The Kenya News Agency was established on December 5th 1963, a week to Kenya’s Independence specializing in news gathering across the country and news dissemination for local and international news agencies. At the moment, the volume of content at the agency includes 500,000 photos, 6,000 hours of video, 20,000 hours of audio, 500,000 records of articles and 40,000 bounded books worth of magazines dating back to 1936.
Through the ICT Authority of Kenya, the Kenya News Agency has begun the process of digitizing this content with the aim of creating an online library. The digitization process will by large involve cataloging process that includes adding descriptions to the digital file to make it searchable from a computer. In addition, it will involve capturing details for each resource. The cataloging is a slow process that can take years to complete.
The KNA Digitization project was conceived in 2011 with the ICT Authority securing funding for the project in 2014. The project seeks to improve the storage conditions of the digital assets for posterity besides creating a catalogue system that supports search and retrieval of these assets. The online library will also allow users to purchase licensed digital copies of the digital assets besides allowing users to find, view, and comment on digital copies of these materials. KNA plans to offer watermarked low resolution digital copies of content for free online but also offer licences for personal and commercial reproduction and reuse of its assets.
