resenting a community-focused approach
The projects and models presented concern themselves with both the net- worked and database-classification aspects of new media, but in both cases I have presented examples that have yet to truly engage the possibilities to enable communities to author, classify and own their media and information systems. My research has focused toward ethnography that drives the development, design and deployment of a new media system. The communities with which I have worked have understood my approach as non-traditional and anti- imperialist, and seen me instead as a collaborator seeking to develop new media that is owned and designed by ethnic and indigenous communities. The case presented to demonstrate this approach is Tribal PEACE (Preser- ving Education and Cultural Expression), a web-based information system cre- ated with 19 Native American reservations of San Diego (California) County as part of my doctoral dissertation work between the years 2003 and 2005 (Srinivasan, 2005).