#^lp

I recently attended X-Media Lab’s ‘Video + Social’ conference with Nancia Guivarra on behalf of the NCIE. We were joined by some of the staff from Yirra Yaakin, an amazing and innovative Indigenous theatre mob based in Perth.

It was a great experience and gave us access to 5 amazing speakers talking about distinct aspects of online media creation, marketing, brand management, research, and engagement.

It also made a great argument for why we need to place faith and opportunity in the hands of ‘Millennials’ (those born after 1980—I was born in Nov 1980 so not sure where that leaves me? Generation X? Y? Generation Meh?) if we are going to keep on the forefront of relevance and engagement in an ever changing online environment.

It was awesome to hear from some innovators in the online world, from people who are finding amazing ways to stay in front of the game, and from people doing some seriously in depth research into what works and why.

It was refreshing to see the acknowledgement of the power of social media to drive economies, impact on political and social activism, and create new opportunities for a wide range of people to engage and collaborate. It was also quite exciting to see such enthusiasm for some of the work the IDX team is doing with the Community of Excellence.

While there is definitely a lot of support and enthusiasm in Australia for Indigenous online content and activity, the potential to take a place on the international stage shone through clearly to those of us in attendance. Events like those hosted by X-media Labs create an amazing opportunity to learn more about what is happening around the globe, and provide exciting links to a range of creative, enthusiastic and innovative international companies and individuals.

The Community of Excellence has been picking up a bit of steam lately with a lot of new members in the past week or so, and a lot of new energy and thinking about how we use this platform to not only connect with and support each other; but to challenge our thinking, speak out about issues we are passionate about, stand up for ourselves and each other, and of course to simply have fun.

We have been squashing a number of bugs and planning a number of new features the last few months and this process had distracted me from the true strength of the CoE platform; you mob. The deadly, funny, passionate and compassionate people who have signed up to the CoE hoping to connect with others and either get support with what you are hoping to achieve, offer support and guidance to those who are still striving to achieve their goals, or like me, a bit of both.

While there are still quite a lot of tech changes we plan to introduce and we of course will always be on the lookout for ways to improve the usability of the platform, this should not stop us from pushing what we do have already, focusing on making great conversations, connections and collaborations.

This quickly led me to thinking about the activity that has been happening on the site. It's awesome to see that a lot of people have been making, updating and achieving their goals. But we'd love to see more activity in terms of conversations and connections. This has reminded me of the crucial need for us all to feel comfortable saying the things we believe need to be said; raising the difficult issues; finding meaningful opportunities for respectful dialogue; and supporting each other in our day to day challenges, setbacks and triumphs. That is, after all, what the CoE is all about...

I would like to encourage everyone to make a few posts this week about whatever you would like. Inspire us, challenge us, have a laugh with us. Share your favourite songs or pics or links with us. Let us know how you are going, what is happening in your school, uni, TAFE, workplace, or home. What are you excited about, what are you worried about, is there anything we, or others, can do to lend a hand or offer support?

We are the Community of Excellence—there is no shortage of excellence amongst the thousand or so people signed up, now we just need to come together as a strong community; and what could be more excellent than that?

As you may or not know, the Community of Excellence was initially created as way for young mob that came through the NCIE to keep in touch and continue working collaboratively once they left and returned to their own communities. This helped people stay connected, maintain new friendships, and continue working on various projects and initiatives started here at the NCIE. However, now that the Community has opened up we've found that the initial points of contact and options for people to connect with kindred spirits have been limited to existing networks, friends, family and peer groups.