The Language Sustainability Toolkit

From the Wikitongues.org website: “If you’re worried about the future of your language, this toolkit is a great place to start. In partnership with the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, we have identified a set of best practices for launching your own language revitalization.” Toolkit Introduction This Language Sustainability […]

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Digitalising 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 […]

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Determinants of Indigenous Student Learning with Digital Technology: A Qualitative Study

Full Title: Determinants of Indigenous Student Learning with Digital Technology: A Qualitative Study in a Remote Manitoba First Nations Community Abstract The goal of this qualitative study was to identify the determinants that assist remote postsecondary Indigenous Canadian learners (in an isolated fly-in only community) to adapt and orient themselves […]

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Indigitization: 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 […]

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The 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.

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Collaborative 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 […]

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The 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 […]

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The 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 […]

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Technology, the Indigenous and the Revitalization of Languages at Risk of Extinction

This paper aims to analyze the use of technology in indigenous environments as an instrument to preserve their culture and language. We also aimed here to display results of a first version of a cataloguing system we have been developing to store words from the Xacriabá language. We think that […]

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Digital Storytelling as Arts-Inspired Inquiry for Engaging, Understanding, and Supporting Indigenous Youth

In this paper we examine digital storytelling as a mode of arts-inspired inquiry: in particular we consider digital storytelling as a powerful arts-inspired approach that can help researchers, practitioners, and communities understand and support indigenous and marginalized youth. Our two-fold focus is on: (1) a digital storytelling initiative that engaged […]

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Long 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, […]

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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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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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Oaxaca Workshops: Digital Tools for the Preservation and Dissemination of Traditional Knowledge

I am honored to be returning to Mexico next week to facilitate a workshop on WordPress and Other Open Source Technologies for the Preservation and Dissemination of Traditional Knowledge. The workshops (mine is one of four) will take place throughout the week in Oaxaca City. If you’re in that neck […]

Digital Memory Toolkit – a free resource to assist community projects

Recently, Niall McNulty (of McNulty Consulting) and Brigitte Doellgast (of the Goethe-Institut) were awarded Best Poster at the 2015 IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. Click on the poster image below to see it full size… Congratulations to Brigitte and Niall! You can find Niall […]

Open Source Code for Endangered Languages

This just in from the Indigenous Language and Technology (ILAT) listserv… Richard Littauer writes: “I have been building a document linking any and all open source code I could find that may be useful to indigenous, minority, under resourced, and endangered languages. It has now gotten to the stage where […]

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Mexico’s INAH announces digital edition of the Codex Mendoza

The bilingual digital edition of the Codex Mendoza is the first attempt in the world to create a digital resource that permits an in-depth study of a Mexican codex and that allows a virtual repatriation of it. Digital Codex Mendoza is freely available through its website and through the iTunes […]

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Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages: a digital archive of endangered Indigenous literature

Note: I just added this to the Resources Database, but felt that it should also be featured here in the blog. About the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages is an open access, online repository comprising digital versions of language materials produced in Literature Production […]

Fade Out: documenting the death of Zaachila Zapotec

I recently received a message from Andrea Ariza, linguist and co-creator of a documentary project called Fade Out: documenting the death of a language. She writes, “With this film we want to document the situation of Zaachila Zapotec, an under-described and endangered language of Mexico, the causes and consequences of […]

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ACORNS Linguistics Project releases new version of software for Indigenous language revitalization

Dan Harvey, Professor of Computer Science at Southern Oregon University, just announced the release of ACORNS 8.0 and the accompanying Sound Editor 2.0. The purpose of the ACORNS project is to support the language revitalization efforts of Native American tribes, hence the name: [AC]quisition [O]f [R]estored [N]ative [S]peech. The acorn […]

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Indigenas Digitais – ICTs and Brazilian Indigenous communities

I recently learned about this documentary from @simsa0 who pointed me to this posting on Intercontinental Cry magazine. – Cheers, Mark Indigenas Digitais is a 2010 documentary directed by Sebastian Gerlic and produced by Thydêwá about the use of information communication technologies by Brazilian Indigenous tribes to improve human rights […]

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Digital Archive of Ritual Poetry (DARP) prototype for preserving intangible cultural heritage

The Digital Archive of Ritual Poetry is now featured in the Ethnos Project Resources Database. Go there now

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Developing and Testing Mycitizen.net

In this post, the third in a three part series about Mycitizen.net, Ethnos Project contributor Christoph Amthor provides insight about the development and testing of Mycitizen.net. Part 1: Mycitizen.net and its Roots in Burma Part 2: The Concept Behind Mycitizen.net Part 3: Developing and Testing Mycitizen.net Mycitizen.net is a free […]

The Concept Behind Mycitizen.net

In this post, the second in a three part series about Mycitizen.net, Ethnos Project contributor Christoph Amthor moves the focus from societal context to conceptualization. Part 1: Mycitizen.net and its Roots in Burma Part 2: The Concept Behind Mycitizen.net Part 3: Developing and Testing Mycitizen.net Mycitizen.net is a free and […]

Mycitizen.net and its Roots in Burma

This post is the first in a three part series about Mycitizen.net by new Ethnos Project contributor, Christoph Amthor. Look for parts two and three over the next few weeks. Part 1: Mycitizen.net and its Roots in Burma Part 2: The Concept Behind Mycitizen.net Part 3: Developing and Testing Mycitizen.net […]

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