Tag Archives: Social Media

Aboriginal Territories In Cyberspace

Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace combines academics, artists and technologists to empower First Nation communities through new media technologies.  They have created virtual worlds, mentored projects such as Kahanawake Voices; an interactive community product in which individuals share personal stories. Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace also features articles and essays, along with a blog.  This website is great to give an Aboriginal face to an area that is usual lacking in terms of multiculturalism.

A project called CyberPowWow is also discussed on the site.   This on-line gallery and chat space for contemporary Aboriginal art is grown breaking and unique. It was through this CyberPowWow that the creators of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace realized that, even on the Internet, Native people need a self-determined place to call home.

Think Before You Share: A Guide To Using Social Media

This guide was created to help Aboriginal teens make smart decisions when sharing information online, Facebook, MediaSmarts and APTN partnered to translate the Think Before You Share guide into three common Aboriginal languages: Ojibwe, Cree and Inuktitut.

The guides offer teens advice on safe, wise and ethical online behaviour. Things like shaming people and making individuals look bad online is discussed in the document. They also give young people tips for dealing with “hot” emotional states like anger or excitement that can lead to making bad choices about sharing things online, and remind them to turn to friends, family and other trusted people in their lives for support if things go wrong.  This document can easily be used in class to discuss social media use with students and their families.

 

Circle of Stories

“Indigenous storytelling is rooted in the earth. Years upon years of a kinship with the land, life, water and sky have produced a variety of narratives about intimate connections to the earth. In a call and response lasting through time, Native peoples have experienced a relationship of give and take with the natural world.” (Circle of Stories)

PBS hosts an interactive multimedia site, Circle of Stories, which explores Native American storytelling.

The site features documentary film, photography, artwork, music and includes discussions and lesson plans.

 

Two Row Times

Two Row Times: The Spirit of all Nations

Two Row Times is an Ontario based weekly print and online newspaper which covers Indigenous issues. Local, regional, national and international news stories are featured, as well  arts, sports and health & wellness. There is quite a variety of topics which are covered. For people like me, who have never attended a pow-wow, there is a useful article on the Do’s and Don’t of attending pow-wows.

I was also impressed at the number of social media outlets utilized.

social media links

Idle No More

Idle No More is an ongoing grassroots protest movement, founded in Canada in December 2012 by four women: three First Nations women and one non-Native ally. The purpose of the movement is to oppose unilateral and colonial legislation, to support empowerment in order to build sovereignty & resurgence of nationhood, and to pressure government & industry to protect the environment. In a short number of years it has become one of the largest Indigenous mass movements in Canadian history, and has become, to some degree, an international indigenous movement.

The movement makes use of the internet through it’s website as well as its social media channels:

Here is a a short documentary about the Idle No More movement

Links

Module 4 – Post 5: Protest 2.0: Online Interactions and Aboriginal Activists

Theresa Petray’s article, Protest 2.0: Online Interactions and Aboriginal Activists, examines the ways in which social movements, like every other aspect of life, have become increasingly reliant on the internet for networking and information sharing. The article offers an in-depth look at the ways in which the internet and social networking sites have been coopted by disadvantaged groups with few resources, such as First Nations communities, to make their struggle known to a wide audience, to build coalitions, and to gain support to further their cause.

Module 4 – Post 3: Perry Bellegarde: New leader of the Assembly of First Nations

Perry Bellegarde: New leader of the Assembly of First Nations

A brief, but interesting article written by Nancy MacDonald for MacLean’s Magazine, about the challenges being faced by Bellegarde in balancing the many interests at stake in his role as leader of the Assembly of First Nations.  What stood out for me was the mention of how social media has shifted the balance of power.  With social media’s capacity to raise collective voices, the article highlights the fact that the voices of First Nations groups are often fragmented, and the notion of a unified indigenous voice is one that is hard to come by.