WASHINGTON – What weighs 54 tons and can be held in the palm of your hand? Believe it or not — the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
AIDS Quilt Touch is a mobile web app that allows users to browse quilt panels, search for names, and add comments in a digital guestbook.
“The Names Project Foundation will be laying out 1,500 blocks, so that’s about 12,000 panels, but using this mobile web app you’ll be able to type in a specific a name and find the location,” says Anne Balsamo, the project’s director.
The app will go live on Wednesday, but it won’t have all of those features then. Only the name search feature will be available then, with the other features becoming available if they meet their fundraising goals by July 8.
They hope to raise $25,000 by then. As of Sunday morning, they had only raised $3,309 of that goal. Learn how to donate here.
The launch is set to coincide with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, where the quilt will be displayed. A digital table-top version of the quilt will also be on display during the festival.
When the app becomes public, you’ll be able to use it here.
Watch a video about the app from the NAMES Project Foundation.
AIDS Quilt Touch Mobile Web App from jennifer Taylor on Vimeo.
WTOP Intern Emily Stern contributed to this report.
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