Exploring Digital and Virtual Protocols: Visiting Scholar Talk with Prof. Hēmi Whaanga

Join us for a talk by Prof. Hēmi Whaanga to learn more about his current collaborative research projects exploring digital and virtual protocols, Māori cosmologies, Māori Indigenous knowledges, satellite imagery, and virtual and augmented realities! 🌌

About the Speakers:

Hēmi Whaanga
Professor and Head of Massey University’s School of Te Pūtahi-a-Toi – School of Māori Knowledge, is recognized as a leading scholar researching the revitalisation, protection, distribution, and development of Māori knowledge and language, and incorporating mixed-method approaches, processes, and technologies to analyze, develop, present, and protect new and sacred knowledge in different linguistic, cultural, ethical, and digital contexts. His leadership in Māori digital initiatives earned him an invitation from the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge to lead and develop the conceptual framework for ‘Ātea’, a multi-million-dollar spearhead project to conduct and share impactful research with experts in AI, VR and AR, NLP, ML, Indigenous and Māori data sovereignty, and digital repositories. He affiliates to Ngāti Kahungunu through his father, and Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe and Waitaha through his mother.

Prof. Jason Edward Lewis
Jason Edward Lewis is a digital media theorist, poet, and software designer. He founded Obx Laboratory for Experimental Media, where he conducts research/creation projects exploring computation as a creative and cultural material. Lewis is deeply committed to developing intriguing new forms of expression by working on conceptual, critical, creative and technical levels simultaneously. He is the University Research Chair in Computational Media and the Indigenous Future Imaginary as well Professor of Computation Arts at Concordia University [and serves as the Co-Director of the Indigenous Futures Research Centre]. Lewis was born and raised in northern California, and currently lives in Montreal.