(Trinidad Guardian) The public can now access over 200 speeches and other writings penned by the first Prime Minister of T&T, Dr Eric Williams, as part of a digitalisation project to preserve the country’s legacy for future generations.
In launching the online Collection of Speeches by Dr Eric Williams at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port-of-Spain, on Thursday, Caroline Kangalee said the labour of love had been 13 years in the making. Kangalee, the systems librarian at NALIS, was responsible for developing the project parameters, selecting international ICT benchmarks, procuring the software and appropriate hardware; and training the library staff of the Ministry of Planning and Development, who were responsible for scanning and compiling over two million pieces of correspondence.
Delivering remarks on the historical launch, Williams’ daughter, Erica Williams-Connell said, “It matters not if you are an aficionado of Eric Williams, if you are his committed opponent or just indifferent, this treasure trove of documents is our history, for better or worse.”
She added, “All of our history, both the good and the bad, is a part of our nation’s heritage and it deserves to be safeguarded, if only so that future generations can choose to utilise it as guide posts or warning signs against the same missteps.”
Planning and Development Minister Pennelope Beckles said the momentous launch represented, “an intersection of our past, present and future generations all driven through the aid of technology”.
The 238 pieces, which can now be accessed online by the public, spans the period 1957 to 1981. She said they had incorporated Artificial Intelligence (AI), along with a battery of other digital technologies, to preserve Williams’ legacy and also reproduce him reading his written works aloud. Beckles said, “Through this process, we are preserving history and certainly adding to the improvement of the human conditions, making Dr Williams’ work easily accessible in digital format for purposes of education, information, research and other endeavours.”
The minister assured the online collection was protected by various forms of cyber-security measures, including firewalls and anti-malware.
Delivering the feature address on behalf of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said the Government was “leading the preservation of unquestionable artefacts of historical heritage.”
Indicating this was the future, Gadsby-Dolly said she was excited to see the project unfold further. Warning that failure to preserve such historical treasures could result in someone else doing so, and/or it crumbling to become fragments in the wind, Gadsby-Dolly quoted from Rowley’s prepared text, which said, “I will do what it takes to guarantee that we can tell our children, and they can tell their children, that we did it.
“We kept the things that emboldened our sense of pride and patriotism, those symbols of our journey as a nation.”
