Projectwork on Creating a Digital Museum of the Namibian Cultural Heritage

1. Projectwork on Owela
National Museum of Namibia
A Namibia’s Cultural Heritage Preservation Strategy
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern
Summer Schol
“Digital communication of indigenous
African heritage and fashion”

2. AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
WORKING GROUP TEAM MEMBERS
Ray Mutinda, Kenya
Theresa Mugobi , Tanzania
Bunga Zethira , Italy /Indonesia
Keiphe n Setlhatlhanyo, UK/ Botswana
Donatella Paschina, Switzerland/Italy
Peneyambeko J. Nashiwaya, Namibia
Vera-Simone Schulz, Italy/Germany
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3. The Owela’s Museum
The Owela Display Centre is the ethnographic section of the National Museum of Namibia . New
exhibitions currently feature San, Nama and Himba culture.
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion” 3

4. Background
Owela, the National Museum of Namibia, is rich of contents and arts and crafts
witnessing the heritage of different centuries and ethnic groups of Namibia’s
history.
Owela Museum is one of the main museums of Namibia
A lot of the arts and crafts and memories of Namibia are not physically preserved
and stored in a public and accessible museum
Traditional static museums are no more aligned with the expectations of visitors
looking for distinctivity and experience
Costs of maintenance and physical conservation facilities limit the resources to be
dedicated to widening and enriching collections
Heritage memories are spread across different institutions, locations, both public
and private
Risks arise on loosing majority of the witnesses of the cultural heritage
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
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5. Objectives
 Positioning Namibia as a Cultural Heritage destination
 Widening the target market of Tourism
 Keeping alive history, culture and the heritage of Namibia
 Enforcing the internal culture and Educate Namibians young generation about their own roots
and heritage
 Giving access to the Namibian Cultural Heritage and disseminating it worldwide
 Create the link between the Cultural Heritage and Tourism & Fashion, the two strategic industries
that are contributing to the economic growth of the Nation
 Achieving synergies and common goals between Academia and Public Institutions
 Improving and augmenting the current experience provided by the Owela Museum
 Involve local indigenous communities on validating and enriching historical contents
 Leverage the engagement of local communities to demonstrate the heritage’s continuity
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
A B C D E
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6. DISCOVERY and RECOVERY most of the Digital Assets already made available from
different initiatives
DIGITIZE all the arts and crafts and memories stored in :
• Owela’s National Museum of Namibia
• Public and Institutional collections
• Private collectors premises
CO-DESIGN and validate with local indigenous communities the digital rendering «giving
room to multiple voices»
• Labeling and describing all the historical contents
• Design and Implement the Digital Assets Repository and System
• Design and Implement Virtual Tours and Augmented Reality tools
• Set-up a professional photo-shooting stage
DIGITALIZE the «Museum» experience , creating a new way to acquire knowledge and
experience for all the target segments: physical visitors, on-line visitors, kids, researchers.
Designers, press and media, tourist operators,……………..
ACQUIRE involvement and engagement from National and International institutions,
museums, arts exhibitions implementing an ITINERANT MUSEUM CONCEPT (pop-up
museum)
The Project: CREATE THE DIGITAL MUSEUM OF
THE NAMIBIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion” 6

7. Opportunities and Benefits to take
 Digital technology needed is already available and costs are more and more accessible
 In several countries, «Digital Museums» have been implemented. Benchmarks can be
easily done to learn from other initiatives already in place
 Namibia’s Tourism and Fashion players are constantly in search of contents and
inspirations to feed their products and services
 UNAM and their own partnership with other Universities, like USI in Switzerland and
Turku in Finland, can provide competences on the Digital Museum Initiative
 The Digital Museum can offer opportunities of research and education at Academic
Level
 The Digital Museum will be the virtual location where Namibian’s indigenous population
can bring in their values and habits
 Many events worldwide are looking for innovative and new contents to provide to their
own customers :
Arts Exhibitions Tourist&Travel Fairs EXPO’s
 Project’s Fundings to start and develop are made available from different Private and
International organizations
 Museum’s Revenues can be generated in the medium term through
 on-line sales of catalogues and merchandising of the artcrafts and attires
 Rights on Photos and Images downloads
 Fees sharing of Events revenues
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion” 7

8. The Digital Museum will transform the
physical experience too
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
The Digital Museum is an Omni-Channel experience, enabling on-line and off-line
interactions
The physical Museum will be modified accordingly, starting from the basic IT
infrastructures: WI-FI
Screens, Audio, and Augmented Reality equipments will be made available
Gamification and entertainment will be the new drivers to attract visitors, both national
and international. Adults and kids.
The costs of renovating the Owela’s in Museum experience will be lower than
restructuring the current exhibition
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9. Examples how the Digital Museum will improve
the experience of the Owela Museum (1/3)
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
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• The Digital Museum will allow the CONTENT of the Owela Museum to be enhanced
- it will allow other communities of Namibia that currently do not feature in
the museum to be also represented
- it will make it possible to include issues that are currently underexplored in
the Owela museum such as
* the storytelling of different communities and proverbs
* more information about traditional religions
- it will make it possible to experience artworks and artifacts that are at
other locations, enhancing the learning experience and creating the wish to
visit the actual objects and sites by providing more information about
* rock art in Namibia
* objects that are kept in other museums throughout Namibia
* the cultural heritage of other African countries

10. Examples how the Digital Museum will improve
the experience of the Owela Museum (2/3)
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
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• AUDIO devices will enhance the experience of the museum for all visitors including
the visually impaired
- they will be featured in different Namibian languages
- they will be available at various levels: for pre-school, highschool, and adult
audiences
- they will include both storytelling, narratives, songs, and the sound of the
music of the various musical instruments represented in the museum
• VIDEOS/Augmented Reality will include documentaries about the culture, heritage,
and fashion in Namibia, about the history of the country and diverse cultural
activities (how to hunt, how to gather food)
• The CHILDRENS‘ SECTION will include animation and quizzes, the latter based on
demands of the school curricula and the current education situation

11. Examples how the Digital Museum will improve
the experience of the Owela Museum (3/3)
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
11
• The Digital Museum will allow the Owela Museum to emphasize more strongly LINKS
BETWEEN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.
• The work of contemporary designers that is inspired from Namibian artifacts will be
presented together with these artifacts and additional information about both of
them, their stories, history, and production processes will be provided.
• An ONLINE GIFTSHOP will allow it to purchase contemporary design products and
fashion that have been made in dialogue with Namibian objects, dress items, and
patterns.

12. The Digital Museum of Namibia’s Heritage
A feasible 3year Plan
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion”
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Content Management
Feeding Platforms & tests
Digital Marketing Plan
Concept design
Mock-up
Pilot and Validation
Digital Marketing Activation
ROLL-OUT
Business Plan
Benchmark
Project Launch
Resources Allocation
H1’21 H2 ‘21
H2 ‘20 Notes
Commitment
Funding
Project organization set-
up
Competencies (internal
/external) on board
Tools installed
Marketing &
Communication Team in
place
Events Organization
H1 ‘20
Local Stakeholders
involvement
Operational Team in place
IT Platforms and Providers
selection
Initial contents digitization
H1 ‘22 H2 ‘22
Owela Museum: Experience
Improvement

13. What Next
Namibian Cultural Heritage Digital Museum based on the Owela initiative will be
the official HUB of the Digital contents of Namibians Heritage
Namibia could represent an example («a champion») for other African Countries :
 Being the Ambassador on how Digital technology can
 recovery Heritage Assets
 promote Culture , Tourism and Fashion
 Involve the young generation and increase their knowledge on their
own roots
 Witnessing a successful cooperation with the indigenous local communities
 Demonstrating that investing on culture and heritage can generate direct and
indirect revenues, attracting new customers
USI-UNESCO Chair on ICT Southern Summer Schol “Digital communication of indigenous African heritage and fashion” 13