LESSON 5

INDIGENOUS MEDIA
AND INFORMATION
SOURCES
In this lesson you will learn to:

1. discuss the concepts of indigenous media;

2. explain the common sources of information;
and
3. contrast indigenous media to the more
common sources of information such as
library, internet, etc.
 According to Saavedra (2020),
indigenous media can strengthen
indigenous identities by showcasing the
tribal heritage, maintaining local languages,
and providing a public sphere for debate
about indigenous issues. Indigenous media
can also convey significant meaning as an
indicator of cultural and societal change.
 He also stated that when indigenous society
encounters change, media is an important means to
engage with social movements, cultural changes,
and the maintenance of endangered languages.
From a cultural policy perspective, indigenous media
records and preserves traditions, enhances and
facilitates cultural forms such as music and crafts,
and also builds connections to the wider world.
Quality media productions can positively represent
indigenous people and raise cultural visibility.
Indigenous
native; local; originating
or produced naturally in
a particular region.
 Indigenous knowledge
- knowledge that is unique
to a specific culture or
society; most often it is not
written down.
Indigenous communication -
transmission of information
through local channels or forms. It
is a means by which culture is
preserved, handed down, and
adapted.
 Indigenous media and
information
- original information created by a local group of
people. This also refers to content about
indigenous peoples that may be distributed
through dominant forms of media or through
forms of communication unique to their people
group. (Commission on Higher Education, 2016)
What is indigenous media?
- Indigenous media is defined as forms of media
expression conceptualized, produced, and circulated by
indigenous peoples worldwide as vehicles for
communication, including cultural preservation, cultural
and artistic expression, political self-determination, and
cultural sovereignty. It also refers to diverse audiovisual
production activities involving indigenous people.
Indigenous people's experience of media technologies
dates to their earliest contacts with European explorers
and scientists (Saavedra, 2020).
 Some examples of indigenous
media are folktales, folk songs, folk
dances, puppet chorus, or the
modern day balloons, T-shirts,
umbrellas, billboards that carry
messages of various orientation
(Santos, n.d.)
Importance of Indigenous Media

1. Popular media cannot reach

some rural areas. While print,
broadcast, and new media have
a wide reach, there are still areas
that these forms of media have
not reached.
2. Indigenous media and
information are highly
credible because they are
near the source and are
seldom circulated for
profit.
3. Indigenous media are
channels for change,
education, and
development because of
its direct access to local
channels.
4. Ignoring indigenous
media and information can
result in development and
education programs that are
irrelevant and ineffective.
 Characteristics of Indigenous
Media
1. The oral tradition of communication
2. Stores information in memories
3. Information exchange is face-to-face
4. Information is contained within the border of the
community
5. Knowledge is unique to a given culture and society
6. Relayed through people media and community
media
 Forms of Indigenous Media
1. Folk or traditional media – includes visual,
verbal, and aural forms accepted by a specific
community and used to entertain, inform, or
instruct. It employs vocal, verbal, musical,
and visual art forms transmitted to a society
or group of societies from one generation to
another.
 2. Gatherings
an assembly or meeting,
-

especially a social or festive one

or one held for a specific
purpose.
 3. Social organizations
- it means social relationship among groups.
Individuals and groups interrelated together create
social organization. It is the result of social
interaction among people. It is the network of
social relationship in which individuals and groups
participate.
 4. Direct observation –
a collection of information using
senses. Activities, behavior, and
physical aspects of a situation are all
documented without depending on
peoples' willingness or ability to
respond accurately to questions.
5. Records (written,
carved, oral)
6. Oral instruction
Classification of Information
Sources
1. Library Sources - a library is a building or room where
literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (such as
books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but
not for sale. The primary role of the library is to organize and
provide access to information. It supports the students in
their studies to broaden their minds, promoting building a
knowledge-driven community in the future.
 Libraries of published books are often
considered highly reliable, accurate, and
valuable. Books and documents from
dominant sources are often peer
reviewed. ISSN or ISBN registration
ensures that standards were followed in
producing these materials.
 2. Internet Sources
- Internet is a global computer network providing a variety of
information and communication facilities, consisting of
interconnected networks using standardized
communication protocols.
- As there is so much information available and because such
information can be published quickly and easily by anybody
at any time, you must be vigilant in choosing reliable
sources.
Things to consider in evaluating
information:

a. Reliability.
Information is reliable if
it can be verified and
evaluated.
 b. Accuracy
- It refers to the
closeness of the report
to the actual data.
c. Value
- Information is valuable if
it aids the user in making
or improving decisions.
 d. Authority
Sources with an established
expert on the subject matter
are considered as having sound
authority on the subject.
 e. Timeliness
- Reliability, accuracy, and value of information
may vary based on whether it was produced or
acquired. While a piece of information may
have been found accurate, reliable, and
valuable during the time it was produced, it
may become irrelevant and inaccurate with
time (thus making it less valuable).
Skills in Determining the Reliability of
Information:
a. Check the Author
b. Check the Date of publication or of update
c. Check the Citations
d. Check the Domain or owner of the site / page
.com – commercial .edu – education
.mil – military .gov – government
.org – nonprofit organization
 Skills in Determining Accurate
Information
A. Look for facts
B. Cross-reference with other source for
consistency
C. Determine the reason for writing and
publishing the information
Top 6 Best Search Engine websites in the World

1. www.google.com – Google Search

Engine is the best search engine in the
world and it is also one of most popular
products from Google. Almost 70 percent of
the Search Engine market has been
acquired by Google.
 2. www.bing.com – Bing
- is Microsoft’s answer to Google
and it was launched in 2009. Bing is
the default search engine in
Microsoft’s web browser.
3. www.yahoo.com - Yahoo & Bing
- compete more with each other than
with Google. Yahoo is an American web
services provider headquartered in
Sunnyvale, California, and owned by
Verizon Media.
 4. www.baidu.com - Baidu
- is the most used search engine in China and was
founded in Jan, 2000 by Chinese Entrepreneur,
Eric Xu. This web search is made to deliver results
for website, audio files and images. It provides
some other services including maps, news, cloud
storage and much more.
5. www.aol.com - Aol.com
is also among the top search
engines. These are the guys that
used to send out CD’s which you’d
load onto your PC to install their
browser and modem software.
 6. www.ask.com
- Founded in 1995, Ask.com, previously known
as Ask Jeeves. Their key concept was to have
search results based on a simple question +
answer web format. It is a question & answer
community where you can get the answers for
your question and it integrates a large amount of
archive data to answer your question.
 Other search engine websites are
www.excite.com,
www.DuckDuckGo.com,
www.WolframAlpha.com,
www.Yandex.com, www.lycos.com,
www.chacha.com (Benolaria, 2020)
 Top 10 Search Engines (2016)
1. Google
2. Bing (Microsoft)
3. Yahoo (No. 1 email provider)
4. Ask.com (Ask Jeeves)
5. AOL.com (America Online)
6. Baidu (China)
7. Wolframalpha (Computational
Knowledge Engine)
8. DuckDuckGo (simple)
9. Internet Archive (histories of a domain)
10. ChaCha.com (similar to Ask.com)
3. Human Sources
- a human "source" is roughly defined as a person who
contributes information to a piece of reportage,
whether or not it is ultimately published or aired in any
venue – print, the internet, radio (audio podcasts
included), video on a news report on television, the
web or in a documentary film. Any person can be a
source of data or information, such as newscasters,
teachers, detectives, and the like.
The following are the categories of human
sources of information:
Types of Information Sources

1. Primary Sources - these sources are records of

events or evidence as they are first described or
happened without any interpretation or
commentary. They are information shown for the
first time or original materials on which other
research is based. Primary sources display original
thinking, report on discoveries, or share fresh
information.
 They are also called the "raw
materials of history—original documents
and objects created at the time under
study." Examples of original documents
are diaries, speeches, correspondence,
interviews, manuscripts, government
documents, news film footage, archival
materials, and autobiographies.
2. Secondary Sources
- they are works that are one step
removed from the original or experiences
that provide an interpretation or evaluation
of primary resources. They tend to be works
that summarize, interpret, reorganize, or
otherwise provide an added value to a
primary source.
 Examples of secondary sources include
bibliographies; biographical works;
commentaries and criticisms; conference
proceedings; essays or reviews; histories;
literary criticism such as journal articles;
magazine and newspaper articles; monographs,
other than fiction and biographies; reprints of
artworks; textbooks (could also be considered
tertiary); and websites (could also be
considered primary).
3. Tertiary Sources
- these are sources that index, abstract,
organize, compile, or digest other sources.
Some reference materials and textbooks are
considered tertiary sources when their chief
purpose is to list, summarize, or simply
repackage ideas or other information.
 Tertiary sources are usually not
credited to a particular author.
Examples of tertiary sources are
almanacs, abstracts, dictionaries,
encyclopedias, and handbooks.