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Show new/ MONDAY • MARCH 5 • 2007 A3 Namibia digital archive project moving forward Jason Adkins News Writer The Multimedia Communications Technology department's digital archiving project in Namibia is moving forward as faculty and students get ready to work with their peers at the Polytechnic of Namibia this summer. The project received its wings when Dr. Lori Palmer, associate vice president for scholarship and research, spent several months 'working at Polytechnic of Namibia with her husband Dr. Allen Palmer, associate professor at BYU and director of international media studies there. Also helping to jump start the project, according to Dr. Lori Harper, was dean of the School of Technology and Computing Tom McFarland's charge for faculty to be globallyminded. "We wanted a project we felt we could both contribute in, and [all] students could be served by," Palmer said. The contacts that were developed there led to Palmer and Michael Harper, assistant professor in the multimedia communications technology department, to visit the country in November of 2006 for several days to find a project that would work for both UVSC and Polytechnic of Namibia. "There were notions of what we thought we wanted to do," Harper said. "We took four days to do a needs analysis." The project was announced in January of this Courtesy photo/Michael Harper Digital media entrepreneurs in a small shop in Windhoek, Namibia. year, when two administrators from Polytechnic of Namibia, Rector Dr. Tjama Tjivikua and director of planning and international relations Mrs. Neavera Olivier, visited UVSC to partner with faculty. Polytechnic of Namibia is also in the middle of a transition from a trade school to a more traditional university, similar to potential transition of UVSC to becoming a university. Creating a national digital archive was conceived that would benefit both schools. The archive would ensure that Namib- ians would have access to their culture and heritage, as materials would routinely leave the country and not be accessible. "The goal is lo create a sustainable system to create a digital archive for the country," Harper said. "We want to funnel resources into it [the project] and not take anything out of the country." Palmer also added that Namibians were in danger of losing some of their culture as time passed. "They are afraid of losing their heritage," Palmer said. "We want to capture the oral heritage there." Harper said that since Namibia is such a young country, having achieved independence in 1990 after over 70 years of South African control and German colonization before that, it is important to start archiving content. "The next 10 years will determine if Namibia will move forward or backward," Harper said. The project will entail two professors and five UVSC students spending a month in Namibia. Visits are scheduled for the next five years, with the students and faculty partnering with their peers at Polytechnic of Namibia. Harper also plans on managing the project and traveling to Namibia to ensure that the faculty will only have to concentrate on their tasks at hand. The first year will be devoted to digital media and asset management. The second year will be devoted to image acquisition and restoration. The third year will be devoted to audio and video acquisition and restoration; the fourth year to web development, and the fifth year to product development. It is envi- sioned that the training and cooperation will ensure that the digital archive will be maintained after the five years have passed. Harper envisions kiosks in libraries, government offices and even the international airport in the capital city of Windhoek that will allow broad access to the information in the archive. Students will spend about a week of their time at the Polytechnic of Namibia, but will spend the majority of their time in the field working directly with the people in a country that is the geographic size of Colorado and Utah combined, but has a population less than that of Utah. While overseas, students and faculty will be podcasting from Namibia and sharing their experiences in their work. The application deadline for digital media students to apply for one of the five student spots to go to Namibia has recently passed, with students compiling a portfolio of their work, recommendations and transcripts. In future years, the program may be expanded to students in other majors. "We want the students to branch out and do global things," Harper said. "Students have many opportunities [on campus] if they just look." Harper said one of the most important aspects of the project is the service that students will give. "The work will actually benefit a community," Harper said. 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