Chuukese Storytelling: Telling, Preserving, and Promoting Traditional Narrative through Web Technology

Learning is a paramount aspect of the learning system in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. People learned many important survival skills through stories. In the past, it was the only way to document, preserve, and transmit our history, genealogy, and traditional practices. Significant parts of Chuuk’s history, culture, language, and identity are deeply buried in stories. Today, many of these stories are at risk to be lost due to rapid changes in social living conditions. Losing these stories would mean losing an essential part of what it means to be an Indigenous Chuukese. Utilizing web technology as a preventive measure to this problem is perhaps ‘the’ best solution due to its potentials not only to document, preserve, and promote these stories but also its abilities to provide more access to individuals, stimulate interactions between users, and offer multiple formats benefiting different levels of users.