Module 1 – Entry 4 – Tyler Ohashi
Takeaways from this article show how technology is impacting indigenous peoples with respect to:
- Society
- The world is evolving into one that requires technology. An interesting term that is brought up is “computer-mediated colonialism” which describes imposing western processes and structures upon indigenous communities. Indigenous people are not blind to the technology revolution, but many indigenous communities are a terrible disadvantage due to lack of access to technology.
- Commonly termed “The Digital Divide”
- Large organizations such as the United Nations, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), or even International Telecommunications Union are all working to find solutions but continuously encounter new challenges such as respecting cultural diversity, economics, or politics.
- The world is evolving into one that requires technology. An interesting term that is brought up is “computer-mediated colonialism” which describes imposing western processes and structures upon indigenous communities. Indigenous people are not blind to the technology revolution, but many indigenous communities are a terrible disadvantage due to lack of access to technology.
While reading the article, I wondered how the world is doing getting people connected to the Internet. An interesting map that highlights the “Digital Divide” (not part of the article but interesting)
Light – you are connected Dark – you are not
-Look at Africa -Yikes-
- Innovation
- There have been many initiatives to bring technology to indigenous communities and this article look at how initiatives can be classified as:
- Pro‐indigenous (for indigenous peoples)
- Para‐indigenous (with indigenous peoples)
- Per‐indigenous (by indigenous peoples).
- There have been many initiatives to bring technology to indigenous communities and this article look at how initiatives can be classified as:
- The Future
- Successful initiatives will move away from “for indigenous” people to “with indigenous” and “by indigenous” people because working with indigenous communities will provide a better understanding of the challenges they face or have faced. Furthermore, indigenous people developing solutions for indigenous people makes sense not only intuitively but respectfully as well.
This article motivated me to look up Mark Oppenneer because it is the second time I came across his name and I discovered that he is the founder of “The Ethnos Project”. Turns out he has another great article investigating how Information and Computer Technology can be used for cultural preservation. I put reference below.
Reference
Borrero, R. M. (2013). Innovation and technology for indigenous peoples. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2013/ict/innovation-technology-indigenous.pdf
Oppenneer, M (2009) Using ICTs for Indigenous cultural preservation: challenges and strategies. Ethnos Project. Available at: http://www.ethnosproject.org/using-icts-for-indigenous-cultural-preservation/