CAMBRIDGE (USA), Oct 1: While the world remains focused on conflict and destruction in Muslim societies, a joint venture in technology shows how the East and the West can together construct a world that recognizes shared heritage.

The Aga Khan, Imam of the Ismaili Muslims; Charles M. Vest, President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and Lawrence H. Summers, President of Harvard University, on Tuesday launched a global electronic resource designed to bridge cultural, civilizational and digital divides.

ArchNet (www.ArchNet.org) is the world’s largest on-line resource on architecture, urbanism, landscape design and related issues, with a particular focus on the Muslim world.

The creative global community that ArchNet represents, with over 6,000 members from 10 countries, joins together the academic and professional resources of two prominent universities and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

“Not only is ArchNet means by which we share information on architecture and design,” said the Aga Khan, “it is also a very real attempt to build an architecture of understanding between those regions of the world that might benefit from a better understanding of each other.”