Reflection Post 5: Guest Lecture by Nodin Cutfeet

For this post, I want to reflect on the guest lecture presented by Nodin Cutfeet on Indigenous digital literacies. Nodin Cutfeet offered a perspective of how digital literacy can and should look like when grounded in community, culture, and lived experiences. They are the founder of the Wannasaka Foundation, which is an online platform and in-person workshops that teach Indigenous youth digital skills.

I enjoyed learning about how access and exposure are main areas that encourage interest in technology. Many conventional entry points into technology and coding such as family are not universally available, especially in remote communities. When Cutfeet discovered this gap in interest in technology, they explored how this interest could be sparked, because different communities may need more assistance in access pathways than others. Nodin addresses this by focusing on project based, creative learning that allows youth to express themselves and contribute to communities. It was noted that many digital learning platforms focus on career driven goals, so I enjoyed how Nodin changed this perspective so it would resonate with Indigenous youth. I reflected on the discussion about how technology should be about creativity, community connection, and intrinsic motivation for Indigenous youth. I have often experienced that lessons on technology have been framed as pathways to wealth and success, and the imaginative and innovative aspects are secondary to this goal. I liked Nodin’s reframing because personally, the aspects of technology, design, and coding that spark my interest are the creative aspects. I think if technology learning was presented with both goals in mind, it would spark more interest because students would be motivated by many different parts of technology, whether it is creativity or career driven. 

Another important theme from the lecture was data sovereignty. Concerns were raised about how AI systems often misrepresent Indigenous knowledge, pushing many cultural understandings together. Ownership and control over data is essential, especially for communities whose knowledge has historically been exploited or misinterpreted. This raised questions for me about how Indigenous communities can be assisted in being better represented by AI systems? Is there a way to help do so? I enjoyed how Valerie and Nodin discussed how open education licensing could help with this. This lecture added to my knowledge on this licensing and helped me understand more of the benefits that this licensing and the sharing of resources can do. I was intrigued as to why Nodin did not find the indigenous specific license useful. I am wondering if there are more of these to look through and how they can be found?