by John Tracey
Aunty April says I talk too much and am only allowed one article this newsletter. Who am I to argue? I am just the editor.
So this is it.
As from next year (2007) kalkadoon.org will be publishing from Palm Island. Up until now kalkadoon.org has been run by a small group of people and only two regular writers, Baganan and myself. Now aunty April has decided she is an editor too! Next year kalkadoon.org will remain the sole and exclusive property of Baganan, (don’t tell Aunty April that though) however we fill invite other Palm Islanders to contribute writing, art and photos regularly. We have not yet caught up with the possibilities of pod casting – music and video on the website, but we are looking in that direction.
The following is a non-Aboriginal perspective of the possibilities of the Internet. Why is culture an issue? Quite simply – most whitefellas are on the Internet and most blackfellas aren’t. This is not just an economic or a technological divide, it is also a cultural divide as the Internet is a major maker of culture in the same way as television or books are.
Whitefellas, in general, are developing new ways of communicating with ourselves and finding information. We are no longer relying on a handful of commercial media outlets to get our news, we can go direct to the source and find out for ourselves. The new “blog” revolution means not only does information get delivered from many perspectives, we can also discuss and criticise these perspectives in an open and independent forum – the “blogosphere”. The word “blog” is short for web log, meaning a diary or a log on a website that is updated regularly. Most blogs have a comments function that allows readers to contribute their ideas and responses to what is written.
In the 70’s a bloke called Paolo Friere set up adult literacy programs in various places around South America. Instead of using childish techniques of teaching such as children’s books with children’s language (often outdated hand-me-downs from a more affluent place), he based his pedagogy (way of teaching) on things like letters to politicians, filling out forms, taking minutes, writing articles etc. Instead of learning how to read and write before using the skills, Friere taught people the skills by actively engaging in the areas that needed the skills and developing them through ongoing social action. As a result, people who were previously invisible to powerful people or anyone else now had a voice and the opportunity to engage with governments, corporations, aid and social justice groups and the public in general.
When, and not until, most Aboriginal people have regular access to the internet, preferably in their home just like the white fellas, then I believe the whole world, including non-Aboriginal Australia will get a much better understanding of Australian reality than at present, when Aboriginal people freely roam the blogoshere. There are plenty of Aboriginal websites at present, such as kalkadoon.org. But you the reader can say “wow that was fascinating” and move on to the next fascinating website without exploring or clarifying the implications of that which is fascinating. On a blog discussion, issues can be explored deeper than a journalistic overview. Questions can be asked and challenges put. It is the process of thrashing through an idea that demands an open mind – just to try and understand what is being said. There is no open mind in just reading an article, just a simple judgement of “Yeah, I agree” or “that fella’s a fruitloop”. Having made an assessment, the process stops.
Remote Aboriginal communities such as Palm Island are “out of sight and out of mind” as far as the governments and mainstream society is concerned. The recent media interest in Aboriginal community violence and native title, including much discussion on blogs, has been mainly a discussion amongst non-Aboriginal commentators (such as myself) totally within non-Aboriginal understandings, logical frameworks and basic knowledge without input from Aboriginal Australia who, with the exception of negative media hysteria, is still swept under the carpet.
The blogoshere is uncensored territory in Australia (and does not have the restrictions of native title law), Aboriginal people claiming their slice of it will allow the world to see things from an Aboriginal perspective.
People who cannot yet read and write in the English language do not face any barriers to joining the blogosphere, as it is simple to post photos of people, places, artwork or anything. Such things would be much more interesting to the world community, most of whom do not speak English and would have no interest in even the most brilliant articles, such as those on kalkadoon.org. However the artwork on the site, we hope, makes it more fascinating than just words.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You can get a blog for free. There are many. If you go to my website, John Tracey’s articles, essays and other writing, which is a free one, and look at the strip at the very top you can follow the links to set up a “blogspot” blog.
On my website is an article called”Sex, Political Dinosaurs and the Evolution of the Bloggosphere” which gives an introduction to the blogosphere. It makes fun of our good friend and supporter, Drew Hutton – a regular visitor to Palm Island. Drew and I were discussing the possibilities of the Internet and it became apparent that neither of us knew how to use it politically. That conversation has triggered a keen interest in how the Internet can facilitate connections on Palm Island. Not just politically but also educationally and economically.
That’s all from this deposed editor until next edition, unless aunty April hangs around longer than she promised.
I would like to acknowledge the Master of Australian indigenous cyberspace – Dr. Gary Foley, who discovered cyberspace before many whitefellas and a long way before this one. He has lead the mainstream in developing web based resources, especially the documentation of history. His websites offer a much deeper and realistic understandings of Aboriginality than any tourist advert or white commentary. His facilitation of other Aboriginal websites has launched a first fleet of indigenous cyber-colonists claiming the truely terra nullius territory of cyberspace.
Please feel free to post your comments on John Tracey’s Soapbox
Posted by kurityityin in HOME - current news, Education