"Lighting The Way For Those Not Here": How Technology Researchers Can Help Fight the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Crisis

TL;DR

This paper examines how technology impacts the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives crisis, analyzing barriers and opportunities for Indigenous communities to use tech for advocacy, safety, and healing, emphasizing culturally sensitive support.

Contribution

It provides a large-scale analysis of 140 webpages to identify systemic barriers and socio-technical actions, and offers a dataset and recommendations for supporting Indigenous-led initiatives.

Findings

Identified systemic, technological, and institutional barriers hindering community efforts.

Highlighted socio-technical actions that promote healing and safety.

Provided a dataset of Indigenous stories resisting epistemic erasure.

Abstract

Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island (North America) face disproportionate rates of disappearance and murder, a "genocide" rooted in settler-colonial violence and systemic erasure. Technology plays a crucial role in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) crisis: perpetuating harm and impeding investigations, yet enabling advocacy and resistance. Communities utilize technologies such as AMBER alerts, news websites, social media groups, and campaigns (like #MMIW, #MMIWR, #NoMoreStolenSisters, and #NoMoreStolenDaughters) to mobilize searches, amplify awareness, and honor missing relatives. Yet, little research in HCI has critically examined technology's role in shaping the MMIR crisis by centering community voices. Through a large-scale study, we analyze 140 webpages to identify systemic, technological, and institutional barriers that hinder communities' efforts, while highlighting socio-technical actions that foster healing and safety. Finally, we amplify Indigenous voices by providing a dataset of stories that resist epistemic erasure, along with recommendations for HCI researchers to support Indigenous-led initiatives with cultural sensitivity, accountability, and self-determination.