Education Disguised...

The wide world of the inter-webs; it provides us with an excellent way to research, study, collect data and waste time all at once. Going to school through an on-line setting is not conducive to ensuring that most of my time is spent in a productive manner. THANKFULLY, we have great resources for our FPONA class that come in line with some of the ways that I have been known to waste time. Looking at maps and learning interesting facts seems more like a time waster than a productive use of my afternoon. Having a plethora of choices with multitudes of interactive maps to choose from was a great way for me to “research and collect data”, which also ended up delaying the writing of this post for a bit longer than I preferred. OOOPS!

Looking over the wondrous choices for this modules blog assignment, I saw one that really struck my fancy. Developed by a Minnesota based non-profit organization the Map of United States Indians by State is a cartographic gold mine. The non-profit that developed the site called Native Languages of the Americas, who are “dedicated to the survival of Native American Languages” (Lewis). The sheer volume of information available through this site, which could/should be more aptly named a portal, is incredible. I think the access that this site provides to other works around the internet is amazing.

There are very few frills with the Native American Language information repository (sounds a bit well, more… don’t you think?), but what they lack in gadgets and gizmos they make up for in quantity and quality. I am learning a lot about the Nez Percé, or Nimi'ipuu, and looked into their traditional homes in Washington, Oregon and Idaho via their interactive map (Lewis). I had the opportunity to wade through picture based language glossaries, peruse through ethnographic tomes discussing the Nimi'ipuu people via Northwestern University’s digital library, and read the biography of one of the great Nez Percé chieftains, Chief Joseph.

I believe this online resource to be top-notch and really give an average-Joe the ability to get at the very least a wave-top view of the various tribes and regions of Native Culture in the United States. By utilizing information portals such as this one, it is truly possible for people to grasp how expansive the cultural history of Native Peoples in North America really is.

Last time I left you with a quote from an excellent movie, and this time I would like to present the answers to the challenge posed:

Movie Title: Dances with Wolves (1990)

Speaker: Lt. John J. Dunbar, played by Kevin Costner

Number of Oscars wins: 7 (incl. Best Picture and Best Director via IMDB.com)

Works Cited

Lewis, Orrin ed. Native Languages of the Americas: Preserving and promoting American Indian Languages. Native Languages of the Americas, 2013. Web. 15 Mar 2014. http://www.native-languages.org/states.htm