This seminar will discuss the methodologies, ethics, processes and procedures encountered in using new and emerging technologies to develop databases of Māori taonga in overseas museums, the digital repatriation of taonga and the creation of digital libraries of mātauranga Māori.

The speakers Arapata Hakiwai, Dr Wayne Ngata, Dr Hēmi Whaanga will focus on three Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga research projects that use technology to connect iwi, hapū and whānau with their taonga, history and mātauranga:
• Virtual repatriation: a database of Māori taonga in overseas museums, led by Arapata Hakiwai from Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand
• Te Ataakura: Re-connecting voyage collections in archives and museums through the creation of digital taonga, led by Dr Wayne Ngata, the Ministry of Education
• The ethics, processes and procedures associated with the digitisation of the Pei Jones collection, led by Dr Hēmi Whaanga from The University of Waikato
The speakers will share the research teams’ experiences, methodologies and strategies developed in each project and discuss some of the common issues that arise when using new technology in this developing research area

Arapata Hakiwai has tribal affiliations to Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tahu. Arapata has worked for the National Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa) for over fifteen years, having held a number of roles including Exhibitions Concept Developer, Curator and Community Partnerships Manager Māori for National Services, and is currently Scholar Mātauranga Māori, leading research on the Māori collections. Arapata was formerly the Manager of Bicultural Operations at Te Papa from 1999 to 2002 and Director of Mātauranga Māori from 2003-2009. He takes an active involvement in his marae and tribal affairs, and is a former council member for the museums membership organisation Museums Aotearoa. He regularly lectures at Victoria University and has a strong interest in digital/virtual repatriation kaupapa and is well published including being the co-editor of ‘Toi Ora: Māori Ancestral Treasures’ (2008). Arapata has extensive relationships with overseas museums and in the early 1990s helped lead the restoration of the carved Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare meeting house Ruatepupuke in the Field Museum, Chicago, with Te Waka Toi and colleagues from the Field Museum.