The Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal is a collaboration between (currently) eight sovereign nations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana and Washington State University. The community archive is built on Mukurtu CMS, and is collaboratively managed by WSU staff and tribal representatives from each community. This Portal is a gateway to Plateau peoples’ digital cultural materials which are held in multiple repositories including WSU's Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections, the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture, the National Anthropological Archives and the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution. The materials in the Portal have been chosen and curated by tribal representatives, with the option of creating custom access levels based on community-specific cultural protocols. Each item has one or more records associated with it as well as added traditional knowledge and cultural narratives to enhance and enrich understanding to many audiences.
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Culture and Heritage department has been a part of the Portal since the early days of planning and development. Creston D. Smith will speak to his work on the project during his time as Media Specialist at the Culture and Heritage department. Digitization, metadata, partnerships with universities and working with other community members to enhance and share digital audio, images, documents, and videos.
Josiah Black Eagle Pinkham will discuss the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal in the Nez Perce Tribe, who are at the beginning stages of reviewing records to include in the Portal. He will also discuss digital preservation in the context of his work.
Lotus Norton-Wisla will provide an overview of the Mukurtu CMS platform and the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal, and major developments in the software based on community needs from the original version of the PPWP to its current version. After introductory information, the panel will open to the audience for questions.
