http://purl.oclc.org/NET/Sand/
During this past spring, a small number of authors/maintainers of World Wide
Web sites with Native American content were approached to participate in a
multimedia project to be produced and marketed by 2 multi-million dollar
corporations. In trying to deal with these groups, we found it impossible to
extract from them the context in which our work would be used. What little
we could learn gave us grave doubts about the project. They would only tell
us that the CD-ROM would contain powerful music videos (no artist's names
were given, although they were requested several times). There would also be
sections on Native art and "artifacts" and sacred sites. We were completely
unable to obtain from them who was creating this additional material, with
whom they were consulting, and what the character of the material would be.
Our correspondence with this group has led us to believe that it would be
useful to construct a World Wide Web site in which issues of cultural
sensitivity, cultural property and copyright, as it pertains to creations
of the Native Peoples, are discussed and explained. We would also like to
create a database of tribal contacts for the use of people who wish to
create well designed projects containing Native American material. If there
are guidelines available for the use of their material, we will also make
them available and attempt to keep them up to date. In all likelihood, in
addition to the names below, the group will include representative(s) from
at least one museum specializing in Native American material (awaiting
approval).
We are therefore soliciting suggestions for and contributions of material to
be included in this Web site. If you know of articles already in existence
that address these issues and for which we might obtain reproduction rights,
please let us know. If you wish to create new material for this purpose, we
would be happy to talk to you. Any suggestions that you may make are welcome.
David E. Cole
Jordan S. Dill
Tara Prindle
Karen M. Strom
[ Send your replies directly to Karen (kstrom@hanksville.phast.umass.edu),
not as a response to this article if you are a subscriber to the NATIVE-L
mailing list. Usenet and APC subscribers should use e-mail, rather than
posting a followup article. Thanks. --Gary (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ]