Speakers – Hiistoriya Webinar June 2020
Tawanda Kanhema
Digital Strategist and Photographer, Zimbabwe | www.unmappedplanet.com
Tawanda Kanhema is a Zimbabwean photographer and digital strategist. He single-handedly mapped 500 miles of Zimbabwe for Google Street View as a volTawanda Kanhema is a Zimbabwean photographer and digital strategist based in Berkeley, California. He single-handedly mapped 500 miles of Zimbabwe for Google Street View as a volunteer using his own resources. After noting that Zimbabwe was not represented on Google Street View, in 2009 he volunteered to carry the Street View gear across 2,000 mi (3,200 km) of Zimbabwe so that it would be more complete and representative. Kanhema studied documentary film-making and journalism at University of California, Berkeley. He worked as Project Manager for both Al Jazeera Media Network and Mozilla in Silicon Valley. At Al Jazeera, he was part of the core team of the groundbreaking digital news platform AJ+ that innovated on the creation of online news products and coverage of current events. Kanhema is interested in connecting people and building communities, developing media products, digital product strategy, media design & innovation.
Prof. (em) Dr. Heinz Rüther
Principal Investigator, Zamani Project, University of Cape Town, South Africa | www.zamaniproject.org
Heinz Rüther, Professor (em) for Geomatics at the University of Cape Town obtained his Ph.D. in Photogrammetry at the University of Cape Town in 1982. Professor Rüther has worked on photogrammetric and surveying projects in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and especially Africa. His present special research interest lies in the area of digital photogrammetric and laser scanning for 3D-modelling of architectural monuments and the documentation of Cultural Heritage sites. He founded the “African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes Database” Research Group at the University of Cape Town, now known as the Zamani Project for which he is its Principal Investigator. The Project seeks to increase awareness and knowledge of tangible cultural heritage in Africa and internationally by creating metrically accurate digital representations of historical sites. The Zamani Project documented more than 60 heritage sites with more than 250 individual monuments. Among these are the Rock Churches of Lalibela, the Fortresses and Castles of Ghana, the rockhewn monuments of Petra in Jordan, the Valley of the Queens in Luxor and temples and pagodas in Bagan, Myanmar and in Meridigiriya and Polunnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Chao Tayiana
Founder, African Digital Heritage, Kenya | www.africandigitalheritage.com
Chao Tayiana is a digital heritage specialist and digital humanities scholar. Her work primarily focuses on the application of technology in the preservation, engagement and dissemination of African heritage and culture. She is the founder of African Digital Heritage an organisation which seeks to research and strengthen the digital capacity of African cultural institutions. She is also a co-founder at the Museum of British Colonialism where she leads digital engagement and documentation. She holds an MSc in International Heritage Visualisation (2016 -2017) from the University of Glasgow/Glasgow School of Art where she graduated with a distinction. She is a recipient of the Google Anita Borg scholarship for women in technology (2016) and a founding member of the Digital Humanities network in Africa.
Doreen Bateyunga
Pre-Production Coordinator, Ubongo Learning, Tanzania | www.ubongo.org
Doreen Bateyunga is currently working at Ubongo Learning, a social enterprise that aims at delivering effective and localized learning content to African families at low cost & massive scale through edutainment. As the Pre-production Coordinator, she leads her team in creating entertaining and educational content for young children, Ubongo Kids. Ubongo Kids is a kids’ educational cartoon that follows the problem-solving adventures of five friends who love learning science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), and life skills, and use their new knowledge to solve problems and mysteries in Kokotoa Village. The show has grown from Tanzania’s first homegrown cartoon, to a Pan-African series on TV in 5 languages and 33 countries. Doreen holds a B.A in International Relations from the University of San Diego and an M.A from University College London (UCL). She credits her uncommon experience in education for her mission of wanting to afford the same quality of learning to as many children as possible in Africa. Her past work has included fighting for girls’ right to education in Tanzania and bridging the digital gender gap through sparking and sustaining an interest in STEM in young girls.
Mwihaki Muraguri
Founder, Paukwa, Kenya |www.paukwa.or.ke
Mwihaki Muraguri’s passion is storytelling, which led to the establishment of Paukwa House Ltd, a firm dedicated to bringing to using the art of storytelling to celebrate and spotlight the positive aspects of Kenyan history and contemporary life. Paukwa projects and activities include their online platforms, podcasts, among many other projects and activities that provide storytelling training, photo and film documentation services for clients, curating and delivering positive content through digital media channels. Muraguri has served in various institutions across the private and non-profit sector including AMREF, the KCB Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.