Digitized indigenous knowledge collections: Impact on cultural knowledge transmission, social connections, and cultural identity

Abstract

AbstractThis research examines the impact of digitized and digital indigenous knowledge collections (D‐IKC) on cultural knowledge transmission, social connections, and cultural identity through semi‐structured interviews with 8 users of D‐IKC in New Zealand. The participants acknowledged that D‐IKC brought about many benefits, including the surfacing of otherwise hidden or inaccessible cultural heritage. Concerns around digital access, digital competency, and responsiveness to cultural values need to be thoughtfully addressed nevertheless. Use of D‐IKC had impact not only at an individual level but also at a social‐community level. We highlight several traditional cultural values related to D‐IKC use that are not embodied in existing value‐impact frameworks. This research also found that the intersection and interactions among individual needs, cultural expectations, and norms and affordances around the digital information environments concerned were nuanced and multifaceted. These facets must be incorporated into the stewardship of knowledge collections. We also observed “digital knowledge sharing in the wild”—knowledge transmission that transpired and in some cases led to creation of knowledge resources that materialized outside the bounds of the originating repositories and institutions. Further studies into such self‐organized knowledge transmission/sharing phenomena can lead to valuable insights to inform and shape the curation and design of D‐IKC.