Indigitization is a website designed to provide BC First Nations communities with a toolkit to assist in the digitization of First Nations knowledge. The toolkit aims to provide guidance for First Nations communities that wish to safeguard and preserve their information and resources for future generations to access. Much of the information in the toolkit is concerned with how to digitize and archive audio, video, maps, documents, and photographs, however one section does deal with research protocols to ensure that no research is conducted without approval from the Elders Group.
I found it interesting that I was unable to find any reference to how technology impacts First Nations knowledge. It seemed to me that, in the absence of any mention of how digitization can alter the epistemology of First Nations knowledge, the creators of the toolkit view technology to be culturally neutral. It’s still early, but I think the epistemology of First Nations knowledge will most likely be the focus of my research project.
~Dan