Monthly Archives: August 2013
First African language articles published in mainstream journal
The first two papers to be published by a mainstream journal in an African language are now freely available online! They are in the current issue of Journal of African Cultural Studies: ‘Rũrĩmĩ na karamu: ithoga harĩ athamaki a Abirika‘, written and published in Gĩkũyũ. English language translation: ‘Tongue and pen: a challenge to philosophers […]
South African youth learn fossil casting skills
In his blog entry on the Marapo Stones and Bones project yesterday, paleoanthropologist John Hawks relates details of an interesting project that trains South African youth to cast replicas of the human fossil heritage that is preserved and discovered near their own homes: The project is proceeding with the ultimate goal of providing a standard set of hominin casts to […]
“On Wikipedia, Africa is empty and dark.”
I ran across a brief opinion piece by Iolanda Pensa with the title “The Power of Wikipedia: Legitimacy and Control” published August 21, 2013 in the Chimurenga Chronic. My choice for most noable quote from the item: “On Wikipedia, Africa is empty and dark.” This is an important topic for scholars of Africa and others who care about the […]
Southern African Young Scientists Summer Program
Cross-posting: The Southern African Young Scientists Summer Program (SA-YSSP) offers doctoral candidates the opportunity to develop research skills in systems analysis and its application to policy and management. The program takes place in South Africa from 24 November 2013 to 22 February 2014. Apply by 1 September 2013. The SA-YSSP is a three-month program held […]
Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America or DPLA intends (see their goals here) to build one single location (or “portal”) from which anyone may search all Open Access public library resources online (using data shared freely with them by institutions in the USA). This approach has good support from the US library community (see this ACRLog entry). One innovation is that the DPLA publishes information […]
UC Academic Senate adopts open access policy
The Academic Senate representing the 10 campuses of the statewide University of California system announced the adoption of an Open Access policy for faculty research publications on July 24, 2013. This is an important development because it continues the momentum of such policies and (as this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education points out) because of the size of […]
Open access to Getty images
Thanks to my colleague, Laurie Taylor, for her blog entry on the Getty Institute‘s announcement regarding a new Open Access policy for the public domain images in Getty collections: Today the Getty becomes an even more engaged digital citizen, one that shares its collections, research, and knowledge more openly than ever before. We’ve launched the Open Content Program to […]
African Studies library 