Why Protocol?
Merriam Webster Dictionary Definition Protocol: a set of conventions governing the treatment and especially the formatting of data in an electronic communications system.
Within an Indigenous context:
“Protocols exist as standards of behaviour used by people to show respect to one another. Cultural protocol refers to the customs, lore and codes of behaviour of a particular cultural group and a way of conducting business. It also refers to the protocols and procedures used to guide the observance of traditional knowledge and practices, including how traditional knowledge is used, recorded and disseminated. Aboriginal societies developed through a custodial ethic: the repetition of an action such as that, gradually over time, the ethic becomes the norm. These rights, rituals and customs are firmly rooted by a deep, symbiotic relationship to Country itself and are the basis of Aboriginal cultural practices.”
– Abdilla, A. (Oct. 2018) “Beyond Imperial Tools: Beyond Imperial Tools: Future-Proofing Technology Through Indigenous Governance and Traditional Knowledge Systems.” Technology as Cultural Practice, p. 69
Image: Map of trade routes and storylines linking Aboriginal nations across Australia (David Mowaljarlai)
Questions we seek to address in the co-production, building and testing of Indigenous Protocols against culturally sustainable Artificial Intelligence
- Which actors, human and non-human, past, present, and future are affected by a protocol?
- What raw materials and knowledges are needed to create and enact a protocol?
- What do different actors, Custodians, Elders receive in return for the gifting of raw materials and knowledges?
- What methods are necessary to build and enact certain protocols in a culturally responsible way?
- What is transformed by a protocol? What are the direct and indirect impacts?
- How can the ongoing use of the outcomes and outputs formed through a protocol be utilised in a culturally responsible way?