Does Information Really Want to be Free?
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Media Ecologies, along with a brief overview of what's been capturing my attention lately.
Hi folks,
My research has taken an interesting path of late, as I dive into the remainder of my Masters Degree, focused on creative practice research. For the past few months, I have been studying various media theories, enjoying an exploration of frameworks that I may ground my upcoming capstone project within.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Media Ecologies
In researching Media Ecologies, I questioned how this theory sits within Indigenous perspectives, discovering an interesting paper by Kimberly Christen (2012) “Does Information Really Want to be Free? Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Question of Openness.”
Christen explores the complexities of applying the open access philosophy to indigenous knowledge systems, critiquing the prevailing meme that “information wants to be free” by highlighting the cultural and legal nuances of indigenous knowledge that often require controlled access rather than unrestricted openness.
I relate to Christen’s critique from my personal experience working in Indigenous communities in the South Pacific and Eastern Africa, the work of Tyson Yunkaporta, particularly his seminal book Sand Talk (2019), and Lynne Kelly’s The Memory Code (2016). For diverse reasons, such as taking in to account an individual or groups’ level of initiation or readiness to receive a stream of knowledge, or considering outsiders’ intentions with knowledge extraction, many cultures have specific protocols surrounding knowledge exchange.
Christen discusses how the digital rights management (DRM) practices developed by Aboriginal Australians for the Mukurtu Wumpurrarni-kari community digital archive incorporate user profiles to control access based on community status, gender, and cultural traditions. This method challenges conventional DRM applications, showing how they can reflect and respect traditional laws and cultural restrictions.
The paper also addresses the broader implications of using open access frameworks for Indigenous knowledge, pointing out that such approaches can undermine traditional ownership and governance systems. Christen argues for a more nuanced understanding of information management that considers the specific needs and rights of indigenous communities.
By integrating indigenous perspectives on knowledge management, Christen calls for digital platforms that allow indigenous communities to control and define access to their cultural heritage. This includes creating systems that enable communities to manage digital cultural heritage according to their own protocols and to challenge the binary of open vs. closed systems promoted by mainstream digital culture.
Reading
My reading at present is as eclectic as usual. Here’s a short snapshot of what’s captivating my mind of late, in no particular order.
Books
People of the Sea, James Wharram with Hanneke Boon.
Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, Christina Thompson.
Where Skylarks Sing: An inspiring story of endurance and the healing power of walking, Patrick Davies.
In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles, Lisa Messeri.
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, Cat Bohannon.
Persons, Kinship: Belonging In A World of Relations, Vol. 04, Edited by Gavin Van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Hausdoerffer.
Substack
The Un-Hippy Trail (a co-production with my mother, Rose Howell).
Research Articles, Publications, Blogs
Glass reinforced plastic (GRP) a new emerging contaminant - First evidence of GRP impact on aquatic organisms, Ciocan et al., Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 160.
Media and emotion: An introduction.
Walter Benjamin: Art, Aura and Authenticity An A to Z of Theory.
Against guilty pleasures: Adorno on the crimes of pop culture.
Theory from the ruins: How the Frankfurt School diagnosed the ills of Western civilisation.
Listening
I’ve been reading more and listening less lately due to driving much less (and I don’t like to listen to anything other than natural sounds when walking the dog). Here’s what stuck out:
Podcasts
Post Capitalism w/ Alnoor Ladha, Upstream Podcast.
#25 - Our Cognitive and Emotional Connection to Film Narrative | Dr. Weik von Mossner, The Elements of Being Podcast.
MERLIN SHELDRAKE on Embodied Entanglements /365, For The Wild Podcast.
Audio Book
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein.
Films
I’ve been busy co-producing the much-anticipated Women & the Wind Documentary.
The documentary follows the journey of three women tracing the flow of plastics across the North Atlantic Ocean on a 50-year-old wooden catamaran, and is set to release at film festivals world wide in the later half of the year.
I did also get a chance to watch a fascinating YouTube documentary The Lapita Voyage about the experimental marine archaeological expedition following the migrations of the early Polynesians from SE Asia into the Pacific, by Hanneke Boon.
Project Announcement
It is with much excitement (and perhaps equal amounts of naivety) that I share with you news that my family has decided to BUILD our own sailboat to create our Floating Stories Lab. Yes, we are joining many folks around the world who, over thousands of years, adapted themselves to the Ocean: People of the Sea.
We have chosen to build the Wharram Narai Mk IV, a minimalist classic design and descendant of the RONGO, made of timber, plywood and epoxy.
Over the coming months, we will be wrapping our time living in the southwest of France ahead of a relocation to the Bretagne region, where we will be based over the next two-to-three years to complete the build.
My creative practice research work will be closely intertwined with the boat build project moving forward, and I’ll thus be sharing more of this here on Substack.