Volume 48, Issue 3-4

The digitization and online dissemination of the Popol Vuh, a historical indigenous knowledge work, poses distinct ethical, legal, intellectual, and technological concerns for humanities researchers and information practitioners seeking to study and digitally curate works through a decolonized consciousness. Ongoing debates on data sovereignty, the repatriation of cultural artifacts, and cultural appropriation question the ability of researchers and information practitioners to effectively steward indigenous knowledge works in a digital environment. While consensus on best practices for the postcolonial digital library or archive remain to be established, information inequity continues to persist, effacing indigenous knowledge, languages, and content from the knowledge society. The following case study will discuss the results of a 10-year multi-institutional initiative to curate, repatriate, and steward the reproduction of an indigenous knowledge work online. From the vantage point of the library, the case study will explore the project’s successes, failures, and the work left to be done.

This paper examines preservation of indigenous knowledge as a critical resource for the dissemination of information about Africa through mass media technology. Goge Africa is a Nigerian tourism and cultural television programme which uses media technology to preserve and showcase African heritage to the rest of the world. The reason for studying Goge is that it is currently the only outfit functioning as both a heritage institution and a privately owned fashion, music, and tourism company. It is based on content analysis of primary and secondary data. The primary data was obtained from four in-depth interviews conducted between the researchers and the brand manager and representative of Goge Africa as well as a face-to-face interview with the developers and hosts of Goge Africa, Isaac and Nneka Moses. Secondary data was obtained from relevant documents through an electronic search of databases. The findings reveal the innovative way the outfit has tried to preserve its heritage materials such as films, tapes, videos, and manuscripts. The challenges faced in the attempts to preserve indigenous knowledge were also revealed. Discussions suggest the need for intensive interest in the preservation of African indigenous knowledge. Preservation of indigenous knowledge should be promoted in all virtual communities and educational systems. It is recommended that governments and heritage institutions should commence plans to promote the preservation of indigenous knowledge in order to promote cultures and enhance indigenous knowledge sustainability.

This article explores projects by the Alexander Turnbull Library to collect social media materials that reflect contemporary New Zealand culture and life. The article focuses on projects to harvest Twitter content relating to the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake and the 2017 New Zealand General election, and the ATL100 Facebook Archive project, which piloted collecting personal Facebook account archives relating to Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific from the general public.