American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Over the past decade, a plethora of scholarly resources related to indigenous studies has appeared on free, open-access Web sites. The multidisciplinary nature of indigenous studies research has been reflected in the content of these sites, which feature resources in related disciplines such as history, anthropology, archaeology, law, literature, environment, sociology, health, and political studies. In many cases, the items that appear on these research sites include digital reproductions of the original print text, photographs, or audio/visual recordings. In other cases, the text is simply transcribed from print into an electronic format; newer resources have been created or “born” digital from the outset. Researchers have benefited from the emergence of Internet resources, but there are some significant challenges. The greatest advantage of digital and electronic resources on the Web is, arguably, access. The Internet’s visual and, increasingly, audio nature has made the wide range of formats used in indigenous studies much more accessible to researchers around the world who might otherwise not have had the opportunity to see them. Now more research is conducted online: researchers use online descriptions to prepare in advance of a research trip to make the most productive use of their time; sometimes, the resources required by researchers are located online and make a trip unnecessary. Digitization has been described by photo archivist Andrew Rodger as an excellent “transportation mechanism.”