A new app developed by a third-year Mount Royal University information design student uses augmented reality (AR) to translate Blackfoot signage in the Riddell Library and Learning Centre (RLLC) into English, with pronunciation prompts. Blackfoot way-finding signage was incorporated into the building of the RLLC. Now with the app, non-Blackfoot speakers understand the meaning behind the words.
Librarian Jessie Loyer, Cree-Métis and a member of Michel First Nation, says the signage and app are vital to the important notion of 'place-making.'
"Indigenous languages generally haven't been supported and they are really important for us to ground ourselves in the places where we are working and living in. This is the language of the land that enables us to do our work."
The app - called DeciphAR - includes an audio pronunciation guide, a video with Elder Leo Fox from Red Crow College in Lethbridge, as well as descriptions of the terms used in each sign. Library media designer Matt Laidlow, part of the team that helped with the project explains that augmented reality makes it possible to provide more information than a physical sign could. Laidlow says, "For a lot of the translations there's not a one-to-one English to Blackfoot word, so it's more about the concept."
Loyer explains, "Blackfoot signage right now runs the risk of becoming museumified, as if they are a fun little art piece. But we want it to be used. We want people to not be afraid of the pronunciation, to feel that they can use these words and know how to pronounce them so it's less of an obstacle and more of an opportunity."
Info design student Chase Schrader, junior AR designer and the app's developer, says the tool is an opportunity to raise awareness and educate anyone who is curious.
"This initiative was possible because of the creativity and commitment of people and teams in the Library, across campus, and into the community, to the work of indigenization," says Meagan Bowler, dean of the University Library.
More information about the app is available in this MRU story on the Library website and in this video.
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