Digitisation and Matauranga Maori

Abstract

In 2007 the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre undertook the digitisation of H. G. Robley's 'Moko; or Maori Tattooing' along with associated contextual material. This project prompted much thought and debate within the Centre about the propriety of making such material freely available online and highlighted a number of issues which are likely common to most cultural and heritage organisations looking to undertake the digitisation of Maori-based material.

Throughout periods of colonisation indigenous knowledge has been collected by ethnographers, anthropologists, and others, and much of this has found its way into the collections of libraries and archives. This is true in New Zealand as it is overseas. However, despite the existence of this material and a national digital strategy that promotes the benefits of online access to cultural and heritage material, the numbers of organisations who have digitised representations of Matauranga Maori are few.

Within the contexts of both international discourse on indigenous knowledge and the NZETC project this paper addresses these issues which fall into the categories of ownership, control, access, and consultation which we also attempt to frame using the corresponding Te Ao Marama concepts of rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga, mana and putanga, and korerorero whanui. Questions arise in terms of ownership of not just the physical objects themselves but also the knowledge encoded within them, issues of who has the right to control that knowledge and determine who may access it and who may not, as well as discovering who it is appropriate to consult with and how institutions may respond to the results of consultation. We ask whether these issues act as barriers to digitisation of Matauranga Maori material and consequently whether they provide an explanation for the relative scarcity of these types of projects. Finally we identify opportunities that organisations can gain from undertaking such projects.