Conference session

My project is called Root Stories & Napi A.I., for which I am the lead artist & concept creator. Root Stories & Napi A.I. will be a toolset for teaching Niitsipowahssin (Blackfoot) and its cultural underpinnings in a meaningful and accessible manner for a diverse range of learners. Storytelling is widely acknowledged as a tool for the transmission of knowledge, data, language, practices, and customs. The project’s delivery method will be for full immersion learning taught in a virtual reality game-like environment. Because every Blackfoot word and phrase has a story that relates to the land, animals, and movement of energy, Root Stories will be about the user’s journey in learning the Blackfoot language and how it is rooted in Niitsipowahssin culture. Napi A.I. will be a combination of A.I. algorithms and language models that will assess the user’s learning preferences and teach them Niitsipowahssin using adaptive learning methods. Napi A.I. is a character in Root Stories that will guide the user with the VR interface and learning materials. Other characters in Root Stories will be NPC relatives that will engage with the user based on their interactions with the environment, learning materials, and Napi A.I. Root Stories and Napi A.I. are currently in the concept development stage, which will progress into a low-fidelity prototype I’m aiming to have completed for June 2026.