Module 1 Post 2: Using Technology to Preserve Culture

Brown and Nicholas (2012) suggest that by developing their own digital content, First Nations communities can better protect and preserve their culture. The Reciprocal Research Network, for example, enables communities, cultural institutions and researchers to collaborate together on research and project pertaining to Northwest Coast culture.  Although it was created by the Musqueam Indian Band, the Stó:lō Nation/Tribal Council, the U’mista Cultural Society and the Museum of Anthropology, other First Nations organizations, researchers, students, academic and cultural organizations etc. can request an account.  In my travels, I have also encountered the A Journey into Time Immemorial, an interactive website based on the Xa:ytem Longhouse and ancient village of the Stó:lō people.   It was developed by the Xa:ytem Longhouse Interpretative Centre, SFU’s Museum of Archeology and Ethnology and the Learning and Instructional Development Centre.  Sadly, within my own community, there is great fear that the Carrier culture is being lost.  An interactive source similar to A Journey into Time Immemorial would be a fabulous collaborative effort that could perhaps connect our three surrounding Carrier First Nations communities, promoting unity and cultural pride. Within the school, I see it being such a valuable cross-curricular project. It would promote culture preservation and be an excellent teaching tool for our First Nation Studies courses.

Jaclyn

Brown, D. and Nicholas, G. (2012). Protecting indigenous cultural property in the age of digital democracy: Institutional and communal responses to Canadian First Nations and Māori heritage concerns. Retrieved from http://mcu.sagepub.com/content/17/3/307.abstract

Reciprocal Research Network at https://www.rrncommunity.org/

A Journey into Time Immemorial at http://www.sfu.museum/time/en/flash/