ANCIENT WRITING SYSTEM GETS INTERNET UPDATE A number of universities have begun to transfer hundreds of examples of the 5,200-year-old cuneiform writing system to the World Wide Web. Cuneiform was used from 3200 B.C. to A.D. 75 to record everything from tax receipts to the legends, science and religion of the ancient world. Hundreds of thousands of tablets written in cuneiform are in museums around the world. Project leads believe that bringing these tablets online in dictionary, photographic, and 3D forms will be of tremendous value to researchers. The Birmingham University Digital Forensic Project is creating a Web-based cuneiform catalog covering signs made from 3000 B.C. to 323 B.C. In the Digital Hammurabi Project at Johns Hopkins University they are collecting three-dimensional images of tablets from 2000 B.C. onward. Johns Hopkins Assyriologist Jerrold Cooper said, "The beauty of this is that with fast and cheap 3-D scanning, we can practically put the tablet in your hands on your desktop." Other online projects are based at UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania. [SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Dan Vergano] (http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/2002/05/21/cuneiform.htm) *** Via / From / Thanks to the following : (c) Benton Foundation 2002. Redistribution of this email publication - both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message. Communications-Related Headlines are compiled and summarized by Rachel Anderson (rachel@benton.org), Andy Carvin (andy@benton.org), Shenaz Malik (shenaz@benton.org) and Diana Schneider (diana@benton.org) of the Benton Foundation -- we welcome your feedback. Based in Washington DC, the Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Other projects at Benton include: Digital Divide Network (www.digitaldividenetwork.org) Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org) OneWorld US (www.oneworld.net/us/) Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org) Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -- :-) Message Ends; George(s) Lessard's Keywords Begin (-: Freelance Media Arts, Management, Training, Mentoring & Consulting On line: Internet / Workshops / Research / Presence / Content / On location: TV / Radio / Production / ENG / EFP / Editing Interests: Access / Activism / Communities / Cultures / Arts Resume and more @ http://members.tripod.com/~media002 Queries / Offers / Patronage / Commissions should be sent to media@_no_spam_web.net Rostered Volunteer UNV# 120983 & CESO/SACO VA# 11799 -Caveat Lector- Disclaimers, NOTES TO EDITORS & (c) information may be found @ http://members.tripod.com/~media002/disclaimer.htm Because of the nature of email & the WWW, please check ALL sources & subjects. - 30 -