Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 2, 1 February 2021 — Papakilo Database is a Flagship for Navigating the Renaissance of Hawaiian Knowledge [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Papakilo Database is a Flagship for Navigating the Renaissance of Hawaiian Knowledge

By Puakea Nogelmeier, Executive Director, Awaiaulu, lnc. The Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s affected Hawaiians, Hawai'i, and the world. Every aspect of that renaissance continues to thrive and develop, integrating into our lives, hearts, and minds. The vigor of this reflowering married up with the explosion of technology and a new renaissance has budded forth - a renaissance of Hawaiian knowledge. Since the late 1990s, source materials equal to well over a million letter-sized pages are now accessible on one's laptop or eell phone, linking us to Hawaiian experts throughout the 1800s and 1900s. Younger generations are accustomed to answers at their fingertips, while older folks are learning how, but this new resource isn't like Wikipedia or Google. It's mostly still in Hawaiian, and in the language and logic of another time. While the general puhlie is learning about these reconnected resources, and while a smaller cadre are learning the wizarding arts of actually playing in this long-lost arena, Papakilo Database has created a storehouse and a delivery system that is serving both the amateur and the adept. One ean nihhle or gorge, since www.papakilodatabase.com serves any appetite for knowing. Other sites are out there, but OHA has created a flagship that serves the fleets well. ■