INDUS TRY P ROF IL E
A team of elders and Youth travel through sea ice to the island of Ungahitak
Seasonal travel through the different areas of the landscape remains important method of
transfering related stories and names
Forager 2 Fall 2015
continue to evolve across the Inuktitut
speaking territories. Recognizing that
the oral pronunciation of place names
by fluent Inuktitut speakers are the most
authoritative and enduring form for their
communication, the Place Name Atlas
provides Atlas users with sound recordings
of place name pronunciations whenever
the locations are selected or engaged.
The second significant challenge to
digitizing place names has been capturing
the cultural meaning which surrounds a
location. The wealth of knowledge associated with a place name can be found
in the name’s literal reference (such as
the lake name Iqaluktuuttiaq, or ‘place of
good fishing’) but also in stories and songs
that are attributed to that location. While
this information can be communicated in
the form of text retrieved from interview
transcripts, it loses many of the subtleties
inherent to oral performance. The Atlas
provides users with access to video of these
oral performances, allowing them to visually engage with meani ngful details such as
facial expressions and gestures.
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