1,720,960 research outputs found
Recordkeeping in Zimbabwe in colonial and post-independence contexts
No full textThe study was based on the general assumption that good recordkeeping systems existed in the colonial period, while general crisis situations have been reported in many postcolonial African nations, including Zimbabwe. With a view to determining whether there was continuity or not in the management of public sector records in Zimbabwe between the two periods, the study employed an interpretive paradigm and made use of qualitative methods including interviews, observations and documents search. Contrary to the general notion of collapsing recordkeeping systems in many postcolonial African scenarios, the study revealed that the recordkeeping systems established in the colonial era in Zimbabwe did not actually collapse but, in fact, the continued use of archaic manual systems, and absence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) became the main source of recordkeeping problems. This article presents the findings and recommendations of the study
Records and archives management in post-colonial Zimbambwe's public service
No full textA dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Records and Archives Management)Good recordkeeping systems are reported to have existed in the colonial period, while general crisis situations have been reported in many postcolonial African nations, including Zimbabwe. The main concern of this study was why this seemingly success factor in colonial recordkeeping failed to continue in postcolonial Africa, including Zimbabwe, as reported in various studies. In light of these insights, this study therefore sought to conduct an investigation of the status of records and archives management in postcolonial Zimbabwe so as to have in-depth explanations on its postcolonial recordkeeping experiences. The study took a colonial-postcolonial dimension in an effort to gain in-depth explanations on the strengths or weaknesses of current recordkeeping practices; and to find out if the situation regarding recordkeeping, as observed in other countries, is applicable to the Zimbabwean context. This case study on Zimbabwe, carried out within an interpretivist paradigm, employed qualitative data collection methods of interviews, observations and documents search. This was in order to gain in-depth insights into the state of records and archives management in the Public Service of Zimbabwe; which constituted the population of the study. The total targeted sample was 76 interviewees distributed as follows: three persons from each of the 24 Ministries comprising the Permanent Secretary, the Records Supervisor, and one Action Officer; three from the National Archives of Zimbabwe comprising the Director, Head of Records Management section and Head of Public Archives section; and one key person from the Ministry of Information & Communication Technology, Postal & Courier Services (MICTPCS) responsible for ICT issues in the Public Service of Zimbabwe. Observations were made on recordkeeping facilities at the registries within the Ministries. In addition, an assessment of related recordkeeping documents was also carried out The study revealed that, contrary to the general notion of collapsing recordkeeping systems in many postcolonial African scenarios, the recordkeeping systems established in the colonial era in Zimbabwe did not actually collapse but, in fact, the continued use of these archaic manual systems from the colonial past became the main source of recordkeeping problems in Zimbabwe. The absence of information communication technologies (ICTs) in the management of records and archives overwhelmed the traditional manual system resulting in the system‟s failure to incorporate technology-based records into the formal recordkeeping systems. This problem was compounded by lack of ICT resources, skills, and a general lack of government commitment to make a paradigm shift from manual to electronic recordkeeping systems.
Nevertheless, the study also found many strong points in Zimbabwe‟s recordkeeping systems. Top among them is that Zimbabwe inherited a strong recordkeeping system from the colonial times and by the time of independence; the country had over four decades of archival experience. In addition, the transitional period into independence did not disrupt recordkeeping systems but in fact allowed continuation and consolidation of recordkeeping work. The government‟s deliberate records management expansion drive, which saw the decentralisation of records management facilities and an active archivist training programme helped consolidate recordkeeping work in Zimbabwe. Archival legislation was also revised and improved to support the expansion drive. The study attributes the strong archival framework found in the country to a cocktail of these factors even though there were operational problems in between the life-cycle stages. The study, however, singles out the effects of the current Zimbabwean political and economic crisis which threatens to derail the good framework available; worsens the weak points already in the system, and could lead to collapsing recordkeeping systems. With this state of affairs in Zimbabwe, the study recommends, through a proposed model, points of intervention that recognise the strong factors found in the system but also incorporates those factors that have been overlooked. More importantly, it recommends introducing new aspects of ICTs that relate to electronic records management, which were found to be inadequate in the current recordkeeping systems
Tracing colonial and postcolonial recordkeeping in Zimbabwe
No full textThe article traces archival development in Zimbabwe from the colonial to the postcolonial periods. Like in many African colonies, the foundations for formal recordkeeping in Zimbabwe were laid during colonial administration and this article argues that there is a direct relationship between what is happening today and the past whether good or bad. It covers the historical background of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean government from the colonial to the postcolonial periods. A historical understanding of the country provides a picture of the archival scene for the period under discussion. In addition, it also gives an overview of records management in Zimbabwe from the colonial to postcolonial periods, as well as the role of the National Archives of Zimbabwe. The article analyses the positive and negative aspects of both the colonial and postcolonial recordkeeping periods and brings out the relationship between the two. The article was guided by the stages of the records life-cycle concept and information was gathered through literature review which included annual reports, legislation, archival documents, published and other academic articles and books on Zimbabwe. It is part of a works in progress and methodology for this article is desk research
Audiovisual Archiving in the Third World – Problems and Perspectives: An Analysis of Audiovisual Archiving in the East and Southern African Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA) Region
No full textIn comparison, audiovisual archives are much more difficult to manage than paper documents due to their technical nature. Most institutions in the ESARBICA region are still struggling to put up basic operating structures for audiovisual archiving due to lack of resources, basic infrastructure and inadequate technical skills required to effectively manage audiovisual archiving activities. The paper will look at the current position of audiovisual archiving at national archival institutions in the ESARBICA region, highlights problems being faced and bring out the challenges that are ahead as well as suggests practical starting points for the region.
ESARBICA Journal Vol.22 2003: 43-4
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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