The Australian Human Rights Commission has a website  that outlines the economic, social and cultural rights in Australia.

This website is an excellent resource for all Australians. It details everything from Human Rights awards, the commission’s workplan, social media policy, community languages to human rights laws in Australia.

The Law Faculty at the University of Alberta has a website devoted to the research on Aboriginal cultural heritage in Canada:http://www.law.ualberta.ca/research/aboriginalculturalheritage/

This website details the project undertaken, “this project is the result of a collaboration between an international team of scholars in law and anthropology and First Nation partners in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. It has four main objectives:

1.) to disseminate information about the existing legal regime; 

2.) to facilitate respect for, and understanding of, First Nations concepts of property and law; 

3.) to assist First Nation community partners to collect and develop archival and educational resources; and

4.) to critically analyse domestic federal and provincial legislation to provide recommendations for reform.”

What’s really interesting about this, is that academics are working with First Nation’s groups (or so they claim) to carry out this project.

In discussing issues surrounding self-representation for Indigenous communities, I came across the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). This website links to the network’s official website. The website also links the network to facebook, twitter and youtube. 

According to their website, “APTN is the first and only national Aboriginal broadcaster in the world, with programming by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples, to share with all Canadians as well as viewers around the world”. 

What’s interesting about this network is that it is run by First Nation’s Peoples, but is directed towards the broader audience of Canada and the entire world.

http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/acp/site.nsf/eng/ao26714.html

Is a Government of Canada web portal that lists many different sites specific to First Nation’s communities. The link provided in this post takes the reader to a “Media and Multimedia” site that lists many links to Indigenous media and multimedia. For example, the site lists links to journals and newsletters, magazines and newspapers, online news sites, radio, television and film and even publishing houses – all specific to the Indigenous communities in Canada. 

Although the site provides links for Indigenous communities across Canada (a diverse community), it illustrates how the Canadian Government recognizes a need for a web portal of resource information directed towards a Canadian First Nation’s audience.

Having grown up in White Rock and living so close to the Semiahmoo First Nation (even attending Semiahmoo Secondary School), I have never known much about the Semiahmoo First Nation community. Looking into it, I found Semiahmoo First Nation listed in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiahmoo_First_Nation

I can’t help but wonder who authored this wiki page. When I click on the “discussion tab” it states that the site has been entered by the Canadian Government and the Indigenous Peoples of North America Wiki Project. I wonder if the Semiahmoo First Nation community was included in the content that was published to this site – or if they even approve of the listing page on wikipedia?

I found this article – a press release from the BC government from 2009:

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2009LCS0004-000216.htm

The press release discusses that the BC Government was going to fund $8.3 million to “bridge the digital divide fir BC First Nations”. In this PR, it talks about this money going towards connectivity to the internet (as prioritized by ANTCO). After all our discussions this week – I wonder is the $8.3 million a wasted effort? Perhaps individual First Nation’s communities would prefer different types of technologies (assuming they want technologies at all)?

Was the BC Government just “throwing money at the problem” here? Or do you  think ANTCO can accurately assess and distribute the funds appropriately to the many different First Nations communities in British Columbia?

I found this article in the Globe and Mail today. It’s about the generational shift in technology and the social aspect of school – the author compares yearbooks to facebook. The article talks about how youth are posting (perhaps too much) information about themselves online.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/trending-tech/its-time-to-teach-digital-reputation-in-schools/article2035657/

This article made me think about emotional intelligence. Perhaps social media can assist in giving students an outlet or platform for expressing themselves and discussing their emotions? Is social media an appropriate place to discuss emotional intelligence?

Thoughts?

For me, the more I learn about Indigenous cultures and their values, the more I understand and can critically analyze technology’s role in education. 

Wade Davis, someone I admire and have been fortunate enough to listen to live at UBC, explains Indigenous cultures, language loss and the value and connectivity of the land/ geography incredibly well. 

Wade Davis 1

Here, Wade explains that the world contains much more than just Western ideas.

Throughout this Module, I have been thinking – how can Indigenous Groups be empowered to incorporate technology in their communities?

I think the Grameen Bank: http://www.grameen-info.org/ is a fantastic organization and if a system were set up (like the Grameen Bank) to help empower Indigenous groups to create their own solutions to their specific issues that would be the ideal route and most likely yield the most success.