Many of us probably remember themselves as children with pleasure , sitting on the lap of a grandfather, drawn in, careful not to miss a word of the stories we were told. These, over the years, are understood and remembered as experiences of real life, lived.
They were told to teach what experience had led to learn, because they could be an example or to keep the memory of lives lived in accordance with customs and values of another era. For many of us the importance of these experiences was revealed and grew as we became "grown up", when we started to understand its true value. As time goes by we find ourselves searching , chasing what our "old people" would tell us.

Before it disappears.

When this happens, when you're lucky enough to be able to find time in the busy schedule of daily life to sit and listen, you will discover an absolutely fascinating world.

We would like this project to manage to bring a glimpse of this magic to anyone with ten minutes of time to dedicate.

Video and audio are the means chosen: the video is what we think "mediates" as little as possible what should be a "pure"message. The voice, faces, expressions are an essential part of a person and of his stories. The audio instead manages to go further back in time to tell of people that today are no longer with us. Recorded voices, important and precious memories. Audio also in order to simplify the collection, if you do not have access to a camera, to be able to listen and record by telephone...

Internet , the chosen instrument to spread the testimonies, allows flexible enjoyment with regard to the availability of content and access modes. It guarantees everyone the chance to contribute to the creation of content and allows easy creation of thematic paths.

Last but not least, the Internet is inherently the young people media, those who should primarily become recipients and custodians of the memory of experience.

Memoro - the Bank of Memories is a non profit project dedicated to the collection of the experience and life stories of people born before 1950. The format is audio or video clips of a few minutes.
This process is not an end in itself, but the structural free distribution of the collected contents. The chosen media is the Web, in particular a site for the collection and use of audio video content.
Unlike other similar initiatives, in order to ensure the purpose and coherence of the project, a filter on content uploading is put in place through Editorial Staff approval.
Memory - Memory Bank is a nonprofit project born in Turin, Italy, in August 2007. www.bancadellamemoria.it The first website was launched on 15/06/2008. Since September 2009, the project has been managed in Italy by Banca Association ONLUS Bank of Memories .

What makes it special is the content itself.

The collection of stories occurs in two distinct ways:

1) "editorial" collection.
The editors are involved by viewing all movies, processing (inserting any edits or subtitles) and completing with "attributes" necessary for classification, related to author and content. The editorial staff also puts each story in "categories " and proposes a series of themed "paths" in order to facilitate consultation.

2) user upload.
Anyone can become a "Memory Hunter" : all that is needed is just an audio recorder, a cellphone, a camera, a videocamera more or less professional. Once recorded, the stories can be easily uploaded by users.
The witnesses, videos, audio and photos uploaded will be grouped within their own personal page: Here the user can modify, add or delete created content .
Users can also create new "paths", sets of audio and video stories to share with other site users.

Memoro - the Bank of Memories is intended as a project capable of generating wealth. This value is not intended to be accumulated, but distributed through free availability of interviews on-line and through the economical opportunity aimed to create local initiatives, to support the local growth of the project worldwide and to valorize all the collected Memoro contents. This model in order to be sustainable needs both human and economical resources:
This model must be sustainable. These are the ways with which this will be pursued:

1) Donations:
each of you can support the project! We give our utmost to ensure that this initiative can survive and grow in the future, all your help is essential! Learn how to make a donation safely clicking here .

2) Sponsor:
Memoro the Bank of Memories offers to sponsors the opportunity to be part of a project that contributes to the preservation of social and cultural heritage. Our idea is to create special sections dedicated to the collection of stories and experiences of former employees of Companies: a wealth of experience and anecdotes to complement the official history of the company itself and not less fascinating. Some examples are available at "portfolio" . In case you're interested, contact us for more information.

3) Government and Public Agencies:
are given the opportunity to preserve and spread knowledge of historical, social, anthropological peculiarities of a territory through the creation of targeted interviews and construction of specific pathways. Training and involvement programs for schools are also offered , where pupils become memory hunters "by restoring the dialogue between generations, all too often interrupted today. There are also projects aimed at RSA where the involvement of the staff allows educators to give the interview and the story a therapeutic value. Some examples are available at "special" .