The ICT Authority has begun digitizing the photo library at the Kenya News Agency. The photo library collection dates back to 1936 and documents Kenyan life through the decades. The rich collection is a national treasure but remains underutilized. 

Digitizing the collection will make the photos and videos available to everybody to view online. Easy access to these historical photos will especially benefit the creative industry and researchers. >From fashion designers to filmmakers--access to visual history of Kenya will serve to inspire and enrich their creations. For personal family research or professional cultural research, the online catalogue will be an invaluable reference source.

It is our pleasure to announce the scanning of the photos will kick-off this June. The project is assigned under the Deputy Director for Information and has been structured in four project areas:

We invite you to a half-day forum to explore the opportunities and challenges copyright offers government. Gerry Gitonga, IP Lawyer and consultant for the KNA Digitization Project will share his findings on the IP Status of the KNA Photos and the options available to government for commercialization of the collections. 

Who Should Attend:

• Subscribers to KNA content (media houses, publishers, etc)
• Researchers and users of historical content
• IP Lawyers
• Promoters of Access to Information 
• Creatives (photographers, designers, filmmakers etc)
• Librarians
• Archivists 

Participants will be invited to contribute to the discussion.   

Time: 8.30am - 1.00pm 

The digitization drive is made up of several activities including adding detailed descriptions to the digital file to make it searchable from a computer. Capturing details for each photo is a slow process that can take many years to  complete. By December 2015 we expect to have captured detailed description/metadata for at least 30% of the collection.