Digital Indigenous Issues - My Ramblings

October 27, 2015

Digital Indigenous Issues – My Ramblings

Here are some of my ramblings of Digital Colonialism and issues of Indigenous knowledge on the Internet. When I have time, i will expand on these more.

Digitising Traditional Knowledge is like mining the earth for precious metals. With every scoop of earth there is a void. Eventually there will be no mana or tapu with digital traditional knowledge.
The Cloud is the next colonial ship in our harbor. Empty promises, confiscating laws and IP theft by governments and corporates.
Software survives and is as useful as a disabled warrior. Data survives and is as useful as pounamu.
Hackers are digital warriors. Some defend rights of their people , while others are just criminals.
Electricity is like water. Once either has gone, there is nothing.
Radio spectrum and Internet in today’s world are equivalent to digital land.
We were once concerned about land being confiscated, but now we need to worry about data confiscation.
‘Not one more acre‘. 40 years on our leaders need to say “Not one more Terabyte”.
Iwi are blind to the digital colonialism and confiscation of our traditional knowledge.
Artificial Intelligence is becoming more and more human like. If we keep digitising whakapapa and karakia, soon technology will recite whakapapa and karakia for humans.
Siri is based in simple technology meaning that Siri could essentially say any karakia that has been digitised.
Moko kauae and ta moko are increasingly being photographed by artists and wearers and put on social media. By doing so all IP and copyright is lost. We will see a surge of moko being used in international adverts.
Racial profiling for directed marketing will soon be an issue with marketers directing sales and adverts that will further effect our culture. Facebook and other social media that offer free games such as “What do you look like” “who do i look like” and the thousands of others merely gather personal information about you that is then used to direct advertising to you.
Māori statistical data is another form of government and academic digital colonialism. Ticking that you are Maori is not compulsory

DISCLAIMER: This post is the personal opinion of Dr Karaitiana Taiuru and is not reflective of the opinions of any organisation that Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is a member of or associates with, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

One response to “Digital Indigenous Issues – My Ramblings”

Anahera Sadler

November 3, 2015

I’ve been reading your blogs and receive your daily Te Maori News in my emails at work and it’s the one time in my work day when I can be replenished with something Maori. This blog in particular struck me as I am a huge advocate of indigenous issues surrounding environmental protection and better ways of living to be kaitiaki of our whenua. It dawned me that I also need to be vigilant about the IP space and the real threat of digital colonialism to our people. Mai i te ngakau, mihi kau atu ki a koe mo tenei whakaohooho. I will be telling others and bringing this up at our board meetings. Any suggested reads/ reports, would be appreciated.

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