The Kenya
News Agency (KNA), under the stewardship of the Kenya ICT Board will embark on
a mass-digitization journey of its audio-visual collection. The digitalization project,
which is considered to be the largest in East Africa, will commence later in
the month.
Speaking
during the launch of the project roadmap on Friday, Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Information and Communication Dr. Bitange Ndemo said that by
digitizing content people would start to create wealth and expand the talent pool
in the arts.
Plans are
also underway for the Ministry to replicate the same venture to the national
broadcaster KBC, he added.
KNA which safeguards
over 70,000 photographs (some dating back as early as 1940) as well as
archiving 40,000 news articles, 3,000 photographs and 2,000 video clips annually
has no choice but to digitize or face extinction, a report stated.
The report titled, “Digitization of photographs, audio visual
and text records at the Kenya News Agency of the Department of Information”
recommends that KNA’s records must be stored in a well-organized physical
library that meets international-standards with a secure online catalogue for
easy retrieval.
The report further recommends, KNA
building a platform to allow contributors to submit digital text, audio, video
and photos while allowing users to view order and purchase digital copies.
About KNA
KNA was
established on 5th December 1963, shortly after independence and has
grown in leaps and bounds to be the biggest news agency in East Africa. The agency
spans to 24 bureaus and over 100 provincial, district and division-level
information offices. KNA is under the department of Information and Public
Communication.
Currently it
enjoys a broad subscription from local newspapers, TV, and Radio stations as
well as international news agencies.
Credit to Dan
Muhuni cio.co.ke
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