[RNLD] Melbourne Linguistics in the pub Tuesday 27th August: Using new media to document indigenous multimodal communicative traditions

[Ruth Singer]

August 2019 LIP

*Using new media to document indigenous multimodal communicative traditions*

*Discussion led by*: Dr. Simon Devylder (Lund University, Sweden)

This discussion will start with the presentation of a couple of projects
that use new media (and in particular iPads) to document indigenous
multimodal/polysemiotic communicative traditions such as *tjinytjatjunku
tjuma *'to tell stories while drawing in the sand' of Ngaanyatjarra and
Ngaatjatjarra speakers (Western Australia) or *mutis en atan* ‘conveying
traditional knowledge by drawing in the ground’ of Paamese speakers (Paama,
Vanuatu).

These indigenous cultural practices are critically endangered and finding
innovative ways to document and revitalize them is crucial. Using new media
such as iPads is promising:

   - Reports from both documentation projects show that storytellers find
   this new semiotic resource attractive and full of potentials (e.g. using
   colours, recording the performance, etc.)
   - The attractiveness of these new resources may help the traditional
   practice to regain attention and prestige from the younger generations who
   had gradually lost interest in these traditional ways.
   - iPad sand drawings App can easily be developed for pedagogical
   purposes and may have a potentially significant effect on revitalizing
   these vanishing communicative traditions.

However, researchers, linguists, and App developers should also do their
best to consider the potential issues and negative impact that these
promising innovative documenting ways could have in the long term.

Some of the issues that may come up in the discussion include:

   - Accelerating the loss of the traditional way of sand storytelling
   (i.e. drawing in the sand, ground, or volcanic ash vs. on a screen).
   - In developing Apps for a wider audience so as to increase their
   revitalizing potential, the question of ownership of these drawings and
   stories may be an issue and should be address with care.
   - iPads are expensive device and can certainly not be easily purchased
   by most members of the communities (at least not in Vanuatu). The question
   of ‘who gets to use’ them (schools? Museums? Community centers?) and for
   what purpose also needs to be thought about carefully.

Given the ever-growing innovative potential that new technologies have to
offer to language documentation and revitalization, this discussion should
be of interest to many field linguists who regularly have to make similar
decisions.

*Date*:      Tuesday, 27 August, 2019

*Time*:       6:00 - 8:00 pm

*Venue*:     Function room, Naughton’s Parkville Hotel

*Address: *43 Royal Parade, Parkville VIC 3052

*Phone:  * (03) 9347 2255

                http://parkvillehotel.com.au/  (menu available online)

LIP is an occasional gathering of language activists and linguists in
Melbourne and is coordinated by the MLIP committee: Ruth Singer (ANU),
Rosey Billington (Melbourne Uni), Jill Vaughan (Melbourne Uni),
Chloé Diskin (Melbourne Uni), Lauren Gawne (LaTrobe Uni), Jonathon Lum
(Melbourne Uni) and Andrew Tanner (RNLD).


-- 
Dr Ruth Singer
School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne
Research Unit for Indigenous Language (RUIL):
http://indiglang.arts.unimelb.edu.au/
ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL):
http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/

https://unimelb.academia.edu/RuthSinger
http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person2621
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