Research for Development (R4D)

R4D is a free access on-line database containing information about research programmes supported by DFID. R4D provides you with the latest information about research funded by DFID, including news, case studies and details of current and past research in over 20,000 project and document records.

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Nurturing Indigenous Knowledge Experts (NIKE) – Ifugaos Indigenous Knowledge Database

Our library is being developed to safeguard Ifugao’s intellectual heritage and to provide information materials to researchers, students, and teachers. The library is based at the NCIP Office-Lagawe, Ifugao. Materials may be brought out from the office with permission from the library in- charge. You may contact us to avail […]

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UNESDOC database (UNESCO documents)

Contains 120,000 free downloadable documents in six official languages covering all UNESCO fields of competence since 1945 and most of the publications edited by the Organization.

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Knowledge Traditions of Aboriginal Australians: Questions & Answers arising in a Databasing Project

In answering some questions about the place and role of databasing in Aboriginal Australian Knowledge Traditions, the paper gives some interesting insights into the nature and workings of Aboriginal Knowledge Traditions. I consider knowledge traditions of Aboriginal Australians comparatively, by referring to a particular contemporary way of ‘doing knowledge’. The […]

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Computer Databases and Aboriginal Knowledge

At a recent workshop on Aboriginal knowledge in Darwin, several women from the local Larrakia community talked about putting their elders’ knowledge onto a database. One cautious non-indigenous researcher voiced some doubts about the overenthusiastic embrace of digital technology: “Indigenous knowledge lives in country, and in doing things together in […]

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Words, Ontologies and Aboriginal databases

This paper tells of a group of people working in the increasingly digitised context of teaching and researching Aboriginal languages and cultures in a university context, and in remote Aboriginal communities. The first phase involved the development of digital archives with CDs and a website for university teaching purposes. The […]

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Aboriginal Knowledge Traditions in Digital Environments

According to Manovich, the database and the narrative are natural enemies, each competing for the same territory of human culture. Aboriginal knowledge traditions depend upon narrative through storytelling and other shared performances. The database objectifies and commodifies distillations of such performances and absorbs them into data structures according to a […]

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South Africa To Launch National Traditional Knowledge Recording System

Published on ip-watch.org 10 May 2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch While diplomats are trying to find consensus on an international instrument to protect traditional knowledge at the World Intellectual Property Organization, some countries are establishing systems to protect their traditional knowledge domestically. South Africa will be launching on 24 […]

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The Ulwazi Programme

The Ulwazi Programme is an initiative of the eThekwini Municipal Library to preserve the indigenous knowledge of local communities in the greater Durban area. This innovation, developed and implemented by the Software Applications Section of the Libraries, is based on a bottom-up model through which online indigenous knowledge resources are […]

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Organization Highlight: The Ulwazi Programme

The Ulwazi Programme is several things: a collection of technologies, social initiatives and research endeavors. On one hand, it is an online community-sourced website database and informative blog. On the other hand, Ulwazi involves programmatic aspects such as the School’s Project, a certificate project for secondary school students. A wonderful […]

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Indigenous Knowledge & Resource Management in Northern Australia (IKRMNA)

Indigenous Knowledge and Resource Management in Northern Australia (IKRMNA) was a three year 2003-2006 ARC Linkage Project to support and develop Indigenous databases that maintain and enhance the strength of local languages, cultures and environments in Northern Australia. The project was coordinated through the School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems […]

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IKRMNA: Making Collective Memories with Computers

This post contains abstracts and links to a selection of papers written about Indigenous Knowledge and Resource Management in Northern Australia (IKRMNA). From their website: IKRMNA was a three year 2003-2006 ARC Linkage Project to support and develop Indigenous databases that maintain and enhance the strength of local languages, cultures […]

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A Value Sensitive Design Approach to Indigenous Knowledge Management Systems

Indigenous cultures across the planet are disappearing. In 2007, Wade Davis, a Harvard-trained ethnobotanist, presented at the TED conference on the (subject of endangered cultures). He said, “When each of you in this room were born, there were 6,000 languages spoken on the planet . . . and of those […]

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