Challenges and strategies in digitization projects in the kenyan government

Abstract

The world has experienced rapid growth in the information and communication technology (lCT) sector, resulting in major transformation in social, economic and business operations and processes. The ICT sector has helped to reduce the cost of communication, increase market information and facilitate doing business. This has brought the need for governments and businesses to digitize their practices and processes. The purpose of the study was to establish the practices, challenges and strategies in digitization in the Kenyan Government. The objectives of this study were to: establish the practices involved in the digitization projects undertaken by departments in the Kenyan Government; determine the challenges that are faced in digitization in the Kenyan Government; and determine strategies that can be applied for successful digitization in the Kenyan Government. This study used descriptive survey design. In this case the target population was all ministries. Judgmental sampling was used to select 38 government departments. The research instrument was a questionnaire which was administered using. "drop and pick later" method. One subject from each department was selected to respond to the questionnaire. Data was analyzed through percentages, frequencies, mean scores, standard deviation and factor analysis. The presentation of findings from quantitative data was by use of tables. Study findings revealed that digitization in government follow some of the best practices in digitization. These include quality assurance and quality control of metadata, content preservation, specifying the need for creating the digital collection and quality review of digital copies. Digitization is challenged by many factors including financial constraints, inadequate personnel in the projects, poor handling of original documents and material and inadequate resources and infrastructure for digitization. Technical know-how of project staff and procurement procedures are other challenges which hinder effective digitization in government. Study findings also revealed that various departments in Kenya undertaking digitization projects have devised strategies which have enabled them to cope with some of the challenges faced. Some of the workable strategies include documenting standards and best practices to be applied uniformly and planning, monitoring and effective budgeting in the project. Other strategies usually applied include having digital and quality standards and policy enactment before digitization starts. The following recommendations were made. First, the government departments should ensure that proper planning and budgeting is done even before the project starts. Secondly, every department engaged in digitization should ensure a consistent, high level of image quality across collections. Lastly, all digitization projects in government should decrease the likelihood of re-digitizing in the future by promoting best practices for conversion of materials into digital format and the long-term preservation of