Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the... more Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the self-determination of Indigenous people is supported. Where games are concerned, self-determination involves the autonomy and right of Indigenous people to make key decisions regarding the process of how a game is developed as well as what that game entails. A game is sovereign when self-determination is a respected practice throughout all phases of development from conceptualization to distribution. In what ways can games be sovereign and what challenges may be faced? Utilizing comparative case studies of the self-determined games Lost Memories, Terra Nova, and When Rivers Were Trails, this research identifies possible approaches and challenges for sovereign games looking at development as well as the resulting designs.
The Finnish curriculum reform integrates programming in the National Core Curriculum in the fall ... more The Finnish curriculum reform integrates programming in the National Core Curriculum in the fall 2016. Finland is not the first country in Europe to take programming as a part of the National Core Curriculum; However, Finland is the first country in Europe about to teach the Sami, the only indigenous people in Europe, to program in basic education. Teaching programming in comprehensive schools is a challenge for there is no previous knowledge how to teach programming as it is presented in the Core Curriculum. The Sami population in Utsjoki is facing the challenge of programming in a more complex way: the world of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) leaves the indigenous cultures out. When keyboards and programs are lacking the language support for the indigenous people, it is leaving a large amount of information out of the current information society. The programming part of the curriculum reform does not consider that there is an ethnic minority in the North of Finland and they have a constitutional right to use their language. This paper presents the model of ethnoprogramming that was made using the results of the Sami case in Utsjoki. It focuses finding the ways to support indigenous language and culture in computer programming that is applied to Finnish National Core Curriculum. The ethnoprogramming model was developed during a case study in Utsjoki in the spring 2016. Ethnoprogramming has its roots in ethnosciences, ethnocomputing and indigenous pedagogies. The ethnoprogramming model is based on these theories, the results of case study and the applied traditional knowledge.
This intra-view follows a round-table discussion that took place during the New Materialist Infor... more This intra-view follows a round-table discussion that took place during the New Materialist Informatics conference on 25 March 2021. The discussants-Indigenous researcher and game designer Outi Laiti, artists and researchers Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Femke Snelting and Caroline Ward-start with their own artistic, academic, and creative practices and discuss how these practices relate to otherwise-worldings in computing that engage materialist, anti-racist, decolonial, Indigenous, and trans*feminist thinking and doing. This discussion, facilitated by artist Ren Loren Britton and researcher Goda Klumbytė, brings up questions of collaboration and infrastructures needed to support otherwise practices in computing and design.
Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the... more Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the self-determination of Indigenous people is supported. Where games are concerned, self-determination involves the autonomy and right of Indigenous people to make key decisions regarding the process of how a game is developed as well as what that game entails. A game is sovereign when self-determination is a respected practice throughout all phases of development from conceptualization to distribution. In what ways can games be sovereign and what challenges may be faced? Utilizing comparative case studies of the self-determined games Lost Memories, Terra Nova, and When Rivers Were Trails, this research identifies possible approaches and challenges for sovereign games looking at development as well as the resulting designs.
In this paper, we explore the experiences and lessons learned from Sami Game Jam 2018. Sami Game ... more In this paper, we explore the experiences and lessons learned from Sami Game Jam 2018. Sami Game Jam 2018 was organized in Utsjoki, in a small Sámi village next to the border of Finland and Norway. The group of 44 jammers consisted of local Sámi participants and Finnish as well as international game students and professional developers. The event had 12 Sámi themes to explore that were divided between the teams and the event resulted in six games all combining two. The jam was stressful for the participants and organizers, both Sámi and non-Sámi, but in the end created an invaluable space for rich experiences, learning and self-discoveries. Furthermore, the jam provided a platform for indigenous game development and local game education and a platform to develop Sámi Pedagogy further.
This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to ... more This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self- narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi partici- pants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.
This article addresses how, in the Arctic regions, indigenous traditional educational approaches ... more This article addresses how, in the Arctic regions, indigenous traditional educational approaches focus on the cultural background of the people and their social learning customs in today’s context. The development of Arctic pedagogical approaches is discussed in light of experiences collected in Finnish Lapland in 2017 with the Sámi people. Particularly, the significance of social interactions in indigenous pedagogies is explored. We ask how social interactions benefit technologically enhanced learning in the Sámi cultural context. The findings suggest that social interactions have the potential for improving learning even when learning with and through information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Sustaining intangible heritage through video game storytelling - the case of the Sami Game Jam, 2020
This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to ... more This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self- narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi partici- pants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.
Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the... more Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the self-determination of Indigenous people is supported. Where games are concerned, self-determination involves the autonomy and right of Indigenous people to make key decisions regarding the process of how a game is developed as well as what that game entails. A game is sovereign when self-determination is a respected practice throughout all phases of development from conceptualization to distribution. In what ways can games be sovereign and what challenges may be faced? Utilizing comparative case studies of the self-determined games Lost Memories, Terra Nova, and When Rivers Were Trails, this research identifies possible approaches and challenges for sovereign games looking at development as well as the resulting designs.
The Finnish curriculum reform integrates programming in the National Core Curriculum in the fall ... more The Finnish curriculum reform integrates programming in the National Core Curriculum in the fall 2016. Finland is not the first country in Europe to take programming as a part of the National Core Curriculum; However, Finland is the first country in Europe about to teach the Sami, the only indigenous people in Europe, to program in basic education. Teaching programming in comprehensive schools is a challenge for there is no previous knowledge how to teach programming as it is presented in the Core Curriculum. The Sami population in Utsjoki is facing the challenge of programming in a more complex way: the world of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) leaves the indigenous cultures out. When keyboards and programs are lacking the language support for the indigenous people, it is leaving a large amount of information out of the current information society. The programming part of the curriculum reform does not consider that there is an ethnic minority in the North of Finland and they have a constitutional right to use their language. This paper presents the model of ethnoprogramming that was made using the results of the Sami case in Utsjoki. It focuses finding the ways to support indigenous language and culture in computer programming that is applied to Finnish National Core Curriculum. The ethnoprogramming model was developed during a case study in Utsjoki in the spring 2016. Ethnoprogramming has its roots in ethnosciences, ethnocomputing and indigenous pedagogies. The ethnoprogramming model is based on these theories, the results of case study and the applied traditional knowledge.
This intra-view follows a round-table discussion that took place during the New Materialist Infor... more This intra-view follows a round-table discussion that took place during the New Materialist Informatics conference on 25 March 2021. The discussants-Indigenous researcher and game designer Outi Laiti, artists and researchers Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Femke Snelting and Caroline Ward-start with their own artistic, academic, and creative practices and discuss how these practices relate to otherwise-worldings in computing that engage materialist, anti-racist, decolonial, Indigenous, and trans*feminist thinking and doing. This discussion, facilitated by artist Ren Loren Britton and researcher Goda Klumbytė, brings up questions of collaboration and infrastructures needed to support otherwise practices in computing and design.
Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the... more Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the self-determination of Indigenous people is supported. Where games are concerned, self-determination involves the autonomy and right of Indigenous people to make key decisions regarding the process of how a game is developed as well as what that game entails. A game is sovereign when self-determination is a respected practice throughout all phases of development from conceptualization to distribution. In what ways can games be sovereign and what challenges may be faced? Utilizing comparative case studies of the self-determined games Lost Memories, Terra Nova, and When Rivers Were Trails, this research identifies possible approaches and challenges for sovereign games looking at development as well as the resulting designs.
In this paper, we explore the experiences and lessons learned from Sami Game Jam 2018. Sami Game ... more In this paper, we explore the experiences and lessons learned from Sami Game Jam 2018. Sami Game Jam 2018 was organized in Utsjoki, in a small Sámi village next to the border of Finland and Norway. The group of 44 jammers consisted of local Sámi participants and Finnish as well as international game students and professional developers. The event had 12 Sámi themes to explore that were divided between the teams and the event resulted in six games all combining two. The jam was stressful for the participants and organizers, both Sámi and non-Sámi, but in the end created an invaluable space for rich experiences, learning and self-discoveries. Furthermore, the jam provided a platform for indigenous game development and local game education and a platform to develop Sámi Pedagogy further.
This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to ... more This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self- narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi partici- pants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.
This article addresses how, in the Arctic regions, indigenous traditional educational approaches ... more This article addresses how, in the Arctic regions, indigenous traditional educational approaches focus on the cultural background of the people and their social learning customs in today’s context. The development of Arctic pedagogical approaches is discussed in light of experiences collected in Finnish Lapland in 2017 with the Sámi people. Particularly, the significance of social interactions in indigenous pedagogies is explored. We ask how social interactions benefit technologically enhanced learning in the Sámi cultural context. The findings suggest that social interactions have the potential for improving learning even when learning with and through information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Sustaining intangible heritage through video game storytelling - the case of the Sami Game Jam, 2020
This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to ... more This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self- narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi partici- pants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.
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