Introducing Indigenous Knowledge Governance into ICT-based Indigenous Knowledge Management Systems

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Indigenous Knowledge Management (IKM) have been designed using the conventional approach of creating and manipulating databases of knowledge. This typical approach of IKM generates the issues of indigenous knowledge governance, de-contextualisation and data manipulation. Hence, the main research question of this study is “How can we introduce indigenous knowledge governance into ICT-based Indigenous Knowledge Management System (IKMS)?” The study has been conducted in three phases with two indigenous communities of Sarawak, East Malaysia, using the eBario and eLamai Telecentre as a local collaborating institutions. The main outcome of the study is the methodology of conducting a multidisciplinary research and designing Indigenous Knowledge Governance Framework (IKGF). The framework works as an analytical tool that can help in understanding the essential context in which indigenous knowledge management processes occur. The study argues that in order to design appropriate ICT tools for indigenous knowledge management, information technology professionals need to understand, model and formalise the holistic indigenous knowledge management system and then use this understanding as a basis for technology design and approaches.