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Cultural Codex.

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https://culturalcodex.com/

A new online publishing platform is working to preserve and share knowledge of the cultures and languages of indigenous communities. Cultural Codex, developed by software company Dadavan Systems, invites anyone to contribute stories and experiences that record aspects of indigenous culture they want to celebrate, through personalized galleries that support text, video, photographs, and sound recordings. Currently in its early stages, the website features just a few dozen examples so far, but its creators envision archivists, artists, curators, museums, cultural and language centers, and many others producing online exhibitions and libraries that feature everything from archival material to personal reflections. Like those ancient, handwritten books from which the project takes its name, the growing resource will come together as a collaborative effort.

For a new platform, there’s a lot to see already, so do a bit of exploring and learn a little! Cultural Codex.

If you’d like to read more about the project, Hyperallergic has you covered.

Word Wednesday. » « Spring by the Sea.

Comments

  1. rq says

    Additionally, while the company’s original intent was to help indigenous communities tell their stories, Cultural Codex evolved over the past year to have a broader purpose of preserving any cultural projects. Its primary focus is still to encourage the sharing of indigenous culture, but there are now articles on remembering retro computers and Denis Diderot. This expansion to essentially any cultural content muddles the website, turning it into a Wikipedia-like platform with only a search bar and tags to help you sort through the data dump.
    As artist Susan Hiller’s work “Lost and Found” demonstrates, languages are swiftly disappearing, but archival material on them is available; living speakers are also invaluable and rich resources. Cultural Codex would do well to home in on indigenous cultures alone. It has the potential to become a leading platform for voices that are often overlooked or ignored, where crowd-sourced information can make sharing and learning about them an interactive, engaging experience.

    Couldn’t agree more with that second paragraph! If the company is serious about this, they really should put in the effort to make sure that the space remains more indigenous than not, because otherwise we white people just wash over everything because we can.
    (Perhaps a separate site for other cultural things, like the computers and Diderot, but maintaining an indigenous space should be a priority.)

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