Pub Date : 2006-12-12DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30960
D. Wallace
Records and archives are sources of evidence of human agency. They are a form of “social glue” which holds together, sustains, and sometimes unravels organizations, governments, communities, individuals, and societies. This notion of records and archives as a form of “social glue” can be viewed from many perspectives – as cultural memory, as evidence of a decision trail, as a trigger for deliberative action, as a requirement to meet regulatory obligations, and so on. An essential aspect emanating from these perspectives is that records and archives are vehicles supporting accountability. However, the often determinative role that records and archives frequently play in the social construction of accountability are mostly muted within the larger narratives they participate in. While records and archives frequently provide the scaffolding for the stories relayed and sometimes even play central roles, rarely are they explicitly surfaced as accountability objects necessitating concentrated attention. Instead they are subsumed as objects that help to tell “the story” and not as active devices that implicate what kind of story may even be able to be told in the first place. The experiences of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its efforts to document the crimes of apartheid are demonstrative here. This obscuring of the accountability dimensions played by recordkeeping and archiving limits societal understanding of how they can and do profoundly shape social interactions and memories of them. In that regard, records and archives are worthy of concentrated examination on their own terms in relation to how they enable, enforce, limit, ignore, and deny accountability. ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 17-22
{"title":"Recordkeeping for accountability","authors":"D. Wallace","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30960","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30960","url":null,"abstract":"Records and archives are sources of evidence of human agency. They are a form of “social glue” which holds together, sustains, and sometimes unravels organizations, governments, communities, individuals, and societies. This notion of records and archives as a form of “social glue” can be viewed from many perspectives – as cultural memory, as evidence of a decision trail, as a trigger for deliberative action, as a requirement to meet regulatory obligations, and so on. \u0000\u0000An essential aspect emanating from these perspectives is that records and archives are vehicles supporting accountability. However, the often determinative role that records and archives frequently play in the social construction of accountability are mostly muted within the larger narratives they participate in. While records and archives frequently provide the scaffolding for the stories relayed and sometimes even play central roles, rarely are they explicitly surfaced as accountability objects necessitating concentrated attention. Instead they are subsumed as objects that help to tell “the story” and not as active devices that implicate what kind of story may even be able to be told in the first place. The experiences of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its efforts to document the crimes of apartheid are demonstrative here. This obscuring of the accountability dimensions played by recordkeeping and archiving limits societal understanding of how they can and do profoundly shape social interactions and memories of them. In that regard, records and archives are worthy of concentrated examination on their own terms in relation to how they enable, enforce, limit, ignore, and deny accountability.\u0000 ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 17-22","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"434 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124243520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-12-12DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30971
M. Mutasa, B. Ncube
The article looks at the introduction of a Library and Information Science programme at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe, as the first step towards paving the way for an introduction of a Records and Archives Management degree programme. In this article, the authors who are Third Year students and pioneers in the Department of Library and Information Science at the university lament the absence of both undergraduate and postgraduate courses directly linked to the field of Records and Archives Management in Zimbabwe. For a very long time, records managers and archivists were receiving on-the-job training, and in few cases, the subject was and still is housed in other fields such as the general arts, and library and information science. The article highlights that the subject should stand on its own and must be treated with the importance that it deserves. The call for degree programmes specific to archives management is based on the premise that the archives staff have to be fully qualified since they preserve information on the cultures of different societies, and the records they keep play an integral part in the running of any country including the decision making process. The several problems faced by both staff members and students studying towards a qualification in Records and Archives Management at NUST are also highlighted. The article winds up by making some recommendations for dealing with the problems that were identified. ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 109-117
{"title":"Zimbabwe Refuses to Lag Behind: The Introduction of an Information Management Degree Programme at the National University of Science and Technology","authors":"M. Mutasa, B. Ncube","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30971","url":null,"abstract":"The article looks at the introduction of a Library and Information Science programme at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe, as the first step towards paving the way for an introduction of a Records and Archives Management degree programme. In this article, the authors who are Third Year students and pioneers in the Department of Library and Information Science at the university lament the absence of both undergraduate and postgraduate courses directly linked to the field of Records and Archives Management in Zimbabwe. For a very long time, records managers and archivists were receiving on-the-job training, and in few cases, the subject was and still is housed in other fields such as the general arts, and library and information science. The article highlights that the subject should stand on its own and must be treated with the importance that it deserves. The call for degree programmes specific to archives management is based on the premise that the archives staff have to be fully qualified since they preserve information on the cultures of different societies, and the records they keep play an integral part in the running of any country including the decision making process. \u0000\u0000The several problems faced by both staff members and students studying towards a qualification in Records and Archives Management at NUST are also highlighted. The article winds up by making some recommendations for dealing with the problems that were identified.\u0000 ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 109-117","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122615732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-12-12DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30968
Richard Wato
Modern society is faced with the glaring possibility of a future ‘digital gap’ where the electronic records preserved from yester years could not be retrieved due to a number of technical and policy factors. Chances are that there will not even be any paper surrogates for those electronic records as the practice has lately been the substitution of paper records with electronic ones without due consideration of the longevity of the latter. Computer users who normally look at the current use of electronic records without necessarily considering the preservation issues that need to be considered if these records are to be available for future use have accelerated this practice. This paper looks at the challenges that are likely to face the archivists in their endeavour to preserve electronically generated records. It also suggests issues that the archivist may consider in the preservation of these records. Archivists around the world have been giving warnings that computer files may survive long but the equipment to make sense of them may not. This era could become a “digital dark age” - a part of its collective memories forever lost. ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 82-92
{"title":"Challenges of Archiving Electronic Records: The Imminent Danger of a “Digital Dark Age”","authors":"Richard Wato","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30968","url":null,"abstract":"Modern society is faced with the glaring possibility of a future ‘digital gap’ where the electronic records preserved from yester years could not be retrieved due to a number of technical and policy factors. Chances are that there will not even be any paper surrogates for those electronic records as the practice has lately been the substitution of paper records with electronic ones without due consideration of the longevity of the latter. Computer users who normally look at the current use of electronic records without necessarily considering the preservation issues that need to be considered if these records are to be available for future use have accelerated this practice.\u0000\u0000This paper looks at the challenges that are likely to face the archivists in their endeavour to preserve electronically generated records. It also suggests issues that the archivist may consider in the preservation of these records. Archivists around the world have been giving warnings that computer files may survive long but the equipment to make sense of them may not. This era could become a “digital dark age” - a part of its collective memories forever lost.\u0000 ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 82-92","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"142 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124499746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-12-12DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30961
P. Ngulube
We are living in constantly changing societies. For instance, the way we handle information has been changed by information and communication technologies. Our business transactions are becoming increasingly affected by globalisation. There is evident transformation in organisational cultures. Over the past ten years, there have been regime changes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and South Africa, to mention a few examples. In recent times, there have been some mergers that have affected companies and universities particularly in South Africa. The examples given in the preceding texts demonstrate that change is coming from a number of fronts. Change brings uncertainty, but records make decision making during uncertainty possible. Changes that are not informed by reliable information are likely to be unsustainable, unjustifiable and lacking transparency. Transformation would be difficult if there are no records or precedents on which to base one’s actions. Records act as evidence of some of the activities of societies. Record keepers are key to ensuring accountable and manageable recordkeeping systems. Records maintained by such systems have a possibility of fostering accountability during times of change. Records that support justifiable transformation should be accurate, adequate, authentic, complete, comprehensive, usable, complaint, reliable and systematic as advocated by the University of Pittsburgh’s Recordkeeping Functional Requirements (1996). ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 23-32
{"title":"Fostering Accountability and Justice: Opportunities for Records Managers in Changing Societies","authors":"P. Ngulube","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30961","url":null,"abstract":"We are living in constantly changing societies. For instance, the way we handle information has been changed by information and communication technologies. Our business transactions are becoming increasingly affected by globalisation. There is evident transformation in organisational cultures. Over the past ten years, there have been regime changes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and South Africa, to mention a few examples. In recent times, there have been some mergers that have affected companies and universities particularly in South Africa. The examples given in the preceding texts demonstrate that change is coming from a number of fronts. Change brings uncertainty, but records make decision making during uncertainty possible. Changes that are not informed by reliable information are likely to be unsustainable, unjustifiable and lacking transparency. Transformation would be difficult if there are no records or precedents on which to base one’s actions. \u0000\u0000Records act as evidence of some of the activities of societies. Record keepers are key to ensuring accountable and manageable recordkeeping systems. Records maintained by such systems have a possibility of fostering accountability during times of change. Records that support justifiable transformation should be accurate, adequate, authentic, complete, comprehensive, usable, complaint, reliable and systematic as advocated by the University of Pittsburgh’s Recordkeeping Functional Requirements (1996).\u0000 ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 23-32","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129625813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-12-12DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30962
N. Mnjama
The paper examines some of the issues facing public and private organizations in their efforts to manage records and information, and suggests that to a large extent many of these problems are due to the lack of policies and procedures, inadequate storage facilities and lack of well-trained and competent personnel. The paper suggests possible strategies for the effective management of recorded information whether electronic or in paper format. ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 33-44
{"title":"Records and Information: The Neglected Resource","authors":"N. Mnjama","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30962","url":null,"abstract":"The paper examines some of the issues facing public and private organizations in their efforts to manage records and information, and suggests that to a large extent many of these problems are due to the lack of policies and procedures, inadequate storage facilities and lack of well-trained and competent personnel. The paper suggests possible strategies for the effective management of recorded information whether electronic or in paper format. ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 33-44","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130865699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-12-12DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30970
Laurie Varendorff
This article addresses the process of managing records and documents for medium and long-term retention periods. The major question that it addresses is: Is microfilm, which first came into use in the 1870’s, undergoing a rebirth some 130 years after its first application as a support media in a time of conflict? ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 106-108
{"title":"An Ancient Solution to a Modern Problem","authors":"Laurie Varendorff","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V23I1.30970","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the process of managing records and documents for medium and long-term retention periods. The major question that it addresses is: Is microfilm, which first came into use in the 1870’s, undergoing a rebirth some 130 years after its first application as a support media in a time of conflict?\u0000 ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 106-108","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"241 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132571626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-06-01DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.30980
L. Kenosi
The information society ushered in a new era of information for the rural communities of Africa, including some disclosure of security records. However, the proliferations of terrorist attacks ever since the 2001 US, Twin Tower bombings have increasingly placed access to records under the radar screen. This paper places the cardinal archival tenant of “free access to information” under cross-examination and argues that as the security forces race against time to contain the bad boys there is need to revisit the antagonistic concepts of access and secrecy. In Africa, where the Anti-George Bush sentiments are high, such a suggestion runs the risk of out-right rejection. The correlation between access to information and a rise in terrorism should propel a paradigm shift in the way archivists interact with access and secrecy. Keywords : security records, disclosure, secrecy, security information ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 37-42
{"title":"Official secrecy and the management of security records in the global age of terrorism and information","authors":"L. Kenosi","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.30980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.30980","url":null,"abstract":"The information society ushered in a new era of information for the rural communities of Africa, including some disclosure of security records. However, the proliferations of terrorist attacks ever since the 2001 US, Twin Tower bombings have increasingly placed access to records under the radar screen. This paper places the cardinal archival tenant of “free access to information” under cross-examination and argues that as the security forces race against time to contain the bad boys there is need to revisit the antagonistic concepts of access and secrecy. In Africa, where the Anti-George Bush sentiments are high, such a suggestion runs the risk of out-right rejection. The correlation between access to information and a rise in terrorism should propel a paradigm shift in the way archivists interact with access and secrecy. Keywords : security records, disclosure, secrecy, security information ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 37-42","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129626271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-06-01DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.30998
M. Mutasa, E. Mashingaidze
The article looks at Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), as being the probable answer to the problems associated with access to and use of information in the African context. It defines ICTs and demystifies the misconception that the term ICTs refers to computers and Internet only, the view that is believed to have rendered ICTs a not very urgent issue. ICTs are important as they enhance access to information, which is essential in any quest for development. The article also looks at the strengths of ICTs in accessing information. It then turns to the challenges of ICTs in an African setting, for example, training and the general acceptance of ICTs in a society with sections that are largely computer illiterate and too poor to purchase modern ICTs, a situation made worse by the hyper-inflationary Zimbabwean economy. Of concern in most African countries is the issue of the National ICT Policy. The article also highlights the issue, what should be part of the policy and looking at what other countries have included in their draft policies. The Zimbabwean Government has embarked on an extensive rural electrification programme. The article centres on this programme and the advantages it has brought to education and research. In conclusion, the article takes a position on whether ICTs are the much-anticipated tool for change and whether they are practical in an African rural setting or not. Recommendations are also brought forward with regards to what the National ICT Policy should address, such as training, and issues that can be tackled to make the society accept ICTs as a tool to eliminate poverty, human rights abuse and rectify gender disparity. Keywords : access to information, African information society system, Information Communication Technologies ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 96-108
{"title":"Information and Communication Technologies: tools for development. What are the benefits and challenges for the African information society?","authors":"M. Mutasa, E. Mashingaidze","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.30998","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.30998","url":null,"abstract":"The article looks at Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), as being the probable answer to the problems associated with access to and use of information in the African context. It defines ICTs and demystifies the misconception that the term ICTs refers to computers and Internet only, the view that is believed to have rendered ICTs a not very urgent issue. ICTs are important as they enhance access to information, which is essential in any quest for development. The article also looks at the strengths of ICTs in accessing information. It then turns to the challenges of ICTs in an African setting, for example, training and the general acceptance of ICTs in a society with sections that are largely computer illiterate and too poor to purchase modern ICTs, a situation made worse by the hyper-inflationary Zimbabwean economy. Of concern in most African countries is the issue of the National ICT Policy. The article also highlights the issue, what should be part of the policy and looking at what other countries have included in their draft policies. The Zimbabwean Government has embarked on an extensive rural electrification programme. The article centres on this programme and the advantages it has brought to education and research. In conclusion, the article takes a position on whether ICTs are the much-anticipated tool for change and whether they are practical in an African rural setting or not. Recommendations are also brought forward with regards to what the National ICT Policy should address, such as training, and issues that can be tackled to make the society accept ICTs as a tool to eliminate poverty, human rights abuse and rectify gender disparity. Keywords : access to information, African information society system, Information Communication Technologies ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 96-108","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131506184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-06-01DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.31000
Bernard B Chebani
The introduction of trained and experienced records personnel in the Botswana public service marked the beginning of effective management of records. Prior to this change, arbitrarily nominated administration staff using inconsistent methods and practices managed government records, and that affected the delivery of government business. Botswana integrated the public service records and archives functions in 1992 that brought to being Botswana National Archives and Records Services (BNARS). This was a fusion of what was originally Botswana National Archives with Government Records services in Ministries and Departments. This article starts by discussing the restructuring process that took place in BNARS. The exercise was meant to achieve two objectives, mainly: • To increase effectiveness of Government Ministries and Departments in order to provide better services to the public and bring about more effective and faster socio-economic development • To optimise utilisation of the available manpower, financial material and other resources allocated to the public (Permanent Secretary to the President. 1992:1). Subsequent to this, the article then assesses both the merits and the challenges that arose from the records restructuring. The assessment is made at the archival and the administrative levels with a view to determining the impact on both. The ultimate question is whether the entire exercise was a good thing or not. Botswana as a nation has developed a twenty (20) year long vision that elapses in 2016, with one of its major pillars phrased as building ‘an educated, informed nation', a guarantee that full access to information will be achieved. On this score a determination has to be made to decide whether BNARS restructuring will add any value to this or not. Keywords : Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Integrated Records Services, public service, records management ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 116-130
{"title":"Merits and challenges of the integrated records services in the public service – a case of Botswana","authors":"Bernard B Chebani","doi":"10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.31000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.31000","url":null,"abstract":"The introduction of trained and experienced records personnel in the Botswana public service marked the beginning of effective management of records. Prior to this change, arbitrarily nominated administration staff using inconsistent methods and practices managed government records, and that affected the delivery of government business. Botswana integrated the public service records and archives functions in 1992 that brought to being Botswana National Archives and Records Services (BNARS). This was a fusion of what was originally Botswana National Archives with Government Records services in Ministries and Departments. This article starts by discussing the restructuring process that took place in BNARS. The exercise was meant to achieve two objectives, mainly: • To increase effectiveness of Government Ministries and Departments in order to provide better services to the public and bring about more effective and faster socio-economic development • To optimise utilisation of the available manpower, financial material and other resources allocated to the public (Permanent Secretary to the President. 1992:1). Subsequent to this, the article then assesses both the merits and the challenges that arose from the records restructuring. The assessment is made at the archival and the administrative levels with a view to determining the impact on both. The ultimate question is whether the entire exercise was a good thing or not. Botswana as a nation has developed a twenty (20) year long vision that elapses in 2016, with one of its major pillars phrased as building ‘an educated, informed nation', a guarantee that full access to information will be achieved. On this score a determination has to be made to decide whether BNARS restructuring will add any value to this or not. Keywords : Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Integrated Records Services, public service, records management ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 116-130","PeriodicalId":125371,"journal":{"name":"ESARBICA Journal: Journal of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127101497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2006-06-01DOI: 10.4314/ESARJO.V24I1.30996
K. Moahi
Indigenous knowledge (IK) systems are very important for the communities from which they come from. Such knowledge dictates how people behave generally, how they relate with the land and other resources that they have, and how they make sense of the world around them. IK's importance is seemingly being overshadowed by western knowledge which has the advantage that it is codified and is largely viewed as better, and more scientifically proved knowledge. Given the encroachment of urban lives into many African countries, indigenous knowledge is slowly being eroded. The traditions where the elders used to sit and work with the youth and pass on that knowledge are very fast being eroded. Globalisation has resulted in an inundation of western values and culture beamed through satellite television and the Internet, quickly captivating the youths' minds such that they deem their own cultures, rituals and traditions as inferior, old fashioned, and barbaric. More important, whilst we are eschewing indigenous knowledge, interest in IK and its potential has taken hold in the West. A direct result of this is that IK is being appropriated and the owners, that is, the communities have nothing to show for it. The intellectual property of the IK is being claimed by individuals outside the communities that own the knowledge, simply because they have codified it. All of this brings the point home that there is a need to document IK in order to preserve it for posterity; and to ensure that once it is codified, it cannot be used to obtain patents by people other than those who own it. In that regard, this article considers the prospects and challenges of documenting indigenous knowledge by considering the following: definition of IK and its importance to communities, its characteristics and problems associated with that, the need to document IK, arguments for and against documenting IK and challenges in documenting IK. Keywords : documenting indigenous knowledge, Africa ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 63-73
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