The Ethnos Project is a research initiative and resource database that explores the intersection of Indigeneity and information and communication technologies (ICTs). We are interested, for example, in the cultural impacts and implications of:
open source databases for Indigenous Knowledge management
information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) initiatives
new and emerging technologies for intangible cultural heritage
social media used by Indigenous communities for social change
mobile technologies used for language preservation
The Ethnos Project is necessarily multidisciplinary and welcomes a broad range of inquiry including digital humanities, human computer interaction, culture and development, language preservation, Indigenous media, participatory design, software localization, etc.
This site is for scholars, activists, government agencies, non-governmental cultural organizations, Indigenous groups, and others who may benefit from its resources.
Leadership
Mark Oppenneer is the Founder and Director of the Ethnos Project. He is a technologist and independent researcher whose interests include culture and development, ICT4D, oral traditions, indigenous knowledge, technology, online communities, human computer interaction and interface design. He holds an MS in Communication & Rhetoric and an MALS in Mythology & Oral Traditions. [learn more]
Past Contributors
Rachael Petersen
Rachael was a 2012-2013 Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellow investigating indigenous peoples’ use of technology around the world. Her year-long research has taken her to the Canadian Eastern Arctic and the Ecuadorian Amazon, and included sites in the Brazilian Amazon, Borneo and the Australian Northern Territory. Her formal education includes degrees Anthropology and Public Policy from Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she graduated summa cum laude.
Dr. Allyson Eamer is an Assistant Professor at University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Her research interests include synchronous online language learning, language acquisition and identity negotiation, immersion education, ethnolinguistic vitality and mother tongue education. Allyson is also interested in how digital literacy supports self directed learning, how cyber colonialism impacts distance education through the dominance of English on the web, and how corporate outsourcing has changed English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching.
Coppélie has a PhD in Sámi Studies from Umeå University. Her research interests are storytelling, folklore and minority studies. She is a research fellow in digital humanities at HUMlab, Umeå University, where her research focuses on digital environments for language and culture revitalization, such as with the contemporary Sámi.
After studies in Germany and England and completing a magister degree at university, Christoph worked in journalism for print, radio, and web-based media. In 2006, he co-founded the Czech nonprofit organization Burma Center Prague and continuously contributed as one of two core members, developing it to one of the main organizations working on Myanmar/Burma with activities in Europe and Asia and a team of up to eight employees. He is also responsible for IT and research at the Burma Center.
