Abstract in English / The number of studies focused on the digital preservation of indigenous knowledge has been growing steadily over the years. Despite the growth in this area of research, there is still a lack of information technology tools that preserve and disseminate indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge has been highlighted as an area that can advance sustainable development, and its preservation is therefore of the utmost importance. Indigenous knowledge is mostly present within older generations, and if it is not preserved, this knowledge will die with its custodians. African communities rely heavily on indigenous medicine. A digital platform needs to be explored that can preserve practices relating to these medicines for future generations. Since indigenous knowledge is dynamic and is constantly evolving, there is a need to explore a digital tool that can highlight this dynamic nature. Current methods of preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants were found to be less than effective and marred by constraints such as space and time. The main objective of this study was therefore to develop a model that could be used to guide the design of a new e-learning system aimed at facilitating the preservation of indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants. In this study, e-learning technology was used to determine the requirements for presenting indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants in such a way as to ensure that individuals can internalise and preserve this knowledge. An interpretivist qualitative approach was followed. Data was collected by conducting a literature review and carrying out a survey. A prototype e-learning system was developed and evaluated based on the collected data. It was found that preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants through e-learning would require, among other things, engagement with the relevant knowledge custodians, leveraging multimedia, and offering content in indigenous languages. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)

Thesis (M.A. (Information Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Digitisation of library materials offers Library and Information Services (LIS) organisations, national libraries in particular, opportunities to preserve and manage fragile and unique materials, by protecting their physical, saving them from deteriorating and facilitating unmediated access to such collection. The aim of the study was to examine processes involved in the digitisation of the South African National Documentary and Cultural Heritage for the purpose of preservation and access at the national library of South Africa (NLSA). The study was guided by the systems theory by looking into the selection, processing and disseminating of digital records at the NLSA. The study examined adherence to the policies and national legislative frameworks, the technologies used for digitization and access to digitized collections, tools used for accessing digital collections, as well the challenges experienced in the NLSA digitization project. Qualitative research methodology was adopted, through a case-study research whereby, semi-structured interviews, document analysis and observations were triangulated as data collection methods for the study. The key findings showed that the digitisation project at the NLSA adheres to pieces of national legislation and international guidelines such as International Standards Organization (ISO), the and draft digitisation policy developed by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture which takes into consideration the national legislative framework such as the RSA Constitution, the NLSA Act, the Legal Deposit Act, Copyright legislation, and the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). However, the content analysis of these legislation did not mention anything about the handling and management of digital collections. Technologies and equipment used in the digitisation process included high quality scanners, servers and hard drives with software such as Optical Character Recognition, Content document management software and the NLSA website. The challenges uncovered in the study in relation included duplication of digitisation efforts and lack of expertise in digitisation. This study recommends that given the evolution of technology, the NLSA should migrate to a more convenient cloud storage that has a large advantage in case of unlimited storage, and keep up to date with the trends of digitisation technology. Legislation governing the LIS in South Africa also needs amendment to cater for the handling and management of digital collections. v

Sustainable development practices and historic preservation efforts are imbued with contradictions, overlappings and shortcomings. Adaptive reuse is a tool for the sustainable preservation of existing building stock that bridges these approaches and more appropriately addresses the values of time, energy, place and community with respect to the built environment. Destruction of both material and abstract qualities can be circumvented by actively engaging a site, landscape or context through revealing and crossbreeding complex patterns, traces and perspectives. The value of a datascape is optimized when such a re-contextualization consists of both additive and subtractive manipulations and is flexible, continuous and regenerative. To avoid demolition and severing connections to the past and to extend the potential success of the development of the former Belchertown State School for the Feeble Minded in Belchertown, Massachusetts, I investigated ways by which the existing Auditorium Building and its relationship to the site could be re-contextualized. Since 1992, this defunct state-operated facility has been closed, transferred to the town and considered for economic development. Within the one hundred fifty-five-acre parcel that remains to be developed there are approximately sixty acres of forested areas and wetlands, a freshwater pond, and numerous abandoned school buildings in poor condition. The Auditorium Building, centrally located within the buildable area of the state school parcel, acted as a gateway into the campus and historically served as a gathering, performing and learning space for both school and Belchertown residents. In conjunction with precedent and programmatic research, I mapped patterns of State School site data which included not only existing, visible data but that which is historical, potential and invisible. The interpretation of these vectors, connections and boundaries served as a framework for re-contextualization and aimed to identify contextual attributes that require preservation, accretion or removal. The grafting of this data to the Auditorium Building and its surroundings exposed and affected various patterns of behavior that ultimately impacted its form, program and relationship to the landscape.

Preservation of and reinvestment in the built environment as a redevelopment tool has been used by cities and towns across the country, in many cases providing significant social, economic and environmental benefits. Potential social effects have often been the least explored aspect of sustainable development, especially with regard to preservation, yet they are often the most challenging, particularly given the potential for displacement. This thesis reviews literature where the issues of preservation, redevelopment and sustainability intersect. A set of best practices was developed that can be applied to other cities and towns to help balance preservation- and equity- enhancing activities. Another result of this research is the development of appropriate community indicators to provide means for measuring the effects of preservation on social equity. A selection of the indicators will be applied to two selected case studies (Northampton and Pittsfield, MA) to explore how such indicators can work as a measurement tool, how to best adapt them for a community, and their comparative strengths and weaknesses. The findings section addresses the data at both the fine and coarse grain – for the indicators and best practices as well as for the overall observations from the study process.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 J375 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 C64 / Master of Science

This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.

This thesis explores the role of community participation in urban preservation planning processes. A case study of the North Central neighborhood in Charleston, SC is used to investigate this inquiry. This study seeks to explore what residents in North Central value as heritage assets and how this information compares to ongoing preservation planning, interactions with the City and local preservation advocacy organizations, and overall community engagement. Qualitative methods were used for data collection and an analytical framework was developed based in theories of democracy, participatory planning, and values-based heritage. The results indicate that residents of North Central value the built environment and architectural integrity of the neighborhood, however the intangible aspects of heritage resonate most with the community. These include the people, stories, experiences, and memories associated with the neighborhood and its features. While efforts to preserve the neighborhood have increased in recent years, there are still disparities in what is actively being preserved and what residents identify as important heritage assets. The thesis also reveals that a lack of democratic space for participation and a communication deficit serve as limitations to community participation in formal planning processes for preservation. Increased community participation in these processes could influence new development in the neighborhood to better reflect the contemporary needs and values of its residents. It also serves to foster better collaboration among organizations, governmental partners, and residents in order to continue developing inclusive approaches to neighborhood preservation and establishing initiatives in North Central with sustainable outcomes.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / Increasing demand for new construction has made the building sector responsible for approximately 43 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States. Building conservation, an intervention strategy that refurbishes an existing building without compromising its architectural integrity, is a response to the population’s current infatuation with the new and now that has desensitized modern culture to the past, while surfacing one’s responsibilities to future generations. The focus of this study will be on the University of Arizona’s Bear Down Gym. Through a historical and architectural evaluation, this report makes a case for the rehabilitation of Bear Down Gym in respect to the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

Digital material has different preservation requirements than non-digital and is at greater risk of loss unless deliberate preservation activities are undertaken. Digital preservation is an on-going managed process designed to enable continued use of digital material for as long as necessary. Much of the digital preservation research to date has focused on understanding technical steps in preserving digital objects and there has been less attention paid to assumptions about selection and the conceptual underpinnings of practice. Selection is done, not conceptualised. Therefore the aim of this research was to investigate the theory and practice of selection for digital preservation in UK memory institutions. The objectives employed to achieve this aim were firstly to examine the underlying theory relating to selection in libraries, archives and museums of non-digital material. The research then went on to investigate who the stakeholders are in selection, how selection of digital material is performed and identifying the key influential factors in selection. An intensive, qualitative approach was used to complete these objectives. A thorough review of the literature provided a theoretical background to selection in libraries, archives and museums. Then preliminary data were gathered through a set of exploratory interviews with eight digital preservation experts in order to provide an overview of selection for digital preservation. The findings from these interviews then formed the basis for the second set of interviews with twenty five practitioners working in libraries, archives and museums. The views of practitioners were under-explored in the literature although it is they that perform selection. In addition to these interviews, twenty two current digital preservation policies were examined. This research has found that there is on the whole little change required for selecting digital material, in comparison to selecting non-digital material, although technical criteria relating to the ability of the institution to manage and preserve the material are of high importance. There is a clear assumption in institutions of selection leading only to permanent collecting, which should be questioned. This research has uncovered drivers to selection, including external funders, and barriers, which include a lack of confidence and knowledge on the part of practitioners in how to select and manage digital material. Concepts identified through this research provide a deeper understanding of selection for digital preservation in different contexts and encapsulate key factors underpinning selection. The concept of professionalism is a key factor; the need to be professional and ethical guide s practitioners through specific professional skills and knowledge. The practitioners become engaged with digital material and the level of engagement mirrors the way digital material is conceptualised by practitioners. Many stakeholders were identified, including managers, senior managers, users, creators and donors, funders, other organisations and IT staff. Relationships with stakeholders and the possible roles they play in selection were found to be key factors in selection. These findings contributed to the achievement of the final objective, which was to develop a conceptual model of key factors underpinning selection for of digital material for preservation. The conceptual model consists of five main concepts and their relationships: professionalism; relationships; organisational capabilities; material properties; and boundaries. There is a clear need for greater availability and access to training and networking opportunities for practitioners in order to increase engagement with digital material. Through this research, factors relating to selection have been identified and conceptualised. It has uncovered issues not previously addressed, in particular relating to the social aspect of selection. This research provides an understanding of the complexities of selection and the influences upon it.