Digital Sovereignty Multimedia Lab
AI Ethics · Data Rights · Cultural Protocols
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- Understand how AI systems are designed and the values embedded in their construction
- Analyse the implications of data collection and AI for cultural identity and sovereignty
- Evaluate ethical frameworks for responsible technology use in diverse cultural contexts
- Investigate how Māori data sovereignty principles apply to digital environments
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain how AI systems are trained and what biases may be embedded in them
- I can apply CARE principles to evaluate data governance in real-world AI tools
- I can connect Māori concepts of tino rangatiratanga to questions of digital rights
- I can design a culturally responsive protocol or policy for AI use in a community context
🤖 AI Fundamentals — Whakaaro Hou
Start here — build your understanding of how AI actually works before evaluating its impacts.
How AI Actually Works
3Blue1Brown: "But what is a neural network?" — mathematical foundation of AI
Large Language Models Explained
Andrej Karpathy: "Intro to Large Language Models" — how ChatGPT-style systems are built
As you watch, consider: Who built this system? What decisions were made? Whose knowledge does it reflect?
⚖️ AI Ethics & Bias — Tika me te Pono
These videos reveal how bias enters AI systems — and why it matters for communities like ours.
AI Bias in Real Systems
Safiya Noble: "Algorithms of Oppression" — how search engines can discriminate
Facial Recognition & Race
Joy Buolamwini (MIT): "Gender Shades" — algorithmic bias in recognition systems
- Who created this AI system and what were their intentions?
- What data was used to train it — who was included and who was excluded?
- How might this system impact Māori and Pacific communities specifically?
- What cultural values are embedded in the design choices?
🌿 Indigenous Data Sovereignty — Tino Rangatiratanga Raraunga
Māori data sovereignty is grounded in tino rangatiratanga — the right of Māori to govern their own data, knowledge, and digital futures.
Te Mana Raraunga: Māori Data Governance
CARE Principles for Indigenous Data:
- Collective Benefit — data must benefit communities
- Authority to Control — Indigenous peoples govern their data
- Responsibility — those who use data must be accountable
- Ethics — data use must respect values and rights
Search: "Te Mana Raraunga YouTube" for video resources on Māori data governance in practice
Global Indigenous Perspectives
First Nations Technology Council: Digital governance and sovereignty
🔬 Hands-On Investigation Projects
🕵️ Project A: AI Bias Detective
Mission: Test different AI systems for cultural bias and representation.
- Choose 3 different AI tools (text, image, or voice)
- Design tests for cultural awareness and bias toward Māori
- Document results with examples and screenshots
- Analyse patterns in AI responses
- Propose improvements based on Māori values
📊 Project B: Data Sovereignty Audit
Mission: Investigate how personal data is being used by tech companies.
- Research what data major platforms collect
- Examine these companies' AI training practices
- Apply CARE principles to evaluate their data governance
- Compare corporate policy with Māori data sovereignty values
- Design a culturally appropriate alternative data policy
🏆 Advanced Challenge: Community AI Policy
Working in groups, develop AI governance guidelines for your school or local marae. Consider cultural protocols, data protection, and community benefit.
- Cultural consultation requirements
- Data ownership and consent protocols
- AI bias monitoring systems
- Community benefit sharing
- Elder and rangatahi engagement
- Policy document (1–2 pages)
- Community presentation (5–10 minutes)
- Visual infographic of key principles
- Implementation steps
- Success measures
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on what you learned about AI and digital sovereignty. What was the most surprising thing? What question does this raise for you about technology and culture?
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Level 5–6: Understand how digital systems and algorithms reflect design decisions, and evaluate the ethical and social implications of those decisions for individuals and communities.
Level 5–6: Analyse how economic, political, and technological systems shape the distribution of power and resources; understand how cultural identity and tino rangatiratanga intersect with governance in digital spaces.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Tino rangatiratanga — the right to self-determination — does not stop at physical land. In the digital age, it extends to data, knowledge, and the systems that shape how communities are seen and understood. When an AI is trained on data that excludes or misrepresents Māori, it does not simply reflect a gap — it reproduces a pattern of erasure. Te Mana Raraunga argues that Māori data is a taonga, protected by the Treaty of Waitangi, and that communities must have authority over how their knowledge and information are collected, stored, and used. The question this lab invites students to ask is not just "is this AI biased?" but "who has the right to decide what AI knows about us, and how it should represent us?" That is a question of rangatiratanga.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided
- Introduction to LLMs (introduction-to-llms.html) — technical foundation for understanding how AI language models are built
- Prompt Engineering 101 (prompt-engineering-101.html) — learn to critically direct and test AI systems
- AI Cultural Bias Testing Protocol (ai-cultural-bias-testing-protocol.html) — structured framework for bias detection
- AI Ethics Scenarios (ai-ethics-scenarios-unit7.html) — ethical dilemma cards for classroom discussion
- AI Bias Analysis Exemplar (ai-bias-analysis-exemplar.html) — see a model investigation for reference
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will develop critical digital literacy by examining the ethical dimensions of AI systems, exploring how kaupeka matihiko (digital technologies) reflect and shape our values, and connecting concepts of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) to digital sovereignty and data rights in Aotearoa.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can identify ethical issues within AI systems and explain their real-world impact.
- ✅ I can apply a te ao Māori lens to evaluate digital technologies and their effects on communities.
- ✅ I can articulate what digital sovereignty means and why it matters for tangata whenua.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide worked examples of AI bias scenarios with entry-level sentence starters. Offer extension tasks requiring students to research and present a case study of algorithmic injustice affecting indigenous communities.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key digital technology vocabulary (algorithm, bias, data, sovereignty). Allow students to discuss concepts in home language before writing in English.
Inclusion: Use accessible formats with clear headings and visual supports. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured ethical frameworks (e.g. decision trees) to navigate complex AI ethics scenarios.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Connect AI ethics to tikanga Māori values — particularly kaitiakitanga of data (who owns and controls information about Māori communities) and the principle of manaakitanga in how technologies should serve people equitably. Discuss the risks of algorithmic bias replicating colonial harm.
Prior knowledge: Best used after introductory digital technology concepts. No specialist prior knowledge required for entry-level engagement.
Curriculum alignment
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students understand how digital systems store, represent, and transmit data and consider the ethical implications of digital technologies on society.
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students can identify and describe the key components of digital systems and how they interact.