Help us with an African Project Name
www.afritedia.org
Networked Digital Library of African Theses and Dissertations
We are in a journey, right now. It is exciting and unbelievably great. We want to build an African digital library for theses, dissertations, seminars, lecture notes, student projects, etc.
Why? In a study carried by AFRIT last two years, we noticed that most African schools destroy their student theses or projects after five years and after a few years commission the same projects to new students. This is expected since by nature, we are not good in keeping data. Recall that apart from the Ethiopians; most African nations did not develop any indigenous way of writing until the colonial masters came.
So, we asked, if the schools do not have enough storage space in the library to store the works of their students and teachers, we can provide a digital alternative. This will serve many purposes. It will help put the students and teachers on the map by showing the world what is coming out of Africa. Also, most of the students can get ahead by people verifying and validating what they have done, easily. I see top foreign schools checking their theses online with ease, for admissions. And there are many benefits to the reputations of our academic sector if the works could be more visible.
Note one thing, some of those theses on herbs could become Fortune 1000 companies if someone discovers them. They are thrown away today, but we want them to be shown to all nations.
This Project will be commissioned at Addis Ababa, the seat of African Union, in December 2010. Our team has been working on this.
But I have a question: what name do you want to call this site?
These are my options (please, do not go and get this domain before us)
Afritedia.org
Nkpuhe.org (Nkpuhe means revelation in Igbo- a Nigerian language)
Make suggestions: comment or email.
africanlibrary.org
ndlatd.org (networked digital library of african theses and dissertations)
ethesesafrica.org
how about http://www.afrischolar.org?
I’ll suggest:
1. AfriLink
2. AfriConnect or Afrikonect
3. AfriRevs (Africa Revelations). Nkpuhe might not make for common pronunciation because of the ‘KP’
4. Shelf-Afric
I’m a graphic artist and aesthetic developer. I would like to create at least 2 logos for any name you settle on, and send to you so you can choose. No charges!
Regards
afritelibrary.org
Hi Bob,
I will get in touch with you. Thank you for the offer. The Art Institute of Boston also volunteered to help. So it is coming out fine. Maybe, we will post it online and ask people to vote. My artistic judgment is very poor.
As soon as the name is done, we will get the site up. If anyone wants to join this team, please let us know. This is for Africa and it is completely FREE to schools. I am thinking of the idea of making the schools customize their webpages or sections of their pages, with their logos, colors, etc over one design for all.
We will be in touch, soon, for help.
To others, posting and emailing, thanks.
AFRIT Team
Thats okay. I love what you guys are putting together. This starting phase sure aint gonna be so easy but I’m certain that with the tenacity I perceive, you’ll achieve your goal. Call on me anytime you need my kind of assistance. I love creativity.
afrimedia.org
afritheses.org
afritpower.org
afribarn.org
addishouse.org
nuru-africa.org (nuru is light in ushahidi)
thesispedia.org
thesespedia.org
afrithesis.org
afritheses.org
africatheses.org
africathesis.org
Some names from emails
African Open Educational Resources (AOER)
African Knowledge Dreams
The portal is going to allow professors to post seminars, working papers, academic documents, etc, we cannot just call it thesis. What of
Networked African Open Educational Resources (NAOER)
or
African Networked Open Educational Resources (ANOER)
or
Digital African Open Educational Resources (DAOER)
or just Afritedia- an African Networked Open Educational Resources
please post suggestions, and do not email.
what of OERet
open education resourcs and electronics theses in Africa
This seems to be like it
afritedia.org
- African digital library of theses + open educational resources
From using the UK database of theses for research an important point seems to be that there will always be more Theses produced than the ability to scan them. Therefore the important thing is to get all universities to ask for Theses to be submitted in soft copy to the Universities and they can then be sent on to you electronically. Ask the Universities to send you the hard copies that they are going to destroy, and log them online, and you can digitise them if and when people request access to the Thesis.
Best of luck,
Sean
p.s. I like the name Thesispedia, after all why shouldn’t an African Project become the Global reference point for Theses ?