Dig 2 Display(c)

There is a glaring deficit for Indigenous peoples, especially the youth, to engage with their cultural heritage, histories, and language at culturally significant sites.  A lack of access to technology and engaging content about their culture, history and language are threatening the survival of their languages, oral histories, and ultimately their cultures.  Specifically the Battle of Greasy Grass is predominantly presented in a Western dominant culture from a non-native view point.  The ability to create digital content for this culturally significant event that be consumed both physically and digitally is paramount to the strengthening of their cultural identities and the preservation of their culture, histories, and languages.  We look to solve this problem through a unique solution of presenting their culture in a manner of storytelling, integrating their culture, histories, and language.  Our project will benefit over 114,000 Lakota Sioux members, 11226 Northern Cheyenne members, 12,239 Arapaho members, as well as provide the opportunity to engage with an average of 325,000 visitors to Battle of Greasy Grass site each year with over 100,000 of them visiting the visitor center.  According to worldatlas.com Sioux, Cheyenne, Assiniboine, and Arapaho are all listed as vulnerable or critically endangered languages.  Out of a population of about 180,000 toal Lakota peoples, members and non-members, only about 2200 speak Lakota fluently, only 300 native speakers of Cheyenne are alive per Wikipedia, there are only about 200 speakers of arapaho left. That is 1.2% of all Lakota people, 2.7% of Cheyenne, and 1.6% of Arapaho.  Studies suggest that these languages will be extinct by 2050.  Using technology, we can increase engagement of the youth of these First Nations to make sure these languages survive and flourish.  The strengthening of Indigenous Cultural Identity has been proven to be directly correlated to the ability to engage with their own culture.  Being able to offer an educational opportunity to learn their histories and language from a significant cultural historical event such as the Battle of Greasy Grass will help insure these cultures are not lost, languages preserved and the cultural identity and knowledge of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and the Arapaho are not lost to time and colonializations. 

The solution we propose is integrating RFID technology, GIS mapping and storytelling to create engaging content to deliver oral histories, cultural heritage and language to indigenous youth.  Through the use of photogrammetry, LIDAR, laser scanning, RFID and GIS mapping solutions we can create digital twins of the cultural sites, specifically Greasy Grass, and deliver it to schools and youth throughout the Oglala Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho communities in their languages and telling it from their point of view. This provides a necessary tool to secure their culture going forward as well as create a geospatially curated record of their oral histories for the next seven generations. 

All of the Oceti Sakowin, Oglala Sioux, Standing Rock Sioux, with a greater impact with capacity to all Indigenous peoples 

We have a five year partnership with the Standing Rock Sioux, as well as a partnership with the Oglala Lakota to help deliver educational content to increase and strengthen cultural identities and safeguard their intellectual property for the next seven generations.  We have several members on our team that represent each community we serve and they have direct input in the development and creation of the deliverables. 

We beta tested all of the technology in the summer of 2023 and are now ready to scale and build capacity and reach.  Our beta test mapped and geospatially curated over 700 fossil specimens into a live interactive GIS map that is used for intellectual property curtion and for education of the Standing Rock Sioux youth.  Our reach has been estimated at over 500 youth and thousands of members in the Standing Rock Sioux community. 

We are specifically looking for funding, but also legal help to protect the intellectual property we will create, and training for leadership to be able to scale this program across the country. 

Thomas is the executive director and the lead person in regards to all work we do.  His relationship with the Standing Rock Sioux and the Oglala lakota are the reasons we are able to work on this project. He has personally been working with them for over 3 years now and has secured multi-year partnerships with them.   

As far as I know maps and language curation for culturally significant sites has never been done.  This solution will allow for the curation of oral histories, transfer of indigenous knowledge, and teaching of indigenous languages centered on culturally significant sites, events, fossils, and artifacts.  While simultaneously increasing and strengthening cultural identities for indigenous youth. 

With the lessons learned from Covid and the increased access to broadband on tribal lands, now is the time to begin creating content that can be engaged with online to promote cultural heritage both in these communities but also with outside communities to open dialogue and create a more accepting and diverse world. With the recent policy from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and the statement on Indigenous Knowledge and Historic Preservation there is a focus and determination to create this change and integrate Indigenous Knowledge into history. "The field of historic preservation should ensure that the archaeological sites, historic structures, cultural landscapes, sacred sites, and other sites of religious and cultural importance to Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations (NHOs), and other Indigenous Peoples are equitably considered in decision making." from the new policy from ACHP. Furthering the federal discussion on Indigenous Knowledge, in 2022 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released Guidance for Federal Departments and Agencies on Indigenous Knowledge, an interagency resource meant to promote and enable a broad effort to improve the recognition and inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge. It reaffirms that Indigenous Knowledge should be recognized and, as appropriate, incorporated into decision making, research, and policies.

For the purposes of this policy, the ACHP will primarily utilize the description of Indigenous Knowledge published in the 2022 Guidance for Federal Departments and Agencies on Indigenous Knowledge:
Indigenous Knowledge is a body of observations, oral and written knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed by Tribes, [Native Hawaiians,] and Indigenous Peoples through interaction and experience with the environment. It is applied to phenomena across biological, physical, social, cultural, and spiritual systems. Indigenous Knowledge can be developed over millennia, continues to develop, and includes understanding based on evidence acquired through direct and indirect contact with the environment and long-term experiences, as well as extensive observations, lessons, and skills passed from generation to generation. Each Indian Tribe, Native Hawaiian, and Indigenous community has its own place-based body of knowledge.
Indigenous Knowledge is based in ethical foundations often grounded in social, spiritual, cultural, and natural systems that are frequently intertwined and inseparable, offering a holistic perspective. Indigenous Knowledge is inherently heterogeneous due to the cultural, geographic, and socioeconomic differences from which it is derived, and is shaped by the Indigenous Peoples’ understanding of their history and the surrounding environment. This knowledge is unique to each [Indian Tribe, Native Hawaiian community, or] group of Indigenous Peoples, and each may elect to utilize different terminology or express it in different ways. Indigenous Knowledge is deeply connected to the Indigenous Peoples holding that knowledge.

The time is now to take action to secure Indigenous knowledge, histories, and heritage and allow the story to be told to educate and enrich the lives of the members of these great nations.

1. Increase the number of indigenous language speakers by comparing new data collected to prior collected data.  Based on data supplied above which we reiterate here, currently there are about 2200 fluent speakers of Lakota in a population of about 180,000 people.  This is 1.2% of the lakota population.  For the Northern Cheyenne there are about 300 speakers and a population of about 11,226 people.  This is 2.7% of the population and for the arapaho there are about 200 speakers nd a population of 12,239.  This is 1.6% of their population.  We aim to increase this 10% in 5 years by creating cultural content in these languages to be used to educate their youth on their language while teaching them their history. 

2. We aim at an engagement rate of at least 75% by schools on Tribal lands and look to have 20% engagement by schools in states where there are Indigenous lands and schools. This will be done by monitoring who uses the content and by the number of visitors to the website and time spent on the site. 

3. We look to monitor enrollment numbers for Indigenous students for college and see if there is a correlation between learning through storytelling and their cultural heritage increases further education for indigenous youth that use the material created. 

The main technologies to power or solution are photogrammetry, LIDAR, laser scanning, GIS and StoryMaps. Indigenous technologies that will be used will the oral histories of the sites, indigenous knowledge of the location, and the cultural significance of the sites presented in Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho languages.  All of this being geospatially curated for use in education and outreach. 

We currently do work in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota.  

We are currently talking with Tribal leaders in Minnesota, New Mexico, and Arizona.

2 Full time staff

4 Part time staff

30+ volunteers

2 Contractors

We have been creating GIS solutions for over 3 years. We have been working with Indigenous Nations for over 2 years. 

Our leadership team is made up a very diverse group of people.  We have representation from the Oglala Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux and Ojibwe nations.  We also have members of the African American community involved and over half of our team is made up either woman or LGBTQ commuity members. We are an equal opportunity organization with a mission to make the world available to any one, regardless of their identities. 

We are a 501c3 nonprofit providing service to a diverse group of people and communities.  We offer free paleontological digs to all children 16 and younger, we provide free decompression dinosaur digs for military veterans, and we partner with Indigenous Tribes to bring science and indigenous knowledge together to increase language use and strengthen cultural identity with their youth. In just over 3 years we have taken over 500 kids on digs, take out 10 veterans on decompression digs, geospatially curate dover 1000 fossils for Indigenous Tribes, and reached over 4000 kids through our in person and virtual class room outreach programs. We have provided all of this at no cost to the kids, veterans, tribes or schools. 

We have a multifocal approach to financial sustainability.  We first work with many foundations to secure grant funding for our programs as well sa project such as this.  We also offer products and services for sale to help fund our mission, goals, and programs.  We have been hired by two museums thus far to implement our dig 2 display program in their museum displays as well as to curate their inventory and map out discovery locations.  We are currently working with 3 other museums on projects we will be hired to do. These past projects as well as the interest we are gaining from museums and other institutions bodes well for our financial future. We also have ongoing meetings with potential work in Nigeria, australia, and work on a book to help with managing unmanaged collections for museums. All of which coincide with the geospatial creation we are talking about doing here for the Battle of Greasy Grass. We also believe there will be a market for us to hired by Indigenous Nations to do further work as proposed here once we create and release this project.