You can make an account using the SIKU web platform or using the app on your mobile device. The SIKU mobile app is available as a free download from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. Then, open the app and follow the steps to create an Account. Make sure to add your community to link your dialect, weather and other services. For full instructions, see Create an Account: https://support.siku.org/en_mo/knowledge-base/create-an-account/

Note that the SIKU web platform is primarily focused on features for project managers and power users, the mobile apps are primarily focused on features for land users for offline use during hunting trips. The same account works across platforms.

SIKU is created by the Arctic Eider Society (AES), an Inuit-led registered charity, and is free for all users. Because it is not a commercial solution it means that we can design SIKU solely for the benefit of Indigenous communities. For example, AES does not own the data that users post on SIKU, something that for-profit companies usually do.

The SIKU app is free to use. SIKU doesn’t pay people to make posts, but sometimes people use SIKU to share their observations with research projects that are active in their region and are paid by the project. 

However, we do run Ice Watch and Goose Watch events and if you make qualifying posts you may win a prize. If you are a lucky winner we will contact you directly through a message in the SIKU app with further instructions on how to claim your prize. We will never ask for banking information from you.  

The SIKU app works without an internet connection so you can create posts out on the land. Add photos and videos to your post while offline and they will save to your device along with the date, time, location, and any observations you add. You can also start SIKU Trips that will record your tracks while you’re offline. When you are back home and have an internet connection, remember to Upload your posts.

If you Saved your post on the land but want to add or change the details, tap the My Posts tab and then select the Post you want to edit. Once you are done editing your Post, tap Upload to back it up and see it in your SIKU Feed.

SIKU is a platform to record observations and share stories. If you would like to see where people are hunting geese or where local people are going fishing in your area we suggest checking your community feed to see if anyone is sharing locations or talk to your local hunters.

While SIKU is built first and foremost for Indigenous land users and communities, it was also developed to help e.g. southern researchers better engage and work with communities in a respectful manner (as per e.g. the National Inuit Strategy on Research). It can provide a tool for sharing daily land use/research activities to engage with community members, helping community organizations track data/meta-data and otherwise (see SIKU for Projects page). As such we encourage non-Indigenous people to use SIKU to share what they are doing and engage communities respectfully, if their posts are useful and appropriate to the Indigenous people from the region where they are posting. For example, interesting posts about safety information like ice conditions with photos/videos. However, it is important to be respectful of local priorities and customs, as well as conscientious about the quality and quantity of their posts (e.g., not overwhelming local posts in the community feed). Keep in mind that even though people have made some posts visible to others on SIKU, that in no way provides a right to use those posts for research or other purposes. 

Each project on SIKU can be customized for specific goals, whether it’s sharing observations, collecting data, or engaging a community. Individuals or organizations can create SIKU projects. Project administrators may be:

• Community members – Elders, harvesters, community leaders, and other local knowledge holders
• Indigenous organizations – Groups like hunters and trappers’ associations or other Indigenous organizations
• Researchers and scientists – Researchers can create projects to collaborate with Indigenous communities
• Educators and schools – Teachers or students can use SIKU to create educational projects for documenting knowledge, environmental changes, or learning about ecosystems
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – NGOs involved in conservation, cultural preservation, or advocacy can use SIKU to host projects that align with their missions

You will first need to make a SIKU account, and then use the web version of SIKU to create a Project Profile. Then you will need to have your team members make SIKU accounts and join your project so they can start stewarding data to your project. 

Please contact us at your earliest convenience during this process and we will help make sure your project gets set up properly. We also offer free training for your team members to help get your project started. 

See also: 

• Create Project Profile: https://support.siku.org/knowledge-base/create-project-profile/ 
• How to Add Project Members: https://support.siku.org/knowledge-base/invite-siku-user/

You may either request to join a project, or receive a project invitation from a Project Administrator. Once you have joined a project, when you make a post and tap Save, you will be prompted to confirm Project Stewardship for that post. Select the project(s) you want to steward that post – they will have a non-exclusive license to use that observation. You can also leave any projects at any time if you no longer wish to be a member.

See also: 

• Confirm Project Stewardship: http://support.siku.org/en_mo/knowledge-base/post-stewardship-menu/ 

Your project is not suitable if it does not benefit Indigenous people or align with the SIKU guiding principles: https://siku.org/terms/.  Projects still working out research permissions & setup are not yet ready for SIKU. If you think your project is suitable for SIKU, contact SIKU staff to confirm. We can help you figure out if your project is suitable for SIKU, and then assist with onboarding and project set up. 

Licensing, consultation, ethics, community approval & support letters are mandatory where they are required by the Indigenous Nation or region(s) you are working in and with.

SIKU ice safety features, including satellite imagery, are useful for trip planning but not a replacement for Indigenous knowledge. Speaking with other hunters, using traditional tools like a harpoon, and relying on personal experience are essential for assessing safety. While we do our best to make SIKU maps and features as accurate and up-to-date as possible, we cannot guarantee their accuracy, and AES is not responsible for ensuring travel conditions are safe.

The SIKU Trip Post works like a GPS and allows you to track your travel route. Open the SIKU app and tap the Trip post. Your trip will automatically start and you will see a blue dot on your location on the map. When you are done your trip, tap ‘Finish Trip’ and then Upload your trip so that it can be seen in the SIKU Feed.

Make sure you are connected to the internet. Open your SIKU app and tap the Map tab at the bottom. Tap the top right circle on the map and select Base Map. Then select ‘Manage Offline Map’ and tap the tiles you want to download (1-4 at a time).

Once they are downloaded, you can access these maps when you are offline. Currently only the SIKU Basemap and Mosaic are available to download for offline use. For full instructions about downloading maps for offline use, see: https://siku.org/support/en_mo/knowledge-base/download-maps-for-offline-use/

Sharing data on SIKU puts useful data together in one place, which can be a big benefit for situational awareness and safety. Data on SIKU often reaches audiences that are hard to otherwise serve. We support data from large and small organizations on SIKU, from Indigenous place names to weather (e.g., Windy, Pelmorax, marine weather forecasts, SmartICE, and remote weather stations), satellite imagery (e.g., Canadian Space Agency – RADARSAT Constellation Mission), hydrographic charts (e.g., community bathymetry datasets, Canadian Hydrographic Service & NOAA charts), and much more. 

Some dataset requests we can implement as part of our regular operations (e.g., adding Indigenous place names or Indigenous lands), while others require significant time, investment on both sides, and data infrastructure changes. Either way, please get in touch – tell us about your data and how the SIKU community would benefit from access.