THE CIRCLE
and the SONG
in CYBERSPACE

by Patric Hedlund
© 1994-2004

 

PART TWO

 

 

Virtual Reality may be a current hit on the pop jargon charts, but it appears that ancient peoples were there first.

 

 

 

 

Indigenous peoples used all the world around them to pole-vault human consciousness beyond ordinary reality into expanded experience and knowledge.

 

 

 

"The elders tell us to always look toward the future," Webster said, "but don't forget about the knowledge from the past."

 

 

 

 

Five hundred years after Columbus came to North America scouting for real estate ... the indigenous peoples of the continent have become trailblazers to a future where progress wears the face of the ancient, and technology extends the voice of traditional wisdom.

 

 

 

 

We must always remember who we are, and where we come from...That is what gives us strength. Our power
is in our values and the teachings of our ancestors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Versions of this story have been printed in HIGH PERFORMANCE Magazine, ONLINE ACCESS and NEW WORLD JOURNAL. It evolved into a performance at THE PERFORMANCE SPACE in Sydney, Australia with the assistnace of Navajo artist Willis Tsosie who collaborated via skybridge.

Patric Hedlund is co-producer of COMPUTERS, FREEDOM & PRIVACY ,
a 48 part video series about the developing culture of cyberspace
and the future of freedom
in the Information Age.

 

 

 

 

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Consider the politics of empowerment in the Information Age.....

If popular access to affordable communication tools is a powerful counterbalance to political spin doctors and corporate media moguls, then technology in the hands of people with unique voices matters.

There is a quiet Information Age revolution taking place among Native Americans. It is occurring at the same moment that Native peoples have reclaimed their schools and the right to educate their children in native languages

Suddenly, in the hands of the Sioux, Crow, Navajo and Assiniboine artists, technology may have a powerful new identity--a runner crossing snow-capped mountain tops, a messenger flying across the land of the Crow on the back of the big-beaked bird, telling stories to the children of the Sioux, blowing magic into the eyes of Assiniboine children, bringing ancient messages into the heart of the future. Digital telecommunications may become a technology with soul. Using computers and telecommunications to extend the reach of their ancient stories seems like a natural step for men and women accustomed to hearing their grandparents' voices when they look up into the stars.

"My grandfather would name the stars," Tsosie remembers, " and talk to us for hours. He told us what the stars mean, what our myths and legends represent, and how important that is. He said the most important thing is to remember where you come from, and what our values are. He told me to respect other people, and to remember our religion."

Virtual Reality may be a current hit on the pop jargon charts, but it appears that ancient peoples were there first. Indigenous peoples used all the world around them to pole-vault human consciousness beyond ordinary reality into expanded experience and knowledge.

The stunning work of these Native American artists had a dramatic impact on software producers, according to David Hughes, a consultant from Old Colorado City Communications Company.

Hughes, working with Little Big Horn Data Processing Coordinator, Lonn Fritzler, introduced Tsosie, Webster and Allen to telecommunications in a workshop sponsored by Big Sky Telegraph in Billings, Wyoming in the summer of 1990.

Hughes says the software used by these artists had been priced far beyond the reach of ordinary people since its invention more than ten years ago. Until now, it was being used exclusively by corporate consortiums trying to find new ways to blast one-way advertising into the homes of couch potatoes through their TV screens.

Hughes lobbied Canadian software houses. He argued that if they made the tools affordable to the general public, their true market could be every user of the growing web of computer networks, encompassing artists, individuals, educators, children, and professionals around the globe.

Finally, late in 1991, after viewing the Native American Share-Art Gallery on Russell Country BBS, the popular potential suddenly became obvious to two of the Canadian companies. MicroStar and MacGregor decided to make programs which formerly sold for over $1000 available for between $25-$100.

As the reclaimed reservation schools and colleges become centers of a cultural renaissance among traditional peoples in North America, art and culture again are again becoming intertwined with education.

Bilingualism is an important part of this revolution, and aptitude for computers seems to accompany exposure to multiple languages. The schools are becoming community centers for access to Information Age tools, with guidance from Native American men and women confident that these new technologies can fit well with traditional values.

"The elders tell us to always look toward the future," Webster said, "but don't forget about the knowledge from the past."

Recently, his college began experiments with long distance learning using a videophone, computer and image scanner to exchange lessons on "Methods of Electronic Art" with a college 200 miles away. The course focuses on Native American designs.

Tsosie, the Navajo artist, is beginning to gain wide recognition for his computer art, but he is proudest as an artist of his beadwork on a Grass Dance costume for his son, Tolani. Tsosie and his friends use a video camera to coach Tolani for competitive intertribal powwow dances.

Tsosie may be a new kind of medicine man, using new tools thoughtfully to bring ancient healing to his people.

Minerva Allen spoke with this reporter over a din of crackling radios and walkie talkies as tribal coordinators put the finishing touches on arrangements for a John Denver TV special being filmed on the reservation by a network television crew. In another month the Canadian Broadcasting Company would arrive to tape a report on The Future of the Frontier, showing Native American schoolchildren learning their great-great grandparents' language from computer-based stories created by this new generation of storytellers. Their focus is on a reintegration of the cultural values of their ancestors into the life of their people. With skills in the use of powerful, affordable, information tools, the Sioux, Crow, Assiniboine and Navajo artists of the Russell Country BBS are excited about what they see happening.

Five hundred years after Columbus came to North America scouting for real estate and 116 years after General Custer made his last grab for glory, the indigenous peoples of the continent have become trailblazers to a future where progress wears the face of the ancient, and technology extends the voice of traditional wisdom.

"It's all a circle," Allen says, "You will do great things, and then there will come sad times. You receive what you have given, and it comes always back around, kindness and evil, our deeds all come back to us, that is what we are taught, it is all in our teachings."

"We must always remember who we are, and where we come from," Tsosie adds, "That is what gives us strength. Our power is in our values and the teachings of our ancestors."

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