From Cara Krmpotich
GRASAC’s Knowledge Sharing Platform runs thanks to a lot of “behind-the-scenes” work. This past year, three masters students – Natasha Fares, Shamina Vastani and Connor White – have been revising records to better reflect that the items in the GKS are frequently relatives. Using a reparative description approach, the pair of data stewards have been working to connect Indigenous names and language items within records, place heritage items on our interactive map, and affirm recent agreements between cultural institutions and Indigenous nations regarding sharing their local heritage.
GRASAC co-directors Cara Krmpotich & Heidi Bohaker have calculated it will take four years to revisit all the records in the GKS, but this is an important task as we seek to connect Indigenous artists, youth and researchers with the GKS.
For Shamina, working with Great Lakes heritage was a new experience, but she brought knowledge of embroidery and information systems to bear on her activities with GRASAC. She focused on Canadian Museum of History records. This is Natasha’s second year supporting the GKS, and she recently hit the milestone of editing her 100th record! Natasha focused on relatives at the Detroit Institute of Arts and birdstones at the Royal Ontario Museum. Connor brought their knowledge of archives and records management to bear on archival heritage items in the GKS, creating guidance on how best to blend GRASAC’s multidisciplinary knowledge practices, user-friendliness, and archival description best practices.
GRASAC will be hiring Indigenous data stewards and language advisors for the next three years. If you’re interested in joining the data steward team, please email Cara: cara.krmpotich@utoronto.ca