Digital Landscapes of Maori Memory

Dude, this upcoming lecture and workshop sound really cool.

Dr. Samuel Mann, Otago Poltechnic, New Zealand

The SimPā project aims to convey and strengthen research aspects in regard to Māori culture, tikaka and knowledge using game‐based and digital technology. In short, the project aims to provide a means of telling whānau, hapu and Iwi Māori stories in 3D game format. This development has benefits in terms of both technology and cultural awareness and the fusion of these two: Iwi digital content. The project will achieve this through active engagement and participation with Iwi through Runaka (local tribal council) engagement and member participation to recreate landscapes in a digital format. We will discusses learnings from the first stage of the project the creation of the “SimPā toolkit” to enable participatory development (he kohinga o nga mea rauemi). This includes communication and negotiation processes, technical choices and issues surrounding the recreation of narrative histories including the notion of object‐based storytelling. We discuss an unexpected twist that has seen the project take a quite different track from that originally expected.

What: Public lecture and workshop
When: March 10, 2008, 2 pm, public lecture
March 11, 2008, 2:30 pm, workshop
Where: Ehrlicher Room, 411 West Hall (both events)

More: Prof. Mann has been working with Khyla Russell, a Maori anthropologist, on mapping Maori memories. Their work should be of interest to School of Information people, computer scientists, anthropologists, and Native Studies scholars.

(Khyla Russell profile)