2025:Program/Sound Recordings from Africa (1908 - 1970)
Session title: Sound Recordings from Africa (1908 - 1970)
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: GLAM
- Language: en
The Phonogram Archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1899. It is the oldest institution of its kind in the world that collects and preserves sound recordings.
The "Historical Collections 1899-1950" have been recognized as documents of universal significance by UNESCO and have been included in the World Register of the "Memory of the World" program.
You can listen to a voice portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph from 1903, speeches held in Vienna on the introduction of universal and equal suffrage in 1906, and much more.
There are particularly many preserved audio recordings from Africa spanning several decades, starting as early as 1908.
Description
đ„ Session recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKIMANIA_Day_3_Nyeri_-_Sound_Recordings_from_Africa_(1908_-_1970).webm đ„
Austrian researchers have collected numerous sound documents from all over Africa, starting as early as 1908. I have access to a these now-digitized sound documents. They come from Botswana, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. In 2007, I gave a lecture on these African sound documents at the University of Botswanaâthis was long before artificial intelligence opened up new possibilities but also revealed significant potential dangers.
In my presentation, I will address technical, ethical, and legal questions that I would like to solve together with the participants at WIKIMANIA 2025 in Nairobi: Are the available sound documents from Africa sufficient in quantity and quality to be processed with AI tools?
I would initially answer this technical question with a yes, especially since there is comparative material (sound recordings: War Sounds - Kaiser and Generals on World War I; Historical Voices from Vienna - Artists of Late Historicism, etc.), where the technical aspects have already been successfully resolved. The legal questions would also not pose an obstacle if some prerequisites are clarified in advance. In my opinion, the main problem lies in the ethical questions.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 â Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
Impact of sound files from the past on GLAM activities of the Wikimedia movement today
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Resources
Speakers
- Plodan
- I started my involvement in the Wikimedia movement 15 years ago and publish regularly about events in the Wikimedia movement in four languages (German, English, French and Croatian), mostly in German -
- take a look at https://kausich-bibliothek.bvoe.at (Projekte/Wikipedia, Wikidata etc.).