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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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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Heliox: free software to assist indigenous access to computers

Excerpt Indigenous communities may benefit from new computer technology that allows them to access educational resources and the internet using their own language, says the software’s developer. The innovation comes from an international, interdisciplinary group that is currently working on using the technology to reduce the digital gap and help […]

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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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mycitizen.net: Social Networking for Civil Society

Mycitizen.net is a free and open-source platform that facilitates social networking of local communities. It has been designed from the outset for the specific needs of civil society, particularly in closed societies and in countries in transition, it can be used with otherwise unsupported languages, where the Internet is very […]

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Digital Memory Toolkit

The Digital Memory Toolkit aims to address a lack of digital literacy in community memory projects by giving project teams the insight and tools necessary to undertake digital memory projects. Projects of this nature commonly have twofold relevance – helping to preserve local knowledge and also empowering community members through […]

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Open Source Toolkit

The Open Source Toolkit: Empowering digital teachers and learners through access to open-source software. Through the Open Source Toolkit, the DHC exposes the university community to software freedom. The project benefits the community by: demonstrating the uses of open source providing workshops for new users fostering a supportive peer community […]

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Scalar: open source, media-rich scholarly publishing platform

Scalar is a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that’s designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online. Scalar enables users to assemble media from multiple sources and juxtapose them with their own writing in a variety of ways, with minimal technical expertise required. […]

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KwaMoja: an open source enterprise resource planning (ERP) project

KwaMoja is an open source enterprise resource planning (ERP) project based in Africa, committed to improving the efficiency, and profitability of every African business. Welcome to the official KwaMoja web site. A new project from Africa, which hopes to give a fresh start to the webERP project. Our vision at […]

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InSTEDD

At InSTEDD we envision a world where communities everywhere design and use technology to continuously improve their health, safety and development. Founded in 2006 from the TED Prize, and based in California’s Silicon Valley, InSTEDD now operates around the world to implement our vision. With startup funding from Google.org and […]

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ICT4D.at

Vision: In 2028 the digital divide is minimized. Lesser developed countries (LDCs) will be interconnected with the developed world using state of the art information- and communication-technologies (ICTs). People living in LDCs will have the ability to access world wide available information and knowledge at reconcilable costs. Subsequently the social […]

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McNulty Consulting blog

McNulty Consulting is a digital heritage consultancy with a focus on community-oriented projects, Web 2.0 technologies and open-source software in an African context. It specialises in digital cultural projects (including community, museum, heritage and archival initiatives) and the development and digitisation of content. The consultancy consists of two brothers, Niall […]

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MapBox

MapBox lets you design fast and beautiful interactive maps and share them on the web and mobile devices. MapBox is the whole package for making maps, from the worldwide street-level basemap MapBox Streets – powered by OpenStreetMap – to the open source map design studio TileMill for making custom maps […]

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FOSS Digital Curation, Asset Management & Community Archiving Systems

A list of over 25 free and open source digital curation, asset management & community archiving systems that may be of interest to communities (Indigenous or not) seeking to sustain and share words, images, videos, sounds, collections, etc. These tools are free in that you can download the source files […]

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Ushahidi

The Ushahidi Engine is a platform that allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline. Our goal is to create the simplest way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response.

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Software Tools for Indigenous Knowledge Management

Indigenous communities are beginning to realize the potential benefits which digital technologies can offer with regard to the documentation and preservation of their histories and cultures. However they are also coming to understand the opportunities for misuse and misappropriation of their knowledge which may accompany digitization. In this paper we […]

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New technology maps Inuit knowledge: “A profound tool for reversing discrimination”

OTTAWA — About 25 kilometres southeast of Arctic Bay, on the northern shore of Adams Sound, there is a place called Qajuutinnguaq. It means “Hill shaped like a chisel.” You wouldn’t find it on most official maps because official maps of Nunavut contain huge swaths of unnamed land. And most […]

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Invisibility and the Ethics of Digitalisation: Designing So As Not To Hurt Others

Abstract The diversity of knowledge is crucial for finding credible and sustainable alternatives for living together. Yet, a preoccupation with content and connectivity obscures the role of information technology in making invisible different ways of knowing and other logics and experiences. How to deal with diversity and difference in information […]

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Indigenous Knowledge Management: Software Tools, Rights Markup Extensions, and the Role of ICTs

This post is a Jane Hunter trifecta. Dr. Hunter is currently a Professorial Research Fellow & Leader of the eResearch Lab at The University of Queensland’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. Software Tools for Indigenous Knowledge Management (2002) Read the paper Rights Markup Extensions for the Protection of […]

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Free & Open Source Digital Curation, Asset Management & Community Archiving Systems

Updates 12/30/11: Added Archon, Kete, and Open Exhibits. 5/12/12: Added DAITSS, DPSP, HOPPLA, and RODA. 6/8/12: Added Vannotea & Indigenous Knowledge Management Software. 5/13/13: Added ELAN. 7/5/15: Added ArchivesSpace, CollectionSpace, Islandora. In honor of the new year, I thought I’d offer a list of (now 29) free and open source […]

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