ICT: Both Sides of the Coin

Leave a reply

Module #2 Post #5

Today, it is common for young people to be mobile, moving for work opportunities, post-secondary education, and world travel. With the introduction of ICT the world has simply gotten smaller.

“Most post-secondary education and employment opportunities exist outside aboriginal communities, and as a result, younger generations have become increasingly mobile and more removed from the communities that are traditionally the nurturing places for Aboriginal culture.” (Nickerson, Marcia. 2005. pp. 3).

Building on my 4th post, I wanted to look at an article that had an optimistic sentiment regarding the role of ICT within Aboriginal culture and the reality of moving into contemporary times. Aboriginal Culture in the Digital Age makes one thing very clear, as we move into the digital age, awareness is key to mitigating cultural threats posed by ICT. I have broken down and summarized the threats and opportunities that Nickerson outlines for preserving and transferring Aboriginal culture in the digital age:

Challenges of ICT

Opportunities of ICT
  • Misrepresentation
  • Misappropriation of culture
  • Cultural homogenization
  • Synthesis and ability to absorb knowledge of out context, outside of traditional community structures
  • ICT requires learning a new range of literacies and capacities
  • Increasing visibility of Aboriginal people
  • Connectivity to rejuvenate communities ties (removes physical barriers)
  • Ability to re-introduce culture
  • Can capture components such as visual characteristics (facial expressions, body language), audio (language preservation), and text
  • Transfer and accessibility to future generations (archives)
  • Populations are increasingly mobile, ICT is as well
  • Allows people to stay in their communities to learning (thus breaking the cycle of relocation)

 

Nickelson provides a successful model for cultural integration into ICT for learning (*I do have an issue with the word integration, for me it is synonymous with assimilation. I believe that we should look at this scenario as approaching learning and ICT’s from a different perspective where ICT is molded to fit into Aboriginal culture and needs, rather than the other way around). Anyway…. Sunchild eLearning Community (www.sccyber.net) focuses on specific learning needs of Aboriginal people and incorporates them into the program, which has attributed to high success rates for learners. Learning needs include First Nations’ sense of time, relationships, personal and family factors. In addition, the program is available to students within a more flexible context, to address ACT access issues which are common and prevention of relocation requirements.

I wanted to provide the example of Buffy St. Marie, who has become a very visible Aboriginal activist, artist, musician etc. She appeared on Sesame St in 1975, where confronted the continued survival and existence of “Indians.” Buffy did guest spots on Sesame Street over a five year period, taking such risks as breast-feeding her son on air, discussing the reality and lives of Aboriginal people (simply as equals and perspectives on belief). I recommend you go to YouTube and type in “Buffy St. Marie, Sesame Street” to view the videos.

Resources:

Nickerson, Marcia. 2005.Aboriginal Culture in the Digital Age. Public Policy Forum. Politics, Policy and Governance. Vol. 10. Accessed via:  http://www.ppforum.ca/sites/default/files/aboriginal_culture_in_digital_age.pd

 

Leave a Reply