Hi Asaf,
Yep, I'm seriously considering taking this up with the Archives, although I'm not
yet 100% sure (I've still got to sort out lots of personal stuff).
Anyway, I fully agree with you that in a optimal case, it is the cultural institution that
is supposed to cater for the associated costs of a Residency. However, in this case, not
only is the Kenya National Archives under-resourced, but most importantly, it is a long,
tedious and bureaucratic process of getting funds for a foreign, non-priority project from
a government institution. I said foreign, because, AFAIK, there has been no other
Sub-Saharan Archive that has partnered with Wikimedia (and has tangible results that we
could use as a case study), so the lack of precedence presents higher risks (from the
Kenyan Archives point of view). I also say foreign, because to the Kenyan Archives,
Wikimedia is a foreign institution. And the Kenya National Archives has a long history of
US-based institutes that've come to them with the intention of plagiarizing their
content. (The Archives Director even showed me one of the lawsuits that the Archives has
against a US institute), so therefore, the Archives is understandably skeptical of any
such partnerships. I said non-priority, since rather than put Kenyan content on Wikimedia
projects, the Archives would rather spend their little resources on, say, improving their
own website, or buying better assets (computers, storage devices) or opening up another
facility in Western Kenya. Therefore, with all these challenges they are facing, there is
absolutely no way that the Kenya National Archives (or quite appropriately, the Ministry
of National Heritage) will fund this project. I think that WikiAfrica could probably
second what I'm saying: as far as I know, all their GLAM projects so far (in Cameroon
and in South Africa) have been funded by either the Orange Foundation, or the Lettera27
Foundation.
Oscar, absolutely, I'm not expecting this to be a one-man job.
Regards,Abbas.
From: abartov(a)wikimedia.org
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:28:29 -0800
To: wikimediake(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Kenya] WiR at the Kenya National Archives
I'm glad to hear about the interest from the national archives, and congratulate Abbas
on his efforts bearing fruit. Do I understand correctly that Abbas intends to fill that
role himself?
A word of advice: please make sure you don't commit prematurely to something you might
not be able to keep. E.g. if the plan relies on WMF funding, it is certainly too early to
sign anything, before the plan was reviewed by the GAC and WMF and a grant was approved.
I should point out in advance that we generally consider WiR's salaries to be the
responsibility of the host institution, as we think the bigger benefit accrues to it.
Nevertheless, context matters, of course, and this is not a "no", to be sure.
Cheers,
Asaf
On Sun, Dec 30, 2012 at 11:18 PM, Limoke Oscar <oslimoke(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Some good news there to seal the otherwise dark year for WMKE . Wish you all the best
Abbas and hope we can mutually find areas to collaborate (as WMKE)
Best and happy New year to all
On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Abbas Mahmood <abbasjnr(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
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….
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.
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Regards,
Limoke Oscar,Dream.Believe.Become....a world of endless oportunities
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