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Arctic Yearbook 2014
Three key fundamental principles that guide the overall conceptualization of the work include
networking, collaboration, and communication.
Networking and Collaboration
A core principle in this project is the commitment to networking with others throughout the Arctic.
The goals include sharing information on existing research, policy and practice, with continuing
information about best practices for collaborative community-based research in Arctic contexts, and
best practices for enhancing language vitality. There is a deep commitment to overall transparency
and open exchange of information. To that end, the project website has become an important hub
of information; in the future more interactive features will be incorporated into the site to encourage
participants to submit their own materials and findings. The project also aims to establish
parameters for effective collaborations, including effective interagency and international
collaborations. External researchers may receive official endorsement from the project if they agree
to follow the indigenous guidelines for ethical conduct and make all their data and findings readily
accessible.
Communicating and Sharing Data
Transparency, in terms of both the process and dissemination of the results, is an important aspect
of the project. The distribution of reliable and comparable data for the status of all Arctic
indigenous languages in a centralized, accessible format is a standard for all findings of the project,
and adherence to it obligates the committees to report their conclusions in a format that is accessible
to community members. Thus, for example, terminology must be comprehensible and clearly
defined. The aim is to facilitate the local, regional, and international sharing of best practices in
addressing Arctic indigenous language vitality. Concretely, this means open access of data and
results. At present such open access is managed through the project website (see the discussion on
Data Management and Information Access).
Governance and Project Management
Project management is in the hands of the Permanent Participants themselves, and the overall
governance structure is built upon the foundational principles of consensus and collaboration. At
the same time, management is needed to keep the moving forward and to insure clear reporting
structures, since this is an Arctic Council project. At the request of the Arctic Council, ICC Canada
is responsible for managing the project, with President Duane Smith overseeing the initiative. The
Steering Committee is advisory to the President. It is chaired by Carl Chr. Olsen, puju, of ICC
Greenland and a member of the Sustainable Development Working Group of the Arctic Council,
and consists of representatives from each of the six Permanent Participants and an external linguist
(Grenoble) as project coordinator, working closely with the Steering Committee and reporting to the
President of ICC Canada. The Steering Committee members provide a mechanism for their
members to have direct input into the project, and serve as an important bridge for information
among the different Permanent Participants.
Language & Well-Being in the Arctic