The aim of this project is to create an Internet based digital archive/library for the preservation and dissemination of African indigenous knowledge (IK). The purpose of the digital library would be to bring together existing digital resources and to implement specific community based projects to record indigenous knowledge (languages, narratives, rituals, artifacts, etc). The digital library will then provide the infrastructure to preserve, disseminate and protect this indigenous knowledge. The project will be community driven and will initially focus on existing resources and on indigenous cultural knowledge that is easy to record and catalogue with minimal technology, such as aboriginal narratives. The project will collaborate with existing initiatives elsewhere such as the ‘FirstVoices' project in Canada http://www.firstvoices.ca/

The project will research issues that relates to the extinction of indigenous knowledge and what role can ICT play in reversing the situation. The research will be built upon the success of existing initiative and a case study will be used to present a possible approach. Finally, an action project will be implemented based on the findings from the research and the lessons from the case study. We next describe each of these components in more details.

There have been major efforts by multilateral organization on issues of indigenous knowledge (IK) and development, for example, in 1998 World Bank published a framework for action on IK focusing on information dissemination, facilitation of exchange of IK among developing countries communities, application of IK in the development process and building partnership. There is a consensus about the relevance and importance of IK in development with most initiatives emerging around the World Bank framework highlighted above. The emphasis up to now has been on social cultural description of IK and awareness about the importance of IK. Some of these initiatives led to the establishment of resource center for IK in some regions of the world e.g. African Resource center on indigenous knowledge (ARCIK), etc. However, there are relatively few resources that employ the capability of ICT in preservation of indigenous knowledge and there is only a limited understanding of the influence of digital archives and electronic libraries in the implementation of the framework for action on IK. This project will examine these issues in more details. Specifically, this project will attempt to answer the following questions

• What are the available IK that can be digitized?
• What are the existing ways of IK preservations, sharing and transfer across generations
• What is the role of ICT in IK transfer over generation?
• How could ICT enable indigenous knowledge for development?
• Is digital archive an effective way to preserve and share IK?
• What is the appropriateness of a digital archive of IK to a rural audience?
• What are the ethical implications of digitizing IK?

The project will take the existing research into consideration and we will specifically focus on the digital archives and electronic library, starting with the materials available in the existing centers.

For data collection, contacts will be made with the centers for indigenous knowledge that falls in the region of our initial focus (see http://www.unesco.org/most/bpiklist.htm for list of possible centers). We will require information that can provide answers to some of the questions listed above using multiple methodologies that might be most appropriate. The information gathered will be interpreted and triangulated with other sources of information to formulate an action project.

The intermediate reports based on the input from the centers and secondary sources will be published in relevant channels. The component of a digital archive will also be agreed upon in a meeting /forum by major stakeholders (primarily the existing centers). This prototype could form the basis of the future work subjected for funds availability (we will use our findings to justify our request for funds from national governments and donor/funding agencies)

What is FirstVoices
FirstVoices is a suite of web-based tools and services designed to support Aboriginal people engaged in language archiving, language teaching & culture revitalization. The FirstVoices Language Archive contains thousands of text entries in many diverse Aboriginal writing systems, enhanced with sounds, pictures and videos. A companion set of interactive online games is designed to present the archived FirstVoices language data in creative learning activities. Some language archives at FirstVoices are publicly accessible, while others are password protected at the request of the language community.

How FirstVoices Works
At the core of the FirstVoices Web application is an online language archiving tool. Each language collection consists of an alphabet, dictionary and phrase book. The alphabet provides the written character set for a language, with sample sound files for each character. The dictionary provides a word list, with translations, definitions, sounds, images and video. FirstVoices Phrase Books contain everyday conversational language with related text, sound, image and video files to support language learning. Using the latest digital technology, Aboriginal communities can accurately document their language data and manage their own language resources. Data can then be repurposed in a variety of Web-enabled language activities designed for self-directed learning. Students customize their choice of language activity and degree of linguistic challenge while connected live to FirstVoices.com. Each new activity is populated with text and sound files directly from the FirstVoices database. FirstVoices makes creative use of the Internet with a unique set of tools providing access to the language and culture of the Elders for all Aboriginal students, whether close to their traditional territory or far away in an urban setting.  

Fostering Community Involvement
FirstVoices fosters community collaboration in the revitalization of Indigenous languages. Through mentorship programs for young people and their Elders, the knowledge and wisdom of fluent speakers is passed along to future generations. Young people use their technical expertise to help their elders build media-rich language archives for their entire language community.

Summary
The FirstVoices online language archive represents an opportunity for governments, corporations, senior educational institutions and NGO's to combine their resources in one educational vehicle designed to reverse the loss of Aboriginal languages and cultures.

A number of important features place the FirstVoices Project in a league of its own:

• a “Made in Canada ” solution with wide appeal among language teachers and linguists
• a design team representing Aboriginal communities, language specialists and linguists
• a leading-edge software development team
• highly creative and experienced on-line learning resource developers
• a “Train-the-Trainer” program and delivery team
• support from Aboriginal organizations, governments and corporations in Canada , the USA and Australia

Implication of the Case and relevance to the WG SELA project
There are many languages in Africa and elsewhere that could also be archived like Aboriginal languages with recognition of the contextual and technical differences. Our project will benefit from the experiences of FirstVoices teams and learn from their mistakes and successes. We will specifically know many issues to pay attention to during the implementation of the actionable programme of the WG. Also we have a successful example to use as illustration for potential funding sources.

The aim of this project is to design and implement a digital archive for indigenous knowledge and subsequently build an electronic library or IK resources available at various institutions in Africa . While this project will be similar to the FirstVoices, it will be extended beyond language archives to other indigenous knowledge. Other indigenous knowledge to be archived will be determined from the findings from the research aspect of this project.

The initial phase of the project will be to develop tools (where they are not available, e.g. specific language tools etc). There will be collaboration with national information technology development agencies on the related resources and implementation at centers within a country.

ore details about the procedures for this aspect of the project will be provided as the project progress.

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