Among the Palestinian diaspora, across the region and world, the danger of forgetting one’s history is very close to the surface, especially as the nakba generation ages. The PIVOT project, an interactive app that stores images, videos, and information on ancient and modern Palestinian history, is a direct attempt to combat the fear of forgetting – and one that seems to have a chance of success.
The Palestinian PIVOT project placed first at the Dean’s Cultural Entrepreneurship Challenge organized by the Harvard Innovation Lab in May, winning a cash prize of $25,000 USD in addition to access to a co-working space and mentorship.
Neil Doyle, Assistant Director at Harvard’s Innovation Lab, says that the project represents an innovative approach to solving the fundamental problem of art’s sustainability, along with a new way to increasing cultural and social impact. Moreover, the team has the experience, skills, and commitment needed to implement the plan.
The adventure began in September 2013 when founders Asma Jaber and Sami Jitan joined the Venture Incubation Program at Harvard’s Innovation Lab, which provides a co-working space, resources, and mentorship to develop projects.
Having passed through the stages of the competition, Jaber remembers the night their victory was announced: “It was important to be able to talk openly about Palestine, the Palestinian history, and destroyed villages. It was a fantastic day for the preservation of Palestinian history at Harvard.”
“The source of our inspiration to build PIVOT was the death of Asma’s father and her desire to do something to keep her relationship with her homeland alive,” Jitan told us. Asma says that her father had always helped her value the places around her, particularly during her visits to Palestine. He was always telling her about the villages that had been there and their ancient names. “After his death, I was driving my car from Jerusalem to Nazareth, and I thought to myself that there were no apps out there designed for one to enjoy the region and its history. There was no way to digitally browse history,” she continued.
Source article:
PIVOT, a Palestinian app to preserve historical memory, honored by Harvard
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I hope that this App correctly and accurately portrays and respects Jewish culture and heritage, as well as right to exist. There have been too many recent incidents at American Universities, where Palestinian students have used campus organizations and even classroom forums to bully Jewish students and convince liberal faculty at universities such as UC Berkeley to forbid any favorable mention of Israel, and then there is “The Pledge” at UCLA.
There is no such thing as Palestine. It is like “Trans Jordan”, a political subdivision of post WW I Middle East by Great Britain, that has has caused so much heart ache and led to so much war and violence. That the iLab condones this, is deplorable to say the least.
I am proud to be Palestinian.. Thank you HARVARD for giving the right people the right recognition. .!