ELOKA: Sharing a Way of Life
Members of ELOKA (Exchange for Local Observations & Knowledge of the Arctic) recently helped to launch a website to preserve maps and other indigenous knowledge from the Bering Sea Elders group in Alaska. The group recently published a book The Northern Bering Sea: Our Way of Life in hardcopy, but ELOKA was able to ensure this history and knowledge is preserved for future generations.
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"The ELOKA team worked closely with Bering Sea Elders Group personnel to transfer the publication into an interactive website, where viewers easily move between different sections much like flipping through a book. Graphic themes mirrored the elegance of the publication. And most importantly the maps—that overlay fishing and hunting areas with ecologically important areas—were preserved."
ELOKAÌýis a project hosted at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) andÌýis also an affiliated program with CNAIS.
Nick Pavilla of Atmautluak and Henry Parks of Nunapitchuk participate in a map review session for the Bering Sea Elders Group in Bethel, Alaska. Photo credit: Muriel Morse