How Indigenous traditional knowledge is improving our understanding of aurora borealis; CBC Radio, December 22, 2024

Adam Killick , CBC Radio; How Indigenous traditional knowledge is improving our understanding of aurora borealis

"While modern science explains the mechanism of the aurora borealis, members of First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities say that their traditional knowledge, which goes back thousands of years, can help explain its meaning — in mythology, legend and even weather forecasting. 

The two ways of knowing can be complementary, said Jennifer Howse, an education specialist at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, just north of Calgary. Howse is also a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta."

Biden Interior Dept puts together handbook to apply 'indigenous knowledge' into agency practices; Fox News, November 19, 2024

Alec Schemmel , Fox News; Biden Interior Dept puts together handbook to apply 'indigenous knowledge' into agency practices

[Kip Currier: This Fox News article on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) -- also called Traditional Knowledge (TK) -- traffics in "scare/sneer quotes" and is framed from the get-go by its author as a cautionary example of the suggested excesses and dangers of inclusion. This other-ing strategy is a frequent Fox News tactic. In this instance, that tactic seeks to undermine the legitimacy of IK by inferring that the very idea that Native Peoples might be able to contribute to the practice of science is radically unconventional.

The overall aim of the piece has one goal: to marginalize and discredit the inclusion of Native American perspectives in U.S. Interior Department decisions that impact issues like mining, timbering, and drilling on public lands and/or near national parks and wildlife areas.

The Biden administration's Department of the Interior, through the groundbreaking leadership of Deb Haaland -- the first Native American head of the department in its 175-year history -- has, for the first time, instituted policy that includes the knowledge and expertise of Indigenous Peoples. The inclusion of Native persons at decision-making tables that impact their sovereign lands is anathema to the incoming pro-drilling Trump administration because of fears that those perspectives may impede their unchecked economic agenda. As the AP reported on November 22, 2024, in nominating a pro-fossil fuel governor Doug Burghum to replace Haaland as Interior's head:

Donald Trump assigned Doug Burgum a singular mission in nominating the governor of oil-rich North Dakota to lead an agency that oversees a half-billion acres of federal land and vast areas offshore: “Drill baby drill.”

https://apnews.com/article/interior-burgum-public-lands-oil-gas-trump-97f7bc583f0a0de0fb16ea6f89bfbaf1

To better understand IK and TK, let's look at a few definitions from reputable sources. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, describes TK as:

knowledge, know-how, skills and practices that are developed, sustained and passed on from generation to generation within a community, often forming part of its cultural or spiritual identity.

While there is not yet an accepted definition of TK at the international level, it can be said that:

TK in a general sense embraces the content of knowledge itself as well as traditional cultural expressions, including distinctive signs and symbols associated with TK.
TK in the narrow sense refers to knowledge as such, in particular the knowledge resulting from intellectual activity in a traditional context, and includes know-how, practices, skills, and innovations.

Traditional knowledge can be found in a wide variety of contexts, including: agricultural, scientific, technical, ecological and medicinal knowledge as well as biodiversity-related knowledge.

https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/tk/

The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) provides this explanation of IK (accessed on 11/26/24):

Indigenous Knowledge is a body of observations, oral and written knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed by Tribes and Indigenous Peoples through interaction and experience with the environment.11 It is applied to phenomena across biological, physical, social, cultural, and spiritual systems.12 Indigenous Knowledge can be developed over millennia, continues to develop, and includes understanding based on evidence acquired through direct contact with the environment and long-term experiences, as well as extensive observations, lessons, and skills passed from generation to generation.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tek/description.htm

UNESCO, a UN agency based in Paris, France, defines TK as:

Knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities around the world. Developed from experience gained over the centuries and adapted to the local culture and environment, traditional knowledge is transmitted orally from generation to generation. It tends to be collectively owned and takes the form of stories, songs, folklore, proverbs, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, community laws, local language and agricultural practices, including the development of plant species and animal breeds. Traditional knowledge is mainly of a practical nature, particularly in such fields as agriculture, fisheries, health, horticulture, forestry and environmental management in general.

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), Article 8(j): Traditional knowledge and the convention on biological diversity, 2007.

https://uis.unesco.org/en/glossary-term/traditional-knowledge#

Now, having looked at those descriptions of IK/TK, notice what the reporter does in their second paragraph, copied here:

The notion of "indigenous knowledge" puts forward that Native groups possess an understanding about the natural world that others do not, due to their ethnic background.

Observe the quotes around the phrase "indigenous knowledge", as if to call that designation into question. Note, too, the intentional selection of the word "notion", i.e. a belief about something.

The construction "Native groups possess an understanding about the natural world that others do not" neglects to acknowledge that Native Peoples have demonstrated that they do have oral and written traditions going back for generations that can offer unique insights and useful observations about this world. As just one example, a March 2024 Guardian article reported on how observations made by First Nations peoples in British Columbia, Canada enabled the discovery of a "coral reef that scientists say ‘shouldn’t exist’:

For generations, members of the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations, two communities off the Central Coast region of British Columbia, had noticed large groups of rockfish congregating in a fjord system.

In 2021, researchers and the First Nations, in collaboration with the Canadian government, deployed a remote-controlled submersible to probe the depths of the Finlayson Channel, about 300 miles north-west of Vancouver.

On the last of nearly 20 dives, the team made a startling discovery – one that has only recently been made public.

“When we started to see the living corals, everyone was in doubt,” says Cherisse Du Preez, head of the deep-sea ecology program at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “Then, when we saw the expansive fields of coral in front of us, everybody just let loose. There were a lot of pure human emotions.

The magnitude of this discovery in Canada is unprecedented:

The following year, the team mapped Lophelia Reef, or q̓áuc̓íwísuxv, as it has been named by the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations. It is the country’s only known living coral reef.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/15/canada-moves-to-protect-coral-reef-that-scientists-say-shouldnt-exist

 

However, the extraordinary find of Canada's "only known living coral reef" should not be seen as an isolated one-off; rather, it is another exemplar of ways that IK can work in complementary fashion with Western research to yield advancements in knowledge. As the 2024 coral reef discovery article explains:

The discovery marks the latest in a string of instances in which Indigenous knowledge has directed researchers to areas of scientific or historic importance. More than a decade ago, Inuk oral historian Louie Kamookak compared Inuit stories with explorers’ logbooks and journals to help locate Sir John Franklin’s lost ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. In 2014, divers located the wreck of the Erebus in a spot Kamookak suggested they search, and using his directions found the Terror two years later.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/15/canada-moves-to-protect-coral-reef-that-scientists-say-shouldnt-exist

 

Furthermore, the Fox News reporter's phrase "due to their ethnic background", arguably, seeks to portray IK/TK as an example of "woke-ness". It's an effort by the reporter to trigger listeners/viewers to dismiss the value of knowledge that derives from Native Peoples. The writer's chosen language strives to depict Native Americans as exceptional from other peoples; this too is another well-used Fox News play: pitting groups against each other to foster divisiveness and distrust.

The bottom line of my critique of this reporter's take on IK/TK is that no one credibly is suggesting that IK/TK must or should supplant Western-based science. Rather, IK/TK is knowledge that can complement other types of science. Indeed, the abstract of this 11/22/24 peer-reviewed article "Rethinking natural hazards research and engagement to include co-creation with Indigenous communities" underscores the value of what the researchers refer to as "bi-lateral knowledge exchange":

Indigenous peoples are widely affected by natural hazards and their history and knowledge can directly inform on past events and mitigation strategies. Here we show how effective co-creation of resources and bi-lateral knowledge exchange between natural hazard researchers and local Indigenous communities provides an effective, equitable, and sustainable way to conduct research.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44304-024-00034-7 

The phrase "bi-lateral knowledge exchange" sheds light on one more of Fox News' game tactics: rather than "and" Fox wants its viewers to see everything as an "either/or" end game. In other words, not Western science and Indigenous Knowledge. But rather either Western science or Indigenous Knowledge. Co-existence is possible, and exchanges of knowledge can even be advantageous.]

[Excerpt from Fox News article]

"Officials at the Department of the Interior are pushing to finalize a new "implementation handbook" to guide agency decision makers on how to "apply indigenous knowledge" in their day-to-day work. 

The notion of "indigenous knowledge" puts forward that Native groups possess an understanding about the natural world that others do not, due to their ethnic background.

The aim of the new chapter in the agency-wide manual is to "equitably promote the inclusion of indigenous knowledge," but this new supplemental handbook lays out methods for "applying" indigenous knowledge into departmental practices, such as scientific research, environmental compliance work, community resiliency and more...

The nearly 150-page handbook includes a litany of other "approaches" to applying indigenous knowledge into the agency's practices, including how to create "an ethical space to receive indigenous knowledge" and information about how to shield "sensitive" indigenous knowledge from public disclosure laws."

Intellectual property and data privacy: the hidden risks of AI; Nature, September 4, 2024

Amanda Heidt , Nature; Intellectual property and data privacy: the hidden risks of AI

"Timothée Poisot, a computational ecologist at the University of Montreal in Canada, has made a successful career out of studying the world’s biodiversity. A guiding principle for his research is that it must be useful, Poisot says, as he hopes it will be later this year, when it joins other work being considered at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia. “Every piece of science we produce that is looked at by policymakers and stakeholders is both exciting and a little terrifying, since there are real stakes to it,” he says.

But Poisot worries that artificial intelligence (AI) will interfere with the relationship between science and policy in the future. Chatbots such as Microsoft’s Bing, Google’s Gemini and ChatGPT, made by tech firm OpenAI in San Francisco, California, were trained using a corpus of data scraped from the Internet — which probably includes Poisot’s work. But because chatbots don’t often cite the original content in their outputs, authors are stripped of the ability to understand how their work is used and to check the credibility of the AI’s statements. It seems, Poisot says, that unvetted claims produced by chatbots are likely to make their way into consequential meetings such as COP16, where they risk drowning out solid science.

“There’s an expectation that the research and synthesis is being done transparently, but if we start outsourcing those processes to an AI, there’s no way to know who did what and where the information is coming from and who should be credited,” he says...

The technology underlying genAI, which was first developed at public institutions in the 1960s, has now been taken over by private companies, which usually have no incentive to prioritize transparency or open access. As a result, the inner mechanics of genAI chatbots are almost always a black box — a series of algorithms that aren’t fully understood, even by their creators — and attribution of sources is often scrubbed from the output. This makes it nearly impossible to know exactly what has gone into a model’s answer to a prompt. Organizations such as OpenAI have so far asked users to ensure that outputs used in other work do not violate laws, including intellectual-property and copyright regulations, or divulge sensitive information, such as a person’s location, gender, age, ethnicity or contact information. Studies have shown that genAI tools might do both1,2."

The government dropped its case against Gang Chen. Scientists still see damage done; WBUR, February 16, 2022

Max Larkin, WBUR ; The government dropped its case against Gang Chen. Scientists still see damage done

"When federal prosecutors dropped all charges against MIT professor Gang Chen in late January, many researchers rejoiced in Greater Boston and beyond.

Chen had spent the previous year fighting charges that he had lied and omitted information on U.S. federal grant applications. His vindication was a setback for the "China Initiative," a controversial Trump-era legal campaign aimed at cracking down on the theft of American research and intellectual property by the Chinese government.

Researchers working in the United States say the China Initiative has harmed both their fellow scientists and science itself — as a global cooperative endeavor. But as U.S.-China tensions remain high, the initiative remains in place."

McGill institute takes open science to a new level; University Affairs/Affaires universitaires, April 19, 2017

Tim Lougheed, University Affairs/Affaires universitaires; 

McGill institute takes open science to a new level

"According to Richard Gold, a professor in McGill’s faculty of law, that steep price tag should not surprise advocates of what has been dubbed the open science initiative. These advocates regularly invoke the mantra that “knowledge wants to be free,” but such freedom comes with a daunting checklist that can only be completed by paying for a great deal of time, talent and physical resources.

“The data has to be collected, you have to make sense of it, curate it, you have to build the software, you have to have the hardware to deliver it, you have to make sure the format of the data is what people want, that it’s precise enough, that we’re transparent about how the data was collected,” says Dr. Gold...

For his part, Dr. Rouleau has seen little to suggest that the effect will be anything but positive for all concerned. During early consultations with the research community, he was greeted by a range of responses to this attempt to resolve what he calls the “perverse effect” of intellectual property."

President Obama to Host White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh; University of Pittsburgh Press Release, 8/30/16

Joe Miksch, University of Pittsburgh Press Release; President Obama to Host White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh:

"President Obama will travel to Pittsburgh Oct. 13 to host the White House Frontiers Conference, a national convening that the White House is cohosting with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University to explore the future of innovation here and around the world. The convening will include topics in the November issue of WIRED, which will be guest-edited by the president on the theme of “Frontiers.” The conference will focus on building U.S. capacity in science, technology, and innovation, and the new technologies, challenges, and goals that will continue to shape the 21st century and beyond.

The White House Frontiers Conference will bring together some of the world’s leading innovators in Pittsburgh to discuss how investing in science and technology frontiers will help improve lives, including progress and investments that are keeping America and Americans on the cutting edge of innovation."

Juno probe enters Jupiter's orbit after 'amazing' Nasa mission – as it happened; Guardian, 7/5/16

Michael Slezak, Guardian; Juno probe enters Jupiter's orbit after 'amazing' Nasa mission – as it happened:

"Well, what a day. What an achievement.

After a five year journey from Earth, Juno the solar-powered spacecraft squeezed through a narrow band, skimming Jupiter’s surface, avoiding the worst of both its radiation belt and its dangerous dust rings.

It fired its main engine, slowing its velocity, and allowing it to get captured into Jupiter’s hefty orbit.

After it was complete, jubilant scientists fronted a press conference, and tore up a “contingency communication strategy” they said they prepared in case things went wrong.

“To know we can go to bed tonight not worrying about what is going to happen tomorrow, is just amazing,” said Diane Brown, a project manager from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Scott Bolton, principle investigator of the Juno mission told his colleagues: “You’re the best team ever! We just did the hardest thing Nasa has ever done.”"

AAAS Launches Open-Access Journal; Science News, 12/12/14

David Malakoff, Science News; AAAS Launches Open-Access Journal:

"Joining a herd of other scientific societies, today AAAS (publisher of ScienceInsider) announced that it will launch the organization’s first online, fully open-access journal early next year. The new journal, called Science Advances, will give authors another outlet for papers that they are willing to pay to make immediately free to the public.

The move marks a shift for AAAS, which has long been a target of complaints from some advocates of open-access publishing. They argue that the nonprofit organization, best known as the publisher of the high-profile subscription journal Science, has been slow to embrace open access, and over the past decade opposed certain proposals to require journals to make government-funded research papers immediately available for free. AAAS and other publishers have generally argued that such policies would imperil a business model that has served the scientific community well for more than a century.

In recent years, however, the conflict has reached something of a resolution. Science and many other subscription journals have adopted a policy of making research papers freely available after 12 months; at the same time, many publishers have launched scores of new open-access journals, which charge authors a fee. For instance, the publishers of Nature, another high-profile subscription title that is considered Science’s main competition, in 2011 launched Scientific Reports, an open-access title."