Digitalisation-preparedness of cultural heritage institutions: To what extent is Africa ready?

Abstract

The fourth Industrial Revolution, characterised by cutting-edge artificial intelligence innovations, is having a tremendous impact on productivity in society. Trending innovations like ChatGPT and Bard demonstrate great potential for task automation in an increasingly digital economy. The progressively wider impact of AI which is based on knowledge surrogates should be prepared through the processes of digitisation and digitalisation with appropriate metadata. Deployment of ICT in Cultural Heritage Institutions is revolutionising digital transformation processes. This study explored the digitisation landscape of Cultural Heritage Institutions in Kenya with a view of determining their preparedness for digitalisation. The study surveyed national information agencies, academic and mainstream church institutions. Questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. The study further reviewed literature on digitisation in sub-Saharan Africa and specifically reports on the baseline survey on the status of Digital Humanities. The study reveals some positive nascent effort towards AI-readiness in Kenya with the government involvement in acquisition of world-class digitisation infrastructure to realise the national aspiration of digitising 5 billion records as spelt out in the National Digital Master Plan. Ultimately, the study proposes a way forward regarding digitisation projects in Kenya and Africa at large.