Local Contexts

Indigenous Data Sovereignty: "E Kore Au E Ngaro [The Connection Remains]" Film Screening and Conversation Please join us for a screening of the short documentary "E Kore Au E Ngaro [The Connection Remains]" and a discussion about Indigenous data sovereignty with Prof. Jane Anderson...

As a part of Love Data Week at New York University, on February 12, NYU Libraries will have an in-person screen E Kore Au E Ngaro | The Connection Remains and discussion with filmmakers Andreas Burgess and Jane Anderson (Local Contexts Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor). nyu.libcal.com/event/16242801

Headshot of Monique Tyndall on a decorative blue background. Black text above reads “Meet the Local Contexts Team. Monique Tyndall.” Below is the Local Contexts Logo, a ring made of black dots.

Please meet Outreach Coordinator Monique Tyndall (she/they/naakmãawã). Monique supports Local Contexts’ outreach efforts associated with the CBIKS. Read more about Monique on our website!
localcontexts.org/about/the-lo...

11th Annual Repatriation Conference The Association on American Indian Affairs 11th Annual Repatriation Conference will feature Native Nation Leaders, academics, lawyers, government officials, foreign institutions, artists and the publi...

Our team will present alongside representatives from the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Sciences & Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields as a part of the Association on American Indian Affairs’ 11th Annual Repatriation Conference. Learn more: www.indian-affairs.org/11thannualre...

IEEE Standards Association

The first-ever international standard that calls for “appropriate disclosure of Indigenous peoples’ relationships and/or links to all data” is now available for free download. 🔥 Register on the IEEE site for access. standards.ieee.org/ieee/2890/10...

“Away from our desks, December 24-January 2.” Text inside of circle on decorative background, a green-tinted forest.

📣 The Local Contexts team will be away from our desks Dec 24-Jan 2. If you have any Qs, please contact us through our website, & we will get back to you when we return to our desks on January 5. Our team sends best wishes for a happy Solstice, winter/summer season, & start to the new year!

Thank you to those who donated to support Local Contexts during #GivingTuesday! We launched our donation program to establish the Local Contexts Label Development Fund. To support, you can:
🌿 share this post/our donation page (localcontexts.org/donate/)
🌿 give 1-time
🌿 give monthly

Headshot of Liz Kinnmark on a decorative blue background. Black text above reads “Meet the Local Contexts Team. Liz Kinnmark.” Below is the Local Contexts Logo, a ring made of black dots.

Please meet Strategy and Operations Manager Liz Kinnmark (she/they)! Liz supports Local Contexts’ day-to-day operations and long-term planning, helping strengthen workflows, budgeting, and internal coordination across the team. localcontexts.org/about/the-lo...

This update now allows the Hub account to be listed directly on the researcher's ORCID record.

📣 We are pleased to share an update from our partner @localcontexts.bsky.social.

📌 Researcher accounts in the Local Contexts Hub can now be added to #ORCID records.

Read more on the blog by @shawnasadler.bsky.social: https://wp.me/pcE4o3-9mp

#Researchsky #LocalContexts

Thank you for sharing! We are excited by this new aspect of our partnership!

On #GivingTuesday, we began accepting donations to est. Local Contexts Label Development Fund, which provides capacity support for Indigenous communities to uphold their sovereignty. A gift of any size supports #IDSov tools and resources!
localcontexts.org/donate/

YouTube video by Living Data 2025 Opening Session and Plenary

Her insightful presentation, “From Land and Waters to Code and Cloud: Indigenous Data Sovereignty for Biodiversity and Rights-Based Governance,” is a must-watch, with the recording available here: youtu.be/1bi9B62CynE?...
We appreciated Lydia’s shoutouts for Local Contexts & the Labels & Notices!

Those on our team who attended the Living Data conference in Bogotá, Colombia, had the opportunity to attend Lydia’s keynote. The keynote and conference were attended in-person and virtually by around 1,000 biodiversity scientists, researchers, practitioners and other experts.

Giving Tuesday graphic. Text: “Local Contexts’ Biocultural and Traditional Knowledge Labels and Notices within datasets ... is the first time some of these communities are getting to see their data relationships and their knowledge genealogy in biodiversity work at large. This is exciting. This is game-changing. Dr. Lydia Jennings (Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Yoeme) and Huichol (Wixáritari)). Environmental Soil Scientist.” Headshot of Lydia Jennings.

Dr. Lydia Jennings @1nativesoilnerd.bsky.social (Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Yoeme) and Huichol (Wixáritari)) is an environmental soil scientist with a vast number of research projects.

This week, our goal is to raise $5,000US to establish the Fund. We invite you to donate to help advance the authority and local power of Indigenous communities. Donations of any size helps grow the global movement of Indigenous Data Sovereignty!
localcontexts.org/donate/

Local Contexts Giving Tuesday graphic. Text reads: “Join the global movement to recognize Indigenous Data Sovereignty. This Giving Tuesday, your donation helps to strengthen the relationships and tools that uphold Indigenous rights.”

On this #GivingTuesday, we are excited to begin accepting donations to sustain our work & directly support Indigenous communities to uphold their sovereignty. Through your donations, the Local Contexts Label Development Fund provides capacity support for Indigenous communities.

On #GivingTuesday, join the global movement to recognize #IDSov. We are excited to begin accepting donations to establish a capacity fund for Indigenous communities to uphold their sovereignty with the Local Contexts tools. Stay tuned for the launch tomorrow!

Giving Tuesday poster. Text: “In their words. Giving Tuesday. ‘Grounding Indigenous rights in the ‘local context’ is… about creating an infrastructure, and the Traditional Knowledge Labels and Biocultural Labels establish Indigenous cultural authority and governance over data and collections by adding provenance.’ Dr. Katharina Ruckstuhl (Ngāi Tahu, Rangitāne ki Wairau). Local Contexts Councilor Community Member.” Headshot of Katharina on decorative background.

Among her many roles, Dr. Katharina Ruckstuhl (Ngāi Tahu, Rangitāne ki Wairau) serves on Rūnaka Executive Committee of Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki, as Associate Professor & Dean at the University of Otago, & Local Contexts Councilor Community Member.
💬: Local Contexts Summit Aotearoa (November 2023)

“Rights recognition. Giving Tuesday. Join the global movement to recognize Indigenous Data Sovereignty. This Giving Tuesday, your donation helps to strengthen the relationships and tools that uphold Indigenous rights."

We have heard again & again that the greatest barrier to communities’ use of Local Contexts is capacity. On #GivingTuesday (December 2), join the global movement to recognize #IDSov & contribute to our capacity fund for Indigenous communities to uphold their sovereignty.

Maui Hudson and Aaron Wilton look in a collections storage cabinet. “Rights recognition. Giving Tuesday. Labels have been used on historic biodiversity specimens and contemporary research.”

Jenn Nepture sitting at a table, creating a small basket. “Rights recognition. Giving Tuesday. Labels have been used on cultural belongings held in institutions and on Tribes’ oral history recordings.”

James Eric Francis Sr. looking at a museum case. “Rights recognition. Giving Tuesday. Labels have been used in museum databases and in Medicine gardens.”

Communities are using the Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Labels on cultural belongings, waiata (songs), oral history recordings, exhibitions, Medicine gardens, films, apps, biodiversity specimens, genome data, journal articles, theses, websites, datasets and more.

“Rights recognition. Giving Tuesday. Tools for marking Indigenous provenance, protocols, and permissions. Indigenous communities use the Local Contexts Labels to safeguard their culture, data, and rights.”

41 Indigenous communities around the world are using the Local Contexts Labels to safeguard their culture, data, and rights. Communities’ use of Labels clearly defines the provenance, protocols, and permissions around their materials and knowledge, making their authority and rights clear.

Tuesday, November 25, 2025 – For all its promise, AI is a potential threat to culture » Native America Calling On the cusp of what could be a new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), some researchers are urging caution and the need for deliberate controls to keep the developing technology from robbing Indigeno...

@ncig2013.bsky.social @indigenousdatalab.bsky.social @scbegonias.bsky.social @mediaindigena.bsky.social NativeBio, Indigenous Data Alliance, US Indigenous Sovereignty Network, GIDA and @localcontexts.bsky.social have been saying all of this since 2009. www.nativeamericacalling.com/tuesday-nove...

"By the numbers. Giving Tuesday. Join the global movement to recognize Indigenous Data Sovereignty. This Giving Tuesday, your donation helps to strengthen the relationships and tools that uphold Indigenous rights."

On #GivingTuesday (December 2), we are excited to begin accepting donations to sustain this work and directly support Indigenous communities to uphold their sovereignty.

Stay tuned for more information ahead of the launch next week!

#IndigenousRights #IDSov

"By the numbers. Giving Tuesday. A growing global movement to support Indigenous rights. Local Contexts has been used by Indigenous communities, institutions, researchers, and integration partners around the world."

"By the numbers. Giving Tuesday. Local Contexts Hub. 949 Local Contexts Hub users. 34 countries with active users. 327 Projects published on the Hub. 387 Notices added to materials."

"By the numbers. Giving Tuesday. Labels in use. 196 Traditional Knowledge Labels customized. 42 Biocultural Labels customized. 53 Projects with Labels applied. Through the customization and use of Labels, Indigenous communities make clear the provenance, protocols, and permissions for material."

"By the numbers. Giving Tuesday. Our connections. 117 communities, 305 institutions, 469 researchers. 31 integration partners."

Local Contexts is connected with Indigenous communities, institutions, researchers, and integration partners around the world.

For the past 15 years, our relationships have helped us to build out the Local Contexts Labels and Notices as practical tools for supporting Indigenous rights.

collage of photos from a networking event

⚡The GBIF Indigenous Data Governance task group led by
@1nativesoilnerd.bsky.social is seeking inputs to help inform and define future work on Indigenous data rights, interest, governance and sovereignty.

Contribute to the survey! 🔗
gbif.link/Indigenous-d...

@localcontexts.bsky.social

U of A, NYU and Harvard experts lead process to codify world’s first global standard on Indigenous Peoples’ data

The newly adopted IEEE Recommended Practice for Provenance of Indigenous Peoples' Data is the first-ever international standard that calls for “appropriate disclosure of Indigenous peoples’ relationships and/or links to all data.” 🔥#IDSov
Read more: nni.arizona.edu/news/u-nyu-a...

Local Contexts Hub Tutorials - YouTube The Local Contexts Hub (https://localcontextshub.org/) is a website that facilitates the use of the Local Contexts Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Labe...

The Local Contexts team is excited to share a series of short videos that introduce the Local Contexts Hub and how you use it to apply Labels and Notices. Each video is 1-5 min & is captioned in English.
Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?lis...

➡️ See you at #NEMA2025? Next week, Local Contexts will join representatives from the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Wilson Museum, Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, & UMass Amherst as part of a session at the New England Museum Association annual conference. nemanet.org/page/Confere...

Crowded conference room

Overflowing room for our session on Indigenous data governance and the @localcontexts.bsky.social labeling tools. People are eager to learn tools to support Indigenous communities governance of their data #LivingData2025

"It is clear that the #biodiversity data community is ready to engage on this topic and genuinely interested to learn more. Thank you to the @gbif.org #Indigenous Data Task Force and @localcontexts.bsky.social for their leadership in this space." - Katie Jones on #LivingData2025 in Bogotá

🔶 For National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we’re happy to spotlight the RavenSpace project (@ubcpress.bsky.social)

📚 By leveraging digital technologies, the editorial process of this platform adapts to indigenous modes of knowledge !

📌 Learn more: shorturl.at/vObqX