The Cherokee Nation and Internet Technology: Saving a Culture by Revitializing its Language

Google Tech Talk (more info below) October 17, 2011 Presented by Joseph Erb, Roy Boney, Jr, Jeff Edwards. ABSTRACT ᎣᏏᏲ (hello!) Our visitors from the Cherokee Nation will be discussing how they are using technologies such as Unicode, the Internet, smart phones, laptops, pad computers, etc. as tools to save their native language and culture. Artist Ray Boney, Jr. will be one of the visitors. He has a special graphic feature describing how the Cherokee people have innovated to maintain and advance their unique civilization over the last 200 years. Speaker Info: Joseph Erb, Language Technologist, Language Technology Program at Cherokee Nation Education ServicesGroup. Joseph Erb (Cherokee) is an award winning artist, filmmaker, and digital media specialist. He received his BFA in art from Oklahoma City University. He produced a short animated film based on a traditional Cherokee story in the Cherokee language as his MFA thesis at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation there, Erb returned home to Oklahoma, where he continues to combine his interests: art, traditional storytelling, language preservation, and the teaching of children. His Muscogee Creek and Cherokee students have produced native language animations, learning both new technology and their own traditional culture. Currently, he works as an educational digital media specialist for the Language Technology Program at Cherokee Nation Education ServicesGroup in Tahlequah, OK. Roy Boney, Jr., Language Technologist, Cherokee Nation. Roy is a full blood citizen of the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, OK. He is an award-winning artist, filmmaker, and digital media specialist. He holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Oklahoma State University and an MA in Studio Art from the University of Arkansas - Little Rock where he was a research fellow at the Sequoyah Research Center. He has been adjunct instructor of Multimedia Design at Northeastern State University and Cherokee language animation instructor for the American Indian Resource Center. He currently works in the Language Technology program for Cherokee Nation Education Services Group. Jeff Edwards, Language Technologist, Cherokee Nation Jeff Edwards (Cherokee) is award winning digital artist. He has worked at Cherokee Nation for 10 years in Cherokee Language and Cultural programs. He typed thousands of documents in the Cherokee language over the years. He manages computers at Cherokee Immersion School with accounts and passwords in the Cherokee language.