Native American Tribe to Use Video Games and Immersive Technology for Cultural Preservation (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Native American Tribe to Use Video Games and Immersive Technology for
Cultural Preservation

Posted : Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:24:01 GMT
Author : Red Knight Learning Systems
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,129118.shtml

DALLAS, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, located
near Elton, Louisiana, is partnering with Red Knight Learning Systems of
Dallas to develop innovative digital learning media for their new high tech
Coushatta Heritage Center. The tribe will be using modern immersive media,
including video games and interactive hardware, in numerous learning
exhibits designed to preserve their native Koasati language and tribal
heritage.

Red Knight will partner with the tribe to design and create all the digital
and audio/video media throughout the Heritage Center. Some of the
innovative learning pieces will include:

-- a 3D video game where players explore a virtual world to experience how
the Coushatta Tribe used nature and tools to survive -- an interactive
language game that allows visitors to hear and learn the Koasati language
-- a timeline wall where visitors can "interact with history" by sliding a
display monitor along the wall, allowing them to see and hear the tribe's
history and migration -- an interactive basket-making exploration that will
allow visitors to make their own virtual Coushatta basket

The Center will also include interactive and physical exhibits exploring the
tribe's prophecies and stories, their more than 500-year history, their
world-renowned pine-needle baskets, the making of traditional corn soup,
the importance of social life, their modern history and governance, and the
critical efforts they are making to preserve the native Koasati language.

"We need to draw strength from our past, while doing everything we can to
preserve our future," says Kevin Sickey, Tribal Chairman. "The partnership
with Red Knight provides us with important opportunities and tools for
achieving our overall project goals."

The interactive learning components in the Center will be designed to
highlight the work that the Coushatta Tribe is doing to document and
revitalize the Koasati language, supported in part by a grant from the
National Science Foundation. The Koasati language will be integrated into
all exhibits, and the Heritage Center will also function as a tribal
library, archives, and language learning center for Coushatta tribal
members. The digital exhibits will also underscore the message that the
Coushatta people are a living, modern tribe with a desire to engage and
educate their youth. Other tribal members, scholars, and the public will
benefit as well as the tribe preserves their heritage and language with the
help of groundbreaking learning technology.

"The Coushatta Tribe is refreshingly open to using technology for learning,"
states John Purdy, President of Red Knight. "They have always been known as
leaders and innovators and this heritage center will be a model for how
museums and cultural centers can integrate modern learning technologies to
enhance their visitors' experience."

About Red Knight Learning Systems:

Red Knight Learning Systems creates innovative learning solutions. We have a
motto: "Better Learning. Better Lives." Our focus is on helping people learn
better. We do this through highly immersive and interactive explorations,
games and simulations. Better ways to learn mean better educated employees,
students, visitors, consumers and customers. The rapidly growing fields we
are involved in are known as Serious Games, Immersive Learning Simulations,
Interactive Learning, and Virtual Learning Worlds, to name a few.

You can learn more about RKLS at: http://www.redknightlearning.com/ or
contact us at info at redknightlearning.com. Red Knight Learning Systems

CONTACT: John A. Purdy of Red Knight Learning Systems, +1-214-632-2420,
jpurdy at redknightlearning.com

Web site: http://www.redknightlearning.com/