Nov 23 2008
Indigenously Connected Module-IV
Please click on the image above to go to the AINU website.
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History`s Arctic Studies Centre showcased an interactive exhibit featuring the Indigenous AINU people of Japan in 1999-2000. Visitors to this site are able to virtually travel from one room to the next discovering the historical and modern culture of the AINU people. Not unlike many of the sites visited through the course of compiling this weblog, the AINU site uses interactive technologies in an engaging and accessible manner in promoting AINU culture.
Something which I found particularly noteworthy is how the creators of this site provide historical AINU information as well as connecting the evolution and resurgence of AINU culture. As we have learned over the past months in ETEC 521 one of the main goals for all Indigenous peoples is the recognition of their culture as a “living culture” not something which is purely to be read about in some Western created textbook.
Please click on the image above to go to the Northern Links website.
The Northern Links database is an excellent tool to gain some insight into successful cultural programs that have been implemented in Northern Aboriginal communities. This website also provides a listserv to act as a bridge between individuals or groups who are wishing to share their stories as a means to promote community success stories.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/northernlinks
The Online Learning Centre
Please click on the link above to go to the Te Kete Ipurangi website.
Te Kete Ipurangi The Online Learning Centre is a bilingual (English and Maori) platform created by New Zealand`s Ministry of Education. The goal of Te Kete Ipurangi is to provide cost effective resources to New Zealand`s educators that will “raise student achievement and advance professional development for school management and teaching staff” (Te Kete Ipurangi, 2008).
From curricular outcomes (http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/) to bilingual interactivities (http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/) the online resources available through this site are vast. I believe Te Kete Ipurangi is an exemplar model of how Indigenity, technology, and education can be integrated to meet the needs of all learners.
Please click on the image above to go to the Invert website.
Invert Media is an Aboriginal multimedia production company dedicated to express Indigenous knowledge and worldviews through information, communication, technologies (ICTs). Invert’s model is to provide a holistic product that incorporates a “user-centred design with a community-based approach to honour and incorporate the community expertise of diverse Indigenous nations” (Invert Media, 2008).
My rational for including this site as part of my weblog is to showcase the extent to which Indigenous peoples have utilized technology as a means to preserve, transmit, and promote Indigenous culture but also to demonstrate the success Indigenous people are experiencing as creators of ICT applications. the following are links to some of Invert’s clients.
http://www.fourdirectionsteachings.com/
http://www.invertmedia.com/brochure.pdf
http://www.nafc-aboriginal.com/policy.htm
Please click on the image above to go to the Pacific Worlds website.
Pacific Worlds is a website designed to promote and preserve Indigenous Pacific-Islanders’ knowledge. As a means to this end, Pacific Worlds’ authors recognized that there was a need to utilize technology as a resource to “make cultural education and preservation more effective, and show the relevance of modern technologies to traditional ways, thereby hopefully inspiring young Native people to take interest in both” (Pacific Worlds, 2008).
In order to make the resources more accessible on this site the authors have provided a brief tutorial on how to best navigate through its curriculum.
http://www.pacificworlds.com/homepage/about.cfm
The wealth of knowledge and interactive activities on this site is very impressive. Currently Pacific Worlds has curriculum for Hawaii, Guam, Palau, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia and are looking at adding more Pacific Islands.