Catalogue without Cards: Kenyan Literary Texts on the World Wide Web

Abstract

This paper presents a case for the need to build a virtual bibliography of Kenyan literature on the World Wide Web; this catalogue without cards will present to the wide audience with access to the internet basic and correct information on this literature. In the course of discussing the place of modern information technology in the world, the paper discusses the Kenyan literary heritage as a form of higher culture reflecting social experiences, capturing the souls of the nation and encapsulating the high ideals of humanism and progress. Further, the paper calls for honesty and sensitivity in the preservation of information on the literary texts, lest this information is laid open to possible distortion, even manipulation, by those who post it on the World Wide Web. Implicitly, the paper makes a case for the need of the developing world—voices of people who do not own modern information technology—to present itself and to be heard on the World Wide Web