World Summit on the Information Society

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The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), sponsored by the UN and mentioned in Ginsburg’s (2008) chapter Rethinking the Digital Age, was held with two objectives at hand: to develop and foster a political statement and take concrete steps in establishing foundations for equal and equitable Information Societies across the globe (Geneva, 2003); and to implement the plan along with developing solutions and agreements for internet governance and mechanisms of financing the solution (Tunis, 2005).  The summit addressed the paradoxical realities of the unfolding digital revolution and the widening digital divide. Forums were held in 2010 and 2011 to follow-up on the implementation of WSIS.

Articles relating to the participation of indigenous peoples in the information society appear in the outcome documents for WSIS. The Statement of Principles notes that “In the evolution of the Information Society, particular attention must be given to the special situation of indigenous peoples, as well as to the preservation of their heritage and their cultural legacy.” Action items include developing ways to educate and train interested indigenous groups so they may participate in the information society, along with the creation of content that values and reaffirms indigenous knowledge and traditions, noting that this has the potential to strengthen communities. The plan also calls for action to enhance indigenous peoples’ capacity to create content in their own languages, and cooperation with indigenous groups to enable effective and beneficial use of traditional knowledge within information societies.

Module 4: Mythology Proving Science

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TEK and Science

This video is made by a caucasian biology teacher in Alaska who writes curriculum that integrates TEK and science.  He is a bit of a rambler, but near the end he links supposedly superstitious behavious and myths with scientific evidence.  The two examples he uses is that every 25/30 years, the Inuit Shaman would tell the village to burn all of their fishing gear at the end of a fishing season.  Given the scarcity of resources to make this gear, this would seem preposterous.  However, they would make new fishing gear, and not to catch the same fish.  They would alternate between crustaceans and vertebrates every 20-30 years as their main sustenance.  Modern science now shows that the Arctic ocean goes through 20/30 year temperature cycles that influence whether crustaceans or vertebrates flourish.  The Inuit would fish for whatever fish was plentiful.  This explains how the crab fishery is in ruins today–the Western market demanded it when the natural stocks were low.  Now they have been fished to the point where they may not recover. 

While I love the beauty of tradition and science corroborating each other, his description lacks insight into the spiritual nature of the myths and behaviours.  Many of the comments about the video are positive, but question the “superstitions” of the Inuit.  Being that he is caucasian, he likely isn’t versed on the spiritual nature of the myths and behaviours, but this is such an important concept for the Inuit, and given that it is brought up by viewers, it does need to be addressed properly so that the behaviours/myths aren’t “explained away” or commodified and dismissed as superstitions.

Aboriginal Education in Canada

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This two part series offers an hour long panel discussion on Aboriginal Education in Canada. While it is filmed in Ontario it discusses ideas and concepts of a national perspective. Part 1: Aboriginal Education Past and Present discusses the history of education for Aboriginal children in Canada, from residential schooling to current realities for Aboriginal students being educated in the Canadian public school system and the struggles they endure as a result. Part 2: Solutions for the Future looks at specific self-governed reserve schools, and also offers some good examples of how public schools can do a better job at integrating aboriginal curriculum into the daily curriculum.

Native Appropriations Blog

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Native Appropriations is a blog with sharp (sometimes witty) social commentary on the ways in which Indigenous peoples of North America are portrayed in the imagery and imagination of popular media. Written Adrienne Keene, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a doctoral candidate at Harvard University Graduate School of Education, the blog is updated on a regular basis and because it is a fairly well-read blog, the debate that occurs in the post comments is often rich and sometimes fiery.

Keene was recently featured on Al Jazeera English’s social media program The Stream, in an episode titled “Don’t Trend On My Culture,” discussing cultural misappropriation:

http://youtu.be/rPyPLmmtcig

 

 

 

Module 4-Empowering Aboriginal Youth with technology

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The Eel Ground First Nation community in New Brunswick does not only provide technology incorporated learning opportunities to their students, they empower them to take charge of their own learning and learn with technology by manipulating various technology tools themselves.  It is because of the focus on life-long learning with technology that warranted them one of Canada’s most technically advanced schools by the SchoolNet organization.

Here is a link tho the Eel Ground First Nation school:  http://www.eelgroundschool.ca/

Here is a link to a government announcement on the award:  http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/scr/at/nwrm/gn/efn-eng.asp

StrongStart BC

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As identified on their BC government website, StrongStart BC is a series of “early learning programs [which] provide school-based early learning services for adults and their young children, aged birth to five, at no cost to families.”  My journey to uncover this program came as a result of reading a recent Vancouver Sun newspaper article, titled “Aboriginal education in B.C. gets failing mark“.  The article was prompted by the annual Fraser Institute report on education which concluded that aboriginal achievement and success rates in this province are unacceptably low.  The Fraser Institute report’s themselves are contentious as they are used to compare different schools and demographics of students to each other while including little-to-no data on elements such as socio-ecomic factors of the surrounding community.  Education Minister George Abbott is optimistic that recent initiatives such as the StrongStart program will help close the gap between aboriginal achievement and success and that of other students across the province.  I don’t believe there is ever one ‘cure-all’ for these types of issues, but certainly programs like StrongStart can’t hurt.  Let’s hope it makes a positive difference!

Kids’ Stop

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This website, created by the Canadian government responsible for Indian and Northern Aboriginals, is targeting Aboriginal youths.  The target age group appears to be early school age to adolescent with the range of available information.  On the main page there is a kid friendly cartoon image with 4 youths with different cultural backgrounds all participating in activities in a room with many Aboriginal symbols and art.  Links on the page include: ‘Games’, ‘People and History’, ‘Recommended Reads’, and ‘Classroom Resources’.  There are number of good links here, not only for students, but also for teachers.  A lot of the good information here for students appears to be geared towards Aboriginal culture and needs of Northern Communities.

Cross Cultural Solutions

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A National Panel has been set up to investigate ways of improving education for Aboriginal students on reserves. Minister John Duncan and Chief Shawn Atleo have declared that their will be a joint panel on education.  Graduation rates on reserves are significantly lower than that of the general population so it’s the panel’s task to figure out why.  One reason, of course, would be the lack of funding as is indicated in this article in the Times Colonist.   The Federal government needs to ensure that band schools have adequate funding but in times of fiscal retraint, it’s hard to see that happening.  Funding is always a challenge for schools that are in remote communities requiring busses or boats.  Connectivity infrastructure will likely be more costly and there will be many other expenses that would not be incurred in an urban area.  Any lack of funding from the Federal or Provincial levels of government will unfairly impact these less urban communities, likely affecting First Nations students disproportionately.  Schools are a great place to develop cross-cultural understanding.  Underfunding undermines that potential.

Module 4- Do you speak my language?

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The youth of the We’koqma’g First Nation community in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia examine why a lot of the youth are not speaking the Mi’kmaq language. In doing so, the youth interview both the children as well as the elders of the community to get a glimpse into the present day culture. Some suggestions point to the influence of current technologies such as gaming and media as a reason as to why they are losing their language. The original music and technological competencies displayed by the youth are awesome!

Do You Speak My Language? from First Nation Help Desk on Vimeo.

ImagineNATIVE

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http://www.imaginenative.org/

ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by indigenous peoples on the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media. Each year in the fall, the festival presents some of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the world. The festival attracts and connects film makers, media artisists, and other industry professionals. The works accept reflect the diversity of the worlds Indigenous nations.

ImagineNATIVE is committed to dispelling stereotypical notions of Indigenous peoples through diverse media presentations from within our communities, thereby contributing to a greater understanding by audiences of Indigenous artistic expression. A youth workshop is offered for Aboriginal youth to learn the basics of machine cinema. There are many other activities that youth can be involved in such as the ImagineNATIVE Youth Video Contest.

This website is interesting for those who would like to learn more about Indigenous film and art. There is an extensive archive that contains many videos and images from past events and festivals.