Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts to get a new digital existence | World news | theguardian.com

"It's been a difficult year for Mali. A military coup in March 2012 to remove the president, Amadou Toumani Touré, led to nationwide chaos. Northern Mali was under the rule of various Islamist factions, from the Mouvement National pour la Libération de l'Azawad (MNLA) to Ansar Dine and local affiliates of the al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), resulting in widespread tyranny replete with public floggings and the destruction of numerous tombs dedicated to Sufi saints, seen as idolatrous structures by followers of the militant interpretation of Islam. An international intervention to drive anti-government forces out of the north, led by France, and rushed presidential elections in August, meant that Mali was in the international spotlight for all the wrong reasons. In early 2013, another distressing story emerged from the desert nation. One of the potential casualties of the insurgents' authoritarian regime was Timbuktu's collection of priceless ancient manuscripts, some hundreds of years old. After wresting the fabled town back from insurgents, French and Malian authorities found thousands of documents – stored in the town library, burnt or stolen. Fortunately, the majority of Timbuktu's legendary texts are stored in private family libraries and were smuggled away to safety in a secret operation that had been going on for many months.  Though saved from the torches and swords of the rebels, these manuscripts struggle to survive in Mali's harsh climate; centuries of exposure to heat and humidity have rendered the scripts extremely fragile. There are several ongoing projects to digitise and preserve these documents, like the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project, which has been working with Timbuktu's authorities since the early 2000s with support from the Ford Foundation and the University of Cape Town.  A recent addition to the preservation field, T160K, is trying to store manuscripts from the private libraries in humidity-proof footlockers to ensure they will survive almost any calamity. In a novel effort, the group resorted to an online crowd funding campaign rather than hitting up traditional funders like trusts and foundations for financial support. Led by Stephanie Diakité, a sustainable development professional, and working with Abdel Kadir Haidara of SAVAMA DCI, an association committed to allowing public access to Timbuktu's private libraries, T160K managed to raise a little over $67,000 of its $100,000 goal in a month's time.  In a telephone interview with Warscapes, Diakité explained why these manuscripts are so valuable. 'They tell us about the evolution of African scholarship and Islam in the region…a rudimentary cataloguing of some of the documents revealed over 70 themes covering philosophy, math, poetry and even recipes, and they date back to the 11th century,' she said. Apart from their age rendering them delicate, these manuscripts are written in ferrous inks that have no fixatives and are extremely volatile, she explained, which is why the team uses a cold circuit photo digitisation process to prevent them from igniting.  The idea of looking to the internet for funding was unusual, and I asked Tony Dowler, head of the Indiegogo campaign, why the group didn't stick to traditional funding sources. Citing slow bureaucratic procedures as one reason, Dowler said the real motivation for going digital was the hope of connecting with people directly, given the urgency of the situation. But it wasn't easy ...'"