| The purpose of this qualitative design research is to investigate whether a design-based website is viable in documenting, preserving and sharing Chuukese stories and to examine what web technologies would influence a participatory approach among Chuukese to continue telling, sustaining, and protecting their stories. Tuuttunnap (storytelling) is paramount to the culture, history, and lives of the Chuukese people. Tuuttunnap is fundamental to the way Chuukese people learn, share knowledge, and communicate. Today, many of these stories are at risk of being lost due to rapid changes in social living conditions. Losing them would mean losing an essential part of what it means to be 'Wesetan Aramasen Chuuk' (Indigenous people of Chuuk). Identifying a mechanism that does more than just documenting and preserving these stories is critically needed. Web technology is potentially a better solution due to its ability to provide more access to people, interactions between users, and multifaceted formats benefiting different levels of users. |
