Collaborative Research: Linking Maps, Manuscripts, and Place Names Data to Improve Environmental Knowledge in Alaska

该奖项支持一个项目，该项目将编译一个地理数据库，链接阿拉斯加历史地图、手稿以及口述历史和印刷材料中发现的地名数据。该项目建立在北极当地观测和知识交换（ELOKA）项目现有的、经过验证的基础设施的基础上，旨在创建一个可供当前和未来的研究人员和社区成员使用的可持续平台。协作方法将具有阿拉斯加原住民语言和地理（Gary Holton）以及传统知识基于网络的地图和可视化应用程序（Peter Pulsifer）方面的专业知识的研究人员聚集在一起。将地名与地图和手稿联系起来可以使地名研究具有更大的时间深度，因为阿拉斯加原住民语言的档案记录可以追溯到大约三个世纪之前。这里采用的综合方法不是将地名视为互不相关的点的列表，而是揭示了命名地点的配置与景观的社会生态维度之间的联系，从而提供了对环境变化背景下的生物和文化多样性、适应和复原力以及文化价值和生态系统服务的见解。特别是，该项目为地方层面的生物文化多样性研究提供了基础，避免了主观定义的种族和语言界限。通过比较当前和传统的资源利用，可以了解生态系统服务，有助于为政策和管理决策提供信息。该项目开发的开放且可扩展的平台将为研究人员和社区成员的使用提供基础。 K-12 学生可以轻松浏览基于网络的平台和相关移动应用程序，从而有机会将地理和环境学习直接融入课堂。同时，该项目框架具有完整的GIS功能，允许用户使用自己选择的分析工具访问地理语言数据集。 两个合作机构的长期机构承诺使该项目能够发展成为阿拉斯加土著地名数据的标准存储库。

This award supports a project that will compile a geographic database linking place name data found on historic Alaskan maps, manuscripts, and within oral histories and printed materials. The project builds on the existing, proven infrastructure of the Exchange for Local Observations of and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) project to create a sustainable platform accessible to both current and future researchers and community members. A collaborative approach brings together researchers with expertise in Alaska Native languages and geography (Gary Holton) and in web-based mapping and visualization applications for traditional knowledge (Peter Pulsifer). Linking place names with maps and manuscripts allows for a greater time depth in place name research, since the archival record for Alaska Native languages stretches back some three centuries. Rather than viewing place names as lists of disassociated points, the integrative approach adopted here reveals connections between configurations of named places and socio-ecological dimensions of landscape, thus providing insights into biological and cultural diversity, adaptation and resilience, and cultural values and ecosystem services within the context of environmental change. In particular, this project provides a foundation for biocultural diversity research at the local level, avoiding subjectively-defined ethnic and linguistic boundaries. By comparing current and traditional resource use, ecosystem services can be understood, helping to inform policy and management decisions.The open and extensible platform developed by this project will provide a foundation for use by both researchers and community members. The web-based platform and associated mobile apps provided can be easily navigated by K-12 students, yielding opportunities to incorporate geographic and environmental learning directly into the classroom. At the same time, the project framework has full GIS capabilities, allowing users to access geolinguistic datasets with analytical tools of their own choosing. The long-term institutional commitments by the two collaborating institutions positions this project to grow into the standard repository for Indigenous place name data in Alaska.