Microsoft, CNN to make historians out of inaugural attendees

19.01.2009
Microsoft is teaming up with to make average people virtual historians.

CNN.com has put out a call for the millions of people attending President-Elect at noon on Tuesday. Anyone there can send in their digital pictures of the moment Obama takes the oath of office and, using Microsoft's , CNN will stitch the photos together into what it's hoping will be "the most detailed experience of a single moment ever," according to a .

"We're partnering with CNN to gather thousands of your photographs to create an immersive experience of the moment when takes the Oath of Office. From the vast sweep of the crowd to a close-up on the President's hand on the Bible, every part of this historic scene will be frozen in time and presented in 3-D as only Photosynth can," . "We'll take your photos from every angle, combine them with CNN's professional shots, and produce what we hope will be an amazing experience that will be shown live on CNN."

, developed in a collaboration between Microsoft and the , is designed to enable users to take regular digital photos and transform them into a three-dimensional, 360-degree visual. Users can spin the resulting visual around so they can look at it from different angles or even zoom in and out.

CNN and Microsoft are giving people who will be at the inauguration specific instructions.

Anyone with a camera phone is being asked to take a single picture of the moment Obama raises his hand to take the and email it to as soon as possible. "Don't worry if he's too small to see clearly in your photo. As long as you get the Capitol building in your shot it will synth in and help reconstruct the environment," Microsoft said.