Title: Teenagers Revive Dead Languages Through Texting
Author: Margaret Rock
Source: Mobiledia
Date (published): 29/06/2011
Date (accessed): 17/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"A funny thing happened to several languages on their way to extinction -- they were saved, pulled back from the brink by teenagers and the Internet, of all things.
Samuel Herrera, who runs the linguistics laboratory at the Institute of Anthropological Research in Mexico City, found young people in southern Chile producing hip-hop videos and posting them on YouTube using Huilliche, a language on the brink of extinction.

Herrera also discovered teens in the Phillippines and Mexico who think it's "cool" to send text messages in regional endangered languages like Kapampangan and Huave.

Almost as soon as text messaging exploded on the world stage as a means to reach anyone, anywhere, and anytime, young people began to find a way to scale it back, make it more exclusive and develop their own code or doublespeak to use on the widely-used devices.
...
In fact, according to Dr. Gregory Anderson, young people need to be the ones reviving a dying language. The director of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages in Salem, Oregon, says that somewhere between the ages of six and 25, people make a definitive decision whether or not to say to stay or break with a language.

"If the language isn't being used by their peer group, then they reject it categorically," Anderson concluded.
...
Something as simple as text messaging can draw young people's attention back to the languages of their elders, and projects like the YouTube channel's "Enduring Voices" can inspire others to learn ancestral tongues to produce hip-hop music. "

Title: Knowledge Discovery Empowering Australian Indigenous Communities
Authors: Dianna McClellan, Kerry Tanner
Pages: 15 pp.
ISSN: 1544-7529
Source: Information Technologies & International Development; Volume 7, Number 2, Summer 2011, 31–46
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Date (published): 09/06/2011
Date (accessed): 14/07/2011
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This article explores how Australian Indigenous communities can be empowered through knowledge discovery from institutions with Indigenous cultural collections. It reports on original case study research involving eight diverse Australian cultural institutions with valuable Indigenous cultural heritage collections. The research sought to provide a state of the art review of the role, nature, and organization of these collections, with particular emphasis on provision for digital discovery and access. These cultural institutions have a pivotal role to play in restoring memory of cultural heritage, but face many technological, resourcing, and other challenges in the process."

Title: Information and Communication Technologies for Cultural Transmission among Indigenous Peoples
Authors: Charlotte A Harris, Roger W Harris
Pages: 19 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (2011) 45, 2, 1-19
Publisher: www.ejisdc.org
Date (published): 20/12/2010
Date (accessed): 22/04/2011
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML/pdf)
Abstract:
"The global digital divide threatens to exclude millions of people from the potential benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), especially computers and the Internet. Many of these people live in rural, isolated and remote places of developing countries and are unlikely to be able to afford the cost of owning their own computers. However, NGOs, international aid agencies and governments are becoming increasingly aware of the potential that ICTs offer for rural development and poverty reduction and are creating more opportunities for providing wider access to them. This paper looks at how ICTs have contributed to the social development of a rural indigenous ethnic community. It focuses on the benefits of ICTs in recording and passing on their unique culture and traditions, something that is of considerable importance to the community. The research builds an understanding of the nature of cultural transmission within an indigenous community in East Malaysia and demonstrates how ICTs can bridge the digital divide by accentuating the importance of family, friends and other social interactions within a community in strengthening the processes of cultural transmission. Based on the findings, suggestions are offered for reinforcing social processes of cultural transmission with ICTs, in the form of a virtual museum and a community radio station."

Title: A Guide to Distributed Digital Preservation
Editors: Katherine Skinner, Matt Schultz
Pages: 156 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-9826653-0-5
Publisher: Educopia Institute Atlanta
Date (published): 12/02/2010
Date (accessed): 25/02/2010
Type of information: handbook
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Authored by members of the MetaArchive Cooperative, A Guide to Distributed Digital Preservation is the first of a series of volumes describing successful collaborative strategies and articulating specific new models that may help cultural memory organizations work together for their mutual benefit.

This volume is devoted to the broad topic of distributed digital preservation, a still-emerging field of practice for the cultural memory arena. Replication and distribution hold out the promise of indefinite preservation of materials without degradation, but establishing effective organizational and technical processes to enable this form of digital preservation is daunting. Institutions need practical examples of how this task can be accomplished in manageable, low-cost ways.

This guide is written with a broad audience in mind that includes librarians, archivists, scholars, curators, technologists, lawyers, and administrators. Readers may use this guide to gain both a philosophical and practical understanding of the emerging field of distributed digital preservation, including how to establish or join a network.

Title: African Languages in a Digital Age. Challenges and opportunities for indigenous language computing
Author: Don Osborn
Pages: 150 pp.
ISBN: 978-07969-2249-6
Publisher: HSCR Press
Date (published): 2010
Date (accessed): 23/02/2010
Type of information: academic publications
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
With increasing numbers of computers and diffusion of the internet around the world, localisation of the technology and the content it carries into the many languages people speak is becoming an ever more important area for discussion and action. Localisation, simply put, includes translation and cultural adaptation of user interfaces and software applications, as well as the creation and translation of internet content in diverse languages. It is essential in making information and communication technology more accessible to the populations of the poorer countries, increasing its relevance to their lives, needs, and aspirations, and ultimately in bridging the ‘digital divide’.

Localisation is a new and growing field of inquiry. This book identifies issues, concerns, priorities, and lines of research and is intended as a baseline study in defining localisation in Africa and how it is important for development and education in the long term.

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Background

3. Introducing ‘localisation ecology’

4. Linguistic context

5. Technical context 1: physical access

6. Technical context 2: internationalisation

7. African language text, encoding and fonts

8. Keyboards and input systems

9. Defining languages in ICT: tags and locales

10. Internet

11. Software localisation

12. Mobile technology and other specialised applications

13. Achieving sustainable localisation

14. Summary and recommendations

Title: Anti social-computing: indigenous language, digital video and intellectual property
Authors: Jon Corbett, Tim Kulchyski
Pages: 7 pp.
ISSN: 1357 938X
Source: Participatory Learning and Action, Volume 59, Number 1, June 2009, pp. 52-58
Publisher: International Institute for Environment and Development
Date (published): June 2009
Date (accessed): 15/01/2010
Type of information: research article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Jon Corbett and Tim Kulchyski discuss the importance of intellectual property rights when using Web 2.0 tools for development. The authors describe a project working with Hul'q'umi'num'-speaking communities based in Canada to revitalise their language. Using a range of tools and approaches including participatory video, the project also developed a series of short language-learning videos which were uploaded to video-sharing websites. However, not all the material generated was made available online. The participants strategically limited how much of their valuable cultural knowledge was made public, retaining much of it within their own communities.

Title: Introduction to Group 2: Increasing the Availability and Accessibility of Research Outputs – Collection and Preservation
Source: Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD)
Date (published): 12/10/2009
Date (accessed): 05/12/2009
Type of information: guide
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML and pdf)
Abstract:
The CIARD Pathways provide an introduction to the ways in which research outputs can be made more available, accessible and applicable for the stakeholders who will derive benefit from this knowledge. The internet in general, the open access movement, and the development of digital repositories, have created new possibilities for enhancing the visibility of research outputs and have greatly increased the potential audience for them.

Title: Archives for the 21st Century Date (published): 24/11/2009 Date (accessed): 27/11/2009 Type of information: strategy paper Language: English On-line access: yes (pdf, 3,7 mb) Abstract: This policy sets out the strategic vision for the sustainable development of a vigorous, publicly funded archive sector across England and Wales. The policy is being issued in parallel versions. It replaces the government policy on archives that was issued by the Lord Chancellor in 1999 and builds on both the positive achievements around public access to information and technological developments. It focuses on actions for publicly funded archives while acknowledging that private archives remain vital to the archival health of the .nation See also: New government policy on archives National Archives, consultation documents A legacy for the future: Archives for the 21st Century press release New government policy on archives Comments by Michael Wills, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

Title: Impact of ICT on Indigenous Cultures: Rejuvenation or Colonization?
Author: Aparna Ray
Source: Global Voices Online
Date (published): 17/11/2009
Date (accessed): 17/11/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
But can ICT truly preserve and protect distinct identities and culture? Does ICT by its very intervention introduce an element of westernization amidst the indigenous culture that it purports to preserve and protect? What is the optimum balance between preserving traditional knowledge and embracing remix culture? The cultural debate surrounding deployment of ICT in the field of indigenous/ knowledge and culture simply refuses to die down.

Title: National Archives : Progress and Risks in Implementing its Electronic Records Archive Initiative
Author: David A. Powner
Pages: 15 pp.
Source: GAO-10-222T
Publisher: U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Date (published): 05/11/2009
Date (accessed): 11/11/2009
Type of information: government report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML and pdf)
Abstract:
Since 2001, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been working to develop a modern Electronic Records Archive (ERA) system, a major information system that is intended to preserve and provide access to massive volumes of all types and formats of electronic records. The system is being developed incrementally over several years, with the first two pieces providing an initial set of functions and additional capabilities to be added in future increments. NARA plans to deploy full system functionality by 2012 at an estimated life-cycle cost of about $550 million...GAO was asked to summarize NARA’s progress in developing the ERA system and the ongoing risks the agency faces in completing it.