The Goethe-Institut and the National Museums of Kenya organised a Post-SCECSAL-Conference on ‘LIBRARIES AS COMMUNITY MEMORY’ in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of this workshop was to explore ways in which African libraries – through various initiatives – can play an active role in collecting, processing, disseminating acting as repositories of indigenous knowledge. This was in cognisance of the fact that most of the cultures on the African continent are largely oral-based and information that would be useful for posterity is not documented in written form. The eThekwini Municipality’s Ulwazi Programme will be used as the case study. While librarians are not necessarily the ones who would be expected to go out into the field to collect this information, they need to work closely with community field workers, who must be trained on how to gather information and present it to the librarians for processing and dissemination. The documentation/dissemination can be in different forms: book, CD-ROM, website, brochure, or a combination of two or more of these. The basic approaches in dealing with this phenomenon are numerous and we hope that the workshop can identify the most practical, sustainable and cost-effective approaches.

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

8. Community participation

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

12. Technology in operation

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

27. Special Projects
Heritage Map

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

36. Analytics Reports: Visitors

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