A newly developed application called iCulture was launched on Thursday by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture to offer an integrated art information service to smartphone and tablet users around the world.
The digital service, which offers public access to information stored at the Ministry's open data center, is just the start of the country's culture cloud project, Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai said.
In the future, the Ministry will upload the latest information onto its database through cloud computing technology to help users enjoy a wide range of cultural activities, she added.
Application users will be able to search for cultural activities or art venues nearby while enjoying real time services, such as online ticket bookings.
The integrated service includes information on smaller, independent bookstores and shops selling artistically creative items as well.
Through the iCulture platform, the Ministry is also planning to share with the public the Central News Agency's photo archive and Radio Taiwan International's audio data bank. Those two state-funded media outlets are among Taiwan's oldest news organizations.
iCulture is currently only available in the Chinese language.