The National Oral History Archive (NOHA) is an initiative by Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) at the national level, aimed at collecting content related to the nation's oral history across various topics. This initiative seeks to preserve valuable knowledge from various sources, including experts from individuals, universities, higher education institutions, public and private agencies, and industries. This high-value knowledge asset will be strategically managed and accessible through a central portal. Besides preserving knowledge, NOHA serves as a platform for sharing knowledge resources for teaching and learning processes in schools, higher education institutions, and as reference materials in research.
UTP began the oral history collection project in 2017 through the "Unlocking Knowledge" project, which successfully gathered over 100 interview slots with university staff for knowledge preservation purposes. Additionally, "Unlocking Knowledge" collected documented knowledge and experiences in the form of oral history from more than 30 retired staff members.
Apart from university staff, UTP also interviewed notable figures from various knowledge backgrounds, including the late Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dato' Dr Khoo Kay Kim at Universiti Malaya in 2017, as part of the oral history collection of Perak State. UTP also manages a large collection of oral history from Warisan Perak, consisting of interviews with historical figures of Perak from the 1990s.
In 2022, UTP initiated collaborations with other agencies such as Astro Awani, BERNAMA, Media Prima Berhad, and Shell Malaysia to collect oral history content in the energy sector. This project is known as NOHA-e. By the end of 2022, 176 video interview slots were successfully indexed and stored, and over 70 interview slots with experts (personal collections) were obtained. In 2023, NOHA's collaboration expanded to several other agencies through strategic partnerships, including the National Library of Malaysia, the Malaysian Oral History Association, and the National Archives of Malaysia. These agencies are synergistic partners towards enriching the collection and providing suitable platforms and promotion in the future.
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