Summary

Virtual Museum Project Summary

The Virtual Museum project provided participating tribes and Indian organizations the opportunity to tell about themselves and their culture in their own voice. This is significant because much of the information presented by mainstream museums is often seen by the tribes as inaccurate or offensive.

There are 22 Tribes in New Mexico and 19 of them participated in the Virtual Museum Project. Also, two representatives from the Navajo Nation attended. The Pueblos of San Felipe, Isleta and Cochiti were not able to fit the training into their schedule. The resulting vacancies were filled by representatives from the Omaha Nation of Nebraska & Iowa and from Atlatl, a Native American Arts and Culture organization based in Phoenix Arizona.

The project gave participants more confidence in their computer skills and web page design. In many cases it opened their eyes to the benefits of technology. The following are comments from project participants:

“There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about Native Americans out in the world. As a result, Native Americans are subjected to disrespectful and patronizing interactions with non-Naives who are basically misinformed. Speaking in our own voices on the Internet gives Native Americans the venue from which to educate people who are misinformed. Learning to put content on the Internet will impact more people than would have been possible without the training in the Virtual Museum project.”

“I would like to develop additional websites for other programs within my tribe.”

“I would like to teach my students what I have learned in class and purchase the software utilized in class.”

Future Plans

NITI is currently seeking support to expand the Virtual Museum project to provide a Virtual Museum training program to more Tribes nationally.