Understanding Indigenous Peoples’ Information Practices and Internet Use: a Ngarrindjeri Perspective

Little is known about indigenous people’s interactions with the Internet as well as their attitudes, values, and skills in using the Internet and information and communication technologies to retain their knowledge. We present the preliminary results of the research undertaken with Ngarrindjeri people living from the Lower Murray River Lakes […]

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Constructing Sustainable Digital Learning Environments for Remote Rural Children of Sarawak

In the late 70s, a US television program for children called the Big Blue Marble aired on a Malaysian local television channel and it provided children in the country the opportunity to learn about the lives and activities of children from other parts of the world. There was also a […]

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Fishing with New Nets: Maori Internet Information Resources and Implications of the Internet for Indigenous Peoples

Abstract This paper surveys Internet information resources relating to the Maori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and examines issues that arise when indigenous peoples’ culture is placed in a digital networked environment. Introduction The indigenous people of New Zealand are the Maori, descended from the great Polynesian voyagers who […]

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Social Media in Remote First Nation Communities

Community resilience in First Nations includes ties to people both inside and outside the community, intergenerational communication, the sharing of stories, and family and community connectedness. This study, based on a survey of Internet users in the Sioux Lookout region of Northwestern Ontario, explores the link between social networking sites […]

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Using the Internet to Strengthen the Indigenous Nations of the Americas

In October 1994, a team from the Oneida Indian Nation of New York visited Washington to view a new Internet site at the White House. The press release describing the visit is reproduced below to introduce the topic: how the Indigenous nations of the Americas are using the Internet to […]

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The Power of Play: An interview with Pinnguaq founder Ryan Oliver

This interview originally appeared on Rachael Petersen’s blog, Global Native Networks. Pinnguaq is a software localization initiative based in beautiful Pangnirtung, Nunavut in Canada’s high Eastern Arctic. In June 2013, they released an Inuktitut-language version of the best-selling iPad game, Osmos. To do this, they engaged Inuit across the territory to complete […]

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Aptivate’s Web Design Guidelines for Low Bandwidth

Usability research has shown that the biggest factor in user satisfaction is speed of response. Optimising your website for response speed means people will enjoy using it more. But it’s more important than that. The number of Internet users in developing countries is estimated to have quadrupled between 2000 and […]

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Indigenous Cultures and Globalization Wiki

The impact of globalization on indigenous cultures can be viewed as both positive and negative. The growth of globalization has brought new opportunities to people around the world but at the same time has impeded the ability of indigenous peoples to retain their cultural practices and indigenous knowledge. Globalization has […]

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Challenging Traditions: Sámi Folklore and Internet (Coppélie Cocq’s blog)

Introduction From the website: My name is Coppélie Cocq. I grew up in France (Flanders) and moved to Umeå, Sweden in 1997. I have a PhD in Sámi Studies from Umeå University, and my research interests are Storytelling, Folklore and Minority Studies. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in digital […]

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Aboriginal Knowledge on the Internet

Aboriginal people have traditional ways of understanding knowledge: what it is like, where it comes from, how people make it, how it is remembered, celebrated, and made new, how knowledge belongs to people, and how secret and sacred knowledges relate to public knowledge. At the same time, Aboriginal people in […]

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Latin America: The Internet and Indigenous Texts

In an age of global communication and computer technology, indigenous peoples have slowly gained access to electronic communication. With all of the hype surrounding cyberspace and hyperspaces as we enter a new millennium, we need to examine how indigenous peoples use and are impacted by this technology. Is there still […]

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Standing Stones in Cyberspace: The Oneida Indian Nation’s Territory on the Web

Nestled among the old green hills of central New York lies a tiny sovereign nation. Most cars simply speed by it, but if you slow down, you’ll hear the noisy Canadian geese overhead, flapping their way back south for the winter. There’s a smell of woodsmoke and sweetgrass as you […]

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Use of Internet Communication Among the Sami People

The Saemieh, hereafter referred as to as Sami, are the indigenous population of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Although Samis are best known for their reindeer husbandry, a large number of Samis lived in a hunter-gather economy until the 16th century. The Samis are […]

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IICD project profile: ICT for Strengthening the Capacities of Female Indigenous Leaders – Bolivia

In July of last year I highlighted an organization called IICD (worth a visit if you haven’t see it). IICD has quite a few projects in their database, but this one is of particular interest to me and so I thought I’d share it here. Summary From the project page […]

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Connect a School, Connect a Community: Providing ICTs to Indigenous Peoples

This post was created to share a document called “Providing ICTs to Indigenous Peoples” which is part of a best practices toolkit created by the ITU’s Connect a School, Connect a Community initiative. But before I present the document, I’d like to step back and introduce it in context starting […]

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Connect a School, Connect a Community: Toolkit of Best Practices and Policy Advice

About Connect a School, Connect a Community From the connectaschool.org website: “Connecting all primary, secondary and post-secondary schools to ICTs by 2015 was one of the targets set by world leaders at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Connect a School, Connect a Community is a public-private partnership […]

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Plugging in Indigenous knowledge: connections and innovations

Presented at the Fulbright Symposium: “Indigenous people in an interconnected world.” Published as: Plugging in Indigenous knowledge – connections and innovations.” In Australian Aboriginal Studies 2000:2, pp 39-47. An earlier version of this paper appears at The Fulbright site at the University of Iowa. Note: Many of the websites linked […]

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Natives on the Electric Frontier: Technology and Cultural Change on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation

Abstract This dissertation examines the relationship between technology and cultural change on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, home to 7000 Lakota Indians. Recently, a number of popular authors have suggested that technology, especially electronic or ’emerging’ media technologies such as television and the Internet, is a primary […]

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Acción comunitaria en la red (Community Action in the Net)

Español: La rápida adopción de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, en todos los entornos sociales, ha comportado que las interacciones entre grupos dejen de circunscribirse en un espacio y tiempo determinados para tener lugar en cualquier parte y a cualquier hora. Presenta, pues, este libro una selección […]

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Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor & Marginalized Populations

The World Wide Web Foundation is proud to announce the publication of Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor and Marginalized Populations. Generously supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the book is a compendium of articles by recognized experts describing the real and potential effects of the World Wide Web in […]

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The Potential of the Internet for Development: Digital Divides and Uneven Geographies of Knowledge

A talk to DFID by Dr. Mark Graham of the Oxford Internet Institute The Internet and other new technologies have put information at the centre of the global economy. It is therefore important to understand who produces and reproduces this information, who has access, and who and where are represented […]

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The Asháninka and the Internet

The other day, I found an IDRC report about the Asháninka and their use of the Internet dating back to 2000. Coincidentally, the Atlantic just ran a post about the Asháninka based on some photos and text released by Survival International. I have cobbled various bits together below with the […]

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Indigenous People on the Web

Abstract This paper explores the ways in which Indigenous people around the world are participating in the World Wide Web, through establishing their own websites or accessing services via the Web. Indigenous websites are remarkably diverse: in addition to those representing Indigenous organizations and promoting Indigenous e-commerce, many websites have […]

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Home Internet for Remote Indigenous Communities

Executive Summary Research to date shows that many remote Indigenous communities have little access to the internet and make little use of it. The Indigenous population living in remote and very remote parts of Australia comprises 108,143 people, or 0.54% of the total Australian population (ABS 2006a). In central Australia, […]

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The Impact of Digital Technology on Indigenous Peoples

An excerpt from Ecoliterate Law: Globalization & the Transformation of Cultures & Humanity If indigenously founded Internet resources and technologies are any indication of Indigenous peoples’ willingness to embrace the technological era, the answer is that many Indigenous communities see telecommunication and computer technologies as a way to improve, rather than […]

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