Mukurtu (pronounced MOOK-oo-too) is a culturally centered, grassroots Content Management System (CMS) specifically designed to empower Indigenous and historically exploited communities in preserving, managing, and sharing their digital heritage on their terms. Developed as a response to community needs, Mukurtu was first created with the Warumungu people, who named it using a Warumungu word for a “dilly bag” or a safe-keeping place for sacred items. Today, Mukurtu CMS stands as an open-source platform enabling communities to safeguard and narrate their cultural materials in culturally appropriate and socially just ways.Key features of Mukurtu CMS underscore its intersectional approach to cultural heritage management:TK Labels: Mukurtu’s Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels allow Indigenous communities to define culturally sensitive access, use, and attribution terms for digital heritage items, even when materials are under third-party ownership. This feature supports communities in reclaiming control over how their knowledge and resources are shared and circulated.Cultural Protocols: At its core, Mukurtu CMS is structured around cultural protocols that enable community-led definitions of access. Protocols can range from open access to tightly controlled, and they can be adjusted as cultural norms evolve, maintaining the integrity of traditional knowledge and honoring community values.Community Records: Recognizing the multiplicity of perspectives within cultural heritage, Mukurtu CMS allows multiple community narratives and knowledge records for each digital item, supporting diverse voices within Indigenous communities.Roundtrip: This feature ensures that data integrity is preserved when importing or exporting materials. Metadata and cultural protocols stay intact, allowing seamless use across different digital platforms while retaining community-defined context and meaning.Mukurtu CMS was developed at Washington State University’s Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, with support from several foundations. Designed with the community consultation model, it enables a deeply collaborative development process that continually integrates feedback from Indigenous users to ensure that it remains aligned with community needs and sustainability goals.In short, Mukurtu CMS is more than a digital tool; it’s a community-empowering, intersectional framework that supports digital sovereignty by centering Indigenous voices and protocols in the preservation and sharing of cultural heritage.
Mukurtu CMS (Content Management System) empowers Indigenous communities with culturally-specific data management, preserving heritage and supporting digital sovereignty.Tech Literacy & Accessibility: Mukurtu CMS is a culturally-specific content management system designed for Indigenous communities to manage digital heritage according to their own protocols. It supports tech literacy by providing Indigenous-led tools like TK Labels and Cultural Protocols, enabling communities to control access and use terms. Reducing Harm in New Media: Mukurtu addresses the need for respectful data handling, reducing harm by allowing Indigenous communities to protect their heritage and knowledge from misuse or misrepresentation. Data & Knowledge Stewardship: Mukurtu exemplifies Indigenous data sovereignty, preserving cultural materials under community-defined terms and ensuring digital heritage remains under Indigenous stewardship. Its community-led structure allows multiple narratives to co-exist, supporting nuanced perspectives and intergenerational knowledge sharing.