The role of information technologies in Indigenous knowledge management.

More and more communities and organisations around the world are realising the value and significance of Indigenous knowledge and the importance of preserving it for future generations. Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKCs) are being established globally, but particularly in Australia, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The capture and preservation of Indigenous knowledge is being used to revitalise endangered cultures, improve the economic independence and sustainability of Indigenous communities and to increase community-based involvement in planning and development. In parallel with the increasing recognition of the value and relevance of Indigenous knowledge to today's world and the need to preserve it, is recognition of the role that information technologies (IT) can play in its capture, management and dissemination. This chapter provides an overview of the current state of IT tools, services, and projects relevant to Indigenous knowledge management. In particular it describes information technology tools being developed at DSTC (in consultation with numerous Indigenous and cultural organisations) that have been designed to enable Indigenous communities to capture, control and share their knowledge within local knowledge bases according to their unique, specific local needs. Finally this chapter identifies unresolved issues that will require further collaborative research and development and cooperation between Indigenous communities, researchers and software developers.

Indigenous Knowledge Capture

 
   Indigenous knowledge, also referred to as traditional or local 
   knowledge, refers to the large body of knowledge and skills that 
   has been developed outside the formal educational system. IK is 
   embedded in culture and is unique to a given location or society. It 
   is the basis for decision-making of communities in food, security, 
   human and animal health, education and natural resource management. 
   (1) 

Indigenous knowledge encompasses many forms. It includes cultural heritage in the form of traditional stories, songs, dances and ceremonies that reflect beliefs related to spirituality, family, land and social justice. It includes potentially patentable knowledge about traditional medicines, foods, farm practices, architecture and construction, handicrafts, artwork and folk music. It includes knowledge about people, places, plants, animals, and historical events associated with a particular community.

The first steps in many Indigenous knowledge projects involve identifying the material to be preserved and then capturing it in a digital form so that it can be systematically documented, shared, and re-used by permitted groups or individuals. Determining the optimum and most culturally appropriate approach to selecting, eliciting, recording, describing and disseminating this knowledge without insensitivity, intrusion, constraints, degradation or misrepresentation of the content, is a challenge that is often underestimated.

Appropriate consultative processes need to be established to identify and prioritise the material to be captured. Alternative digital technologies and environments for recording and storing the data need to be compared and evaluated. Because of the oral tradition of Indigenous knowledge, audiovisual digital recording devices such as digital video cameras and audio recorders are a primary tool for capturing techniques, practices, stories, language, songs and dances. Scanners are being used to digitise photographs, manuscripts, maps and historic documents. Increasingly 3D scanners are used to generate 3D digital surrogates of physical artifacts in museums and cultural institutions, such as tools, shields, carvings, clothing and baskets.

But there are still many issues which need to be resolved. For example, should audio be saved as WAV or MP3 files? Is QuickTime, MPEG-4 or MPEG-2 the best format for archiving video content? What digital media should be used for storing the content eg hard disk, DAT, CD, DVD or FlashRAM? What are the advantages and disadvantages of recording in a controlled environment such as a studio, as opposed to in the field or from a live performance? Should the content be edited to improve or enhance it afterwards? Solutions to many of these questions will depend on a detailed analysis of the specific project and community needs.

Rather than attempt to provide answers to these issues, in the next three subsections I will describe three projects that illustrate the potential of applying innovative technologies to recording, sharing and utilising Indigenous knowledge:

* virtual repatriation at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI)

* community mapping, and

* digital libraries of traditional medicine.

Virtual Repatriation

Many museums, archives, libraries and cultural institutions throughout the world hold large collections of objects that are of cultural or historical significance to Indigenous communities. Because many of these objects were collected without the consent of the…