Indigenous Mapping Network
Indigenous Mapping Network and Google to host Indigenous Mapping Workshop
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Written by Rosemarie McKeon Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:47
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEBERKELEY, Feb, 23, 2010- The Indigenous Mapping Network (IMN) and Google will welcome map makers to Google’s Mountain View California campus, February 25-26, 2010 for a free geospatial and mobile technologies workshop entitled Indigenous Mapping Network/Google Tribal Geo Tech Workshop. Participants working with native communities will be trained in accessing, using and benefiting from Google’s free mapping technologies. Many indigenous communities are financially strapped and need low cost, relevant mapping approaches to address their planning, policy and advocacy needs. “They are mapping the cultural and natural aspects of their communities, which is tied to issues of sovereignty, cultural protection, and land use management,” said Rosemarie McKeon, IMN board member and event team member.
Google experts will train participants to use Google Earth, Google Maps, and Android phones running Open Data Kit. The workshop will address geospatial issues specific to indigenous communities: privacy and security of cultural and community data, collecting mobile data, and converting data from proprietary formats to open formats.
Mountain View is located in the ancestral homelands of the Ohlone, and Ann Marie Sayers, Tribal Chairperson, Indian Canyon Nation of the Ohlone People, will honor the event with a special opening blessing. Participants include approximately seventy-five indigenous mapping community members, tribal leaders, technical developers, and mapping specialists. The participants hail from the U.S.; British Columbia and Ontario, Canada; Peru; Ecuador and New Zealand.
In 2008, students at the University of California, Berkeley organized a student chapter of IMN. Since the chapter’s inception, they have hosted a series of speakers covering indigenous applications of mapping. The Indigenous Mapping Network - Google Tribal Geo Tech Workshop was first conceptualized by Mano Marks, a Google Geo Developer Advocate and Rosemarie McKeon, to be a short presentation at one of the chapter’s meetings last October. It has evolved into a major outreach event, supported by the Google Earth Outreach team, Google Geo Developers and Google.org. “Our Google Earth Outreach team first started working with indigenous tribes in the Brazilian Amazon in 2008 - the Amazon Surui tribe is now using Google Earth and Android phones to preserve their culture, protect their rainforest territory and create a sustainable economic future. We’re honored and excited now to collaborate with IMN in offering an enhanced version of this training to scores of tribes and First Nations peoples around the world,” said Rebecca Moore, Manager, Google Earth Outreach.
“This event has evolved and grown enormously over the course of a few months and it’s still not big enough to accommodate everyone that wants to participate,” said, Joshua Arnold, IMN Board member. The event Is full to capacity.
The call for participants went out in December and there was a large outpouring of applicants from all parts of the globe ranging from grassroots community folks to government agencies and university researchers. Interested individuals can look forward to the IMN2010 conference, “Restoring our Home Places” hosted by the Suquamish Tribe, taking place June 2-4 2010.
Conference information can be found at indigenousmapping.net/imnconference.html
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The mission of Indigenous Mapping Network, and affiliate of Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, is to connect native communities with the tools needed to protect, preserve, and enhance our way of life within our aboriginal territories. This endeavor often requires an amalgamation of traditional "mapping" practices and modern mapping technologies.
Rosemarie McKeon
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Hauiti Hakopa, Maori Geographer WED24FEB 6-8 UC Berkeley
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Written by Rosemarie McKeon
6-8p WED24FEB 103 Mulford Hall, UC BerkeleySponsored by Indigenous Mapping Network at Berkeley Student Chapter
Title: "Na to rourou, na taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi"
Means: "your basket of knowledge & my basket of knowledge - combined our tribe will thrive & survive!"
(when asked about the title: "we have baskets made out of flax, we call them 'kete' and kete often refers to "sacred baskets of knowledge" given to our ancestors from the gods when the world created)
Subject words: Geographic information systems • Maori • land tenure • land titles • information storage and retrieval systems
Hauiti will share his experiences about how "we think of land, how we feel about land and how we relate/connect to land - then i must express those thoughts in the language of my forefathers - for therein lies the mana of the whenua (prestige of the land)"
"Many have said this, but one elder with i spoke with about a week ago expressed his concerns this way - "if you cannot speak your own language then you cannot understand fully the land, for the land is clothed in the language of your forefathers"
"He also said: Mena ka tu koe ki te korero, me whakatutu koe i te puehu. Mena kaore, me noho!"
"If you stand to speak, then you must stir the dust. If you don't, then sit"
The poster above features a rock carving to the right of Hauiti, of Hauiti's ancestor, Ngatoroirangi, who claimed the region of Taupo for his people.
Hauiti arrived Monday to Sunnyvale from New Zealand for the Indigenous Mapping Network/Google Tribal Geo Tech Workshop which starts Thursday. He will share what brings him to this training as well as what he has been doing as a graduate student in geography in his community.
FYI, Hauiti Hakopa was our keynote speaker for IMN2009. It was the first time he'd visited the U.S. He and his elders became aware of Indigenous Mapping Network and the IMN2009 conference through twitter.
Should you be in the bay area and meander to Berkeley on Wednesday evening, swing by!
Hauiti Hakopa, Maori Geographer twitter.com/24retoa
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