Category Archives: MODULE 1

All My Relations – mod 1 post 2

This was a tradition that was first brought to my attention after watching Dr. Lee Brown’s interview and it made me search for some other information about the idea. This article created by the government of Alberta speaks to this phrase “all my relations” and also describes some other general commonalities in traditions and beliefs by some various Indigenous peoples. It is limited in that it doesn’t give specifics of each tribe, but has the value of comparing and showing commonalities between them.
https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt/well_being/documents/all_my_relations.pdf

 

 

Mod 1 post 1 – First Nations Technology Council

This technology council is in North Vancouver, my hometown, and they are actively trying to fight for “digital equity” and “are working collaboratively with provincial and federal agencies, telecom companies, as well as partner Indigenous organizations to eliminate the digital divide and create equitable, affordable and sustainable access to digital and connected technologies for all 203 Indigenous communities in BC”. They are also working to educate Indigenous youth and adults around various technology through courses to get more people engaged with the digital economy.

Mod#1-Post #2: Issues in Indigenous Digital Heritage Projects

Digital technologies offer avenues for preserving Indigenous knowledge and making it accessible to future generations of Indigenous people. Besides, documenting Indigenous knowledge in digital form may encourage native-language education, universal literacy, and open up possibilities for online education, study, and publication. With such prospects, several educational institutions and university researchers had stepped to collaborate with Indigenous communities to create digital heritage projects. However, as noted in the Returning to Gitxaala video we came across in our second discussion, some researchers were inconsiderate of the Indigenous people who supported them along the way with their project/ research work. A statement that captured my attention in the production is that “people come to ask for things…and then leave” (Menzies, 2020, February 28); a resentment of Indigenous people who opened their homes and provided their time, resources, and stories, yet their efforts were not valued.

In line with this issue, in this post, I am sharing a recent publication entitled “Digitizing the Ancestors: Issues in Indigenous Digital Heritage Projects” citing five digital projects that failed to adhere to Indigenous cultural protocols. The author stated that these digital cultural heritage projects were held by university researchers (Christen, Ridington, and Hennessy; Shorter, Srinivasan, Verran, and Christie) between 2002 and 2007 in collaboration with Indigenous communities in Australia, Mexico, USA, and Canada (Stratham, 2019). Despite scholars are citing this work focus on the perceived benefits of the collaborative design process, yet, currently, these projects aren’t functioning as designed. They became software pieces that are “unusable to the community” (Stratham, 2019, p.3732) due to problems related to software security (i.e., Adobe Flash) and financial sustainability. The author warns that such situation is incongruent with the respectful research protocols and may lead to an unwillingness among many Indigenous people to allow their traditional knowledge to be accessible in the digital spaces. In her conclusion, Stratham (2019) called that the sacred cultural heritage of indigenous communities should not be left with stewards who aren’t committed to ensuring its survival. Until there are international standards that ensure that such projects will be safeguarded against the frequent technological changes, researchers working with Indigenous communities should have a digital maintenance plan for digital heritage projects before setting off their new research work.

References:

  • Strathman, N. (2019). Digitizing the ancestors: Issues in indigenous digital heritage projects. International Journal of Communication, 13, 3721-3737.

Module 1 – Post #1 – TRC and Calls to Action

One of my interests in Indigenous Education is around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and their 94 Calls to Action.  Under the Education umbrella, we find the #6 call to action which states: 6. We call upon the Government of Canada to repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada.  Below is a youtube video created by CanadianRootsOnline and speaks to the call to action released in June 2015.  Where has this call to action gone, well the Government of Canada has updates posted.  To recap, Section 43 has not been repealed but has been edited to ensure that educators cannot use force against any child.  I found it interesting that the laws were not gender neutral.

https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1524495412051/1557511602225

M.1 P.1 TEK vs Western Science

Traditional Ecological Knowledge vs Western Science

The National Park Service has created a website for people interested in learning more about traditional ecological knowledge. While this site has many resources, project ideas, methods for learning, considerations, and applications, among other interesting and valuable information, I focused on a topic found under the issues dropdown. This site’s intent is to allow people to submit papers or other resource links to present the issues and potential solutions. The link attached to the picture below with take you to the website’s section on TEK vs Western Science.

(National Park Service)

While there are a number of links to interesting and informative papers, videos, webinars, and other media related to TEK and western science, Leroy Little Bear’s message speaks to me, how Indigenous and Western perspectives can be reconciled to benefit all.

Mod#1-Post#1: Reversing the Trend-A glimpse at Pioneering Indigenous Technologies

The readings in this module demonstrate that the mainstream technologies are not culturally neutral. It has been argued that the web’s values reflect its builders — primarily Western and do not represent Indigenous perspective. As such, I desired to research innovations that reverse the trend.  Below are three notable developments representing local contexts and addressing the specific needs of  Indigenous cultures. One keynote the development process has Indigenous communities’ involvement at every stage of the technologies production (i.e., check the references for more information).

[1] #thisismymob

It is a smartphone application developed by researchers in the Engineering and Information Technology faculty at the University of Technology Sydney. According to the project’s director, Christopher Lawrence (2018, August 1), the project was inspired by the idea of “postcolonial computing.” It employs participatory design to grant the technology design is culturally relevant and accessible to the Australian local context.

(NITV News, June 19, 2018)

[2] SIKU

It is an Indigenous Knowledge Social Network (SIKU) smartphone application released in December 2019. The app was created by the Nunavut civil society group Arctic Eider Society with funding from the 2017 Google.org Impact Challenge. It is named after the Inuktitut word for sea ice (UNESCO Courier, 2019). The app aims to keep Inuit communities updated about sea ice conditions while hunting or traveling and recording and exchanging comprehensive traditional information and language amongst community members in a way that engages the younger generation (Arctic Eider Society, 2019, December 4). One important note about this app is the specialized privacy setting that ensures that Indigenous knowledge of its Indigenous users remains protected (Arctic Eider Society, 2019, December 4).

(Arctic Eider Society, 2019, December 4)

[3] When Rivers Were Trails

It is a 2D adventure educational game focusing on the impact of assimilationist allotment acts of the 1890s on the Anishinaabe community. The game is developed by Elizbeth LaPensée in collaboration with Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab at Michigan State University and officially released in 2019. According to LaPensée (2021), “games can [be used to] express Indigenous cultures through self-determined representations” (p.293). The production combines indigenous ways of knowing, themes, and story-telling formats, such as non-linear paths that mimic conventional story-telling systems, utilizes indigenous characters, and places games in historical contexts.

(SGSChallenge, 2019, November 6)

References