News coverage of the conference.

The conference had some press coverage. Cheers to KEVN FOX News because they were able to put together fairly coherent information.

http://www.kevn.com/NewsStories.aspx?StoryID=6782

One caveat: the KEVN FOX coverage starts with “bringing the Lakota culture up to speed with today’s modern world is one of the goals of the Lakota Technology Conference” was wrong.

• The Lakota community within Rapid City is governed by… “City of Rapid City”. Do they need to be brought up to speed?
• The Oglala Lakota College (near Rapid City) has the ability to solicit and hire expert just like any other university. Do they need to be brought up to speed?

No, they don’t. This is a good example that illustrates the white supremacy culture that native people have to live within everyday.

This isn’t a flame post. I just wanted people to be aware of the limitations of the news media.

Lakota Technology Conference

Recently, I was fortunate to find talented people who wanted to attend the first Lakota Technology Conference for the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakona languages. Socializing and networking was an important component. It was interested to see at least four people were interested in the area of Lakota and math.The keynote address was given by Albert White Hat from Sinte Gleska University. He talked about the history of the Lakota language as he experienced it. His main concern was that the original meaning of the words are remembered.

In organizing a conference for Lakota, Dakota, and Nakona languages there were some good suggestions from various people. Some highlights:

• Fluency and literacy are different (one needs to be fluent to be literate).
• Fluency is most important.
• In many parts of the world fluent societies are without literacy, at least in their native language. For example, a person in Bolivia might speak Quechua at home and write in Spanish as needed.
• Literacy can take a life of it’s own (the web, email, etc, …) but it’s optional in a society, and fluency is more important.
• One can make a difference on a small budget.
• There are experts around the world who are interested in the same topics.

Visit to South Dakota Oral History Project

Last week I went to visit the South Dakota Oral History Project archives in Vermillion, South Dakota. The trip was great! I was able to visit long-time friends, and see many changes to little old Vermillion. Some highlights: there is a Super Wal-Mart; the USD student center has been torn down; and Chae’s has changed ownership. Also, every visit I am reminded of the lush scenery, and quaintness of Vermillion. There are also very beautiful gardens on the university campus.

Getting back to the archives, they are divided into South Dakota, and American Indian research projects. The American Indian Research Project archive contains interviews in English and Native American languages from the region, but I believe the archive is mostly in English. The materials available for research consist of cassette tapes, some paper transcripts, and an out-of-date catalog. There are digital transcripts, but they are currently unavailable until a larger digitization project is completed.

The archives are also undergoing many changes. According to a conversation with interim director Kurt Hackemer, the focus of the project will change from storage-only, to actively pursuing research. This will probably be good for the archives which show signs of disrepair (such as an out-of-date catalog). In addition to changing focus, the Oral History Project is digitizing their archives. The digitization process will take some time (2+ years) before being made available to the public.