The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic: Providing data management services for Indigenous knowledge and observations of the Arctic

Betsy Sheffield, Peter Pulsifer, Shari Gearheard, Heidi McCann, Chris McNeave, Colleen Strawhacker, Ruth Duerr

Abstract
The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) project, based at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), emerged in 2007 from the desire of local Arctic communities wanting a way to represent their local and traditional knowledge (LTK) in a digital and interactive way for overall understanding of recent environmental change. ELOKA has been a trailbreaker for promoting traditional knowledge and social science data management within a strictly physical science institution, advancing the philosophy that traditional knowledge and scientific expertise are complimentary ways of knowing. Being hosted at NSIDC and within CIRES brings visibility to the community-based research and monitoring work conducted by Indigenous experts in their own regions in partnership with researchers as they continually observe and document local conditions, and helps to broaden physical scientists’ understanding and appreciation for such work. A benefit of this, for example, is that users searching the NSIDC catalog for sea ice data may discover a data set of traditional knowledge of sea ice, such as the Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network (SIZONet) Observations application, and incorporate traditional knowledge into their research. As ELOKA moves forward, we are being sought out by a variety of researchers and local community groups interested in utilizing our data management and preservation services. We have created about a dozen online atlases for communities in Alaska, across Canada, and Siberia, which are actively being used and expanded by individuals in those communities, with other atlases in the works for Finland and other regions in Alaska and Canada. We also maintain software applications, web sites of interviews and narrative content on local and traditional knowledge, and a weather station application, with potential new developments in the future. Social science is at the forefront of this work as we develop new relationships around the knowledge intersection of physical science and social science. These partnerships present opportunities for ELOKA to continue to expand its reach in supporting Arctic community experts in collecting, preserving, exchanging, and using LTK of the Arctic.