Topic 32: Cultural Preservation and Online Systems By: fork: Not enough memory (estheise) on Sun, Jul 25, '93 2 responses so far Looks like I went overboard with my notes, but here's what transpired in one of yesterday afternoons' sessions. 2 responses total. Topic 32: Cultural Preservation and Online Systems # 1: fork: Not enough memory (estheise) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (08:44) 133 lines Convened by: Steve Cisler, Dave Hughes, and Randy Ross Attended by: Randy Blair, Richard Bryant, Jayne Fife, Patrick J. Finn, Peter Gache, Rip Hunt, Ken Klingenstein, Barbara Lazar, Richard Lowenberg, Laurie Lundquist, Caesar McDowell, Carter and Jo Norris, John Tuckman, and Pamela Zoline. Notes by: Eric Theise Randy Ross spoke first, talking about his association with American Indian Telecommunications, a recently chartered nonprofit, and the National Museum of the American Indian, a branch of the Smithsonian slated to open in 1998. His work with both of these organizations involves outreach to the Indian nations, tribal museums, and reservation colleges, as well as to those involved with setting telecom policies at the civic, state, and federal levels. He stressed how important it is to his people that sacred practices and images be respected by a viewing public. He recommended "New Technologies/Ancient Cultures" in the August issue of Omni magazine as a good introduction to the issues faced by American Indian organizations as they encounter and consider the applicability of telecom and other technologies. Dave Hughes spoke next, stressing that his strategy regarding cultural minorities and online systems was do it first, think about and learn from it later, and regulate it only as a last resort. He talked of the factors that led him to investigate alternatives to "white man's ASCII", citing interests in oral, visual, and ceremonial cultures, and questioning the claim that transferring the Gutenbergian upper-left-to-lower-right approach to text to a CRT was somehow an advance. He described the benefits of the NAPLPS standard for telecom transfer of text and graphics and demonstrated its application with Native American shareart, Russian examples generated with the Troika drawing/multifont/telecom package, and he mentioned projects underway to integrate MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) data with Troika. Steve Cisler talked about recent Apple Library of Tomorrow projects, including work with the Zuni Pueblo to develop a Zuni/English hypercard stack, an Alaskan oral history project that integrated transcripts and images, and a Northern California Indian Museum project that resulted in a CD-ROM of Pomo Indian histories. He demonstrated a few examples of the work being done by the Apple Human Interface Group, including a navigable movie of the Pavlovsk Palace that integrated extensive video-footage with floor plans, a MultiMedia Memory of Mayan Medicine project that presented the results of extensive interviews with healers and their herbal remedies that will be implemented in English, Spanish, and Mayan in kiosks in Mayan Health Centers. He also demonstrated the interface to MauiLink, a Hawaiian First Class BBS that has extensive nonASCII native language areas available. Before opening up the discussion to the floor, each speaker made some final remarks. Hughes remarked that the key is setting up systems to stimulate the end users' creativity, not their consumption. The question is how subvert the dominant print/broadcast mentality in such a way that an individual can develop their own artistic ability and put their work out to the world for feedback. Five hundred channels of passive entertainment are not the answer. Cisler raised one of the theses of Jerry Manders' "In the Absence of the Sacred": that indigenous cultures should simply avoid the evils of technology. While many embrace this view, he felt that there are many encouraging examples that cultural minorities can use technological tools to further their own needs, goals, and agendas. Ross closed by saying that the organizations he's working with are trying to develop a cadre of American Indian technologists that are as comfortable with telecommunications and multimedia as with the issues of Indian sovereignty, rights, and identity. In response to a question from Hughes, Pamela Zoline discussed the Deep West Arts Circuit. While having no direct connection to cyberspace, the Circuit provides means for artists to travel through Santa Fe, Taos, Boulder, Aspen and Telluride, giving performances and talking about their work. Judy Malloy pointed out that there are many examples of artists and writers talking to each other online using centralized conferencing systems like The WELL and Arts Wire/MetaNet and decentralized systems like USENET newsgroups and Fido echoes. Patrick Finn noted that many of the issues raised thus far related to tailoring systems to specific cultures. As a resident of Taos -- with significant Latino, Indian, and Anglo communities -- he felt that attention needed to be directed to cross-cultural outreach. Cisler anecdotally pointed out that while MauiLink offered a number of sanctioned information sources (e.g., community services, tourism), it was much easier to get a sense of the true community by reading the threads of discussion posted by private users. Ross coined the phrase "mobilization of local bias"; in Rapid City, the Sioux agenda of reclaiming the Black Hills permeates much of the local dialogue, even on unrelated issues. He bemoaned the fact that many global telecom projects succeed wildly, while problems in his own back yard often seem insurmountable. Zoline highlighted the importance of small, networked communities beginning to see themselves as culture and information providers, rather than as consumers, the dominant stereotype of rural communities. She also suggested that telecom technologies can function as a kind of trojan horse, circumventing defense mechanisms that are entrenched in the real world and communicating radical ideas to a broader audience. Ross talked about the popularization and exoticism of Indian sacred ceremonies, and Congressional and court struggles about preserving and reclaiming sacred sites and religious ceremonies; he contrasted the existence of a holocaust museum exists in the US with the lack of an Indian equivalent. Hughes talked about how simple systems like BBSs can carve out a space so that disempowered and disenfranchised peoples not only have a voice, but can illustrate and otherwise augment their message into a work of art. Documents, such as treaties, should be allowed to exist alongside all manner of contrasting, uncensored opinions. Cisler built on this with comments about how arguments for Hawaiian sovereignty from natives as well as Anglos descended from the earliest missionaries can be seen on MauiLink. Randy Blair, another Taos resident, raised the issue of accessibility. Hughes argued that accessibility is cheaper than most people believe, and talked about no fee, no license packet radio as a means of circumventing high rural telephone rates. He felt that the highest cost is the human cost of learning to use these systems, and he stressed the need for communities to take the lead in educating their own. Cisler talked about successful efforts in Texas k-12 education to "Train the Trainer". Hughes gave examples of efforts to get terminals in libraries and schools across Hawaii and other communities so that people can participate without owning the equipment. Zoline raised the issue of culture being something broader than just discrete pictures and texts, and wondered how to convey the politics of place using telecom. Hughes talked about efforts to build community-specific information into gaming environments. Ross closed the meeting by suggesting that his mission was to bring the American Indian into the mainstream, translating Indian culture into economics in way that maintained the integrity of his people. Topic 32: Cultural Preservation and Online Systems # 2: Eric S. Theise (estheise) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (08:58) 1 line Looks like I brought my pseud from news in here with me ... .