Contribution and Limits of IT-Enabled Codification and Dissemination of Traditional Knowledge: Case of Bamiléké People

This research paper draws on the relevant extant literature on traditional knowledge codification as well as on a questionnaire-based survey to study the Bamiléké knowledge and the potential impact of new information and communication technologies (ITs) on such knowledge and its codification within the Bamiléké community, West and North-West Cameroon. The results show that the Bamiléké traditional knowledge is rich and diversified, and that greater part of it can be positively influenced by ITs, thereby fostering its dissemination to other civilizations, such as the Western world. Knowledge from secret Bamiléké societies and initiatory groups, by contrast, are proved to be impervious to any modern system, including ITs.