ME Digital Photo Archive for Public Use

In an attempt to increase cross-cultural understanding, the Public Affairs Digital Image Archive (PADIA), one of the world’s largest digital photo archives on Middle Eastern and Islamic cultures, has been made available for royalty-free public use by Aramco Services Company. Most of PADIA’s photographs are published and unpublished images from the magazine, Aramco World, and its successor, Saudi Aramco World, as well as several historical collections from the early 20th century.

Saudi Aramco World is a bimonthly educational magazine that covers the cultures, arts and history of the Middle East and the Islamic world. It is the flagship publication of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. The magazine boasts 750,000 readers and is published in Houston, Texas, by Aramco Services Company (ASC).

PADIA is found by going to aramcoservices.com and then clicking on Newsroom and Photo Archive. Registration is required for full use of the archive and to receive permission to reproduce the photographs.

Each image at the site is tagged with one of two copyright status levels that indicate the rights ASC holds. FULL RIGHTS images may be licensed free from ASC by commercial or non-profit users. NON-PROFIT-ONLY images may be licensed from ASC only by non-profit users.

Arab News Compunet 26 August 2003