GLAM/Newsletter/July 2020/Contents/Uganda report

This Month in GLAM – Volume X, Issue VII, July 2020

Uganda report

Sensitisation of GLAM institutions in Uganda

On 7th December 2019, the Wikimedia Uganda Community User Group hosted a number of GLAM professionals at the Goethe-Zentrum Kampala Library. The meeting was in part to reach out to professionals we had not interacted with during the course of the year and therefore had no prior opportunity to showcase who we are and what we do in relation to the work they do. We were able to approach a number of institutions who then nominated their staff for participation as well as individuals that had expressed interest. The event was attended by over 20 people and some of the institutions represented include

Busitema University
Kawempe Youth Centre
Kyambogo University
Lira University
Uganda Management Institute
YMCA Uganda Comprehensive Institute

The activities of the day included an open discussion that addressed the state of GLAM institutions in Uganda and ways in which the GLAM community could be involved; what is the environment and context in which we operate as GLAM Institutions in Uganda; which activities are viable in our context; are our GLAM institutions in a position to appreciate the need, if any, to be involved in the Open Knowledge Movement?

The discussions came in between presentations by Erina Mukuta on What Wikipedia is and its guiding principles; photographic competitions that those interested in GLAM can participate in by Geoffrey Kateregga; and The State of Uganda GLAMs by Alice Kibombo. There was also a presentation on Creative Commons and how they factor into GLAM by Eric Nelson Haumba.

As a result, the user group has been able to grow its network and contacts for future projects and activities resulting from this will be published in upcoming newsletters.