Information Experiences: A Native American’s Perspective

Abstract

This chapter presents an interview with Ben Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribal Nation of Native Americans. Ben Sherman’s narrative reveals an information experience that is deeply embedded in the cultural and spiritual traditions of the Lakota people. Ben Sherman progressively and systematically contrasts this strongly with the technology driven information experience associated with our contemporary information systems. This is a richly nuanced discussion on the nature of information experience, which highlights how the nature of what is informing varies across time and sociocultural contexts.

The interview was conducted in Colorado, USA, by Ben Sherman’s colleague Dana Echohawk. Her questions are shown in italics. The main text is Ben Sherman’s narrative response to Dana Echohawk’s questions. Editors have made minor modifications to better suit the written context of the interview without changing the meaning or intent of any of the passages.

Citation

Sherman, B. (2014), "Information Experiences: A Native American’s Perspective", Information Experience: Approaches to Theory and Practice (Library and Information Science, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 135-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1876-056220140000010007