Online reflections: Secretary for Home Affairs Dr Patrick Ho has a meeting with Jockey Club Chairman John Chan and the advisory committee of the Hong Kong Memory project.

The Leisure & Cultural Services Department and the Jockey Club will establish a web-based digital repository to collect and preserve Hong Kong's cultural heritage, Secretary for Home Affairs Dr Patrick Ho says.

The Jockey Club has donated $80 million for the project and the public will be able to access the repository by 2012.

Speaking after a meeting with Jockey Club Chairman John Chan and the advisory committee of the Hong Kong Memory project this afternoon, Dr Ho said the project will provide free and open access to digital collections of information, stories, items and materials that are reflected in Hong Kong people's collective memory.

Dr Elizabeth Sinn, former deputy director of the Centre of Asian Studies of the University of Hong Kong, and current director Prof Wong Siu-lun, will lead a team of scholars and consultants to develop the project's content. 

The team will also acquire invaluable artifacts from private and public organisations, universities, libraries and archival institutions for preservation in digital format. The data will then be classified, catalogued, edited and systematically arranged for convenient searches.

Oral history projects, field studies and community programmes will also be conducted to collect life stories.

The platform will then be handed over to the department for ongoing maintenance and development.