Recent Posts
- Māori and Iwi investments in multiple data centres in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Aotearoa New Zealand cross-agency survey of use cases for Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- First New Zealand government agency to trial Generative AI
- Māori and First Nations Australia musicians views of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- How AI can help Indigenous language revitalisation, and why data sovereignty is important
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The Phantom Article 4 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi
This article debunks the false narrative that Te Tiriti o Waitangi has a hidden or overlooked Article 4 that gave Māori the right to religious freedom. Despite all political parties agreeing there is no Article 4, that Article 4 is not mentioned in any Waitangi Tribunal Reports and is not a part of any of…
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Scammers target Māori Tangi
In a new threat to Māori online, a new scam is increasing where scammers are creating false social media accounts as death notices and online funeral streaming accounts. Facebook and other social media has become an essential way of communications, particularly with Māori. Many of us find that if we stop using social media, we…
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Māori culture and language observations with ChatGPT
ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It has been discussed by international mainstream media with many academics and education facilities concerned at it’s ability to assist with plagiarised writings and research. As with any new technologies, there is very little Indigenous perspectives or input into developments which…
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Tikanga Associated with Biological Samples
An analysis of traditional Tikanga Māori associated with research, storage and analysis of Māori biological samples including DNA.
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What is a Taonga Species
Comprehensive definition of what a Taonga Species is using mātauranga Māori and cosmology
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Tikanga Tawhito: Tikanga Hou Kaitiaki Guidelines for DNA Research, Storage and Seed Banks with Taonga Materials
As opposed to conforming to Eurocentric values and academic comfort levels, this guideline is the first published bioethics guideline encapsulating traditional and modern mātauranga Māori, to explore ethical research & storage of Māori genetic samples. This is the complete guideline with the ISBN: 978-0-9582597-8-1. Similar to the New Zealand Health system overhaul (2022) to…
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Tikanga: Cell phone on the table you eat from
Tikanga evolves is a common term. Often this means people who were not brought up with mātauranga creating new tikanga while traditional values are forgotten or not transitioned into evolving society. This article discusses several common tikanga about the tapu nature of the head, not putting food on your head, not sitting on a table…
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Why I support a dual name for New Zealand
Aotearoa, while not an original name for New Zealand, has been popularised and is commonly used as the Māori name for the North, South and Stewart Islands. For this reason, I support the dual name being proposed by the Māori Party, to be an official dual name for New Zealand. It is important to note…
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Tikanga with face swapping filters and deep fakes
Using traditional Māori knowledge, I discuss cultural appropriateness of deep fakes and face swapping filters. Some of this discussion is also applicable to Facial Recognition systems. Apart form Māori, this article may be of interest to developers and organizations with Facial Recognition Systems. It is against tikanga Māori (customary beliefs) to have your image on…
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Indigenising through Te Taha Wairua: AI, Algorithms, Data, Internet and IOT
This article indigenises the Internet and the global digital eco-system which is often called the Web or digital network, and has been specifically written to assist with understanding Data sovereignty, Internet, systems, robotics, algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) from a customary Māori perspective. For those who have been reading my series of articles, this is…
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Māori business self identification – end of racist profiling
Stuff reported a story that Māori businesses will soon have the opportunity to self identify as Maori. For the first time, a national register will let companies say if they identify as a Māori business. A change to the National Business Number register will give Māori enterprises the option to record data that identifies them…
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Eroding tikanga of the hongi
The recent introduction of kissing females on the cheek and ignoring the customary practice of a hongi creates a number of issues including the loss of tikanga and the real possibility of discriminating against people in our community. THe earliest written account in the South Island of Ngai Tahu of the traditional practice of the…
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Online learning and tikanga Māori
This article is for Whānau, Māori: students, teachers and academics. The same principles can be applied to working remotely online. I have recently heard it stated that online learning is not tika, it is not right and that it is not our tikanga as our tikanga is kanohi ki kanohi, face to face. This article…
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Karakia or cultural appropriation
This article is about karakia in post-colonial New Zealand and introduced religious influences that have changed Māori cultural beliefs and practices. This is not an article about religions and what religion is the more appropriate. Every person has a right to practice their own religious beliefs without hurting others or being hurt because of their…
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Waitangi Day 2020: Flag cultural faux pa
The Christchurch City Council (CCC) and the Okains Bay Māori and Colonial Museum held their 45th Waitangi Day celebration with a citizenship ceremony at Opara (Okains Bay), Banks Peninsula, South Island. The Christchurch City Council and the Okains Bay Māori and Colonial Museum chose to ignore flying the national Māori flag recognised by the New…
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Indigenising knowledge of Telecommunications and Smart Phones
The complete paper in a pdf format can be downloaded here. An introduction, explanation and indigenising of current day natural phenomena radio technologies that are used for technologies such as 3G, 4G and 5G for mobile phones and indigenises modern day smart phones. Then, the paper compares pre colonial communications and traditional knowledge to explain…
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Submission to the Law Commission: DNA in Criminal Investigations
In 2019 the Law Commission called for public submissions regarding the Use of DNA in Criminal Investigations. This is my public submission and impacts on Māori culture and Tikanga Māori. Introduction What is a Taonga Why DNA is a Taonga C.1 Tikanga C.2 Traditional Knowledge Data Sovereignty of DNA samples Māori world view Recommendations References…
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DNA is a Taonga: A Customary Māori Perspective
Introduction What is a Taonga Tikanga –Whakapapa – Mauri – Wairua Traditional Knowledge Loss of customary knowledge Data Sovereignty of DNA samples Digital Colonisation Tikanga Test Links of Interest References Download the paper in pdf Introduction This paper was originally written in direct response to the Law Commission’s public consultation (and forms a part of…
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Data is a Taonga. A customary Māori perspective
Also see Māori Data is a Taonga Chapter Also of interest and diverse views, an interview in English with myself, Tau Henare and Ngapera Riley discussing Māori Data as a Taonga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57nFcXAycFg 2018 version (original) This paper has been written to fill a void of information about data being a taonga and why there are…
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Artificial Intelligence and Māori
I was interviewed to contribute a Māori perspective to the The Artificial Intelligence Forum of New Zealand (AIFNZ) inaugural report. It appears as though only my statement was published with no acknowledgements. In the whole report Māori is only considered in the Part Three: AI and Society, Artificial Intelligence Shaping a Future New Zealand. The…
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Tikanga Māori considerations with digital apps
This analysis uses two apps offered by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and looks at their tikanga and privacy issues. The purpose of the article is to raise awareness of traditional knowledge being used to create new ideas to attract youth Māori to new initiatives such as education and being proud to be Māori. Their third…
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Māori cultural ethical considerations in Digital Security
A presentation given to the BSidesWLG 2017 conference on Māori cultural ethical considerations in Information Security (infosec). The point of the presentation was to very broadly and at a high level touch on private and government infosec communities to raise awareness of tikanga Māori issues. The presentation is available here. BSidesWLG is a diverse and inclusive information…
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Ngai Tahu Pepeha and mihimihi resource
Identifying ancestry and family links with a person’s tribal affiliations and whakapapa (genealogy) to the land via pepeha (formulaic expression of ancestral connections) is one of the most common and integral forms of identification in the Māori world: hence the common question “Nō hea koe?” translated as “Where are you from?” This scoping report will…
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Digital Whakapapa and image considerations
Digitising whakapapa records and images of tipuna to be shared on the Internet is increasingly becoming common practice without any discussion about the consequences. Internet protection agencies such as NetSafe have no cultural resources to advise Maori of potential issues. Whakapapa and tipuna images including images of the dead, that are accessed via wifi Internet…
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Iwi Citizen or Tribal Member
The terms ‘tribal member’ and ‘hapū member’ are colonial terms with a number of detrimental connotations. Many Indigenous Peoples of the world have suffered the same fate with colonial and derogatory terms to describe them. The definition of the word ‘tribal’ includes a division of a barbarous race of people. The definition of the word…
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Protecting digital ancestor images
Digitising images of ancestors, taonga and places of cultural value and then sharing the image with whanau and friends on the Internet is common, as it is quick and easy to share with multiple people with just a few clicks of a button. Regularly I see ancestor images at marae being photographed on someones smart…
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Keyboard warrior definition
The definition of a keyboard warrior is often used by non technically literate people as a derogatory term applied to online trolls/cyberbully and people who are online activists using technology to fight and raise concerns for a cause. Warrior is a term often reserved for elite special forces, learned people of fighting arts and experts of contact sports.…
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Ethnographers for digital Maori world?
The digital age has many unknown consequences for Māori culture and history. I question if we need to be our own ethnographers in this rapidly changing digital world? Writing whakapapa or other important information for future generations in the sand at the low tide mark with no other record verbal or written is similar to writing a message on…
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Digital whakapapa, where is it – Digital authorship and founders?
The nature of the web and digital technologies leads Māori ICT organisations, kupu hou creation, Māori related software, web sites and digital tools to by default, ignore whakapapa in the digital world. I have already spoken widely about tikanga in the digital world on my site. Māori stories from many generations ago remind us of the early…
