namaganda agnes
TRANSCRIPT
Digitization of Uganda’s Musical Cultural Heritage:
Lessons from the Digital Music Archive, Makerere
University
Agnes NamagandaNovember, 2011
Makerere University is the oldest University in East Africa-established 1922. It became a fully-fledged Institution of Higher Learning and National University in July1970.
At the heart of the University is MakLib founded in 1940. It is a legal depository library of Uganda and United Nations materials.
MakLib has 400,000 volumes of monographs and 82,000 volumes of bound serials.
MakLib serves a population of approximately 40,000 users, consisting of about 3,911staff, 35,000 students and external users.
Background
The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation
The Uganda Museum (1908)-Field recordings and musical instruments
The Uganda Popular Music Archive Project (2002)-Commercial recordings
The Global Music Archive (2003)-Traditional music
Archiving Initiatives in Uganda
Overview
Makerere University Digital Music Archive is a multi-media archive for traditional, popular and art music, recited word, dances and stories and recollections of musicians and dancers of Uganda.
(http://musicarchive.mak.ac.ug)
The archive fosters the educational and cultural role of Makerere University through the preservation and access to music and oral traditions.
Function
Music scores, manuscripts and transcriptions
Personal stories and recollections of musicians and dancers
Legal music deposits
Field recordings (contains a huge collection of Klaus Wachsmann and Peter Cooke)
The Collection
Sample-Analogue collections
LPs
By 2004, MakLib had made initial contacts with digitization projects (under collaborative linkages with Tufts University; the University of Tennessee and the University of Bergen)
USDL is the first comprehensive digitization project at MakLib
An interdisciplinary committee Noted that documentation of Uganda’s musical
cultural heritage was not accessible Envisaged an Archive for documenting,
preserving and disseminating Uganda’s traditional music to scholars and other researchers
Makerere University Digital Music Archive
Conception
Library ManagementUgandan Ethnomusicologist, researcher & Associate professor at Makerere University
Music LibrarianMusic ArchivistDigitization LibrarianLibrary CataloguersCollectors-EthnomusicologistsDICTs
Experimentation
NORAD
The American Embassy in Uganda
The Grieg Academy, University of Bergen
The University of Bergen Library
Support & Funding
Makerere University & University of Bergen
MakLib & University of Bergen Library
The Grieg Academy & MDD
The American Embassy
The British Library Sound Archives
Collaborations
2004: Library conceives idea2005: USDL project2006: USDL launched2006: Collaboration established2007: NORAD funding arrived2007: Partitioning of the Archive2008: Music Librarian travels to Norway2008: Software installation & pilot project2009: Digital Archive launched2010: Collecting of field recordings
Activities
Reel-to-reel playerCompact Cassette playerAmplifier, sound cardTurntableApple computersField recorderScannerPrinterEarphones
Equipment
Reel-to-reel player
Phonograph Turntable
Dspace
Amadeus Pro
Toast 11 Titanium
iTunes
Software
Customization of default template in Dspace
Creating communities & sub communities
MARC21 (Printed materials)Dublin core
Metadata
Is the conversion of analogue records to a universal computer readable language
Why digitize?Access Preservation Original media was fragile playback equipment was scarce
The original condition is threatened !
Digitization of Music
It is crucial that the process results in files in the right format and right quality so they can be reused and secured for the future!
Each recording was converted to more than one computer file
Sampling rate (44.1 kHz)Sample size (16 bits stereo)
Conversion-Sound recordings
Each photograph is scanned at archival quality (8-bit gray scale with a jpeg reference image)
Black & White photographs were scanned at 8-bit
Coloured pictures were scanned at 24-bit
TIFF files are scanned from textual data
Photographs
Internally accepted standardsEnsure that bits/bytes can be reused in future
Audio .aiff (preservation) ; .mp3 (Access)Sheet music.tiff (preservation) ; .jpeg (Access)Video.avi (preservation) ; .mp4 (Access)
Formats (Preservation & Access)
Formats for preservation and access
Preservation Access/promotion
audio .aiff .mp3/.wma
(Compressed file format)(Windows Media Audio)
Sheet music .tiff .jpg, gif (Tagged Image File Format)
(lossy compression for digital photography)(Graphics Interchange Format)lossless data compression technique to reduce the file size without degrading the visual quality.
Joint Photographic Experts Group
video .avi mov, mp4 (mp4-allows streaming over the Internet).
(Audio Visual Interleave files support multiple streaming audio and video)(mov- compressed multimedia format often used for saving movies and other video files)
A group of three ethnomusicologists-Four major regions (North, East, Central and West)
So far:835 items of audio recordings1100 items of video recording1000 photo items/objects
Collecting & collections
All Library registered usersExternal users pay library feesOPAC (Finding aid)Digital music repositoryRestricted access to some sound recordings
Listening and viewing facilities (workstations)
Access
Digital Music Repositoryhttp://dspace3.mak.ac.ug:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/13
The listening section of the archive is insulated and has listening cubicles or booths
for good acoustics.
Copyright is a complex issue that strongly impacts the selection of materials for digitization
Technology has a short life cycle (technology requirements)
Human resource developmentProject Communication Teamwork & team building crucial Building partnerships & collaborations
Lessons Learnt
Procurement planning is vital to avoid unnecessary delays
The budgeting process should take into consideration staff costs-motivation
Lessons Learnt Cont’d
Need for constant migration
Create an online streaming repository
Building partnerships with cultural heritage institutions
Training & re-training staff
Way forward
Digitisation provides visibility and access to this unique collections and a historical context for the appreciation and understanding of Ugandan musical cultural heritage.
Therefore there is need to continue the journey on this revolutionary path towards preserving the musical cultural heritage. Challenges should be addressed and opportunities embraced in preserving and promoting access to information.
Conclusion
Thank you