A New Understanding of Culture and Communication: The Impact of Technology on Indigenous Peoples

Annotated Bibliography

Aboriginal Digital Collections is a project by Industry Canada in which Aboriginal Native youth were given funding to create Web sites that featured "significant Canadian Aboriginal material." The focus of the Web sites range from traditional cultural information, such as Aboriginal language preservation, to Indigenous business ventures. The purpose of the site is to give Aboriginal Canadian youth a chance to use modern technology to celebrate and preserve their heritage as well as their contemporary lifestyles.

2. Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. "Aboriginal Peoples Television Network," Home page online. Available from http://www.aptn.ca/en/default.htm; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Television has historically been a medium that has dedicated little to indigenous peoples. When the APTN was created in 1999, it gave native peoples in Canada an opportunity to share their cultures with non-Native Canadians. Most of the programming is Canadian, but 30% of the content featured comes from indigenous communities elsewhere in the world. Although television is not a new technology, it has only recently become widely available to some indigenous groups, and many still have little representation in or access to programming. This is a great example of what can be done with mass media to promote a people’s culture.

3. Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center. "Tribal Computational Science Program,"Home page online. Available from http://www.eot.ahpcc.unm.edu/Tribal/archive.htm; Internet; Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

The Tribal Computational Science Program is an example of a program that is preparing Native Americans to actively participate in the Information Age. The program focuses on training students in computational science programs, and features online formats and curricula, along with the strategic plans and goals for the program. This is an excellent resource for tribal colleges that may be trying to implement the same type of program, and for prospective students who would like to become educated in computational sciences.

4. Bernard, H. Russell. "Preserving Cultural Diversity," Home page online. Available from http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/culserv.html; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Russell is an anthropologist who specializes in indigenous languages, and this article represents his study of the role of computers in the preservation of these languages. Most of the languages spoken in the world are indigenous languages, and many of them are disappearing rapidly. Computers have enabled people from indigenous tribes to begin recording their languages, which has also led to a rebirth in interest in some of them. Russell shows that computer technology is a major factor in the preservation of an important part of indigenous cultures of the world.

5. Brunner, Eric. "Tribal Law Intellectual Property Home Page," Home page online. Available from http://world.std.com/~iipc/; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Intellectual property takes on a whole new meaning in the age of the Internet, where information travels through vast networks from countries of origin to places in almost every corner of the world. Along with the technology that makes this information access possible come potential problems with copyright laws and ownership of knowledge. These issues are addressed on the Tribal Law Intellectual Property List by subscribers and the different organizations who contribute to it.

6. Casey, James. "Native networking: Telecommunications and Information Technology in Indian Country," Benton Foundation Online. Home page online. Available from http://www.benton.org/Library/Native; Internet; Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

Casey wrote this article in 1999 as a five-year assessment of the advancements Native American communities have made in integrating telecommunications and information technology concepts into their activities and lifestyles. As communities evolve, and as their role in today’s society changes, modern technology is going to further alter the communities, and create conflicts between old and new ways of living. Casey’s argument is that this change, and potential conflict, must be addressed, and that the relationships within the community, and the goals of the tribes, must be respected. If this is done, Native American tribes will succeed and thrive on the ‘Information Superhighway.’

7. Craig, Evans. "The Native Digital Divide: A Review of Online Literature," from Native American Distance Education Community Web. Home page online. Available from http://www.eot.ahpcc.unm.edu/Community/Reports/NativeDigitalDivide.html; Internet, Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

One of the most important issues regarding Native Americans and technology is what obstacles have kept Tribal communities from integrating technology as fast as other sectors of society. Craig explores technology that helps to improve education, and focuses on infrastructure and training in his review of reports that have addressed the topic. The reports he reviews are available online, and if the reader wants more information on the topic, links in Craig’s bibliography take the reader straight to the original sources.

8. Cultural Survival. "Cultural Survival Home Page," Home page online. Available from http://www.cs.org/index.html; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Cultural Survival is an indigenous peoples’ advocacy group that works in different parts of the world. Their Web site includes a cyber forum between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples to build understanding about important issues. Several publications are available on this site that cover technology issues in indigenous groups throughout the world. In the current Cultural Survival Quarterly (Spring 2001), for instance, there is an article titled "Digitizing Indigenous Sounds: Cultural Activists and Local Music in the Age of Memorex." Coverage such as this demonstrates that technology is being used to preserve culture and advance indigenous societies worldwide.

9. Government of Canada. "Canada’s Digital Collections: First Peoples," Home page online. Available from http://collections.ic.gc.ca/E/SL_firstpeoples.asp; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

The Canadian Government offers a vast array of digitized materials to further the understanding of Canadian indigenous groups. This page is simply a link page to all of the sources they have made available, including digital pictures, art, audio resources, government documents and information about technology programs being conducted by and for indigenous groups in Canada.

10. Hale, Constance. "How Do You Say Computer in Hawaiian?" Wired Magazine 3 (Aug 1995). [e-journal] <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.08/hawaii.html> Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

This article from the online journal Wired is about language revitalization. Hawaiians are succeeding in bringing back the popularity of their language by teaching it with the help of computers. Hawaiian was traditionally an oral culture, and reading it from a book does not have the same effect as teaching it orally and textually. Not only are computers effective in teaching the language to Hawaiian children and ensuring the survival of the language, but as a result these children have become networked, and have learned computer skills that will allow them to participate fully in a technology-based society.

11. The National Indian Law Library. "Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project," Home page online. Available from http://thorpe.ou.edu/; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

The National Indian Law Library, together with the University of Oklahoma Law Center, have begun working with tribes across the United States to provide access to the legal documents they use to govern themselves, including Constitutions and Tribal Codes. All of the documents are either U.S. Government documents, which are part of the public domain, or put on this site with permission from the tribes. These documents are the foundation of the sovereignty of the 500+ tribes in the United States, and digitizing them makes a valuable national resource available to many who would never have been able to read and study them otherwise.

12. National Indigenous Media Association of Australia. "National Indigenous Media Association of Australia," Home page online. Available from http://www.indigenousaustralia.com.au/nimaa/home_fs.htm; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Australia arguably has one of the best networks of indigenous Web sites, and this particular site is a great example of that. The National Indigenous Media Association of Australia (NIMAA) represents a collective of indigenous media organizations across Australia, whose goal is "to achieve the autonomous self-determination of Indigenous people through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media sector and the non-Indigenous mass media." They work toward this goal by providing media databases, assisting indigenous media organizations with funding and applying for broadcast licenses, and by lobbying the government. NIMAA uses modern technology to give indigenous peoples more technological power, thereby giving them a better position in society.

13. Native American Public Telecommunications. "Native American Public Telecommunications," Home page online. Available from http://www.nativetelecom.org/index.html; Internet; Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

Radio and television media are two of the best ways to connect various tribes from across the country, and the Native American Public Telecommunications uses broadcast media to do just that. The site features the American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS) among other live radio stations and special pre-recorded shows, and provides information about programs produced for television. A collection of media clips is available, including short documentaries and Census 2000 videos. The subjects are diverse, but they serve to unite Native American groups with common characteristics.

14. Native Web. "Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the World on the Web," Home page online. Available from http://www.nativeweb.org/; Internet; Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

Native Web is an organization dedicated to providing a space on the Internet for indigenous peoples to learn from and about each other, and to teach the rest of the world about their customs and traditions. Native Web does research about native people worldwide and how they use the Internet and computer technology. Their web site provides multiple resources and services to help indigenous peoples use these technologies. It also contains a link page that lists many other indigenous resources, including computer consulting firms, chat rooms, and native fonts, among numerous other services.

15. Office of Technology Assessment. Telecommunications Technology and Native Americans: Opportunities and Challenges Report OTA-ITC-621 Washington D.C., Aug 1995. Available from http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1995/9542_n.html; Internet; Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

In 1995 the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) released an extensive report about how Native Americans were using telecommunications technology, what the biggest obstacles were that kept them from utilizing the technology more comprehensively, and what could be done to help them integrate it into their communities. The OTA believed that telecommunications technology, including such tools as computer networking, wireless technologies, multimedia and videoconferencing would help improve the socioeconomic conditions of Native Americans living in remote places. While this article is now somewhat outdated, it provides a valuable historical analysis of when and how Native Americans began using telecommunications technology, and when the U.S. Government began to get involved in efforts to advance the process.

16. Preston, Leighton C. "Tuning in to Navajo: The Role of Radio in Native Language Maintenance" Home page online. Available from http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/navrad.html; Internet; Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

Preston did an in-depth analysis of KTNN, a Navajo language radio station, and from that and other primary research he wrote a paper assessing radio stations that broadcast in native languages. He takes into account radio’s role in language revitalization and the impact that these stations have in contemporary Native American communities. Radio is not necessarily a new technology, but it is included in this bibliography because only in the last twenty years has it been widely used to broadcast shows in indigenous languages. This paper gives a good assessment of the present state of Native language radio in America.

17. Prindle, Tara. "NativeTech: Native American Technology & Art." Home page online. Available from http://www.nativetech.org/; Internet; Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

Native American Technology has been characterized by non-native people as ‘primitive,’ and the purpose of Native Tech is to overcome that perception. This site highlights traditional Native technologies, such as beadwork, metalwork, poetry, food, and games, and provides articles, information, and even instructional material about how to make many of the items featured. This is a great example of the use of modern technology to promote more traditional technologies that are an integral part of Native American culture and history.

18. Riley, Linda Ann et. al. "Report: Assessment of Technology Infrastructure in Native Communities." Home page online. Available from http://www.doc.gov/eda/pdf/ATINC.pdf Accessed 04 Mar 2001.

The Department of Commerce, under the directive of former President Bill Clinton, funded this report to assess the technological infrastructure of Native American communities in 1999. This project is similar to the previous report done in 1995 by the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, but given the pace of proliferation of computer and telecommunications technology, presents a picture that is different from the previous report. In addition, the authors of this study widened their scope to include roads, utilities, and other technology basic to infrastructure, stating that without these necessities, telecommunications technology cannot be a viable solution to any problems. These reports are valuable when compared with each other to see how far Native communities have come during that time span, and what obstacles must be overcome before further advancements can be made.

19. Strom, Karen M. "WWW Virtual Library - American Indians: Index of Native American Resources on the Internet." Welcome to Hanksville. Home page online. Available from http://www.hanksville.org/Naresources/; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

The World Wide Web Virtual Library is a comprehensive reference resource covering multiple topics. The Native American page is divided by topic, which include such subjects as indigenous virtual libraries, Native American art galleries, electronic texts, media, and a list of current articles that are available on the Internet about Native American issues. It is a general resource for Native American issues, but it includes enough links to Web pages dealing with modern technology to make it an invaluable source to include in this bibliography.

20. Twist, Kade. "Four Directions to Making the Internet Indian." The Digital Beat (extra) 2 (May 2000). [e-journal] <http://www.benton.org/News/Extra/dd050200.html>; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Twist’s introduction states that Native Americans have historically been more successful than other peoples in adopting and adapting foreign technologies without losing their cultural identity in the process. The article is about Native American use of Internet technologies, and the problems they face due to lack of basic infrastructure, such as phone connectivity. One of the best solutions to this problem is a collaborative initiative of Tribal Nations, academic organizations and government agencies called the Four Directions Project. It aims to network tribal communities with the Internet, create education curricula and models based on Native American culture and themes, and to share the resources that are created among participating communities. The article includes links to the Four Directions Web site and those involved with it. This is a great site to learn about solutions to problems faced by indigenous groups.

21. Twist, Kade. "Nothing is What it Seems in Indian Country: The New Lifeline Proposal for Tribal Lands." The Digital Beat 2 (May 2000). [e-journal] <http://www.benton.org/DigitalBeat/db051100.html>; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Most articles and Web sites that address technology and Native Americans focus on computer technology, but Twist focuses on a much more basic need, that of phone lines in tribal communities. She states that 61% of rural Native American households do not have access to phone lines, and until this problem is rectified, efforts to create a more effective telecommunication infrastructure in Native communities will not succeed. There are many great examples of indigenous use of modern technologies, but this article serves as a reminder that there are still many problems that must be addressed before technologies will be readily available to Native American communities.

22. U.S. Department of Commerce. "Native American Herbal Tea Company Finds Customers Using Latest Video Technology." Access America Exporting 11. [e-journal] <http://www.accessamerica.gov/docs/tea.html>; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar, 2001.

This U.S. Government report is about the Native American Herbal Tea Company, a Native American-owned business. They used a video technology program to sign an exclusive agreement with Switzerland to sell tea in 200 outlets throughout the country, and are lining up other companies in Germany and elsewhere to do the same through them. Video technology will allow them to get ahead of large corporations by saving on operating costs. Since they are a rural company, they cannot afford to travel far away to meet with clients, but meeting by video is a giving them an alternative. The article demonstrates how indigenous businesses, even those that sell commodities like tea, can succeed and thrive in the business world through use of modern telecommunications technology.

23. Warschauer, Mark. "Technology and Indigenous Language Revitalization: Analyzing the Experience of Hawai‘i." Mark Warschauer’s Home Page. Home page online. Available from http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/revitalization.html; Internet; Accessed 03 Mar 2001.

Warschauer covers the same topic that is covered in another entry in this bibliography by Constance Hale for Wired magazine, in which Hawaiians created programs using network technologies for language revitalization, preserving Hawaiian digitally and teaching it to children using computers. Warschauer is the editor of an online journal that addresses technology and language learning, and has written books on the topic. He takes a much more academic approach to the subject than the Wired article, however, and assesses the program from a more critical standpoint. He looks at the cultural struggles Hawaiians encountered as the program began, and the process that finally led to success and social acceptance. His final conclusions are that overall the project was a success, and that this demonstrates that technology does nothing for society by itself, rather it is the people who use the technologies that can have a positive impact on society and their own communities.