This study path will introduce learners to the concept of decolonizing museum practices by exploring the complex relationships between Indigenous people and museums.
Budgeting for Collaborative Digital Curation / Julia Gray
In this study path, learners will create a budget proposal for a digital community project using Mukurtu. Learners will consider what resources are needed to ensure ethical collaboration and partnerships.
Indigenous Knowledge, Meaning, and Emotion in Collections Databases / Julia Gray
This study path explores how various description and access systems provide opportunities for the viewer to engage with the emotional and affective dimensions of digitized cultural objects.
Collaborative Curation / Julia Gray
This study path provides an introduction to the Mukurtu content management system and involves learning about and implementing models for collaborative curation. This is an extensive exercise that involves a significant up-front investment in set-up and training. Depending on other course work, it may require additional background reading/research as preparation.
Who Collects What, Why, and How? / Erin Baucom
This study path guides learners in critically examining their institution’s current collections inventory and collection policy for gaps in what is and has been collected and learn about what these gaps show about the potential biases built into the collections at the institution and how to mitigate these gaps going forward.
Descriptive Metadata in User Interfaces / Erin Baucom
This study path exposes students to how descriptive metadata in digital repositories is used to reinforce or disrupt stereotypes about marginalized cultures and communities.
Missed Connections: What Search Engines Say About Women / Safiya Umoja Noble
Noble writes evocatively about the effect of search algorithm biases on users — in this case, young black girls who will find that Google searches for “black girls” do not lead to books about black girls or communities in which young black girls might connect, but instead pornography as the top results. Noble investigates how search engines can actually maintain unequal access and representation, yet are such a foundational aspect of modern life that they are often unquestioned. She also notes that commercial interests often subvert subvert a diverse or at least realistic range of representations.
Noble, Safiya Umoja. 2012. “Missed Connections: What Search Engines Say About Women.” Bitch Magazine, 2012. https://safiyaunoble.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/54_search_engines.pdf.
The Prelinger Library
The Prelinger Library is a public library in San Francisco, CA. The library is primarily a collection of 19th and 20th century historical ephemera, periodicals, maps, and books, most published in the United States. Much of the collection is image-rich, and in the public domain. The library uses a geospatial taxonomy that “classifies subjects spatially and conceptually beginning with the physical world, moving into representation and culture, and ending with abstractions of society and theory. ” The collection includes published books, ephemera and zines, as well as oversize and standalone collections. The library also support research and artist residencies, and hosts an open-access digital collection of selected books.
Foxfire
Foxfire Magazine developed out of a high school English course at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in Northeast Georgia’s Appalachian mountains in the late 1960s, and is an example of a long-term community-driven history and archive. The students and teacher chose to create a magazine, honing their writing skills on stories gathered from their families and neighbors, and producing articles about the pioneer era of southern Appalachia as well as living traditions still thriving in the region. This project has led to multiple books and publications, as well as the development of a museum and cultural center devoted to supporting and making accessible the history of the region as documented by students.
Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM)
The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) is one of the largest organizations for Indigenous cultural heritage practitioners and those working with indigenous materials in North America. It is an international non-profit organization that maintains a network of support for indigenous programs, provides culturally relevant programming and services, encourages collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions, and articulates contemporary issues related to developing and sustaining the cultural sovereignty of Native Nations.
The ATALM also maintains a helpful resource list and advocates for digital inclusion and access in Indigenous communities, including the Digital Inclusion in Native Communities Initiative
