REVIEWS ONLINE
MAAWANJI'IDING- Gathering Together
Ojibwe Histories and Narratives
Brain-Box Digital Archives Project


Since publication in Februaruy 1999, Maawanji'iding - Gathering Together  has been welcomed as groundbreaking, innovative work in communicating essential oral histories through new technology and digital media.

QUICK REVIEWS...

"Maawanji'iding is the Ojibwe word for a gathering of people; a meeting; a celebration. This CD is indeed a celebration and the best educational multimedia product that has come across my desk in the last 10 years."

Jim Klein Instructional Technology Consultant, Board Member Wisconsin Educational Media Association -Chair of the WEMA Permanent Endowment Trust



"MAAWANJI'IDING is presented with appropriate balance and mindful respect. It skillfully represents our inherent wisdom and land-based knowledge of the Great Lakes Region, and recognizes our history of what's at stake in the ceded territory. Survival Software - it's like a travelling song for the 21st century!"

Denise Sweet Anishinaabe poet, (White Earth - makwa dodem), associate prof. Humanistic Studies - Chair for the American Indian Studies program UW GreenBay


Badger History Bulletin - SHSW

"A powerful and welcome resource for classrooms and libraries that actually allows history to speak to us, conveying essential facts about the experiences of native peoples in Wisconsin, and communicating the deeply spiritual connections that the Ojibwa people feel for the Lake Superior area that has been their home for hundreds of years. "

Bobbie Malone Director of Educational Services State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison



"Computers have given the Ojibwe another avenue for preserving their heritage. MAAWANJI'IDING is an example of how technology can work for the Ojibwe. This CD-ROM is set up in a way that all ages can use and understand."

News From Indian Country Kimberlie R. Hall - Reviewer



"Awesome"

Al Hunter Anishinaabe poet and community worker - Rainy River First Nations, Manitou Rapids, Ontario



Frank Koehn - (Teacher Review)

"MAAWANJI'IDING is the best educational resource available for teachers who are interested in helping students celebrate cultural diversity... it opens doors, allows kids to question, draw conclusions, and learn about where they live."

Frank Koehn 6th grade teacher Port Wing, WI



"MAAWANJI'IDING can be enjoyed on a number of levels. The oral histories and accompanying photographs are compelling. The timelines are useful and provide important historical context, and the nuggets of Ojibwe language add cultural richness and texture. This is an exquisite use of CD-Rom technology."

Patti Loew American Indian Studies and Department of History UW-Madison - Bad River Band of Ojibwe



"This CD-ROM belongs in every Wisconsin classroom. It fills a big gap in curricular materials available on the state's native peoples and should help teachers fulfill the Wisconsin state legislature's mandate to inculcate cultural awareness of Indian people in its students."


Tom Venum Smithsonian Folkways and Great Lakes Author/Audio-Video Producer


John Holt - (Scholar Review)

"MAAWANJI'IDING provides a framework within which a gathering of Ojibwe people speak directly to the listener. This has enormous educational significance in a cross curricular way and with a trans-cultural implication. Considered as historical, geographical, artistic or humanitarian, this CD-ROM breaks new ground in its format and its capacity to hear the voices of a cultural group, the Ojibwe who have much to teach us."

John Holt Senior Lecturer in Art and Design - Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds, England.



"MAAWANJI'IDING is a valuable resource that uses the multimedia capabilities of modern technology to provide a look at the sovereignty, history, and culture of Wisconsin's Ojibwe people. Along with providing rich photo and text resources, the program includes interviews with many present-day Ojibwe people sharing their knowledge and experiences in their own words."


Dave Denomie Bad River Ojibwe, Milwaukee Public Museum


MAAWANJI'IDING: Ojibwe Histories and Narratives from Wisconsin will be useful to scholars and to anyone interested in the history of the Anishinaabe. I'm sure it has already been used extensively by the tribes and is a lasting contribution to their educational system. For anyone considering any type of similar project, it will also be a welcome and important addition to the library. I heartily recommend it to all.

E. Richard Hart Executive Director: Institute of the North American West, (Seattle) - Author of "Zuni and the Courts: A Struggle for Sovereign Land Rights"



A storyteller engages the audience on multiple levels and through multiple senses...This CD encourages computer users to enter the world of the Ojibwe and experience it in whatever depth or complexity they choose. Over time, like layers of a story, core values, concerns, joys and sorrows as well as the strength of Ojibwe become apparent to the user. MAAWANJI'IDING could easily emerge as a marvelous template for other tribes.

Kathryn "Nan" Little, Ph.D. Program Mgr, STEP (Sciences and Tribes Educational Partnership) College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA



"Great interactive resource for students, and for allies of Anishinaabe culture and rights."

Rick Whaley Co-author, Walleye Warriors (The Chippewa treaty rights story) and Witness for Non-Violence coordinator.



"We included MAAWANJI'IDING - GATHERING TOGETHER, in our recommended resources in our most recent edition of Rethinking Schools... We were very impressed with the CD... Keep up the good work."

Bob Peterson Editor Rethinking Schools



"Just received the CD yesterday and I'm absolutely awed by the fantastic job you've done. Now I want to put it to use and spread the word... previewing the CD on Friday at school and had one of our Anishinabe students, a third-grade boy named Shane, sitting beside me at the time. When I signed off and he saw the picture of Archie in the closing, he couldn't believe it! All the Indian students at our school considered Archie their "grandpa", and his memory is still very much alive here." (Archie Mosay is an Ojibwe elder and spiritual leaders to whom the program was dedicated.)

Jeff Peterson Primary grade remedial reading and 7thgrade course Woodland Indians of the Great Lakes Region.



"WOW! This is truely a work of art as well as a compelling history and educational tool. There is so much terrific material that it will require several sessions just to see it all. Thank you for this valuable resource."

Christopher Smith Outreach Program Manager University of Wisconsin-Stout



"Excellent resource for curriculum development...."

Ashland Daily Press Julie Buckles - journalist Ashland Daily Press, Ashland, WI



" I finally opened up the CD and took it for a spin. Wow! ... What a compelling visit to another people who are set so firmly here in this place that is so recognizably my place, the grasses blowing in the wind, the birds chirping... unlike the encyclopedia, these people are telling me their story in their own words, in their own voices ... A remarkable way to get education out of the symbolic, linear trap, into the huge song and dance that is humanity. I'd like to see these in every school in the Lake Superior basin, better yet every school in Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. No, the map on the CD shows where they ought to be; every school in treaty ceded territory in North America. Now we--the white folk--are challenged to be part of this journey too. I think this has real power to bring the life of the first people to my kind in a way that can feed my own search for life. The CD is a revelation."

Bob Olsgard Organizer for the Lake Superior Alliance and editor/publisher of "Superior Vision".

 


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hup! multimedia is the funder and publisher of the Brain-Box Digital Archives Project and has established a working group dedicated to a collaborative design and editorial production process. Our long term goal is to enable and support local initiatives in developing new media projects.
For more information contact:
info@Brain-Box.com.