Locative Media:
hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓
Street Signs
CEDaR’s first locative media project, developed in partnership with Musqueam Language and Culture and the Emerging Media Lab, uses augmented reality (AR) to situate hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language in the UBC landscape, starting with the street signs on campus. Nine street names were created for the UBC Vancouver campus and gifted in 2018. The First Nations and Endangered Languages Program (FNEL) within CIS has been partnering with Musqueam to offer classes in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ for over 20 years; CEDaR’s collaboration with Musqueam Language and Culture (MLC) emerges from this partnership.
Project Team
Daisy Rosenblum, David Gaertner, Dante Cerron, Olivia Chen
Partners
Vanessa Campbell, sʔəyəɬəq Larry Grant (Musqueam Language and Culture Department), Emerging Media Lab (UBC)
Working with Elder sʔəyəɬəq Larry Grant and Vanessa Campbell of the Language and Culture Department, we are designing a mobile app through which visitors and residents of UBC-V’s campus on Musqueam territory can hear the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language wherever they encounter it. Like many Indigenous languages, hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ contains sounds which are not part of English or other familiar global languages. Written hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ represents these sounds with symbols that campus visitors (and others) may not know how to pronounce. Our goal is simple: for the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language to be heard and spoken more on Musqueam land. The first phase of the app allows users to hear recordings of Vanessa Campbell speaking nine hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ street names when they encounter the street signs on campus.
The hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language orients us in relation to features of the landscape, referring to the ocean, the mountains, and the rivers. This directional system is evident in street names. Click here to learn how to say "sme:ntásəm" with Vanessa Campbell. Sme:ntásəm is the name for West Mall and describes movement north along West Mall as it faces the direction of the χʷte ʔə ɬəɬal̕wəɬ ct smənme:nt (North Shore mountains).
The hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ street signs app is featured in the Bad Habitus online exhibit curated by Kate Hennessy, Stephanie Takaragawa, and Trudi Lynn Smith. Visit the Musqueam Language and Culture website for more information about the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, community-based revitalization projects, and opportunities to learn it in classes at Musqueam.
What is locative Media?
Developed in partnership with the Emerging Media Lab and the Centre for Digital Media, our locative media platform is designed to provide location-triggered access to audio, video, and other content, using geographic information to connect app users to the land. These technologies ask users to pay more attention to where they are, prompting active and embodied engagement with place, with others, and with oneself. Our locative platform is intended to be a versatile template application, adaptable to a range of community contexts and needs. See the City Poems project for another application.