Report on "Storytelling with Technology" ILI Workshop

[Manuela Noske]

This message reports on the fourth of a series of regional technology training workshops for Native Americans that is organized by the Indigenous Language Institute (ILI) and sponsored by IBM.  ILI is based in Santa Fe, NM, and promotes and facilitates innovative community-based language revitalization initiatives through collaboration with Native organizations and individuals.  The most recent workshop was held at the University Center, Northeastern State University (NSU) in Tahlequah, Oklahoma from Nov. 16-18, 2006 and was hosted jointly by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, NSU, and the Oklahoma Native Language Association (ONLA).  Previous workshops were held at the Pueblo of Pojoaque Training Center in Pojoaque Pueblo, New Mexico, and the Oneida Nation Community Education Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
 
“Storytelling with technology” focuses on the creation of print Native language materials for teaching purposes.  At the beginning of each workshop, participants receive keyboard lay-outs for their languages as well as a Unicode font which enables them to use commercial word processing and desktop publishing software for Native language typing.  Through a mixture of lectures and hands-on practice, participants proceed to create Native language booklets, flyers, calendars, flashcards and other materials in their Native languages, using Microsoft Publisher 2003 as desktop publishing software.  Participants also learn how to integrate digital images into their booklets and how to effectively use fonts, page lay-outs, as well as word and clip art to create reading materials which appeal to young and old readers alike.  Throughout the workshop “sharing circles” are held which give participants a chance to show off their creations to other Native language practitioners and share “best practices” and ideas; these sharing circles also serve as community-building events and play a key role in the overall satisfaction participants express with the workshops.  
 
Participants were greeted by a host of speakers from Cherokee Nation, as well as NSU and ONLA officials, including Durbin Feeling, President of ONLA, and Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.  The blessings for each day’s event were given by Alicia Keahbone Gonzalez, Kiowa Elder, Maggie Studie, Cherokee Elder, and Harry Oosawhee, Cherokee language teacher. 
 
49 registered individuals participated in this workshop, including 5 teams consisting of an Elder speaker and a younger tech-savvy learner.  Registered participants represented 15 different tribes from 6 different states:
 
Language        Number of registered speakers
Cherokee        15
Chickasaw       2
Choctaw         4
Comanche       2
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes   1
Eastern Band of Cherokee   2
Hupa/Yurok/Karuk   1
Kiowa             4
Miwok/Maidu    1
Muscogee Creek     3
Northern Arapaho   2
Osage            4
Pawnee          2
Poarch Band of Creek        1
Southern Cheyenne             5
 
For more information on ILI and the “Storytelling with technology” workshop series, please visit the ILI website at: http://www.indigenous-language.org/.  For information on Native language keyboard lay-outs and fonts, please visit http://www.languagegeek.com/.  
 
The next workshop is tentatively scheduled to be held in Florida in the spring of 2007.  If you know anybody who is interested in attending, please have them contact ILI so that they can be placed on the mailing list. 
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