Indigenous knowledge Essay

The project is the instrument for supporting, collecting and storing indigenous knowledge provided by the diverse community population. As long as the project is aimed at creating neighbourhood portals to store oral, pictorial and other creations of community members (Vancouver Community Network, 2001), the use of this tool will lead to effective sharing and transferring the indigenous knowledge among different community members. Funding issues Funding remains one of the most problematic areas in any non-profit community-based project. (Baum, HS 2001, p. 21) As a result, the current project does not provide the readers with sufficient financial information. It is understandable, that Vancouver Community Network is a stable developing organisation with financial issues professionally addressed (brief information is provided on the system of organization’s revenues, membership fees and similar financial data). (Vancouver Community Network, 2001) It is yet unclear, what the exact resources of project financing would be and how they would comply with the community project requirements. Organizational challenges and dilemmas The major challenge faced by project organisers is in dealing with diverse community populations. Diversity has traditionally been admitted as a serious barrier to the development of technological tools. (Vancouver Community Network, 2001) Though project initiators recognise diversity as one of the organizational issues, there is still vast area of research to be conducted, whether the project will lead to equal access and outcomes for all layers of community population. Traditional and non-traditional project approaches The traditional striving towards provision of the vulnerable communities with the opportunities to learn and interact has been supplemented by the new idea of using Internet to enhance community resources. (Vancouver Community Network, 2001) It has become an essential aspect of the project development. This is why the project is expected to be successful in promoting community interactions, indigenous knowledge transfers, discussions of the local issues and learning opportunities on the equity bases. Conclusion. Despite the fact that the project contains several ‘weak’ aspects to be re-considered, its initial idea will prove to be a success in case the discussed problematic areas are properly addressed. Otherwise, the existing social issues and related problems may become a serious organisational obstacle on the way of project development and implementation. Bibliography Atherton, JS 2005, Learning and teaching: Reflection and reflective practices. Retrieved September 30, 2007 from http://www. learningandteaching. info/learning/reflecti. htm Baum, HS 2001, ‘How should we evaluate community initiatives?’, Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 67, pp. 19-22 Day, P & Schuler, D 2004, Community practice in the network society: Local action, global interaction, Routledge, London. Messinger, L 2004, ‘Comprehensive community initiatives’, Social Work, vol. 94, pp. 39-41 Vancouver Community Network 2001, Vancouver Community Learning Network. Retrieved September 30, 2007 from http://www2. vcn. bc. ca/ Wack, P 2006, ‘Planning for sustainability: Creating livable, equitable, and ecological communities’, Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 72, pp. 123-131 .