“Indigenous

knowledge and
indigenous
media”
Unconventional source for
information is the so-called
indigenous knowledge (IK).
Indigenous knowledge is
defined by Warren (1991) as
the “Knowledge that is
unique to a given culture or
society.”
Indigenous knowledge is relayed either through people
media (which are the persons involved in the use,
analysis, evaluation, and production of media and
information) or through indigenous media. The Asia
Indigenous People Pact or AIPP defined media as
media.
…owned, controlled and management by indigenous
people in order for them to develop and produce
culturally appropriate information in the languages
understood by the community by utilizing indigenous
materials and resources, reflecting community needs
and interests, vision and aspirations, and independent
from vested interest groups, it is highly participatory,
involving the community members in planning,
management and production.
Indigenous communities are typically known to
adhere to oral tradition of communication.
This means that they are not reliant on
mainstream media. Information exchange is
characterized by face-to-face interaction,
limiting the transfer and access of information
over long distances and containing it within
the borders of the community. And because of
this, the creation and maintenance of
indigenous media helps in storing indigenous
knowledge for posterity.
The AIPP observed that “the ASEAN media
landscape is generally characterized by an
urban-centric media system in flow, content,
consumption and ownership that limits
indigenous people’ access to media and
information and news coverage of their own
issues and conditions.” Some of the other
observations of the group includes the
following:
* Flow of information starting from metropolitan
areas, tending to be one-way as no effective
mechanisms are in place for media organization to
gather news from rural indigenous area.

* Distant locations of many indigenous territories and

poor infrastructures as big obstacles to indigenous
people’ access to information from mass media.
• Complex biases and serious lack of interest in
the lives of indigenous communities in news
coverage and selection of mainstream media.
• Privately owned mainstream media catering
more to interests of urban consumers rather
than the needs of rural communities,
particularly indigenous ones.
“Indigenous media as
tool for expression and
participation”
*“ Open up other spaces for the discussion of indigenous people’
issues (AIPP, 2005).”
* “Providing the opportunity for extending communication outreach
in remote rural areas.”
* The AIPP added that the indigenous youth of some ASEAN countries
are exploring online platforms such as social media for their news
and information consumption.
* In the ASEAN region, there are indigenous organizations that have
initiated the promotion of freedom of expression and have increased
access to information among indigenous people (IPs).
An example in the Philippines is the Northern Dispatch Weekly, or
NORDIS, which is a weekly newspaper covering the Ilocos region, the
Cordilleras, and the Cagayan Valley region-places where indigenous
communities in Northern Luzon live.
NORDIS extends its effort for media to reach the IPs and the rural
communities. The newspaper is nonprofit and promotes a more
democratic of media facilities, and more reader-oriented industry
practitioners.
*“ in which literary, musical, artistic, or
reference materials (as books, manuscripts,
recordings, or films) are kept for use but not
for sale (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary).
* Library are evaluated on the extent of their
collection of materials and the kinds and
quality of services they offer to information
seekers.
* Library are expected to select and provide
you contents that are easy to access.
*Libraryare considered to be stewards or good
information collection.
The main role of a library is to organize and
provide you access to information. This role is
no longer static or limited to purely collecting
physical materials for archiving. It has extended
to acquiring new modes of providing
information such as the use of digital sources
and facilities that utilize media.
*A library is one place where you can expect
new search strategies to be employed, thus,
motivating information seekers like you to be
more adept in effectively and efficiently
locating information.
* Modern library are connected to the
Internet to provide library users of a
myriad of source and databases from
various places in the world. According
to the Council on library and
information Resources, “Library
facilities also serve a social function,
providing a common ground for users
function, or a neutral site for
individuals from different disciplines
to come together.”
*Apart from indigenous knowledge and
library source, media also provides
information as previously stated in the
earlier modules in this unit. Media has
been extensively discussed in Module 2.
for you purpose of under standing media
as a source of information, ponder on
the advantages and disadvantages of
each media type shows in Table 5.1 as
outlined by the World heritage
Communication and media training
Workshop in 2013.
Media PROS CONS
Type/From
Books • Portable/transferable • “Print is dead or is
information it?
• Affordable by volume, • Constly typesetting
depending on size of and design
print run • Constly publication
• Enduring medium that in multilingual
can last for many aditions
years • Expensive storage
• Ideal for content that and shipping
may not change • Prohibitively
drastically over time expensive
(historical, academic reprinting/revising
works, catalogues of of outdated
cultural information
Artifacts/works of art) • Environment issues
Magazines • Loyal (but shrinking) • Newspaper valid only
and readership for a day
Newspapers
• Target a geographical • Message can be lost
area (most papers have
• Can be shared with more than 60%
other advertising
• Inserts and leaflets • Magazines have niche
attract attention audiences

Cinema • Reaches many • Expensive

demographics, production
literate or illiterate • May or may not
• Can be entered in
local/ international
hold
film festivals and interest/attenti
competitions for on
further exposure
 • Trusted medium • Niche market:
Radio stations cater to
with loyal
followers specific types of
listeners
• Community • Audience will tune
radio has loyal out
audiences • Background
interested in medium (hard to
local activities hold attention)
• National • Difficult to incite
broadcasters can action (hard to
remember
carry messages broadcasted
for nationwide contact details or
events website URLs
Television • Quickly spreads the • Expensive
message on different • Short message that
must be repeated to
channels and times of day sink in
• Improves credibility • Advertisements can be
• Best suited for large- skipped through PVRs
scale communications (Personal Video
activities Recorders)

World • Main point of contact • Perceived

Wide between user and difficulty to set up
audience • High cost
Web
• Acts as a hub for all other maintenance
activities/content/social (constant
media aggregator) updating)
• Easy to access from • Information
multiple platforms control
• 24/7 interaction with
target audiences
 • Reach the correct • Very time consuming to
Social audience through engage directly with
media hashtags/following followers
relevant groups • Need to keep content
• Attract large number of fresh across platform to
people in short time stay visible
• Drive traffic to other • Cannot control the
communication actions message or how people
• Bring people together react to online contents
• Gather information about • Campaigns can get
target hijacked by detractors
• Easy feedback • Bad news can go viral
• Place for real-experiences • Mistakes can happen in
to be exchanged real time with thousands
• Give a voice to timid of witnesses
people • Negative feedback cannot
be ignored
• Do not capture tone
When the information suits tour needs, it is considered of
good quality. To measure information quality, you may
consider the following aspects.
1. The information provided by a source is credible and
reliable. One aspect of judging credibility of
information is the reputation of the source. The
authoritativeness of the information and the source
must be verifiable; otherwise, the information may not
be useful.
2. Breadth and depth of the discussion on a topic is also a
consideration. Organize the information is an indication
of rigor and judiciousness. A lazy source is one who is
content on providing secondary and tertiary sources as
well as popular and less academic information.
 3. The information can be
cross-referenced. This
means that the information
can also be checked in other
source and can be supported
by them.
4. The manner on how the
information has been dealt with
by the source is ethical and
legal.