Hi all,

After several months of negotiation, I am almost sealing a GLAM deal with the Kenya National Archives. I'm getting the necessary paperwork done, and hopefully, by January 2013, I'll have gotten the final go-ahead. So, I'm guesstimating that this project may start on Feb 2013.

The Archives has made it very clear (from the start) that it doesn't have the resources to undertake this project, so I hope that I'll manage to secure a grant from the WMF to fund the Wikipedian in Residence's compensation and all other associated costs. I've started making a draft application here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Abbas_Mahmood/Wikipedian_in_Residence_at_the_Kenya_National_Archives. I'm also planning on contacting WikiAfrica to 1) learn more from their GLAM projects that they've been undertaking, 2) inquire about how much it usually costs them, and 3) the challenges that they usually face.

This is NOT a public service announcement: this is just a courtesy FYI, so please do NOT distribute this news until everything is official.

Thanks, and happy holidays :-)

Abbas.