Trail as Heritage: Safeguarding Location-Specific and Transient Indigenous Knowledge

Abstract

The importance of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in understanding the environment and informing scientific studies has gained prominence with the increased attention on environmental sustainability. Researchers have partnered with indigenous communities towards leveraging technology to preserve these important IK. However, there still remains a gap in the understanding of how indigenous community members use technology to engage with, and safeguard their IK. We conducted an interview-based study with museum experts and members of an indigenous community in Kenya to understand how community members seek, preserve, and disseminate location-dependent IK. We augmented our findings through a year-long observation of organic interactions on six Facebook Pages that are specifically geared towards discussing aspects of IK. The findings illustrate the importance of location in providing context, and identifying disappearing IK. We also highlight how community members seek and share the IK especially on Facebook. We conclude by describing research and design opportunities for identifying and preserving IK in accordance with community wishes.