American Indian tribal Web sites: a review and comparison

Abstract

Many Native American tribes have Web sites, but the content of these sites varies depending on a number of factors, including the audience, purpose and context of the site, geographic distribution of tribal members, economic factors, tribal policies, and the digital divide. Some sites are geared primarily to non‐Native tourists and the general public, while others are designed to reach out to those tribal members who live far from Indian lands. Economic factors impact both the type of Web site the tribe can afford and the ability of tribal members to access the Internet. Tribal policies and cultural traditions determine what kind of information can be included. There are also a number of attributes that are common to most tribal Web sites. This article looks at both the similarities and the differences among American Indian tribal Web sites.

Gambling with Identity: Self-Representation of American Indians on Official Tribal Websites

“…As noted in the previous study by Gaston Anderson (2003), most of the tribal websites provided genealogy, history, language, tribal government information, and community events. A few clusters of tribes shared similar informational homepage templates, usually provided by a coordinating regional agency.…”

“…1 The sites serve many purposes, providing information to tribal members and non-Indians. An examination of 132 official tribal websites in 2003 found that the sites typically included information about genealogy, tribal history, native language, employment opportunities, community events, tribal government, health services, and economic development (Gaston Anderson, 2003).…”

“…Some scholars have provided a descriptive overview of tribal websites (Cubbins, 2000;Gaston Anderson, 2003;Mitten, 2003;Taylor, 2002), and one researcher examined identity on tribal web sites (Fair, 2000). Fair noted that use of the stereotypical ''White man's Indian'' (Berkhofer, 1978), such as images of savages, tepees, and demure maidens, is more prevalent on websites intended for non-Indian audiences than for tribal audiences.…”

Indigenous research ethics and Tribal Research Review Boards in the United States: examining online presence and themes across online documentation

“…In informal discussions with Tribal leaders, we learned that there are various reasons why TRRBs may not have an online presence. Some TRRBs may lack the resources to establish and maintain a website and respond to the volume of research inquiries (Gaston Anderson, 2003). Despite these limitations, they may still want to strengthen their online presence to ensure that their research codes and protocols are respected.…”