HERITAGE AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Last Friday we presented a paper at the Heritage and Socio-economic Development Conference at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.  The paper was well received with participants particularly interested in the community-participation through digital technologies and collaborative  resource development aspects of the paper, two areas we have been involved with since 2008.

Click here to view the presentation …

Apartheid Museum. Pic by Emiliano Homrich
Apartheid Museum. Pic by Emiliano Homrich

Digital heritage as a tool for schools

Its a New Year and we’ve kicked it off by visiting two schools – one in Hammarsdale and the other in Umbumbulu – where we will be running the  phase two of the Ulwazi Schools Project.

This innovative project uses digital heritage to teach research, media and digital literacy skills to students from disadvantaged schools. Weekly lessons are arranged thematically, with students having to research articles on, for example, the history of their school, local environment or  family then write an article and submit it to the Ulwazi Community Memory website.  Students are taught how to use digital audio recorders and cameras, how to acces the Internet on a mobile phone, how to conduct research online and how to conduct oral history interviews, while being fully engaged in the learning process through researching content relevant to their lives.

As a model for ICT training it is excellent.  So far the project has been enthusiastically embraced – take a look at some of the articles produced last year by school children from Menzi High School https://wiki.ulwazi.org/index.php5?title=Category:Menzi_High_School

Computer lab at Sibusiswe High School, Umbumbulu
Computer lab at Sibusiswe High School, Umbumbulu

2011 – A YEAR IN REVIEW

Summer is here!
Summer is here!

We’ve had another interesting year where we’ve cemented our work on digital heritage as well as explored the areas of e-citizenship and the possibility that digital media holds for the environmental movement.  In no particular order, here are a few things we have done that we’re proud of …

Projects
  • We’ve worked on the Goethe Institut/Ulwazi Programme’s School’s Project.  Read more …
  • Together with the Communication Factory, we re-designed the Ulwazi website.  Check it out here …
  • Working with KZN Literary Tourism, we launched the South Coast Writers trail.  Read more …
  • OneWorld commissioned a survey and report from us, on how best to implement a climate change knowledge-sharing platform.  Read more …
  • With designer Dominic Strauss, we designed a poster for the M-Lib Conference in Brisbane.  Check it out here …
  • We developed and launched an experimental heritage mapping project Map Inanda.  Read more …
  • We digitised and made available online a number of literary documentary videos. Watch them here …
  • We redeveloped our own site, making it a lot easier to navigate and we think, really attractive!
  • We developed a new blogsite for trend forecaster Christopher Reid.  Go check it out …
  • We initiated a social media strategy for Urban Earth.
  • Niall continued with existing projects – managing the Ulwazi Programme; digitisation and media management for the Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity; research and content and social media management for KZN Literary Tourism; editing and blogging on Sprig.
  • Grant started working with the Tombouctou Manuscripts project – providing social media and web management – and with Sustaining the Wild Coast – establishing their social media strategy.
Conferences and Events
  • Niall attended the Highway Africa Conference where he was a New Media Awards nominee, coming runner-up in the NGO category.
  • Niall presented a paper at the Indigenous Knowledge Technology Conference in Windhoek, Nambia.  The paper will be published in a special issue of the Knowledge Management for Development journal.
  • Niall presented a session at the Durban University of Technology’s e-Learning Festival.
  • Niall facilitated a workshop on the eThekwini Municipality’s digital offerings at a Library Week event.
  • Niall participated in the UNESCO/ccrri workshop on the development of a communication advocacy strategy for the city of Durban.
  • Niall participated in the Classification and its Consequences Symposium at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  • Grant attended the ASnA Conference.  Read more …
  • Grant attended a series of workshops run by the Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative.  Read more …
  • Grant attended the Department of Arts and Culture’s Digitisation of Heritage Resources.  Read our thoughts here and here and see Grant’s post on the Archival Platform.
Training
  • Niall co-taught the News Media and the Internet Society course for the Internet Studies department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  • Niall co-taught the Literary Tourismin KwaZulu-Natal Course for the English Studies department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  • We provided oral history, media development and ICT training to the Rural Women’s Movement.
Awards and Recognition

Enjoy the summer holidays and see you next year.  We have a number of interesting projects on the go and look forward to sharing them with you in 2012.

Cheers,

Niall and Grant

 

Ulwazi Programme Schools’ Project Report

With funding assistance from the Goethe Institut, we have helped to roll out the Ulwazi Programme to township and rural schools in a bid to create opportunities to enhance ICT skills among the youth and generate interest in their own history and culture. The Ulwazi School’s project will be run at four township and rural schools that have computer laboratories – two schools in late 2011 and two in early part of 2012. The pilot project will be run with a practical task-based section and an online e-learning component.

Click here to view the final report …