Mukurtu (MOOK-oo-too)
- A free and open source community archive platform that provides international standards-based content management tools adaptable to the local cultural protocols and intellectual property systems of indigenous communities, libraries, archives, and museums.
- A flexible and robust archival platform that creates an interface between source communities and collecting institutions facilitating the exchange and circulation of collections materials, metadata, and indigenous knowledge.
Mukurtu Alpha Walkthrough
The Mukurtu Wumpurrarini-kari archive is the alpha version of the Mukurtu software tool. This video takes you through our initial toolkit and its functionality catered to the specific needs of the Warumungu Aboriginal community. This demonstration version is fully functional: you may browse the existing archive, add content, or even create a new user with a specific user profile.
Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal
The portal leverages the Mukurtu archive platform to allow five tribes from the Pacific Northwest in the United States to curate materials, share metadata, and define traditional knowledge in relation to local, regional and national collections. The robust administration package built into the system facilitates multiple user levels, cultural protocol tags for all content, on-the-fly editing and customized metadata standards. Explore the portal.
Cultural Protocol-Based Access Control
Mukurtu allows communities to define how their materials circulate and are shared between community members, to other museums, libraries and archives and to the public. Easy-to-use drop-down menus provide granular access controls based on the cultural protocols of the community. Protocol choices are established by the community and can be updated, edited and changed at any time. For examples of cultural protocols used by the Warumungu community in Central Australia watch this video.
Free and Open Source
Mukurtu is provided free of charge to download, customize and adapt for your digital archive and content management needs. Mukurtu is also an open source software tool suite licensed using a GPL. Follow our development blog and join a user community to create more plugins or get answers to any of your questions.
Project News
- Mukurtu Featured on the BBC: Kimberly Christen appeared on the BBC's Digital Planet radio show on February 22 discussing the Mukurtu project, the ethics of open access and the need to take seriously indigenous peoples' concerns when designing digital tools. Listen to the podcast of the show and let us know what you think!
