Volume 44, Issue 2

In this paper we discuss how Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory and Davies’ Policy, Strategy and Resources (PSR) troika model were used to underpin a Ph. D. study that explored contextual factors influencing the current state of digital preservation management in Ghana. Our goal is to explain how these theories were employed so that other researchers will be able to use them effectively to understand other related research problems. The research on which this paper is based employed an interpretive single-case-study approach. Four main clusters of contextual factors—attitude-related, resource-related, policy-related, and management-related factors—were found to be influencing digital preservation management in Ghana. We present a summary of these factors at the end of the paper. Awareness of these can enable the effective development of a digital preservation program and lead to the establishment of a national digital memory for Ghana and other developing countries.

Our day-to-day needs are greatly dependent on information and communications technology (ICT)—as represented by the Internet. Knowledge about culture is no exception. This paper focuses on the availability of digital cultural information about India on the Web. We aim to answer three questions: How is Indian culture represented on the Web? How are Indian cultural heritage sites being used? Who is using the sites? The study also examines the usability of these sites, and whether they are maintained. Content, ranking, and users’ age groups are the three criteria on which this analysis has been based.

For centuries, Timbuktu, Mali, has quietly housed some of the greatest treasures of the ancient world: hundreds of thousands of scientific, literary, and religious manuscripts. But when Al Qaeda jihadists seized control of the city in the wake of a coup in 2012, the manuscripts found themselves in dire threat of destruction. To save them, a group of unlikely allies worked together to organize one of the most brazen evacuations of cultural heritage ever attempted . . . and succeeded in rescuing 95 % of Timbuktu’s ancient written heritage. In examining the story of the manuscripts, this article considers three areas—preparation, evacuation, and continued preservation—in which cultural heritage institutions can gain insight into the preservation of historical treasures in the midst of conflict.