Aluka
{{About||the Melbourne a cappella band|Aluka (band)|the Chinese League of Legends player|Aluka (video gamer)}}
{{Infobox website
| url = http://www.aluka.org
| name = Aluka (library)
| logo = Aluka.png|logo_caption=Aluka logo
| screenshot =
| caption = Aluka homepage
| commercial = Not-for-profit
| type = Digital library
| owner = Ithaka Harbors
| author = Aluka
}}
Aluka was an online digital library focused on Africa-related material. It focused on globally connecting scholars by building a common platform for online collaboration and knowledge sharing. Aluka's intended audience was higher education and research communities.{{Cite journal |last1=Isaacman |first1=Allen F |last2=Lalu |first2=Premesh |last3=Nygren |first3=Thomas I |date=2005 |title=Digitization, History, and the Making of a Postcolonial Archive of Southern African Liberation Struggles: The Aluka Project |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/192155 |journal=Africa Today |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=55–77 |doi=10.1353/at.2006.0009 |issn=1527-1978|url-access=subscription }}
Aluka was an initiative of Ithaka Harbors, a non-profit organization focused on incubating promising new projects that use technology for the benefit of higher education. It aims to grow successful projects into independent services or adjoined to larger, existing organizations for the academic community. In June 2008, the Ithaka and JSTOR Trustees approved a recommendation that the Aluka initiative be integrated into JSTOR.{{Cite web |title=JSTOR and Ithaka Merge, Uniting Efforts to Serve the Scholarly Community |url=https://libraries.usc.edu/article/jstor-and-ithaka-merge-uniting-efforts-serve-scholarly-community |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=USC Libraries |language=en}}
Founded in 2003, Aluka was an initiative of Ithaka, a non-profit organization based in New York City and Princeton, New Jersey. The initial funding was provided by the Mellon Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation.
The first release of Aluka took place in early February 2007 with preview access to JSTOR subscribers. Aluka was made free to all academic and other not-for-profit institutions in Africa.
The name 'Aluka' is derived from a Zulu word meaning 'to weave'.{{Cite web |date=2011-07-15 |title=Aluka - Association of Southeastern Research Libraries |url=https://www.aserl.org/programs/coll-assess/aluka/ |access-date=2022-07-30 |language=en-US}}
Aluka sought to attract other collections of scholarly interest from institutions and individuals worldwide. By bringing materials together, it created new opportunities for research and collaboration. Documents and materials that were previously hard or impossible to access were made globally available to researchers.
Content
The Aluka digital library was focused on three major areas:
- African Plants Initiative: Collection of African plants specimens and related material funded by the Mellon Foundation, which was migrated to JSTOR{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Gideon F. |date=2004 |title=The African Plants Initiative: A Big Step for Continental Taxonomy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4135568 |journal=Taxon |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=1023–1025 |doi=10.2307/4135568 |jstor=4135568 |bibcode=2004Taxon..53.1023S |issn=0040-0262|url-access=subscription }}
- Cultural Heritage: 3D models, panorama tours, plans, sections, and elevation data derived from the 3D models and a collection of photographs documenting African heritage sites, which were created and provided by the Zamani Project.{{Cite journal|last1=Rüther|first1=Heinz|last2=Rajan|first2=Rahim S.|date=2007|title=Documenting African Sites: The Aluka Project|journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians|volume=66|issue=4|pages=437–443|doi=10.1525/jsah.2007.66.4.437|issn=0037-9808|jstor=10.1525/jsah.2007.66.4.437}}{{Cite journal|last1=Rajan|first1=Rahim S.|last2=Rüther|first2=Heinz|date=2007-05-30|title=Building a Digital Library of Scholarly Resources from the Developing World: An Introduction to Aluka|journal=African Arts|volume=40|issue=2|pages=1–7|doi=10.1162/afar.2007.40.2.1|s2cid=57558501 |issn=0001-9933}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.isprs.org/proceedings/xxxiv/6-w6/papers/ruther.pdf|title=AN AFRICAN HERITAGE DATABASE – THE VIRTUAL PRESERVATION OF AFRICA'S PAST|last=Ruther|first=Heinz|date=|website=International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215115656/http://www.isprs.org:80/proceedings/xxxiv/6-w6/papers/Ruther.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-15 |access-date=}}{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/|title=Home|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-09-25}}{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/transfer/Challenges_in_Heritage_Documentation_with_Terrestrial_Laser_Scanning_2011.pdf|title=Challenges in Heritage Documentation with Terrestrial Laser Scanning|last=Rüther|first=Heinz|date=|website=Zamani project|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925122259/https://zamaniproject.org/transfer/Challenges_in_Heritage_Documentation_with_Terrestrial_Laser_Scanning_2011.pdf |archive-date=2019-09-25 |access-date=}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/Recent_additions/|title=Recent additions to the African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes Database – Opinions – Archival Platform|website=www.archivalplatform.org|access-date=2019-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101091912/http://www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/Recent_additions/|archive-date=2019-11-01|url-status=dead}} This collection includes the Djingereyber mosque in Timbuktu,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-mali-timbuktu-djingareyber-mosque.html#header5-a9|title=Site - Djingereyber Mosque|last=|first=|date=|website=zamaniproject.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925140657/https://zamaniproject.org/site-mali-timbuktu-djingareyber-mosque.html |archive-date=2019-09-25 |access-date=2019-09-25}} the great mosque of Djenne,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-mali-djenne-great-mosque.html#header5-an|title=Site - Djenne Mosque|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-09-25}} the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-ethiopia-lalibela-rock-hewn-churches.html#header5-d|title=Site - Lalibela Rock-Hewn Churches|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-09-25}} Petra,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-jordan-petra.html#header5-4t|title=Site - Petra|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-11-01}} the Swahili ruins on Kilwa Kisiwani{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-tanzania-kilwa-kisiwani.html#header5-bd|title=Site - Kilwa Kisiwani - Swahili Ruins|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-09-25}} and Sonog Mnara,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-tanzania-songo-mnara.html#header5-bz|title=Site - Songo Mnara - Swahili Ruins|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-09-25}} the Lamu fort,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-kenya-lamu-fort.html#header5-ic|title=Site - Lamu Fort|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-11-01}} the Shela mosque,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-kenya-shela-mosque.html#header5-it|title=Site - Shela Mosque|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-11-01}} Elmina Castle,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/site-ghana-elmina-elmina-castle.html#header5-z|title=Site - Elmina Castle|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-11-01}} Fort of São Sebastião,{{Cite web|url=https://zamaniproject.org/sites.html#slider1-k|title=Documented Heritage Sites by Zamani|website=zamaniproject.org|access-date=2019-11-01}} and many more. This content area also includes a large collection of African Rock Art.
- Struggles for Freedom: Documents, images, and other materials documenting the liberation struggles in Southern Africa, including those from Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
See also
External links and Further reading
- [https://www.cni.org/topics/economic-models/new-directions-at-ithaka-aluka-and-jstor Project briefing] at the meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information
- Meeting of Africana Librarians Council at the Library of Congress
- Introduction to Aluka from the Association of Research Libraries
- Isaacman, A., Lalu, P., Nygren, T. 2005. Digitization, History, and the Making of a Postcolonial Archive of Southern African Liberation Struggles: The Aluka Project. in Africa Today v.52 no.2. {{doi|10.1353/at.2006.0009}} {{hdl|10566/299}}
- [http://chronicle.com/article/Can-Technology-Save-the/25980 Can Technology Save the Developing World] in the Chronicle of Higher Education July 21, 2006.
- Building a Digital Library of Scholarly Resources from the Developing World: An Introduction to Aluka, Rajan, R., Ruther, H. in African Arts v.40 issue 2. {{doi|10.1162/afar.2007.40.2.1}}
- Documenting African Sites: The Aluka Project, Rajan, R., Ruther, H. in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians v.66 number 4. {{JSTOR|10.1525/jsah.2007.66.4.437}} {{doi|10.1525/jsah.2007.66.4.437}}
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/science/20timb.html?scp=2&sq=aluka&st=cse Project Digitizes Works from the Golden Age of Timbuktu] in The New York Times May 20, 2008.
- [https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/africa-s-literary-treasure-trove-the-rush-to-save-timbuktu-s-crumbling-manuscripts-a-569560.html The Rush to Save Timbuktu's Crumbling Manuscripts] in the Der Spiegel August 1, 2008.