Full Description
African Studies in the Digital Age. DisConnects? seeks to understand the complex changes brought about by the digital revolution. The editors, Terry Barringer and Marion Wallace, have brought together librarians, archivists, researchers and academics from three continents to analyse the creation and use of digital research resources and archives in and about Africa. The volume reveals new opportunities for research, teaching and access, as well as potential problems and digital divides. Published under the aegis of SCOLMA (the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa), this new work is a major step forward in understanding the impact of the Internet Age for the study of Africa, in and beyond the continent.
Contributors are: Terry Barringer, Hartmut Bergenthum, Natalie Bond, Mirjam de Bruijn, Ian Cooke, Jos Damen, Jonathan Harle, Diana Jeater, Rebecca Kahn, Peter Limb, Lucia Lovison-Golob, Walter Gam Nkwi, Jenni Orme, Daniel A. Reboussin, Ashley Rockenbach, Amidu Sanni, Simon Tanner, Edgar C. Taylor, Laurie N. Taylor, Marion Wallace, Massimo Zaccaria
Contents
About the Contributors
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction
Terry Barringer, Jos Damen, Peter Limb and Marion Wallace
Part 1 Access, Research and Researchers
1 African Studies in the Digital Age - Challenges for Research and National Libraries
Ian Cooke and Marion Wallace
2 Dazzled by Digital?
Research Environments in African Universities and Their Implications for the Use of Digital Resources
Jonathan Harle
3 Data, Data Everywhere, But Not a Byte to Think
The Pitfalls of Increased Access to Digital Resources in University History Departments in Zimbabwe
Diana Jeater
4 Improving Digital Collection Access with Simple Search Engine Optimisation Strategies
Daniel A. Reboussin and Laurie N. Taylor
Part 2 Archives and Memory
5 Building Futures
The Role of Digital Collections in Shaping National Identity in Africa
Rebecca Kahn and Simon Tanner
6 The West African Manuscript Heritage - Challenges of the Digital Revolution in a Research Economy
Amidu Sanni
7 Recovering the African Printed Past - Virtually Re-membering a Dispersed Collection in Eritrea
Massimo Zaccaria
8 Archives and the Past - Cataloguing and Digitisation in Uganda's Archives
Edgar C. Taylor, Ashley Brooke Rockenbach and Natalie Bond
9 'Life is so Summarised' - Society's Memory in the Digital Age in Africa
Mirjam de Bruijn and Walter Gam Nkwi
Part 3 Building on Digital
10 African Newspapers in the Online World - Information Gains and Losses
Hartmut Bergenthum
11 Viewing 'Africa Through a Lens'
Using Digitisation and Online Tools at The National Archives (uk) to Widen Audience Reach
Jenni Orme
12 The Integration of Historical Cartography into the Present Day - The Darfur Case
Lucia Lovison-Golob
Concluding Remarks
Peter Limb
Appendix: Programme of scolma's 50th anniversary conference
Index of Subjects
