AI programmes for education systems
For those of you who follow us on Twitter or are fans on Facebook, this is old news, but last Saturday Grant (aka mol-d) attended the SA Blog Awards at the One and Only hotel in Cape Town where Sprig won the Best Green Blog for 2010.
Other winners include the Best Travel Blog (www.getaway.co.za/page/blog), the Best Group Blog (www.rlabs.org), the Best Photographic Blog (www.guywithcamera.co.za) and the Best South African Podcast Blog (www.zanews.co.za).
Digital technologies provide all manner of new opportunities for the recording and dissemination of local knowledge and histories, outside of the already established chains of cultural transmission. Greater access to the Internet and the proliferation of mobile phones and other digital devices, coupled with the multiple ways in which people in the present are engaging with the past, points to the potential of these new technologies to facilitate new modes of recording and sharing local knowledge, cultural practices and histories.
The democratising potential of these digital technologies is great, in that they offer opportunities for traditionally marginalised groups to record and share their local knowledge and histories on the Internet, from their perspectives. They have therefore given rise to (amongst other things) the broad category of “digital memory projects,” including undertakings such as community-run museums, community archives, so-called indigenous cultural centres and alternative approaches to those commonly employed by cultural institutions (Sandell, 2002). The variability of digital technologies is vital to the success of these, and is seen to encourage dialogue, multiple authorship and the exchange of ideas and opinions. In contrast to the closed authorship, fixed ideas and practices of museums, libraries and heritage institutions, digital files circulate more freely and are open to further editing, co-authorship and interpretation. This suggests a more democratised mode of production as different constituencies can collect, interpret, alter and create new meanings for digital content as they see fit (Parry, 2007).
Article published in last week’s Sunday Times by my dad, on his epic trip overland from South Africa to England.
Greyling, E. and McNulty, N. 2011. The number in my pocket: the power of mobile technology for the exchange of indigenous knowledge. Knowledge Management for Development Journal. 7 (3): 256 – 273. Available HERE. See a summary in poster form HERE.
The last decade has seen the development of online databases becoming an established norm throughout the world for the preservation of indigenous knowledge. However, in the absence of desktop computers and ubiquitous Internet access, Africa is limping behind in this quest for global information, with the digital divide ever widening and the wealth of indigenous knowledge fast disappearing for the people of this continent. In a bid to address these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Africa is recognizing the potential of the mobile phone to enable the continent to catch up with the global information society. Since 2000 some 316 million new mobile phone subscriptions have emerged on the African continent. For them the cell phone has become an information hub, the primary interface through which to connect to Africa and to the rest of the world. A recent, promising development has been the introduction of browsers on mobile phones. This, combined with the 3G network all cellular providers have migrated to, means that ordinary Africans are accessing the Internet from their phones in ever-increasing numbers. The success of a number of Internet-based mobile applications means that the average cell phone user now associates his phone with more than just the calls he makes or text messages he sends. He can also play music, show video, find out where he is via GPS and access local and global information. This paper describes a concept for the development of user-generated content compiled in an online indigenous knowledge database, making use of current mobile and web technologies. Informed by empirical practice based on a South African case-study, the different tools are discussed, highlighting the interaction between the library, the community and the technologies. The participating role of local communities leading to enrichment of the database is juxtaposed against the library’s anchor role as custodian of the knowledge resource. The preservation of context-related local knowledge creates a digital library of relevance to local communities. Technical functionality enables the social interaction that results from knowledge sharing. Short and long-term benefits that the community stands to gain are discussed and the limitations of the model pointed out.
Best IFLA poster 2015. Niall McNulty and Brigitte Doellgast
Current ICTs and mobile technology have the potential to empower communities to preserve and manage their own local knowledge. This paper looks at the development of the Ulwazi Programme, a community-generated digital library of local content, based in the eThekwini Municipality of Durban, South Africa. The programme uses crowd-sourcing and Web 2.0 technologies to enable communities served by the municipal library to contribute to a digital resource of local knowledge. By creating an online platform that inhabitants of the municipality can engage with and contribute to, the author argues that communities start participating in the global information society. Making this information more widely available can also serve to promote cross-cultural understanding and tolerance and in turn, social cohesion. Technology empowers communities to record what they feel is important in a way that makes sense and is logical to them. The Ulwazi Programme increases the capacity of the local communities of eThekwini to develop and access content in their own language. Previously technologically-marginalised communities now have online access to local knowledge, along with the prospect of participating in the global information society and developing digital literacy.
In 2011 I initiated a project – in collaboration with the eThekwini Municipality and with funding from the Goethe Institut – to teach 21st Century Skills to learners in township schools around KwaZulu-Natal. Run at four schools with existing computer laboratories, the included a practical task-based section and an online e-learning component.
Through funding assistance from the Goethe Institut the programme is being rolled out 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 School’s project will be run at four township and rural schools where there are computer laboratories, two schools during the 2nd semester 2011 and two schools during the 1st semester 2012. The pilot project will be run with a practical task-based section and an online e-learning component. This report looks at the first half of the project, recently completed.
Task-based section
A mentor worked with a group of 10 students, from one school at a time. They introduced the programme, showed students how the website works, provided training on interviewing and story-writing and provided mentorship to the students with regards to their story writing. Working with the teacher responsible for this project, the mentor also set weekly themes for story collection (e.g. the story of my family, the area I grew up in, etc.) and helped mark the stories.
On-line e-learning section
Students loaded their own stories and images onto the Ulwazi website and learnt to assign appropriate categories to them. They also completed an online test at the end of the eight weeks, with questions set that required the student to use the Ulwazi wiki to answer. There were also a number of questions on the ICT skills that students picked up through the programme.
Response from the participating schools
From the Students
“I would like to say thank you to the campus manager for accepting this opportunity so that we can participate. A big thank you to Mr Mchunu, Project Leader Mrs Greyling, our mentors Mr Zuma and Mabusi Kgwete, mentor for Menzi School, our technicians Mr Mathebula and Mr Niall McNulty for assisting us. To be honest this has been fun. We enjoyed participating in this project. We gained a lot, we have had huge excitement through this. We gained a variety of skills such as working in a team… we also gained more skills like creating Gmail accounts. We gained researching skills… how to use search engines like Google and how to write a query so that you can get the relevant information…
We also learnt more skills like how to interview people, how to use questionnaires to obtain more information and how to use libraries and so on. We gained communication skills like when you research and approach different people from different cultures, you cannot just say you are from Ulwazi, I want this information, because some people will think that you want to expose their personal lives or maybe you want to make or gain some profit out of them.
We had to be very polite, we had to respect. We knew how to greet, how to ask for something, how to introduce ourselves, how to make somebody understand what is it you want to talk about and how then it is important. After persuading them to feel that they are part of the programme is how we gained information.
We also learned how to use Ulwazi website, writing skills and so on. There is a lot, and I can assure everyone that we are ready for the industry, for working with other people using the skills that we gained. Thank you!” – Thandwayinkosi Myeza at Elangeni College.
“My fellow schoolmates, the problem is that I’m too excited, I don’t know where to start. On behalf of the CAT classmates we would like to thank the programme of Ulwazi, it’s been really a wonderful eight weeks. We learned a lot and some things that we never knew before. It’s like, for us we did know how to use internet. We really learned incredible skills and a big thank you to you all.” – Ntobeko Cele at Menzi High School.
From the Principals
“Words cannot be sufficient to express our appreciation of the project. What has been done by this project, you have assisted us because… this project has broken the boundaries of ignorance… we have learners who will understand that learning is not dependent on teaching. These are two different concepts – teaching and learning. You can be taught for 45 hours and at the end of the week when we check, there was no learning. But you can learn and without any teaching. With what they have taught you now, they have given you tools which must be used for you to learn.”
“You have assisted us because you have added value to what we are doing to ensure that we have learners that are empowered. Thank you very much for the project. As Mrs Ngema said, we have to take this project from this campus to other 7 campuses with +- 5000 learners. We can’t only benefit KwaMashu Campus. We need to steal this idea and see how do we take this idea to Ndwedwe Campus as a first priority because of their location. They need to be exposed to activities like this. I will appreciate it and then we can focus on Qadi campus and others can follow.”
“Really, I am excited. I will report this project to senior management. The head of your department Mr Thembinkosi Ngcobo is the college’s treasurer. I will also inform him about what you have done. I will give him feedback because he must know about what his soldiers are doing on the ground.”
Thank you very much [to the students] for being ambassadors of the college. Thank you to everyone, the municipality. The project should be the start of bigger things to come. Thank you!” – Mr Mbili, Rector of Elangeni College.
“We are here just to celebrate the work well done, mission accomplished. Ours is to receive our visitors and to listen to the message and make sure that what has been contributed to the school is really taken care of and becomes a lifetime investment. So I’m sure the few learners that have been trained will cascade this information to the majority of the school learners.”
“Thank you! We thank the funders of the project for making a contribution to our school. We can only teach the few learning areas that we are teaching. The type of skill and the type of knowledge that have been given to our learners is really a lot and we are sure that the entire school will benefit from the few who have learned the skill. We really have to say thank you so much, I know you have so much patience and I know it has been taking more of the mentor’s hours [than planned] because they used to remain even after four [in the afternoons] to continue finishing their work. It has proved to us that it is something they are passionate about. Finally I want to promise the municipality, the funders and the facilitators of this programme that the seed that they have planted will really grow, it will blossom and I can assure as a school we are always thirsty for the knowledge. Intellectual development is our specialization. This special skill is also adding value to the work that we do as a school we are really grateful. We would like to say please keep it up, do it to others. And we promise you that you invested in a very fertile ground at Menzi High School.” – Mr Mshololo, Principal at Menzi High School.
Extracts from the project blog
“Most of the children did not know what an email address was and for some it was their first time to log in to the internet. You should have seen their faces. ” – from First Day of Ulwazi School’s Project at Menzi High School.
“Enthusiastic students couldn’t wait to talk about Thursday, which is the day when everyone will be getting down with the project and our first activities.” – from Ulwazi Project Launch at Elangeni College
“The first two weeks reminded us that the project is mainly about researching and this needs time to get the right information. ” – from Lessons Learned so far!
“The team has been been diligently doing their research on the two themes and have done well in them. The delays have come when the typing of the stories had to be done with limited time access on the computers. ” – from Progress of the project.
“They have been working in small groups to research their stories and I hope everybody is going to learn something about their area and about the learners who participated in this project from their family histories.” – from Preparing for Ulwazi School’s Test.
Full project report below.
Born of political shifts and a changing, post-apartheid policy environment that advanced a participatory approach to heritage, the Ulwazi Program is a South African library initiative set up by the eThekwini Municipality’s Libraries and Heritage Department to “preserve and disseminate indigenous knowledge of local communities in the greater Durban area.”
It creates a collaborative online database of local indigenous knowledge as part of the public library’s digital resources, relying on community participation for delivering
content and posting the content on the web. The project is a collaborative, online, local knowledge resource in English and Zulu (the most commonly used languages in Durban), in the form of a “Wiki,” much like Wikipedia, but localized for the eThekwini Municipality.
The program was established in 2008 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was the brainchild of a former senior librarian for software applications at the eThekwini Municipal Library, Betsie Greyling. Greyling worked with McNulty Consulting to translate her conceptual thinking into a practical project. The Ulwazi Program is the first project of its kind in South Africa because it promotes a “democratized collection policy” through the library with the use of basic digital media tools and community participation.
KwaZulu-Natal artworks are finally getting deserved recognition and are being likened to British modernism, while writers and poets are also getting accolades in A Literary Guide to KwaZulu-Natal.
This is an authoritative literary tourism guide that helps readers trace the steps of famous authors and poets from the province. While this can be considered a niche audience, the literary history in the book forms an important part of the South African identity, which makes the guide a must-have.
See the review in the Saturday Citizen below.
A Literary Guide to KwaZulu-Natal by Niall McNulty, Lindy Stiebel
ISBN: 9781869143572
For several years I was involved in a research project at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, researching authors, their books and places connected to them. We produced a number of author profiles and literary trails over the years (in collaboration with a number of co-researchers), which we published online. Working with UKZN Press, we have taken that research and compiled a literary guide, which was recently published (GoodReads).
Book details
KwaZulu-Natal is culturally rich, offering a wide range of writers – writing mainly in English and Zulu – who are linked through their lives and their writing to this province of South Africa. The writers include, to name just a few, Alan Paton, Roy Campbell, Lewis Nkosi, Ronnie Govender, Wilbur Smith, Daphne Rooke, Credo Mutwa and Gcina Mhlophe. And how better to understand a writer than to know about the places they are linked to? For example, who, after reading the lyrical opening sentences of Paton’s famous book Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) has not wanted to see this scene in reality?
There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass-covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it.
A Literary Guide to KwaZulu-Natal introduces you to the regions and writers through word and image, leading you imaginatively through this beautiful province.
The Digital Memory Toolkit is an innovative initiative that addresses the digital literacy gap in African digital community projects. Developed in partnership with the Goethe Institut, this toolkit equips project teams with the necessary insights and tools to undertake digital community projects. These projects not only preserve local knowledge but also empower community members through skills training and engagement. The toolkit serves as an introductory training manual for African NGOs, libraries, archives, museums, and schools, enabling them to initiate and manage digital community projects using open-source technology and community volunteers.
African communities have a rich heritage and culture, but the preservation of this heritage has been challenging due to a lack of digital literacy and resources. This made it difficult for digital community projects to effectively document and preserve local knowledge. Moreover, the absence of relevant skills training and community engagement hindered the empowerment of individuals in these communities.
To address these challenges, the Digital Memory Toolkit was developed as a comprehensive resource. The toolkit is divided into three main parts:
Through this structured approach, the toolkit ensures that project teams are well-equipped to undertake digital community projects while fostering skills development and community engagement.
(Chapter written for Undressing Durban book)
I’m hopping about on one leg, in the middle of a busy walkway, obstructing morning commuters. Directly across from me is the herb-sellers market, above me cars funnel into the city while below colourful aprons are strewn across stairs, the ladies selling them sitting on upturned crates. “Is this the right size?” I ask Crops as I squeeze my foot into a cross-strapped rubber sandal. “Sure, sure, stretch to fit,” he answers. Crops makes and sells imbadadada (a home-made shoe or literally ‘someone who walks with an awkward gait’) from a small outlet on the edge of Warwick Triangle. Pairs are lined up outside his shop, in rows based on style and size. The imbadadada is a thick, hard-wearing sandal, with two straps along the front and one along the back, originally made by Zulu tribesmen. Johnny Clegg made these shoes popular with a wider audience in the eighties, dancing in a pair on stages across the world.
“I make these myself from the car tires,” Crops tells me. “It’s an old design. They first started making them in the 1950s. The people buy it for the traditional dance or just to wear. It is comfortable and they last a long time. I am also making these new styles now, ones with the buckle and ones with Nike.”