Pacific images: write a caption that keeps the context
A good caption tells a reader what the image shows, where the information comes from and what remains unknown. It should not manufacture a cultural story from appearance.
Pasifika AI / Kanaky Tech ·
Original editorial diagram: Subject / Provenance / Permission. This is a reading aid, not a reproduction of traditional knowledge.
Pasifika AI / Kanaky Tech · Image record · CC BY 4.0
The documented starting point
The Australian Museum describes working with Pacific communities and Pacific migrant communities in Australia to shape its collections, exhibitions and programmes. This offers a concrete reminder that cultural interpretation involves people, not objects and images alone.
Source : Australian Museum — Pacific Spirit
A closer reading
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
Use this sequence: identify the documented subject and place; give the photographer and date when known; link the record and licence; state any crop or conversion. Then check the interpretation. Does the caption identify a person’s community without evidence? Does it call a public performance a ceremony? Does it present a landscape as the exact location of a practice when it is only a regional view? Replace those claims with precise descriptions. If permission or context is unclear, use an original explanatory diagram or link to the institution’s record instead.
Three captions, three levels of evidence
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
“Pacific ceremony” is a broad interpretation. “People standing in a group” is a visible description. A caption with an event name, place, date and credited source can add documented context. Choose the third only when those details are actually known. If they are not, do not guess from clothing or appearance. The same discipline applies to AI-generated pictures: a realistic rendering is not evidence that an event occurred or that a cultural detail is accurate.
What this guide does not establish
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
A reuse licence is not a blanket cultural endorsement. This editorial method does not override the wishes of depicted people or the protocols of the community concerned.