Module 5: Technology Supports

Examples of Indigenous-led Technology Solutions

A digital citizen will research with purpose and intention to find the best tools available to facilitate their students’ learning.

The following are examples of Indigenous-led technology solutions that are responsive to Indigenous Peoples.

Websites

Indigenous Languages: Maps, Apps & Websites is a web page by the Canadian Language Museum that breaks down the Indigenous language groupings in Canada. Here, you can find links to other resources that have more information about specific Indigenous languages, as well as Indigenous languages in general.

FirstVoices logo.FirstVoices is a collaborative platform designed to help Indigenous Peoples archive language information for teaching and preservation. It is an internationally recognized online platform for Indigenous communities to share and promote their languages, oral cultures, and linguistic histories. FirstVoices provides technologies, training, and technical support to community language champions.

Native-Land logoNative-Land.ca creates and supports conversations about colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler–Indigenous relations. This support is offered through educational resources including our map and a territory acknowledgement guide. This is a space for Indigenous communities to self represent while setting their own terms of their representation.

Digital maps

Map of Canada depicting First Nations traditional territory locations.The First Nations Profiles Interactive map allows you to explore the traditional First Nations territories across Canada and provides contact information for each Nation.

First Peoples’ Map of B.C. logo.

Visit the First Peoples’ Map of B.C. to access information on all the First Nations languages and communities in B.C. It will provide you with the language, art, heritage, and points of interests by Nation.

Indigenous data sovereignty

OneFeather logo.OneFeather is planting the seeds of Indigenous data sovereignty.

Watch this video about OneFeather Nation Services and learn about OneFeather Mobile Technologies.

DigitalNWT logo.DigitalNWT supports digital literacy and Indigenous sovereignty in northern communities and has developed a series of digital literacy courses.

Apps

Phone with KOBE Learn on screen.KOBE Learn is an app designed to help users learn common words and phrases in Ojibway, Cree and Oji-Cree.

Find it in your app store.

 

 

Learner notes

KOBE stands for Keewaytinook Okimakanak Board of Education.

Available in Cree, Oji-Cree, and Ojibway. The KOBE Learn apps are designed to assist users in learning 500 different words and phrases from the three traditional languages, which are languages of northern communities served by KOBE.

Source and recommended readings: KOBE launches Indigenous language apps (siouxbulletin.com)

Whose Land logo.Whose Land is a land acknowledgements app. This app can tell you whose land you’re on based on exact location. Using geographic information system (GIS) technology, you can learn all about the Indigenous territory you’re on. In addition, there are videos of land acknowledgements made by people from those communities. Seen as a conversation starter, Whose Land hopes to be a tool of reconciliation.

Reconciliation: A Starting Point logo.Reconciliation: A Starting Point is an educational app that makes the complexities of reconciliation easier to grasp. Although meant for public servants and made by the Canada School of Public Service, anyone can use it to learn about the distinctions between First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people. It also shows examples of the federal government’s approaches to reconciliation.

Music, movies, and video games

To view the world’s largest Indigenous music library, visit the Indigenous Cloud Network.

Discover the National Film Board’s rich online collection of Indigenous cinema.

Read “5 Indigenous Video Games You Should Be Playing” on A Tribe Called Geek.

Read this news article: Indigenous sisters developing video games to revitalize Mohawk language.

Social media

Watch this video: My Haida Language Story in 60 Seconds.

Learner notes

Suggested activity: Have your students record their 60-second cultural journey.

Digital archives

Plateau Peoples long boating together.

View a digital archive of Plateau cultural materials at the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal.

VR, AR, and AI

Spirits of Indigenous Peoples dressed in traditional clothing are viewed by living people of different ethnic backgrounds.

The Indigenous Protocol and Artificial Intelligence Working Group develops new conceptual and practical approaches to building the next generation of A.I. systems. The group asks questions like, “From an Indigenous perspective, what should our relationship with A.I. be?”

To learn more about their work, visit Indigenous AI.

Digital radio and television

Te Hiku Media logo.Te Hiku Media is a charitable organization whose core focuses include Māori language revitalization, as well as archiving and training.

Education

The Digital Literacy Hub project by the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation aims to bring to one interactive, digital platform a range of assets, networks, libraries, schooling resources, tools, and portals that will make the educational experience of our Indigenous students and their families a much easier and more interactive one.

Digital Literacy Hub banner.

Indigenous Innovation Initiative logo.The Indigenous Innovation Initiative aims to empower and build capacity of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis innovators and Indigenous communities to identify, lead and resolve their own issues and shepherd inclusive social change through innovation.

First Nations Technology Council logo.The First Nations Technology Council is an Indigenous-led non-profit that serves all Indigenous Peoples in B.C. Their mandate is to provide digital skills training to Indigenous learners, support digital equity, and ensure Indigenous Peoples are actively leading and shaping the technology sector.

Jelly Academy logo.Jelly Academy aims to give their students the skills, experience and knowledge to be at the cutting edge of industry, ensuring they’re equipped with in-demand skills. Founder Darian Kovacs had two goals: to make education more accessible and attainable to the underrepresented in the digital industry and to equip talent pool with the digital skills to succeed in the digital age.

Animikii logo.Animikii offers website and software development.

Animikii implements technology in a culturally informed and respectful way through collaboration with their clients. Their goal is to empower communities and increase access to technology.

Storytelling

Terrastories logo.

Terrastories is an Indigenous led-platform designed to record and capture oral history through storytelling from Indigenous Peoples. It is a geographical based storytelling application developed to enable Indigenous communities to locate, discover and map their own oral storytelling.

Indigenous Storytime banner.

Indigenous Storytime is digital storytelling that honours oral traditions. Teachers and storytellers from all across Turtle Island are invited to contribute.

Attributions

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Indigenous Digital Literacies Copyright © 2024 by Connie Strayer and Robyn Grebliunas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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