Abstract
Under the direction of Ruth Phillips, GRASAC (Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Culture) is a worldwide collaborative research consortium composed of indigenous community members, museum professionals, and academic researchers. This article discusses a project that explored the potential of GRASAC’s database to support language revitalization. The authors video recorded interviews with two beadworkers in the Anishinaabe language. Applying andragogy theory to the natural approach to language acquisition, the team processed the video into content rich video clips with a focus on the domain specific vocabulary of beadwork that is relevant to the heritage items in the GRASAC database. The team applied an agency-oriented approach to software development by systematically testing five use cases for uploading the language data into the GRASAC database. The collaborative process revealed unexpected results at the intersection of language and culture revitalization, and recommendations for applying new technologies to develop new techniques for promoting indigenous language acquisition.
Highlights
One sunny afternoon during the summer of 2009, core members of the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Culture (GRASAC) held a series of community consultation workshops at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation (OCF) on Manitoulin Island
When asked what language component she would like to see developed within the GRASAC Knowledge Sharing tool (GKS), she replied “language in action,” which she defines as language that is used in a natural segment of speech rather than what may be taught in standard language instruction environments
Initial findings point to the need for ongoing collaboration in which academic and museum project members work with source communities to provide training on the software (Christen 2008, 24) and to develop uses of digital archives that mesh with existing indigenous educational initiatives (Shannon 2015, 83)
Summary
One sunny afternoon during the summer of 2009, core members of the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Culture (GRASAC) held a series of community consultation workshops at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation (OCF) on Manitoulin Island. Their purpose was to simultaneously train Anishinaabe community members on the GRASAC Knowledge Sharing tool (GKS) and gather their feedback on user interface design, functionality, and future development directions (Figure 1).1 Dr Mary Ann Corbiere was among the workshop participants.
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