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Dear colleagues!You might already have come across the EU-funded Time Machine Project, a Europe-wide initiative with the joint goal of digitising the entire European cultural heritage, stored in archives, libraries, museums, private collections, historical buildings etc.It aims at creating the Big Data of the Past by revolutionising the development of new technologies and the use of cultural heritage data. This comprises the advancement of an infrastructure and platform that includes a search engine giving access to the rich information about the continent and its history.Just imagine how historical books and documents can not only be digitised quickly on a large-scale but could even more be read automatically!Historical content will get transformed into digital information and will be correlated automatically through Artificial IntelligenceOpen source tools allow for comprehensive and new ways of assessing and analysing historical informationAll of this will become possible when we all pull together!How are we going to make this possible?Within the past few months a group of more than 500 European institutions – 184 top research institutes, a huge representation from galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM), as well as leading large enterprises, innovative SMEs, public institutional bodies and strong civil society organisations – has developed a concrete and far-reaching plan that will make this ambition real within the next 10 years.As governing framework for this great project, the Time Machine Organisation (TMO) was founded recently. This is our joint instrument in order to drive our vision forward and to ensure its sustainability and economic independence.It enables its members to take part in projects and to benefit from new funding alternatives as well as open source tools, to support the free access to historical information and to proactively co-shape the future of cultural heritage related technologies.We kindly invite you to become part of this unique alliance – Register your institution now!Visit our website for further information: https://www.timemachine.eu/membership-overview/In case of questions, comments, requests – never hesitate to either get in touch with me directly.Cheerio,KerstinP.S.:The Time Machine manifesto and factsheet offer a brief overview over the projects aims and vision: https://www.timemachine.eu/time-machine-manifesto-unlock-the-ambitions-of-big-data-of-the-past/.For more detailed insight into the successive steps in technology, innovation and scientific research that will eventually create the Time Machine infrastructure, please take a look at the Time Machine Roadmaps: https://www.timemachine.eu/time-machine-roadmaps-mapping-the-future/.Q: ica-L