SAN FRANCISCO — This spring Metaport (metaport.ai) officially launched as a groundbreaking map-based platform that combines historical data with community submissions to preserve history for every location worldwide. Kicking off this April, marking 110 years since the Armenian Genocide, Metaport invites the Armenian diaspora to pin ancestral memories, ensuring stories of survival and resilience endure for generations.
From San Francisco, the Metaport team is building a digital archive where anyone can contribute, browse, or explore history tied to specific places. “We’re creating a living map of humanity’s past,” said Raffi Berberian, head of community engagement, “This April, we’re calling on the diaspora to map 1915 survivor stories, free for all to join.”
“History slips away when it’s not tied to a place,” says Raffi, Metaport’s Head of the Community. “I saw my own Armenian heritage fading—Metaport’s goal is to let anyone, anywhere, map their past so it’s never lost.” Free to join, users can add up to 10 photos or documents per story, like the Barseghyan-Ruben House entry (https://metaport.ai/stories/Barseghyan-Ruben-House-5af832903e8348d9/).
How does it work? Anyone can pin a story, type an address or zoom into the map, while historians and researchers verify data via partnerships. “We’re not just Armenian-focused,” Raffi adds. “Over time, when we get thousands of submissions, our AI engine will arrange multiple submissions in one spot to different eras. You can see what was standing in the place of the World Trade center 80 or 100 years ago.”
With 1,000 early contributors and counting, Metaport’s “110 Stories for 110 Years” campaign begins now, tied to Armenian Genocide remembrance. The goal is to pin 110 stories on the territory of Turkey where our ancestors belonged. Unlike Social Media posts, these stories on the map can be discovered by anyone, from anywhere in the world. No one can tell our stories better than us. Let’s build an all-inclusive history.
An early example, the Barseghyan-Ruben House story (https://metaport.ai/stories/Barseghyan-Ruben-House-5af832903e8348d9/), showcases how users can add photos, documents, and narratives to locations. Free to start, Metaport in the future will offer premium AI tools, like self-guided tours, for deeper engagement, with plans to further partner with historians, educators, and local businesses.
