Technology and the Transmission of Oral Tradition in the Contemporary Jewish Community

This paper focuses on the impact of technology (computers, the Internet, iPods) on the transmission of oral tradition, specifically the cantillation of the Torah, in the contemporary Jewish community. The highly detailed and musically nuanced public recitation of the Torah require that the reader memorize both the pronunciation of unvocalized Hebrew text and the […]

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Preserving of Information Value in Oral Tradition of Minangkabau society, West Sumatera, Indonesia

Minangkabau society is very well known of their oral tradition named kaba babarito that expresses a message from one to others orally. Oral tradition of Minangkabau is very strong in many aspects of life, for example the tradition of maota di lapau (chatting on lapau), which is one way for […]

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The Glottolog Data Explorer: Mapping the world’s languages

We present THE GLOTTOLOG DATA EXPLORER, an interactive web application in which the world’s languages are mapped using a JavaScript library in the ‘Shiny’ framework for R (Chang et al., 2016). The world’s languages and major dialects are mapped using coordinates from the Glottolog database (Hammarström et al., 2016). The […]

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Cultural Heritage Preservation of Traditional Indian Art through Virtual New-Media

Traditional art and craft, practiced by various craft-guilds in the country are the evidence of Indian cultural heritage. Though the narratives depicted in the form of painted façade or scroll-paintings are the genesis of traditional Indian visual language, the scarcity of public awareness and seclusion from the mass is becoming […]

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Sharing and Preserving Indigenous Knowledge of the Arctic Using Information and Communications Technology

For millennia, indigenous peoples have transferred knowledge to younger generations and amongst each other in a number of ways. In this chapter, the authors draw on their collective experience to discuss the dialogue and approaches that have emerged when using information and communications technologies (ICT) to represent indigenous knowledge (IK) […]

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IRCA & the National Remote Indigenous Media Festival

The 2015 Festival was hosted by IRCA in partnership with PAW Media and Communications and the Lajamanu community with key partner Indigenous Community Television. For 5 days remote media workers and industry guests visited Gurindji and Warlpiri Country for an exciting industry program with skills workshops, roundtables, video screenings, live radio and TV […]

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Local Contexts: Traditional Knowledge Labels

Local Contexts is an initiative to support Native, First Nations, Aboriginal, and Indigenous communities in the management of their intellectual property and cultural heritage specifically within the digital environment. Local Contexts provides legal, extra-legal, and educational strategies for navigating copyright law and the public domain status of this valuable cultural […]

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Documenting Endangered Languages – NSF Grants

Funding Opportunity Expected Number of Awards: 30 Posted Date: Jun 28, 2016 Closing Date for Applications: Sep 15, 2016 Estimated Total Program Funding: $4,000,000 Description This funding partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) supports projects to develop and advance knowledge concerning […]

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Decolonizing geographies of power: indigenous digital counter-mapping practices on turtle Island

This paper addresses the decolonizing potential of Indigenous counter-mapping in the context of (what is now called) Canada.After historicizing cartography as a technique of colonial power, and situating Indigenous counter-mapping as an assertion of political and intellectual sovereignty, we examine the digital map of Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Plains Cree for Edmonton, Alberta) […]

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Design Interactions in ʔeləw̓ k ̓ʷ — Belongings

Our pictorial visually describes ʔeləw̓ k ̓ʷ — Belongings, an interactive tangible tabletop installed in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. The tabletop was designed to communicate the continuity of Musqueam culture, convey the complexity of belongings that were excavated from Musqueam’s ancient village site, and […]

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Digitizing Indigenous History: Trends and Challenges

This is an exciting time for digitizing indigenous history. Leading digital humanists are engaging tribal communities in the creation of powerful online archives. The groundbreaking Mukurtu content management system (CMS), for example, is built on the very premise of indigenous curation or co-curation; it lets indigenous people control exactly what […]

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Wampum, Sequoyan, and Story: Decolonizing the Digital Archive

For some years, the Cherokee Nation has hosted a digital archive that includes stories in the Cherokee language, available to anyone who registers for the Nation’s free online language classes or requests them to be sent in DVD format. On the ᏣᎳᎩ ᏗᎧᏃᎮᏍᏓ & ᏗᎧᏃᎩᏓ /tsalagi dikanohesda & dikanogida/ Cherokee […]

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Gone Digital: Aboriginal Remix and the Cultural Commons

Abstract: Recently the commons has become a predominant metaphor for the types of social relationships between people, ideas, and new digital technologies. In IP debates, the commons signifies openness, the exclusion of intermediaries, and remix culture that is creative, innovative, and politically disobedient. This article examines the material and social […]

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Does Information Really Want to be Free? Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Question of Openness

The “information wants to be free” meme was born some 20 years ago from the free and open source software development community. In the ensuing decades, information freedom has merged with debates over open access, digital rights management, and intellectual property rights. More recently, as digital heritage has become a […]

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Postcolonial Computing: A Tactical Survey

The authors suggest that postcolonial science studies can do more than expand answers to questions already posed; it can generate different questions and different ways of looking at the world. To illustrate, the authors draw on existing histories and anthropologies and critical theories of colonial and postcolonial technoscience. To move […]

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Community-based materials development: using digital storytelling for teaching and learning Indigenous languages

This study examined the potential of using digital storytelling as a mechanism for materials development and Indigenous language learning. Study participants (N = 4) were interviewed after a series of three digital storytelling workshops offered in a First Nations community. The findings of the study support the use of digital […]

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En Route for the Sustainability of Digital Local Content for Mobile Learning to Preserve Malay Local Cultural Heritage

This study voices serious concern about the sustainable development of Malay digital local cultural content. Digital local content is crucial in learning local cultural subjects in Asia countries, such as Malay culture. However, there is a serious lack of digital local content for mobile learning purposes in Malaysia. One of […]

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Social media and digital technology use among Indigenous young people in Australia: a literature review

The use of social media and digital technologies has grown rapidly in Australia and around the world, including among Indigenous young people who face social disadvantage. Given the potential to use social media for communication, providing information and as part of creating and responding to social change, this paper explores […]

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The More Things Change

An article by David Shorter, professor and vice-chair of the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at the University of California in Los Angeles. Originally published 5/14/16 on Indian Country Today. Excerpt: In 2002, I began working on my first website that would feature ethnographic and self-representations of the Yoeme people in northwest […]

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Tahltan Language Conservation Initiative Project

Tahltan Language Conservation Initiative Project (TLCIP) is a grassroots conservation effort that will focus on the preservation of the severely endangered Tahltan Language. There are only 16 fluent native Tahltan speakers alive today and all but two are over the age of seventy. TLCIP will work with the remaining speakers […]

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Language app: FirstVoices Keyboard App

The latest ground-breaking FirstVoices innovation from the First Peoples’ Cultural Council is an Indigenous language keyboard app for Apple and Android mobile devices. The FirstVoices Keyboard App contains keyboard software for over 100 languages, and includes every First Nations language in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, plus many languages in […]

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Digital Native American and Indigenous Studies Project

The Digital Native American and Indigenous Studies (dNAIS) Project will offer three three-day workshops to educate participants on issues of digital humanities research and methodology in the context of Native American Studies. Native American Studies, an interdisciplinary field of study exploring the history, culture, politics, issues, and contemporary experience of […]

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Digital Native American & Indigenous Studies Project

The Digital Native American and Indigenous Studies (dNAIS) Project will offer three three-day workshops to educate participants on issues of digital humanities research and methodology in the context of Native American Studies. Native American Studies, an interdisciplinary field of study exploring the history, culture, politics, issues, and contemporary experience of […]

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Arteria – A Regional Cultural Mapping Project in Portugal

This paper discusses the relation between cultural mapping and participatory community cultural mapping, proposing the integration of a mobile device application (app) in the cultural mapping process of the Arteria project. This application aims to expand the notion of cultural appropriation by exploring how citizens can make crucial contributions to […]

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ʔeləw̓ k ̓ʷ — Belongings: A Tangible Interface for Intangible Cultural Heritage

ʔeləw̓ k̓ʷ — Belongings is an interactive tabletop using a tangible user interface to explore intangible cultural heritage. The table was designed for the c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city exhibition. This exhibition is a partnership of three major institutions in Vancouver, BC, exploring the significant ancient village site on […]

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