Almost 26 years ago, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak interrogated the politics of representation in her iconic post-colonialist essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” I revisited the essay when I learned about an upcoming workshop to equip underrepresented language speakers with tools to ensure their languages are supported by digital technologies. While the “Coding for Language Communities” 2014 Summer …
All of you sleuths out there might have gathered that I am back in the United States for the first time in a year. ‘Tis true, what you’ve heard: I wrapped up my international journey in Australia last month and flew home to the blazing heat of Texas. How do I begin to tell you …
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 a crowd-sourced translation of the terms in the game. As Ryan Oliver, the founder of Pinnguaq explains below, participation was so great that they translated the game a total of four and a half times.
Rising Voices, a project of Global Voices Online, republished a version of this post on their site. Before I travelled to Nunavut, I was obsessed with Inuktitut syllabics, determined to master a language I found both syntactically fascinating and phonetically impossible. Surprisingly, Texas offered no possibility of one-on-one Inuktitut tutoring. Luckily, I had a private …
The National Congress of American Indians didn’t have the funds to screen this powerful ad during tonight’s big game. But as you finish off the last rogue olives in that seven-layer dip and lick the stray bar-b-que sauce off chicken wing bones, make sure you give the it a watch. Continue reading
A big thanks to the Endangered Languages Project (ELP) for reposting the list I compiled of indigenous language-learning smartphone apps. The project is supported by a coalition of groups around the world known as the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity. Google oversaw the development and launch of the project. According to their principle website, ELP … is an online resource … Continue reading
Sad news: this is my final indigenous tech and media roundup in my official capacity as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow. Hard to believe this magnificent year is drawing to a close. This week, I’d like to highlight Google and the Congress of the American Indian’s first ever Indigenous Mapping Day, which takes place 9 … Continue reading
Last week, PAW packed up our gear and headed to the 8-mile bore, about 35 kilometers away from Yuendumu, for a very special event: the federal court of Australia granted the Ngaliya Warlpiri people native title over Mt. Doreen station. The federal court judge and other officials made the long trip from the city to … Continue reading
Aboriginal peoples of Australia possess complex systems of mythology, law, and story-telling whose name (poorly) translates into “Dreamtime” or “the Dreaming.” Dreaming stories tell of how things came to be, but also how things are and should be. These stories find salience in place and sound; they are told through songs linked to sites, which … Continue reading
The pioneering visual anthropologist Eric Michaels once said I got into media studies, as an anthropologist, because I believed the media were the belly of the beast, and because I thought TV was central to the creation of the extraordinary contradictions that plagued the contemporary world. I remember this quote as members of PAW Media … Continue reading
Happy (late) Canadian Aboriginal Day which our northern neighbors celebrated 21 June. Here’s a roundup of indigenous tech and media in the news, categorized by media type. GAMING AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Apple’s 2013 Developer video features an indigenous-owned mobile app development group that I profiled here and at Rising Voices. It’s a beautiful video that … Continue reading
Homesickness, always inclined to make a statement, arrived late to the party and spoiled the final moments of revelry which attendees earlier imagined had no end. “Don’t look so sour,” he chided as the party-goers collected their coats. “Even hedonists can be homebodies.” Continue reading
I made a list last month. I make many lists. My lists often long for the future, for the check-boxes that signal completion. But last month, I made a post-facto list with the ungraceful title “Things I have become more comfortable with this year.” Alongside bugs, squat toilets and eating raw meat, and perhaps related to all three, was Uncertainty — the capital-U kind. And when I arrived in Australia last month, I was full of Uncertainty. I flew into Darwin without a confirmed field site but with dozens of helpful contacts and promising leads. I arrived in Darwin certain that Australia would be the last country on this amazing year-long journey but Uncertain of what lies beyond it. I still don’t know. Continue reading
Cheers from Yuendumu, home of the Bush Mechanics! Yuendumu is a small Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory of Australia. I am here volunteering with PAW (formerly Warlpiri) Media until I return to the United States in August. PAW Media is one of the oldest Aboriginal media organizations in the country; some of you may know … Continue reading
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