As part of its Information Heritage Initiative, EMC has awarded a grant to a Namibian heritage organisation called 'The working group of indigenous minorities in southern Africa' (WIMSA) this week, at EMC World in Boston.
This is part of an initiative which was formalised in 2007, whereby EMC extends grants to community organisations worldwide to digitise and preserve thousands of artefacts.
WIMSA says it will use the grant to “establish a digital library and provide a secure and accessible archive of San history to serve as a cultural centre for future generations of San to learn about traditional knowledge, customs, and history”.
WIMSA is a regional non-governmental advocacy, human rights, heritage and networking organisation governed by the San peoples of Namibia, Botswana, SA and Angola.
EMC also announced six other organisations receiving EMC Heritage Trust Project grants, totalling approximately $100 000. The organisation says the award recipients were chosen from 110 applicants based on factors including the potential size of the audience that would benefit from access to this information, how at-risk the data was, and how beneficial the grant would be to the overall success of the project.
"Each and every day, organisations around the globe are trying to digitise and preserve cultural and community artefacts for future generations," says Bill Teuber, EMC's vice-chairman. "This year's EMC Heritage Trust Project grant recipients share our passion and commitment to capturing their local information heritage and, through these grants, will be better able to share this information with communities around the world."
According to EMC, the initiative makes historical documents and cultural artefacts readily accessible via the Internet for research and education purposes.
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