Open Access vs. Cultural Protocols: Indigenous Knowledgement Management

"I think I can speak for most librarians and information professionals in saying that we like open access....For librarians and information professionals, open access is a no-brainer: we WANT to make knowledge—especially if held by public universities, libraries and museums—available to more people at no cost....While not every librarian and information professional will agree with me, I feel it is necessary to question the assumption that making information “open to the public” is a general public good, especially if it violates the cultural ethics of the indigenous community to which the information relates. For example, American and Australian anthropologists documented the lives of various Native American and Aboriginal & Torres Straight Islander communities since European contact—both with and without permission or complete disclosure. That information—stored as documents, photographs, physical objects, video and audio recordings—eventually made its way into archives, special collections and museums....Mukurtu is a free, open source community archive platform designed with the unique needs of indigenous communities, libraries, archives, and museums in mind. Basically, it is a FREE full-package content management system that is geared towards indigenous communities by allowing communities to control access based on cultural protocols...."