Museums and social change: the case for and against digitising – ICOM-SA Workshop

ICOM-SA is holding a half-day workshop on ‘Museums and social change: the case for and against digitising’ on 13 July 2012. It will take place at the auditorium of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, 237 Jabu Ndlovu Street, Pietermaritzburg, from 09H00 to 11H00. The final programme with background information is available HERE (click to download).

The workshop will focus on digitisation in museums. It will explore the issues of memory, visualisation and ethics, and speakers will provide examples of digitisation projects that have had a global impact. The workshop should provoke lively debate and challenge prevailing ideas about digitisation in museums and heritage institutions.

There has been a great deal of interest in the workshop already and entrance is free. In order to get a seat, please make sure you register as soon as possible by emailing dmpgertenbach@telkomsa.net. KwaZulu-Natal Museum has kindly offered to arrange for parking – but this is limited – so please let us know if you are arriving by car.

South African History Online Internship Programme

Through its Internship Programme, South African History Online aims to recruit some Masters and PhD students who can assist with research, specifically with regard to:

  • The history of documentary photography in South Africa.
  • An exhibition and book on banishments during the struggle against apartheid.
  • An exhibition that contributes to SAHO’s Lives of Courage feature.

As these entail a level of visual literacy. Therefore, students with Visual Art/Fine Art or Art History background will be preferred. The students will be paid for their work as the project is funded through the CATHSSETA, the Arts and Culture Sector Education and Training Authority.

Prospective interns can send the following to Xolelwa Kashe-Katiya on xkashekatiya@gmail.com:

  • a CV
  • Certified copy of their ID
  • Certified copy of qualifications
  • Proof of registration at any university in the Western Cape

For more information on SAHO, visit the website on www.sahistory.org.za

Goethe-Institut invites experts to SCECSAL conference

Niall McNulty

Niall McNulty has been invited to present a workshop on ‘Libraries as Community Memory’ in Nairobi, Kenya. This forms part of the SCECSAL Conference taking place next week.

The 20th conference of SCECSAL, the umbrella organisation for library associations in East, Central and Southern Africa, takes place between 4 and 8 June 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. The core theme is “Information for Sustainable Development in a Digital Environment” – a crucial topic for library experts aiming at creating or improving digital services for their users.

The Goethe-Institut in sub-Saharan Africa promotes the exchange of information professionals on the continent, thus strengthening the profession and the performance of libraries. To this end, the Goethe-Institut has facilitated the participation of six information experts as presenters at the conference. They hail from five different countries: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania and in their presentations, they will cover topics such as:

  • Open Access and Institutional Repositories
  • Digital Preservation
  • Electronic Record Management Systems
  • Building an indigenous digital library