SCECSAL: Libraries as Community Memory
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The Ulwazi model aims to empower African communities by preserving and sharing local knowledge through technology, particularly open-source and mobile applications. It focuses on building digital skills and social capital among community members while ensuring sustainable management of local content, including the training of volunteers to participate in knowledge recording. Despite challenges such as staff turnover and low literacy levels, the program has successfully established a digital library with a significant increase in community engagement and online access to indigenous knowledge.
SCECSAL: Libraries as Community Memory
- 1. Libraries as Community Memory: the Ulwazi Model Betsie Greyling and Niall McNulty
- 2. Libraries as Community Memory: the Ulwazi Model SESSION 1 Background Goals Model Planning Implementation Sustainability SESSION 2 Results Outcomes Challenges Successes Lessons learnt
- 3. Introduction/Background • Global information economy is driven by the Internet - the trend is to use the Internet for preservation and dissemination of information • African information community has limited access to ICTs, for reasons of cost, accessibility, etc - this puts the Web and online information beyond their reach. • Part of the dilemma relates to the low local African content on the web – which is due to a lack of capacity to record, transfer and disseminate information • The dearth of information relevant to local communities limits their buy-in to digital resources, digital skills development and socio-economic transformation • The wide range of ICT applications available on desktops are now also becoming available on mobile devices (apps) • The Ulwazi Programme uses these advances in technology to allow communities to preserve and share their own knowledge and experiences, relevant to them, in a democratic way
- 4. Goals of the Programme • Sustainable preservation, dissemination and sharing of local knowledge of rural or otherwise isolated communities • To make African stories part of the global information economy • To encourage local communities to become part of the global information society • To build capacity in digital communication skills • To develop a sustainable digital library of local relevance • To build social capital and promote social cohesion • To contribute to socio-economic transformation
- 5. The Ulwazi model Community • Knowledge owners • Validation • Protection • Social interaction Library • Anchor role • Security • Support • Continuity Technology • Most dynamic • Open-source • Social media • Mobile devices
- 6. The Community • We regard the community as the most important member in the partnership because: • Through volunteer field-workers, the community records their own knowledge in a community-specific way, adding an inalienable, imprescriptible value to it • Participants communicate with each other in a community-specific way, enriching social interaction processes and thereby building social capital and social cohesion • Community participation - contributes to the protection of local knowledge through mutual agreement
- 7. The Community continued • Special target groups in the community include: • the elderly, with their wealth of experience, traditional stories and cultural beliefs and ceremonies • cultural groups including artists, crafters, musicians, writers, painters and other creative artists • professionals and technologists in the community with specialist knowledge. • school groups, to create awareness and interest in their own family history and cultural knowledge, to introduce them to the global information society and to transfer digital skills
- 9. The Library • Anchor partner – stability of position, both within the community and within the government structures through which it is established; providing infrastructure • Provides training, supports the technology and data collection • By virtue of the profession, the library provides content management and information skills • Outreach function is in step with UN Millennium Development Goals and the WSIS Action Plans of 2002/03 that speak to access for all, capacity-building and development of local content in the vernacular
- 10. Library
- 11. Technologies in operation • We use a combination of open-source and social media applications for archival and heritage purposes • A conscious decision was made to use open source software based on availability, licensing fees and a common philosophy of sharing. These include: • LAMP server hosts our website • MediaWiki used to manage the Community Memory database • WordPress used for blogging (main programme blog and project specific blogs) • Creative Commons Share and Share Alike Licence • Social media applications are used to create new entry points for the programme. These include: • Facebook, Twitter & Flickr
- 13. How it works Planning • Research • Design • Budget • Raising awareness Implementation • Selection • Recruitment • Training • Data collection • Content management • Media management Sustainability • Organizational structure • Project management • Technology management • Fieldwork management • Equipment
- 14. Planning • Research • Establish the current directions of ICT interventions in socio-economic development, whether they are reconcilable with local needs. • Design • Community – decide on target groups and target areas • Library – set up infrastructure, demarcate boundaries, outline scope, compile operational policies and guidelines • Technology – develop electronic infrastructure (name, design, branding, etc.) • Budget • Find funding to procure hardware and sustain ongoing operational costs • Spread the word • Consult with local leaders • Do presentations to raise awareness in the community • Post advertisements for fieldworkers on community notice boards
- 15. Implementation Selection Recruitment Training Oral history ICT and digital media Web journalism Mentoring Data collection Content management Digital media managementWeb maintenance Social media managementEquipment managementSpecial Projects
- 16. Selection and Recruitment • Selection • Potential volunteers are identified through consultation with local community leaders and interviewed • Selection criteria include: • They must live in the community; they must have matric, with basic English language skills and basic computer skills; they must have access to transport and must have a mobile phone; they must show eagerness and interest in the programme; they must be prepared to do volunteer work • Recruitment • New fieldworkers sign an agreement that they undertake to do volunteer work on an ad hoc basis. • They are refunded for transport costs and airtime electronically. No cash is handled. • Guard against financial incentives, rather subsidize transport, communication; or use incentives like airtime, t-shirts, caps, memory sticks, etc.
- 17. Training: Oral history • Collection principles must be adhered to in the selection of interviewees and the information that will be collected: consent to release the story online; purpose of collecting the story; target audience. • Pre-interview to arrange details of interview: locality, number of interviews, length of interview, what subjects will be covered. • Interview: Prepare guideline questions – open-ended vs.closed-end questions; time management, set up the equipment, set the interviewee at ease, be respectful and observe cultural protocols. • Post-interview processing of collected material, archiving and posting to the web; acknowledgment to interviewee.
- 18. Training
- 19. Training: ICT and digital media • ICT and digital media • Emailing and basic Internet skills. • Word processing - typing, saving, filing, copy and paste. • Uploading copy to the web and using a web-based content-management system. • Camera – taking pictures (operation, lighting, composition), downloading, editing and compressing for online distribution. • Audio recorder – recording, downloading, editing and transcribing. • Web journalism • Research, copy writing, keywords, hyperlinks • Mentoring • Skills levels of fieldworkers are typically low, constant mentoring is needed Regular follow-up training
- 20. Data collection • Sources of information and knowledge: • From ordinary community members through fieldworkers (culture, environment, personal histories, fairy tales, etc.) • From established formal research from municipal departments reported on in summary format and in lay terms (Heritage, Sports, Health, Water, Conservation, Parks, Community Participation, etc.) • From special target groups such as Artists, Crafters, Musicians, Singers, Dancers, Poets, Writers, Old people • By way of special assignments/ themed projects • Through schools
- 21. Data collection
- 22. Content and Equipment Management • Content management • Editing of copy - corrections, language, summaries, acknowledgement, plagiarism • Maintenance of heritage map • External archiving for preservation; compressed versions for dissemination • Metadata management – maintenance of categories and folksonomies (expand, update, edit) • Back-ups of online content • Equipment management • Maintenance and technical support on the use of cameras, audio recorders, webcam, desktop PC’s, 3G modems, external storage, cell phones.
- 23. Media Management • Digital Media management • Managing audio, image and video files including downloading from devices, filing, renaming, resizing, and uploading to the web. • Social media management • Developing an online community through the use of Facebook, Flickr, blog, Twitter and a newsletter. • Web maintenance • Updating web design and functionality, installation of new releases of MediaWiki software, spam patrolling.
- 24. Workflow Goals and Objectives Planning Selection and Recruitment Training Data Collection Content and media management Social media management Promotion www.ulwazi.org
- 25. Special Projects: Schools’ Project • Grade 10 to 12 IT students are targeted, at township and rural schools around the eThekwini Municipality • Through mentors they are taught basic web and research skills (email, loading content online, finding information on the Internet) • The programme runs for 8 weeks, as an extra-mural activity • We use a thematic approach and students are expected to contribute 4 stories to the Ulwazi community memory (themes include School History, Family History, Historic Environments and Culture) • Students are set an online test at the end of the project and are awarded attendance certificates • Goethe Institut sponsored the pilot project, run in 2011/2012
- 26. Schools’ Project
- 28. Special Projects Going Mobile • The increase in mobile internet access now makes it possible for us to make the information in the Community Memory available on mobile phones and also to explore ways of collecting heritage resources through mobile phones • A scaled down version of the website was created and is automatically presented when using a mobile phone • Currently, twenty percent of visitors access the website through a mobile device
- 29. New Project Mimiboard • Developed by Umuntu Media for their Kenyan news portal ikenya.co.ke • Only just released for public use • Allows users to send an SMS to a shortcode number, this is added to an online community noticeboard, which can be e m b e d d e d o n y o u r website • It can also be printed off, for example on a weekly basis and pasted to community noticeboards in rural areas • Solves the problem of digital literacy through ubiquitous SMS know-how
- 30. How easy is this: a local example Karen Blixen Museum Karen Blixen Museum was once the centre piece of a farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills owned by Danish Author Karen and her Swedish Husband, Baron Bror von Blixen Fincke. Located 10km from the city centre, the Museum belongs to a different time period in the history of Kenya. The farm house gained international fame with the release of the movie ‘Out of Africa’ an Oscar winning film based on Karen’s an autobiography by the same title. The Museum is open to the Public every day (9.30 am to 6pm) including weekends and public holidays. Visitors are encouraged to be at the Museum by 5.30. Guided tours are offered continuously. A museum shop offers handicrafts, posters and postcards, the Movie ‘Out of Africa’, books and other Kenyan souvenirs. The Museum was built in 1912 by Swedish Engineer Ake Sjogren. Karen and her husband bought the Museum house in 1917 and it become the farm house for their 4500 acre farm, of which 600 acres was used for coffee farming. Their marriage failed after eight years and in 1921 the Baron moved on and left the running of the farm to Karen. Karen lived at the house until her return to Denmark in 1931. The house farm was bought by Remy Marin, who broke the land into 20 acre parcels for development. Subsequent development created the present suburb of Karen. Records indicate that a Lt. Col.G. Lloyd, an officer of the British Army bought the house in 1935 and lived there until his death in 1954, when it passed to his daughters, Mrs. G. Robersts and Lavender Llyod. A transfer of title to Mrs. J.P Robson and Mrs L.B. Hyde is in City Hall records in 1956. The house was sporadically occupied until purchased in 1964 by the Danish government and given to the Kenyan government as an independence gift. d in 1986. Local information Interviews from local people of their memories/grandparents memories of Karen Blixen. Source National Museums of Kenya Karen Blixen House Museum
- 31. Sustainability • Organizational Structure • Established institutional structure of the library ensures continuity and sustainability of staffing and funding • Project Management • ongoing planning and implementation of new projects to reach all communities • Technology • Regular software updates- and backups, digitization • Copyright • Difference between IK and IP • Creative Commons share-and-share-alike • Release forms in English and Zulu • Fieldwork • Ongoing recruitment, training, meetings, mentoring, field support, free internet access, transport and communication support • Equipment • desktop and media equipment maintenance • Promotion • Awareness campaigns, presentations, blogs, flyers, posters, banners, bookmarks
- 32. End of Session 1 Thank you for your attention! www.ulwazi.org
- 33. Libraries as Community Memory: the Ulwazi Model Betsie Greyling and Niall McNulty Session 2
- 34. Libraries as Community Memory: the Ulwazi Model SESSION 1 Background Goals Model Planning Implementation Sustainability SESSION 2 Results Outcomes Challenges Successes Lessons learnt
- 35. Results • A digital library of local indigenous knowledge has been established. • Currently around 800 articles, half of them in Zulu (the local vernacular), provide online access to local Indigenous Knowledge • Web analytics show a steady increase in visitors - from Durban, the rest of South Africa and internationally. We are currently getting more than 15 000 visits per month, comparable to usage figures in large public libraries in eThekwini • Most of our visitors arrive through search engines such as Google which suggests that people are searching for local information online, without knowing about the website • We recently ran a successful pilot project at township and rural schools, introducing IT students to internet research and web skills, and sensitizing them to the value of their own community knowledge • Access via mobile devices are growing steadily, now reaching 20% of visits
- 37. Analytics Reports: World Map 80% visitors from South Africa 187 different countries 249 visitors from Kenya
- 38. Analytics Reports: South Africa Most visitors from the region KwaZulu- Natal and the eThekwini Municipality
- 39. Analytics Reports: Keywords and Content Zulu Proverbs Traditional 21st Traditional skirt for men Traditional fairy tales Dreams and meanings Clan Names When girls reach puberty Marriage agreement Praise songs Spiritual herb Indian dessert Afrikaner game
- 40. Potential outcomes • Preservation, dissemination and management of local Indigenous Knowledge • Economic empowerment through skills development • Enhancement of self-esteem and self-confidence impacting on advancement of social capital • Knowledge provision which carries the seeds to behaviour changes and informed decision-making leading to social transformation • Collaboration and knowledge sharing that bring about cross-cultural understanding and tolerance • Public libraries in Africa re-affirm their relevance in a digital era that threatens to render them redundant • Academic and development research interest stimulated
- 41. Challenges • Perpetual staff shortages • Fieldworkers • High turnover, as soon as they find employment, they leave the programme • Problematic communication, it is advisable to have a fieldwork administrator/coordinator for effective communication • Skills levels very low, the learning curve is steep, competency level sometimes too low to progress • Poor understanding/lack of appreciation of the value of their knowledge • Loss/damage of equipment is a reality • Lack of regularized capital budget • Low levels of literacy and understanding of the Internet in communities • Participants’ poor grasp of intellectual property rights • No way to quantify the impact in the community
- 42. Successes Technologies proven for recording and uploading of Indigenous Knowledge in an ordered, structured and controlled way The programme has been discovered and is used by eThekwini citizens (most visits to the website are from Durban) The capacity of the indigenous community of eThekwini to develop content in their own language has been proven Increased digital competencies of community people Preservation of an increasing number of unique oral histories from local people, both prominent members of society and ordinary community people Community people are keen to participate Enthusiasm among school children is high
- 43. Successes
- 44. Lessons learnt • Not a given that fieldworkers will live up to expectation • some lose interest, some only stay for initial training, some find other jobs, some have personal problems, some disappear with equipment • Training is a slow process, the learning curve is steep and most fieldworkers need close mentoring • Communication with fieldworkers is problematic for reasons of cost • Efficient content management is indispensable • Promotion and networking must be done at every opportunity • Continuous strategic and innovative thinking required (e.g. Mimiboard) • Research into cutting edge technologies essential to stay relevant
- 45. Thank you for the opportunity to share our passion! www.ulwazi.org End of Session 2