.

While Google video has come under criticism for its rushed introduction of premium video options and, some argue, poor site design, I think Google is slowly building up Google Video to be a robust repository that could become indispensable. It may not be as pretty as Apple’s iTunes, nor as commercially successful either, at least in the short term.

But with a growing collection of interesting videos, Google Video may prove all the critics wrong.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on February 24, 2006 1:20 PM to IP Democracy