Website Outline
For my website, I have decided to do an interactive website created for the Fox/Sauk American Indian nation, living in Oklahoma. It will be an interactive website both for members of the nation, and for those outside the nation who are interested in this tribe’s history, artifacts, and life in the present-day. This will be a window of the nation to the outside world, for anyone to look into.
The audience will consist primarily of Fox/Sauk nation members, and also of the greater academic community, both at the collegiate and high school levels. I would expect students in American Indian history, American history, and high school students to use this site. When users click into the site, they will be presented with 2 options: either to use the English –language version, or the Sauk/Fox language version of the website.
I believe this site is necessary for the greater historical community. There is a great deal of information on Native American tribes in museums and such, but there are few places that I have seen where this information is given from the American Indians’ point of view. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian comes to mind, but I know there is still skepticism in the American Indian tribes towards white governments interpreting their history, even if they are involved themselves. This site will be built for members of the Fox/Sauk nation by members of the Fox/Sauk nation. It will allow members of the nation to connect with their heritage, and will allow other visitors to learn about them from their own perspective in a comprehensive way that they cannot find anywhere else, short of actually visiting the tribe’s reservation in Oklahoma.
Technology will be used to a great degree in this site. We will need to use QuickTime or Flash for all these videos. We will need to use email servers so members of the nation’s government can be contacted. We will need a good deal of server space to store all the information on the database. We will need other technologies that I’m not sure of, but I need to figure out. This is right now the biggest obstacle in my plans, and I need my classmates to help me figure out what kinds of technologies are necessary to get this website off and running.
This website will be divided into 10 sections. These sections will be on the left side of the website, in its own section that will remain constant throughout each page of the site. At the bottom of them will be a search feature. At the Top-left hand corner will be the seal of the tribe itself.
Sections 5 and 6 will be connected to a database on the website that will feature a variety of objects for study. These will include articles on ancient artifacts, historic artifacts, biographies, photos, documents, and modern-day art, ceremonial objects, etc. What will happen is the user will click on one of these two sections, and will be presented with a list of categories. They can click on a category (say in section 6, they will click on the category called “Children’s Objects”), and will be presented with a list of photographs of objects, listed in alphabetical order based on their names (and there will also be an alphabet bar on top of the page, so users can click on the letter “D” for example and immediately go to the objects with names starting with the letter “D”). They can click on an item, and will go to an article which has a photo of the object on one side, and a video player on the other. When they click on the video function, a video will play with a member of the tribe describing the item and what it is used for. Under the video and photo, there will be an article as well, describing the object.
This website will also feature a login system that will require those who use it to create an account for the purposes of using the databases. This is because there might be items in the database that only men can look at, or only women, or elders, or even just members of the tribe. Those who want to see items must provide information about their tribal status or non-status so that when they try to access information in items, they can be granted that access or not. And if they are not granted access, there will be a pop-up window that will tell them exactly why they are not allowed to see it. They will have to understand that this belongs to the tribe, and they set the rules of the site.
Section 1: Home. This will first have a feature of the seal of the tribe on the top left corner, and a video by the Tribal Council highlighting the history of the tribe, an outline of the site, services to members, etc, and will be no more than 2-3 minutes long. There will be a FAQ page as well. This will be after the user chooses to have the site in English or the language of the Sauk/Fox nation.
Section 2: History/Legend. This will be a comprehensive part of the site, featuring an academic history of the tribe, with links to pages of important people, events, treaties, nations, etc. However, this could cause an issue with the tribe because historic analysis could conflict with official religious versions of the nation’s history. I would like to have a separate section in this part, labeled Myth and Legend, which will give links to articles describing all of their myths, from creation to the destruction of the world, as well as various gods (if applicable) and legends about their tribe’s history after creation. Because this site is for the nation, if there are conflicts, I can see the nation possibly deciding to use only the Myth/Legend section of this part. I can see how the myths and legends would be more important to the nation, and since it will be a site highlighting them, they would have the final decision as to what to include or not.
Section 3: Language. This section is straightforward. I want a section of language, with a pronunciation key for every consonant, vowel, and diphthong. Then I want a list of words, like “Thank you” in their vocabulary. It would be rudimentary, and would include links on how to learn the language, for outsiders and members of the nation who might wish to learn.
Section 4: Famous People. There will be a list, with an A-Z scroll on top, and the user will be able to click on it to get to each person by name. In parentheses will be their tribal name, if they have one. Andrew Jackson might not have one. It will include Americans like Andrew Jackson, military leaders like Black Hawk (from their war with America in 1832), and will also include people today who are considered important to the tribe. This can include artists, scholars, athletes, or anyone who is making an impact in today’s society and world. Each article will have a photo and any appropriate maps or items from the database that may be associated with the person in question
Section 5: Artifacts. This will immediately be divided into sections correlating with the database. Some sections might include: A) Home and Hearth (cooking, moccasins, pots, baskets, basket-weaving materials, animal/crop raising tools, making clothes, and other tools used, houses and housing material); B) Religion (dance material, headdresses, pipes, drums, and certain objects may be only visible to tribal members due to religious significance); C) Hunt/War (weapons, hunting implements, war bonnets, war headdresses, war and hunting clothes); D) White/Tribal Relations (guns/gunpowder, treaty documents, correspondence, bibles, bottles, peace medals, etc); E) Art (moccasins, paintings, dolls, rock drawings, carvings, etc); F) Children’s objects; and G) Leisure and communal life (again, drums, dance objects, pipes, etc). You would click on one of these tabs, which would lead to a photo list arranged alphabetically by section, with the A-Z list on the top to help navigate.
Section 6: Modern Life. This would also be connected to the database, and would have the same exact features as the section above, only for contemporary objects (No more than 50 years old).
Section 7: Government. Would detail the current government, who is in it, and how it operates. Would give contact information and biographical information on current members. Would also provide when it meets and give news about the government and how it is working for the tribe.
Section 8: Services. This will highlight government services to members of the nation, including how to get medical services, job training and placement, education (including how to get scholarships for being American Indian), crisis counseling, etc.
Section 9: Events. This will include items like dances, art shows, cultural events, religious services, fairs, etc. Each link will take you to a small page with a flyer describing the event, directions, date, time, and contact information for each event.
Section 10: Contact information. This will provide information on how to contact the webmaster, tribal government, and any other contact information deemed necessary by the nation.
There will also be a search feature, to search by keyword for any article in this website.
I doubt there will be any user-contributed or interactive elements. If there are, they will have to be allowed by the nation itself. I would not believe they would want people who are not members of the nation to write down any comments, interpretations. This is their website, and I would expect them to not allow others to comment on it in forums, articles, and the like. I could be wrong, but I do not see this happening, just as I would not expect them to post historical analysis of the tribe by academics that might conflict with their view of their nation’s history.
Overall I believe this will be an ambitious site. I would expect the nation to have to drop a good $50,000 or more on it, simply because there will be so much to do in the way of database building, technology used, and the like. But I think when it is all finished, they will constantly be able to update it and provide a resource for their members to connect with their heritage and will allow for a constant source of good PR for this nation.
