Tag Archives: Mukurtu

(Entry 4) Website: Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal

This website is a multi-tribal version of Mukurtu, so rather than having one tribe use the CMS to house their community’s content, the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal divides the site up into separate sections based on different Plateau tribes. There are a number of artifacts (artwork, crafts, stories and recordings) that a non-member can access without having to enter a username and password. However, each tribe has its own section/page of the website and can control access to sensitive cultural material they would rather not share openly. The media within this website is quite rich: the videos are professionally recorded and many photographs and articles appear to curated with care as well.

Link: https://plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu/

Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal | Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal. (2010, November 27). Retrieved October 15, 2018, from https://plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu/

(Entry 3) Article: A Community of Relations: Mukurtu Hubs and Spokes

Article: A Community of Relations: Mukurtu Hubs and Spokes

This article provides a more detailed history of Mukurtu and its evolution over the past decade; it also discusses (possible) future directions of the CMS. I think this article will be quite useful in providing a timeline describing how Mukurtu came to be, how it was initially used and how the developers intend to upgrade it in the future. Of particular interest to me is how the developers intend to consult Indigenous communities throughout the upgrade process (and how the CMS was developed through consultation with many different Indigenous communities). Within this article I also discovered a sort of ‘sister site’ (a multi-tribal version of Mukurtu) named the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal (I’ll post a separate entry describing the site in more detail).

Link: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may17/christen/05christen.html

Christen, K., Merrill, A., & Wynne, M. (2017). A Community of Relations: Mukurtu Hubs and Spokes. D-Lib Magazine, 23(5/6). https://doi.org/10.1045/may2017-christen

(Entry 1) Article: Archival Challenges and Digital Solutions in Aboriginal Australia

Article: Archival Challenges and Digital Solutions in Aboriginal Australia

This article describes the use of Mukurtu in preserving many historical artifacts from the Warumungu community in Australia. One of the (many) issues faced by Indigenous groups when attempting to preserve their culture is the difficulty in accessing content and/or artifacts that are stored in museums quite a distance away from the community. In addition, living in a community in which Internet access is a daily struggle, even when these artifacts are available through an online catalogue, it can be challenging to access these materials online (content can be too large for bandwidth). This article describes some of the challenges and success stories associated with the Warumungu’s community’s first attempt at using Mukurtu as an online archival storage system. I am particularly interested in examining some of the larger challenges this community encountered when first attempting to adapt and use a CMS.

Link: https://research.libraries.wsu.edu:8443/xmlui/handle/2376/5703?show=full

Christen, Kimberly. Archival Challenges and Digital Solutions in Aboriginal Australia. SAA Archaeological Record. August 2008, Vol 8, No 2, 21-24.