Dr. Aynur Kadir, GI faculty member and Assistant Professor from Communication Arts, presented "Collaborative Indigenous Media: Participatory design for Indigenous Art and Cultural Heritage" at Waterloo Women's Wednesdays event about Community-Based Digital Storytelling.
Kadir discussed how researchers can work with community stakeholders to facilitate the representation of Indigenous art and cultural heritage in public spaces, such as galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs, for short).
Using her previous research project, a virtual exhibit about the Sq’éwlets First Nation entitled "Sq’éwlets - A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Community in the Fraser River Valley", as an example of how to execute collaborative digital projects, Kadir demonstrated the value of empowering community stakeholders to feel ownership over research projects.
Often, in academia, researchers will come in to develop a project, but afterwards there is little-to-no funding for maintenance. My methodology involves giving the stakeholders knowledge of the technology so that feel ownership and have the expertise to maintain the output.
- Dr. Aynur Kadir
Kadir present work will continue to develop and apply collaborative methodologies for research design projects that aim to restore and reinvigorate Indigenous art and cultures.