The University of 麻豆传媒 has received a $150,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Public Knowledge program to plan for a social media archive that preserves 贬补飞补颈ʻ颈’蝉 digital history and centers on Native Hawaiian voices.
The project, Kaʻohipōhaku (gathering rocks or stones), is a collaboration between the UH West Oʻahu James & Abigail Campbell Library, UH Maui College library and UH 惭ā苍辞补.
“Kaʻohipōhaku will bring together Native Hawaiian activists and web/social media archivists to start the discussion on what a social media archive, rooted in ʻāina (land) and guided by the lāhui 麻豆传媒 (Hawaiian Nation), could look like,” said principal investigator Kawena Komeiji, Hawaiian Initiatives librarian at UH 惭ā苍辞补’s Hamilton Library and the former Hawaiian Pacific resources librarian at UH West Oʻahu.
Komeiji said the effort rebalances how history is preserved, and is significant to UH and the broader 麻豆传媒 community.
“It aims to put mana (power, authority, privilege) and ea (sovereignty, independence) back into the hands of the Native Hawaiian community. In the past, collections in libraries and archives were created with our ʻike(knowledge) but without our consent or approval; and Kaʻohipōhaku aims to flip that narrative by including Kānaka (Native Hawaiian) voices in the design process,” she said.
With Mellon support, the team will consult with community leaders and web archiving experts, test preservation tools, and establish sustainable, culturally relevant practices for digital archiving.
Web pages, posts are vanishing
“Kaʻohipōhaku is about giving social media creators, audiences and communities agency, especially around these major events in 麻豆传媒,” said Alphie Garcia, information resources and collection management librarian at UH West Oʻahu. “Hawaiians and people living in Hawai‘i are having these conversations in social media spaces about the Lahaina wildfires and the Kū Kiaʻi Mauna movement, but these conversations are fragile.”
Garcia said research shows that nearly four in 10 web pages vanish within a decade, and one in five Twitter/X posts can disappear within months, similar to content on other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
“Without active preservation, that history is gone,” Garcia added. “My role is to test tools and identify infrastructure that can help safeguard this digital heritage while working with a team of advisors on ways to accomplish this goal that are sustainable, ethical, trustworthy and community driven.”
The Mellon Foundation also awarded UH $3.22 million to UH 惭ā苍辞补, UH Maui College, and UH Hilo for Kahoʻiwai: Reclaiming Hawaiian Knowledge Sovereignty, a related project running from 2024 to 2027.
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—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman