GOOGLE AND UNESCO BEGIN COLLABORATIVE ALLIANCE

UNCLAS UNESCO PARIS FR 001639

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SCUL UNESCO
SUBJECT: GOOGLE AND UNESCO BEGIN COLLABORATIVE ALLIANCE


1. (SBU) Summary: On December 3, Google and UNESCO announced an
alliance to provide virtual visits to nineteen World Heritage sites.
While these initial sites are all in Western Europe, in 2010 Google
intends to expand to sites in the United States, Australia, South
Africa, Japan and other countries. Using Google's "Street View"
interface, Internet users around the globe can access 360-degree
views of some of the world's most important places and monuments.
End Summary.


2. (SBU) Ambassador Killion, DCM and PAO attended the press
conference to demonstrate support for this private-public alliance
between an American company and UNESCO. Prior to the press
conference, Ambassador met with Google's communications director for
Europe, the Middle East and Africa to signal the importance of this
type of collaboration and to encourage the project - currently a
content-licensing agreement - to develop into a full-fledged
partnership. Google's mission to make information and content free
and accessible to everyone directly aligns with UNESCO's mandate to
provide access to information, to educate and to preserve.


3. (SBU) Also speaking with UNESCO representatives, Ambassador
underscored the need to create greater visibility of UNESCO within
the United States; a 20-year absence from the organization had meant
that an entire generation was not aware of UNESCO nor its core,
vital principles. Ambassador also stressed that during Director
General Bokova's January trip to New York and Washington, she would
need to deliver a simple, coherent message that would resound with
American policymakers and the domestic public.


4. (SBU) Comment: While the Google representative spoke frankly
about the inherent slowness in working with an international
organization vis-a-vis the relative speed of the private sector, she
was extremely positive about moving forward into greater partnership
with the organization. (Note: Google is also digitizing the
contents of the Iraqi National Museum in collaboration with the
State Department, another project that could easily be linked with
UNESCO. End note.) We should encourage these types of public-private
partnerships at every opportunity, in order to enhance both UNESCO's
capacity and its stature within the United States.
KILLION