Editorial: App helps users learn tribal culture in New Mexico

The family road trip experience has become an individual interaction with technology. Hardly the way memories are built. But New Mexico State University has found a new technology that could turn family traveling into a communal and educational experience — more like the good ol’ days, with a modern twist.

A free iPad application, "How Well Do You Know New Mexico," offers fast facts about New Mexico’s 22 Indian tribes, all in a format that educates about Native culture. Justin McHorse, a director of NMSU’s American Indian Program, said the notion for app came from a board game created several years ago by Michael Ray.

Users use the app to place each of the state’s pueblos and tribes on the map. Once the location is matched, historical facts and information show up. The university’s Learning Games Lab developed the app, which was funded by the American Indian Program.

We think it is useful for all New Mexicans to learn more about the state’s original inhabitants (where, by the way, a pre-Thanksgiving feast took place at Ohkay Owingeh in 1598, years before the Pilgrims hit the East Coast. Our Thanksgiving is on April 30).