Map Inanda is the first project of its kind in KwaZulu-Natal to integrate sophisticated GIS (Geographic Information Systems) with the development of unique heritage resources and the promotion of heritage sites. The initial website is based on work that McNulty Consulting has been doing in Inanda with the eThekwini Municipality, KZN Literary Tourism and the Ulwazi Programme. We have brought together content that has already been developed and is freely available online.
It is envisioned that the next phase will be to engage with various communities in the area to determine which people, sites and stories they deem to have cultural, historical or social significance to Inanda. Digital heritage resources (in the form of video, images and text) could then be developed around themes identified by the communities in various areas of Inanda. These would be added to the website with the exact geographic co-ordinates.
Why Map Inanda?
The Map Inanda Project has the potential to create numerous benefits for the communities in which it operates.
- Key to the project will be the development of digital skills for members of a chosen team. They will be taught how to use GIS tools to record accurate co-ordinates when content is collected, how to edit images, sound recordings and video clips as well as how to submit this content onto the Map Inanda website. These are increasingly important skills that will better equip team members for the job market.
- The project will collect and collate content from a variety of sources and aims as much as possible to create and present a clearer and more representative picture of history, religion and dynamic culture in contemporary Inanda. We believe that the heritage and history of an area should be generated by the people who live there. In the spirit of democratising heritage, we propose a ‘cellular suggestion box’, an SMS component of the website that will facilitate wider and intergenerational community participation and allow people from Inanda to submit ideas and suggestions for Map Inanda, using cellphones, which the vast majority have at their disposal.
- Map Inanda has immense potential to generate and boost tourism in the area. Inanda has a rich cultural, religious and social history, including sites like the Phoenix Settlement, Inanda Seminary, Shembe holy places, Ebuhleni and Ekuphakameni, the Ohlange Institute, and John Dube’s house. Audio and visual representations of the history and culture of the area on the Map Inanda website would stimulate tourists’ pre-visit curiosity while precise geographic coordinates, linked to significant sites, would facilitate visits to these areas of interest.
Check it out at www.mapinanda.org
