Module#1 Entry#1 Dilip Verma

FirstVoices is run by the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation established in Canada. FirstVoices is a site that offers tools and services to help indigenous communities record and teach their languages and so to promote cultural revitalization. It is supported by a trust, the Government of British Columbia and the Federal Government. The site allows indigenous communities to add their languages bit by bit to build up a comprehensive record of the written and spoken language and share it for future generations. The interesting thing about the site is the way that indigenous communities are allowed to choose whether to give access to their linguistic resources to the general public or not. This site is a ready-made tool that allows indigenous communities to easily teach their written and spoken language and share images of cultural practices, songs and stories. There are also games that work with the database of words that a community has added. There are currently over 60 communities storing their linguistic history on the site, but this should increase. At the moment Membership is only available to indigenous communities in Canada, America and Australia, but I see no reason why it would not be possible to write to the production team and get the Indigenous communities of Mexico included.

Site address: http://www.firstvoices.com/

The site does not include links to other sites, but it is a very interesting use of media technology to help the revitalization of indigenous culture by indigenous cultures.