Building shared futures from photographic remains: Kenyan visual heritage and urban life
Building Shared Futures is a collaboration between the University of Bristol, Bristol Archives, University of Nairobi, Technical University of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and National Museums of Kenya. British and Kenyan colleagues are working together to explore the role that photographic archives can play in conversations about the history and future of Nairobi.
“Building shared futures” is a partnership building project linking scholars and stakeholders in Kenya with academics and staff at the University of Bristol and the Bristol Archives.
The project, led by Dr Neil Carrier, aims to utilise the visual resources available in Kenya and the Bristol Archives around the urban heritage of Nairobi to plan activities and future projects to improve access to the collections. In so doing, it is working to ensure Kenyans are connected to the materials so that they can use them in telling and researching the histories of their communities.
Research IT will provide expertise in the use of the technologies such as the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), Linked Data, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as well as providing expert advice on workflows around digitisation and crowdsourcing adapted to the Kenyan digital economy.
An example of the work being carried out can be viewed on our developer's personal blog Fairly Positive.