Depicting the Vhavenda Women Initiation Schools and Their Cultural Practices in Limpopo Province

Growing up for many African people has been marked by rites of passage. Vhavenda girls attend various initiation schools that served as rites of passage from one stage to another. The purpose of this study was to explore the initiation schools attended by Vhavenda girls for knowledge preservation. The study is qualitative where data was collected from 15 traditional knowledge holders purposefully using interviews as a tool to collect data. The study revealed that girls attended different schools at various stages from Musevhetho, followed by Vhusha then Domba, which is divided into Tshikanda, Ludodo, and Tshilalandoima. All these schools served a critical purpose on the development of a girl child through to adulthood stage. Knowledge shared in the school covered mostly life skills and human physiology. With the introduction of formal schools, the former was discarded and labeled barbaric leaving a void and opening a door to many social challenges faced by girl children within the Vhavenda community members.

Problematizing Local Knowledge Preservation of the Complex Social Assemblage in Globalizing Tai Lue communities in Chiang Kham

This article proposes to look at local knowledge preservation as a continual and contested process rather than as a static social activity. The preservation of local knowledge should be studied by situating it within a complex set of relationships among various social actors and organizations, and also within specific spatio-temporal conditions: in this case, the Tai Lue people of Chiang Kham, Phayao, Thailand. The local knowledge of the Tai Lue in Chiang Kham has been revived in accordance with the distinct desires of the local people, local politicians, academic institutions, and local and national governmental sectors. These various agents and organizations make up a social assemblage, in which local knowledge revival and preservation projects take place within a space where distinct cultural, political, and economic meanings are contested. This paper seeks to examine this social activity using the analytical perspective of glocalization. Taking a glocalization approach, local knowledge preservation is problematized as a culturally and socially instrumentalized activity that is pursued by some actors for political and economic identity negotiation. This will be complemented with a strategic essentialism analysis, which can help better illustrate how Tai Lue people utilize their local knowledge to benefit their positions within an increasingly globalized Chiang Kham. Keywords: Glocalization, Local knowledge, Social assemblage, Strategic essentialism, Tai Lue

LAM (Libraries, Archives, Museums) dalam preservasi pengetahuan

Introduction. This paper aims to determine the collaboration of LAM (Libraries, Archives, Museums) in implementing knowledge preservation. Methods. A systematic review with a qualitative approach was used, and the articles were selected from Google Scholar. Data Analysis. The data collection method consists of 6 (six) stages, 1) mapping the field through scoping review, 2) comprehensive search, 3) quality assessment, 4) data extraction, 5) synthesis, and 6) write-up. Results and Discussion. The results indicated that the selected journal articles covered collaborations and cooperations that have been established by LAM in the country and overseas. The strategy used was based on the objective of preventive and curative preservations of knowledge. Human resources were found as a main challenge for implementing knowledge preservation by LAM. Conclusion. Based on the findings, research in Indonesia has led to various collaborations between LAM in implementing knowledge preservation from both preventive preservation and curative approaches.

The demise of safety film : a review of the cellulose acetate based negatives in the collection of the Kodak Canada Archive

The vinegar syndrome, a process in which cellulose acetate based films deteriorate, is becoming a prominent problem within collections worldwide. To understand this phenomenon one must look at the history and make up of cellulose acetate, the chemistry of the degradation process and the steps institutions are taking to stabilize objects to allow future access. With this knowledge, preservation strategies need to be applied to promote longevity. To illustrate this idea, a collection of forty degrading negatives from the Kodak Canada Archive at Ryerson University Library have been used as a case study in which research on cellulose acetate, the chemistry of this material, the vinegar syndrome, and present recommendations for storage have been taken into consideration and used as a basis for a re-housing project. All information and objects are used to argue for the preservation of such objects and the understanding of the importance of the object itself.

The demise of safety film : a review of the cellulose acetate based negatives in the collection of the Kodak Canada Archive

The vinegar syndrome, a process in which cellulose acetate based films deteriorate, is becoming a prominent problem within collections worldwide. To understand this phenomenon one must look at the history and make up of cellulose acetate, the chemistry of the degradation process and the steps institutions are taking to stabilize objects to allow future access. With this knowledge, preservation strategies need to be applied to promote longevity. To illustrate this idea, a collection of forty degrading negatives from the Kodak Canada Archive at Ryerson University Library have been used as a case study in which research on cellulose acetate, the chemistry of this material, the vinegar syndrome, and present recommendations for storage have been taken into consideration and used as a basis for a re-housing project. All information and objects are used to argue for the preservation of such objects and the understanding of the importance of the object itself.

The dawn of the Somali written word: an analysis of the creation and implementation of the Somali written language

My major research paper (MRP) is grounded in the history of Somalia’s first orthography implemented in 1972 by President Mohamed Siad Barre. This meant that for the first time Somali history, there would be a written language that mirrored the Somali oral tradition in all its complexity. The nation’s longstanding cultural tradition of oral poetry has both impacted, and been impacted by the implementation of the orthography. Through the use of semi-structured interviews and grounded theory as my method of analysis, the purpose of this MRP is to explore this reciprocal impact between Somalia’s oral tradition and the implementation of the orthography, and also to explore how Somali poetry provides a unique lens into this reciprocal impact. After stating the data, I present the findings in two stages: (a) in the form of short stories that provide insight into the topic from the perceptions and perspectives of each interviewee, and (b) as overarching themes that have emerged from the interviewees collectively. The findings reveal that the colonial period in Somalia gave rise to the necessity of an orthography for the oral Somali language which then introduced a level of cultural anxiety as the oral tradition of knowledge preservation eventually weakened. Nonetheless, although the Somali orthography is now seen first and foremost as a means of knowledge preservation, the Somali culture still demonstrates a deep connection to their oral heritage.

The dawn of the Somali written word: an analysis of the creation and implementation of the Somali written language

My major research paper (MRP) is grounded in the history of Somalia’s first orthography implemented in 1972 by President Mohamed Siad Barre. This meant that for the first time Somali history, there would be a written language that mirrored the Somali oral tradition in all its complexity. The nation’s longstanding cultural tradition of oral poetry has both impacted, and been impacted by the implementation of the orthography. Through the use of semi-structured interviews and grounded theory as my method of analysis, the purpose of this MRP is to explore this reciprocal impact between Somalia’s oral tradition and the implementation of the orthography, and also to explore how Somali poetry provides a unique lens into this reciprocal impact. After stating the data, I present the findings in two stages: (a) in the form of short stories that provide insight into the topic from the perceptions and perspectives of each interviewee, and (b) as overarching themes that have emerged from the interviewees collectively. The findings reveal that the colonial period in Somalia gave rise to the necessity of an orthography for the oral Somali language which then introduced a level of cultural anxiety as the oral tradition of knowledge preservation eventually weakened. Nonetheless, although the Somali orthography is now seen first and foremost as a means of knowledge preservation, the Somali culture still demonstrates a deep connection to their oral heritage.

Scalable Declarative HEP Analysis Workflows for Containerised Compute Clouds

We describe a novel approach for experimental High-Energy Physics (HEP) data analyses that is centred around the declarative rather than imperative paradigm when describing analysis computational tasks. The analysis process can be structured in the form of a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), where each graph vertex represents a unit of computation with its inputs and outputs, and the graph edges describe the interconnection of various computational steps. We have developed REANA, a platform for reproducible data analyses, that supports several such DAG workflow specifications. The REANA platform parses the analysis workflow and dispatches its computational steps to various supported computing backends (Kubernetes, HTCondor, Slurm). The focus on declarative rather than imperative programming enables researchers to concentrate on the problem domain at hand without having to think about implementation details such as scalable job orchestration. The declarative programming approach is further exemplified by a multi-level job cascading paradigm that was implemented in the Yadage workflow specification language. We present two recent LHC particle physics analyses, ATLAS searches for dark matter and CMS jet energy correction pipelines, where the declarative approach was successfully applied. We argue that the declarative approach to data analyses, combined with recent advancements in container technology, facilitates the portability of computational data analyses to various compute backends, enhancing the reproducibility and the knowledge preservation behind particle physics data analyses.

Western Education versus Indigenous Knowledge of the Tarok in Plateau State, Nigeria

This paper advocates the need for the preservation and conservation of Indigenous Knowledge of the Tarok in Plateau State, Nigeria. The paper started by discussing western education and the indigenous knowledge of the Tarok people and the possible threat of indigenous knowledge extinction due to lack of written records and problems associated with preservation and conservation of the knowledge. The paper also looked at the brief history of Tarok People, the philosophical basis of the Tarok indigenous knowledge/education, the differences and similarities between Tarok indigenous knowledge and western education, and the aspect of the Tarok indigenous knowledge. Finally, the paper concluded that the Tarok indigenous knowledge was more practical than the western education and that the indigenous type of education had a bearing to the traditions, norms and culture of the people. The paper also recommended among others, the establishment of Tarok indigenous knowledge resource centres (museum) and written record on Tarok indigenous knowledge to avoid the threat of extinction. Keywords: Western Education, Indigenous Knowledge, Preservation, Tarok