I had the opportunity to serve as the organizer for the Saratoga Native American Festival for its first two years in operation (2006 and 2007) while working as the Education Director for the Ndakinna Education Center. Since 2017, I have served as an Ndakinna board member. One of my responsibilities […]
2019 • Abenaki • festival • Haudenosaunee • Iroquois • Mohican • Native American • Ndakinna Education Center • Saratoga SpringsDigitalising and preserving Oroo, a secret sign language of the nomadic Penans in the rainforest
In 2014, ISITI-UNIMAS, NUST and Long Lamai community with the support of Information Society Innovation Fund Asia (ISIF), initiated a project to digitalise and preserve the Oroo’ the sign language of the nomadic Penans in the rainforests of Borneo. Oroo’ is a living cultural heritage of the Penan which, from […]
2014 • Borneo • culture | preservation • Long Lamai • Oroo' • Penan • sign language • UNIMASTerpsichore
Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) content means “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith”. Although, ICH content, especially traditional folklore performing arts, is commonly deemed worthy of preservation by UNESCO (Convention for the Safeguarding of ICH) and the EU […]
cultural heritage • culture | preservation • digitization • folk dances • intangible • research • TerpsichoreTransforming Intangible Folkloric Performing Arts into Tangible Choreographic Digital Objects: The Terpsichore Approach
Abstract: Intangible Cultural Heritage is a mainspring of cultural diversity and as such it should be a focal point in cultural heritage preservation and safeguarding endeavours. Nevertheless, although significant progress has been made in digitization technology as regards tangible cultural assets and especially in the area of 3D reconstruction, the […]
2017 • 3D • cultural heritage • digitization • folk dances • intangible • performance • TerpsichoreMetadata for Intangible Cultural Heritage – The Case of Folk Dances
Abstract: It is a fact that states and international organizations are trying to protect and promote intangible cultural heritage. According to UNESCO intangible cultural heritage includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. Folk dances are an important part of our intangible cultural […]
2018 • cultural heritage • digitization • folk dances • intangible • metadata • TerpsichoreThe Language of Cataloguing: Deconstructing and Decolonizing Systems of Organization in Libraries
This paper analyzes the language of cataloguing because the information that librarians and other information professionals provide to others has a huge impact both on how others are viewed and how others view themselves. This ultimately comes down to the way in which words are given meaning and interpreted according […]
2018 • decolonization • information system • libraries • library database • marginalized • representationMyaamia Dictionary: “myaamiaatawaakani”
myaamiaatawaakani (Myaamia Dictionary) is the dictionary app of the Myaamia language, also known as the Miami-Illinois language, with English translations. Search for words in English or Myaamia. Browse all terms alphabetically. Includes audio to help with pronunciation. If a term is missing, use the feedback function to suggest its addition. […]
dictionary • indigenous language • language | preservation • Myaamia • myaamiaatawaakaniPassamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal
The Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal hosts 3 interoperable databases (videos of natural group conversation, dictionary entries, and audio files), allowing the user to click on a word in a video sub-title to see the entire dictionary entry for the word and then listen to audio recordings of that word as well […]
database • dictionary • indigenous language • language | preservation • Maliseet • multimedia • online portal • PassamaquoddyIndigitization: Toolkit for the Digitization of First Nations Knowledge
The Indigitization Grant Program is a grant funding opportunity sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia1, Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia, and the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies at UBC. The […]
aboriginal • British Columbia | Canada • digital artefacts • grants • indigenous communities • Indigitization • language | preservationThe plight of digitizing culture in one cartoon
“It’s unsettling to realize how quickly digital resources can disappear without ongoing work to maintain them.” Thanks to my friend Daniel Schuldt for sharing this with me.
2017 • digital • digital archive • digital artefacts • digital collections • digital heritage • digital media • digital preservation • technologyEvaluating How ICT Interventions Affect the Wellbeing of Indigenous Communities in the North Rupununi, Guyana
Having its roots in computer science and information systems, the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) in development has arguably been dominated by technocentric approaches, mainly concerned with describing and managing the mechanisms of technology diffusion and adoption. However, the high failure rate of many ICT for development (ICT4D) […]
2017 • capability approach • evaluation • Guyana • ICT • ICT4D • impact of | ICTs • indigenous communities • North Rupununi • systems thinking • wellbeingCollaborative research and methodological decolonization with video cameras
Note: I am thankful to have received an email from Dr. Juan Carlos Sandoval today letting me know about this recently published paper. I look forward to learning about more of his research! Cheers, Mark This article reports the development of a collaborative research through the use of a participatory […]
2017 • collaboration • decolonization • indigenous / traditional knowledge • mexico • participatory • sustainability • Veracruz • video • youthConvergence of Digital Media with the Traditional Folk Media in Assam: A Qualitative Analysis
The study stresses on the convergence of digital media with the traditional folk media in Assam (a state of India), and tries to shade some practical lights on the effects of digital media into the field of folk media. The research methodology used in this study is qualitative in nature; […]
2017 • Assam • cultural heritage • culture | preservation • digital media • education • folk media • IndiaAnthwerrke (Emily Gap) Interactive Tour app
Central Land Council Press Release: Traditional owners of Anthwerrke (Emily Gap) have invested their rent income from the Yeperenye/Emily and Jessie Gaps Nature Park in an interactive visitor experience at the sacred site near Alice Springs. They will launch the interactive tour with CLC chair Francis Kelly, the Member for […]
aboriginal • Anthwerrke • application • Arrernte • Australia • dreaming • Emily Gap • interactive • songline • tour • traditional ownersVideo games and Indigenous education: Let’s bridge the ‘epistemology gap’
There are clear challenges posed by rural and remote education in Australia. These challenges are caused both by physical and material factors, but more importantly epistemological divisions that have created a separation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds. Video games have the potential to bridge this epistemological gap by explicating the […]
2017 • Australia • education • epistemology • gaming • knowledge systems • remote regions • representation • rural • video game • youthThe Same, but Different: Indigenous Knowledge Retention, Erosion, and Innovation in the Brazilian Amazon
This study explores how indigenous knowledge (IK) might be retained and/or changed among contemporary indigenous peoples. Through semi-structured interviews and quantitative analyses of long-term changes in artistic knowledge among three geographically displaced Kaiabi (Kawaiwete) we found an association between language proficiency and gender with greater IK retention, and formal schooling […]
2017 • Amazon • basketry • Brazil • culture | preservation • indigenous / traditional knowledge • innovation • Kaiabi • Kawaiwete • transmissionConnected Activism: Indigenous Uses of Social Media for Shaping Political Change
Prior studies describe digital tactics as specific strategies actors apply within broader repertoires of contention, specifically in social and political contexts. A comparison of EZLN, Idle No More, and the ongoing Rio Yaqui water rights movement reveals the kinds of community knowledge work that has to happen prior to and […]
activism • indigenous issues • methodologies • social change • social mediaThe Use of ICTs and E-learning in Indigenous Education
Excerpt With the increase in land claim agreements, renegotiation of treaty rights and local control of resource development, many Indigenous communities are engaging in the use of new media and information technologies in the process of self-determination. This direct control and involvement leads to issues of preservation and sustainable development […]
Canada • e-learning • education • First Nations • ICT • indigenous communities • pedagogy • technology • youthDigital Colonization and Virtual Indigeneity: Indigenous Knowledge and Algorithm Bias
A growing body of research examining the role of technology in indigenous knowledge production and distribution has helped define the new ways that communities are connecting to each other and organizing around the world. At the same time, social justice activist focus in the United States has turned to the […]
2017 • activism • algorithm bias • colonization / colonialism • identity • indigenous / traditional knowledge • internet • representation • social changeIndigenous Media in Mexico: Culture, Community, and the State
Videography is a powerful tool for recording and representing aspects of human society and culture, and anthropologists have long used – and debated the use of – video as a tool to study indigenous and traditional peoples. Indigenous people themselves, however, have increasingly turn video towards their own cultural and […]
2013 • community media • indigenous media • Oaxaca | Mexico • videoA Crowd-Sourced Knowledge Management Approach to Language Preservation and Revitalization: the Case of Te Reo Māori
Many linguists claim as many as half of the world’s nearly 7,105 languages spoken today could disappear by the end of this century. When a language becomes extinct, communities lose their cultural identity and practices tied to a language and intellectual wealth. Preservation of endangered languages is critical, but a […]
2016 • application • crowdsourcing • endangered language • knowledge management • language | preservation • Māori • mobile • revitalization • social mediaLong Lamai, a case study of a smart village
The following is an excerpt from the recently published post “It is not a village but people: Long Lamai, a case study of a smart village” on the e4sv.org website (September 15th, 2016) by Tariq Zaman, University of Malaysia Sarawak. Excerpt Long Lamai is a Penan village in upper Baram, […]
Long Lamai • Malaysia • Sarawak • technology • telecenterUNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
This Atlas is the result of an international collaboration of more than thirty linguists from around the world, some of whom had already been involved in the previous two editions. The editor-in-chief is Christopher Moseley, whose works include the Encyclopedia of the World’s Endangered Languages (London: Routledge 2007) and the […]
endangered language • indigenous language • language | preservation • language mapGlottolog Data Explorer
The aim of this web application is to draw attention to the pressing issue of language endangerment. We hope that the map illustrates the huge number of distinct languages around the world in the present day, and implies that there is much to be lost, socially and culturally, if the […]
application • database • endangered language • Glottolog • indigenous language • interactive • mappingJoseph Bruchac and the Lasting Power of Oral Traditions
Note: I had the pleasure of working with Joe Bruchac and his family while serving as the Education Director of the Ndakinna Education Center (a cultural arts non-profit in Upstate New York). His stories have played a notable role in my own family – my sons were raised listening to […]
Bruchac • oral tradition • story • technology