ELOKA Advisory Committee Meetings
ELOKA Advisory Committee (EAC)
The purpose of the ELOKA Advisory Committee is to help guide and advise on ELOKA activities. The Advisory Committee will have six members, made up of experts and leaders working with Arctic communities and in the fields of community-based research, data management technologies, and LTK. The committee will meet in person once per year for three years (2013, 2014, and 2015). Annual meetings are anticipated to be two days long and will be held in a major center in either the U.S. or Canada. Between annual meetings, the advisory committee will be asked to communicate with the ELOKA team via email and file sharing programs. The meetings hope to accomplish the following:
- Provide general advice on ELOKA's current work providing data management services for LTK and CBM projects
- Provide insight into the latest directions in other LTK and CBM activities in and outside of the Arctic, allowing ELOKA to stay informed and potentially support broader issues and initiatives
- Advise on existing and developing technologies that can contribute to ELOKA data management services
EAC Meetings
22-24 September 2015
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
Since 2013, the ELOKA Advisory Committee has convened three times and within this time period the committee has provided a unique perspective in regards to stewarding and managing Indigenous knowledge. The final EAC meeting was held in Boulder, Colorado on the University of Colorado campus though this time it was decided to hold a workshop, which turned out to be an enormous success. Known as the Sharing Knowledge workshop, ELOKA invited partners and elder and youth participants from northern communities to Boulder for presentations and discussions with the aim to share experiences in using new technologies for sharing and transferring knowledge, in addition to including more Indigenous voices in Arctic-wide and global discussions around knowledge documentation, data management and cyber infrastructure. The 3-day workshop featured speakers, media demos, and dynamic workshop sessions, which included some really fun games from the North that facilitated cross-cultural exchange and discussion. The workshop provided a voice into how Arctic youth are sharing learned knowledge and how traditions, such as the importance of story telling, are still very viable in maintaining the sharing of knowledge. It was also decided to develop a collective draft statement to be presented at the Second Polar Data Forum (PDF II) emphasizing the unique contributions and needs of Indigenous Knowledge in international polar data management.
Statement from the Sharing Knowledge: Traditions, Technologies, and Taking Control of our Future Workshop: Indigenous Knowledge: Key Considerations for Polar Data Planning










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3-7 November 2014
Oglala Lakota College
Kyle, South Dakota, U.S.A.
The EAC held its November 2014 meeting in Kyle, South Dakota at the Pejuta Haka College Center on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation home to the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe. Established during the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, Pine Ridge Reservation encompasses a territory of approximately two million acres of the Northern Great Plains in southwest South Dakota. Pine Ridge Reservation is the eighth largest reservation in the United States. The reservation is part of the mixed grass prairie, an ecological transition zone between the short-grass and tall-grass prairies; all are part of the Great Plains. Many grassroots efforts are in place working to reclaim and consolidate tribal lands and access the resources needed for the Lakota people to live on. One such project is the Buffalo Restoration project, which aims to restore the traditional ecology, economy, and culture surrounding the buffalo. Pine Ridge is the homeland of EAC Member Jhon Goes In Center.
EAC members at the November 2014 meeting included Carolina Behe and Lewis Brower (Alaska), Peter Pulsifer and Heidi McCann (ELOKA), and Dennis Yellow Thunder and Mike Catches Enemy of the Oglala Lakota Tribal Historic Preservation Office. Shari Fox (ELOKA Co-PI) and Scot Nickels (Director of Inuit Qaujisarvingat) participated via Skype. Productive dialogue involved how best to move forward with ELOKA. Two members of the Oglala Lakota Tribal Historic Preservation office also participated (Dennis Yellow Thunder and Mike Catches the Enemy), offering their tribal perspective with regard to managing data. Key topics revisited from the first EAC meeting in 2013 featured: clarification to the meaning of "community-based monitoring" and traditional knowledge with respect to ELOKA; how to appropriately represent Indigenous knowledge information systems and other contexts; impacts of new technologies and linkage to education; and training initiatives for community members.
Information about the 2015 meeting will be posted here in the near future.
Kyle, South Dakota. Photo Credit: eiganadam.
18-19 September 2013
National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
Full EAC Meeting Report
EAC Meeting Program
EAC Meeting Overview
Meeting Agenda
CBM White Paper
The first ELOKA Advisory Committee took place in Boulder on September 18-19, 2013. Despite flooding a few days prior, three members of the committee were able to attend and participate in active dialogue. On the first day, discussions focused on ELOKA, member experiences and perspectives relevant to the committee, and the need to confirm and reaffirm existing priorities while identifying new ones. On the second day, discussions focused on community-based monitoring, the role ELOKA plays in facilitating such projects, and networking. See the meeting report for more information.
An outcome of the first meeting was the development of a white paper on data management targeting the attention of the academic community.
Front row L to R: Allaina Wallace, Jhon Goes In Center (EAC Member), Henry Huntington, Peter Pulsifer, and Carolina Behe (EAC Member). Back row L to R: Chris McNeave, Colleen Strawhacker, Olga Ulturgasheva (EAC Member), Heidi McCann, Lynn Yarmey and Betsy Sheffield. Photo credit: Chris McNeave.