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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the following questions: what is the origin of the concepts of documents and documentation? Are there a need for these concepts in every culture? Who gives the terms for their definitions, and what are the consequences of different terminology?

The authors use interdisciplinary methodology, combining document and information theory and Sámi linguistics. The aim of this paper is to discuss documentation from the perspective of the Sámi, with some examples from other indigenous groups.

Oral accounts, legends, traditional songs and traces in the landscape are seen as documents and documentation in Sámi and other indigenous cultures. The paper presents different theories in order to interpret and understand the specific information content in indigenous forms of documentation.

Indigenous ways of documentation have been accepted as valid proof of ownership or the right to extensive use of land resources. When no written records exist, oral testimonies and the landscape itself can be seen as documenting traditional use and has been accepted as evidence in high courts in Norway and Canada. The authors have also seen that the rich Sámi snow terminology is used as concepts in different fields of natural sciences.

The Sámi understanding of the concepts of document and documentation contributes to the traditional information and documentation disciplines by introducing ways of seeing natural phenomenon as fundamental forms of information.

Commercial entities have recently expressed growing interest in commercialising indigenous knowledge (IK) due to its enormous economic and intrinsic value. As this happens, custodial communities must not be disadvantaged in the process. This paper aims to understand the legal framework of the commercialisation of IK to identify the opportunities and factors impeding or affecting the commercialisation of indigenous knowledge in Kenya.

The study used a qualitative research approach. An extensive exploratory literature review of existing legal instruments was done to establish the progress and gaps for commercialising indigenous knowledge in Kenya.

The study shows that the legal framework of IK in Kenya is inadequate. There are no well-established frameworks and policies to protect IK in Kenya, and thus, host communities are subjected to exploitation. The diversity of tribes and communities makes it challenging to have a clear framework, mainly because IK is a devolved function. The study identifies the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Cultural Expressions Act 2016, The National Museums and Heritage Act 2006 and the Natural Products Industry as the key milestones towards commercialisation of IK, while inadequate documentation of IK, communal ownership and inadequate legislation were identified as the main impediments to commercialisation of IK in Kenya.

Owing to the diverse cultures and tribal communities in Kenya, the research could not access all the literature on all traditional IK in Kenya, and very few case studies have been conducted in Kenya.

The gaps identified in the legal framework can form a basis for legislation, policy change, actions and research needed to improve the commercialisation of IK.

The paper underscores the importance of balancing economic empowerment with preserving cultural integrity and protecting indigenous rights in commercialisation.

This opinion piece by Brye Marshall, an Aboriginal archaeologist, and Julie Nichols, an academic in architecture and digital humanities, explores the agency and authority of intangible cultural heritage [ICH], particularly from a First Nations’ perspective.

They consider how ICH is defined, valued, and supported within contemporary cultural institutions like galleries, libraries, archives, and museums [GLAM], which are custodians of Australian cultural heritage. The piece discusses the challenges of recording Indigenous arts and knowledge outside of Indigenous communities, without recognition or benefits to Indigenous people. The discussion extends to the Western-centric definition of cultural heritage and its limitation in recognising Indigenous world views. The authors acknowledge ongoing debates around best practice in acknowledging Indigenous knowledge and narratives in historical records.

This chapter concludes that redefining ICH from Indigenous perspectives could empower communities, redefine heritage definitions, and contribute to global conversations about heritage, climate change, urban development, and connection to land.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) preservation efforts in South Africa, with a focus on the National Recordal System and the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centres (IKSDCs) across South Africa.

Anchored in the interpretivist paradigm, the qualitative research approach was adopted to explore the objectives of the study. The multiple case study method was considered appropriate and adopted for the study. The data for this study was collected through comprehensive face-to-face interviews and Web content analysis. The population of the study consisted of the staff at the IKSDCs in the selected academic institutions. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the following set of participants in each academic institution: IKS managers/coordinators, digitization officers and online collection administrators.

The findings provide an in-depth understanding of the IKS landscape in South Africa. The findings and recommendations of this paper would be useful to researchers who wish to know more about digitization efforts in South Africa. It would also be useful to all stakeholders and policymakers.

The paper brings to the fore the efforts of the South African government in preserving IKS through documentation and digitization. The paper highlights the sources of indigenous knowledge, types of indigenous knowledge captured, how the indigenous knowledge is ingested in the repositories and how the data is captured. Generally, the roles of the IKSDCs in the capture and preservation of IKS are highlighted.

The Sámis are the indigenous population of Northern Scandinavia. When the oppressive policy against the Sámi population in Norway was lightened during the 1960s, many Sámi communities established language and cultural centers for documentation and development of their language and cultural heritage as the oral tradition lost its ground in the modernization process. This paper aims to discuss how Sámi cultural centers use documentation both as a way of remembering the past and as a political strategy in order to produce evidence for land and water claims.

The Sámi centers are many‐faceted institutions and document theory is suggested as a theoretical perspective in order to analyze why these institutions were established and how they are functioning today.

Two cases are presented. The first shows how the centers use documentation as a technique for restoring the past. The second is a ruling in the Norwegian High Court that shows a new turn in what can be accepted as documents proving indigenous land and water claims.

This article is an attempt to introduce document theory as an analytical tool for analyzing the documentation processes in indigenous cultural centers.

Traditional cultural expression (TCE) includes music, dance, art, designs, names, signs and symbols, performances, ceremonies, architectural forms, handicrafts and narratives or many other artistic or cultural expressions [World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO)]. To constitute TCEs, the expressions must form part of the identity and heritage of a traditional or indigenous community and need to be passed down from generation to generation (Kuprecht, 2014). This paper aims to analyse the protection of TCE in Malaysia by focusing on the Mah Meri tribe. This paper examines copyright over TCE, recordation as a means of preserving a dying tradition and customary practices and native law.

Information is drawn from personal discussions with the weavers and carvers of the Mah Meri tribe, and a focus group discussion with subject matter experts. As a way of comparison, a personal visit has been made to Sarawak Biodiversity Centre, Sarawak Native Courts, the Dayak Iban Association and Dayak Bidayuh Association.

The research found that copyright law has no specific provision for the protection of TCEs. Customary practices of the indigenous people and the native law of Sarawak have limited effect outside their traditional domain. Recordation and documentation of TCEs are the prime initiatives, but the documents or the recordings do not carry any legal status.

The research is limited only to the Mah Meri tribe with a comparison drawn to the Dayak Iban and Dayak Bidayuh tribe.

The research examines the practical implications of copyright and recording and documentation of cultural expression in Malaysia.

The research sets to unearth and highlight the ideation process in a tribal setting and how that clashes with the formal creation setting in a modern intellectual property system.

This paper was presented at the IAITL Congress 2013. It also appeared in the Conference Proceedings edited by Slyvia Kieerkgard, but it has not been published in any journals.

The purpose of this study is to assess the digital preservation policies and plans for long-term digital preservation in selected repositories in South Africa, with a view to develop a digital preservation framework for the preservation of Indigenous knowledge system (IKS) in South Africa.

Through the multiple case study research design, data was obtained from eight respondents in four Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centers (IKSDCs) in institutions that are part of the National Recordal Systems (NRS) initiative across four provinces in South Africa using in-depth face-to-face interviews. Data collected was also supplemented with the content analysis of several policy documents in South Africa.

The findings reveal that there are no digital preservation policies in place in the institutions, especially long-term digital preservation for IKS. However, some of the institutions are formulating policies that will include the management of IKS collected in the institutions. This study also reveals that digital curation, policy formulation and disaster preparedness plans to some extent are measures said to be in place for the digital preservation of IKS.

This study focuses mainly on the NRS initiative in South Africa. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) related to traditional medicine, traditional plants and food are currently being digitized at the IKSDCs by IK recorders. This study will help in ensuring that the South African Government’s effort and investment in digitizing IKS and making them accessible online is not wasted. This study will help mitigate the risk of damage and alteration over time, either deliberately or in error.

This study fills a gap in the literature on the digitization and digital preservation of IKS from the context of the NRS project in South Africa. Very few studies have been carried out on the digital preservation of IKS in Africa. This study also proposed a framework for the digital preservation of IKS in South Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential or actual role of rural libraries in preserving indigenous knowledge (IK) of the rural residents in South Khorasan province.

The study, based on a qualitative research, was carried out by employing the grounded theory method. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews from the research sample population which included 20 rural males, 10 rural females, 8 librarians and 3 well-informed regional IK specialists. The validity of the research was confirmed by peer evaluation, compounded by detailed thorough explanations and external reviewers’ reaffirmations.

The rural residents of the South Khorasan villages across the province, after having realized the vitality of carrying out this project, were fully motivated and cooperative to provide indigenous knowledge. On the basis of the results from the rural libraries, due to being the solitary knowledge center in the area, these libraries could actively participate in preserving the knowledge and contribute toward the documentation of the indigenous knowledge. This required motivating librarians and increasing their professional, technical, research and verbal skills. The results of the study indicated that, even if the rural libraries of the South Khorasan province did not participate in documentation, preservation, and promotion of the IK and opt for the present form of non-participation, due to their inherent nature, they could become a focal point and play an indispensable role in achieving the objectives by aiding and leading the process at country level and become a focal point for the new generations of rural inhabitants to enlighten themselves and become fully aware of the value of the ancestral knowledge.

Hitherto, none of the researchers in Iran has covered the role of the libraries in general and rural libraries in particular in preserving the indigenous knowledge.

Indigenous farmers have, for centuries, applied practices which maintained resilient and sustainable landscapes. Thus, understanding and preserving the agricultural knowledge of Indigenous farmers may enhance the knowledge base of sustainable agriculture. The purpose of this paper is to review current research in the fields of Indigenous knowledge and sustainability to present a research approach which enables a cohesive global way forward for future research projects seeking to understand and preserve Indigenous agricultural knowledge.

This study applied thematic analysis to review 57 research studies in the field of Indigenous knowledge and sustainability. Key themes were identified from four overarching criteria: research methodology, data input, output and outcomes.

The findings revealed a range of commonalities among the 57 research studies reviewed. This study proposes the research should continue to seek to understand and preserve Indigenous knowledge, however, research needs to go beyond simply documenting Indigenous knowledge. The way forward requires research of Indigenous agricultural knowledge to establish databases, digital repositories (including oral, video, visual) and online repositories with globally shared access, whilst acknowledging and acting in partnership with Indigenous farmers and their communities.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is an original study which has practical implications for enhancing research outcomes with regard to preservation of Indigenous knowledge. The findings of this study may be used to influence research policy formulation and implementation.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the role of information and communication technology (ICT) using a knowledge management (KM) approach. The knowledge in the context of this paper refers to indigenous knowledge.

The paper is based on a literature review.

The discussion suggests that, in spite of various infrastructural limitations in Africa, KM applications can still play a vital role in indigenous knowledge management and consequently empowering Africa's development.

The major hindrance is the fact that Africa has thus far achieved little on its own; rather it has been emulating the progress made in the developed world. Because of this, there is a scarcity of in‐depth knowledge related to an African context. In truth, some areas in which ICT has the potential to change, pertaining to the economy and society, have not been observed in any way. More research is required to identify specific needs of a country.

The paper supposes that in spite of all these variations and implications KM can be adapted for indigenous knowledge. The paper contributes in terms of the literature review to showing how tacit knowledge can be managed using ICT. It can be useful for the researchers and knowledge workers. Recommendations are made concerning what needs to be done to improve ICT conditions in Africa such as: ICT policy formulation; literacy programs; legal and regulatory framework; manpower training; and empowerment of local people.

Little has been done in Africa to explore the potential of using ICT as a mechanism with a knowledge management approach, in the thrust of Africa's development. This paper proposes how it is possible to use ICT to manage and disseminate indigenous knowledge.