#wd14

It’s been a few weeks now since digi-gili at Web Directions. As a pre-curser to IDX’s Innovation Lab, Web Directions and IDX worked together to create a conversation space for Indigenous Entrepreneurs at the conference. Individually developed strategic pathways were created to facilitate connections with the stellar line up of Web Directions delegates and our deadly mob. Secondly, and most crucial, was the objective to lay the foundations for Indigenous digital innovators to connect as a savvy, creative community of Digital Leaders while sharing our cultural experiences and creating support for each other.

And that we did!

John and Maxine from Web Directions created a space for digi-gili, strategically placed to invite the 800 odd delegates into our ‘lounge room’ and yarn up. We created a digital ephemeral continuation of Uncle Max’s, (pictured above) Smoke Ceremony to rotate on screen in the lounge room. I think its safe to say, digi-gili defied typical Indigenous stereotypes with our representation of Excellence: central to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence.

The program for Web Directions blew my mind. A common theme with the conference’s speakers naturally evolved around Human Centred Design. From Erin Moore’s (Twitter) Convenient Fictions and her poetic philosophy on time and experiences to Matt Webb’s Interconnected: aligning science fiction and pop culture with the contemporary design of products to create new meaning in our lives. But, for me it was hearing, then meeting the amazing Anthropologist, Genevieve Bell, (pictured below).

Her talk, Being Human in a Digital World enlightened me with my own, ‘ah-ha’ moment. Genevieve is an Australian working for Intel as the Director of User Experience Research, she is a Vice President of Intel Lab and is an Intel Fellow. Bell is based in America, however uniquely Australian with a longstanding connection to Indigenous communities and culture. She grew up on country in the outback desert in places such as Ali Curung within Warlpirri and Warumungu Aboriginal communities, on the Kaiditch lands with her mother, a highly regarded Anthropologist (Diane Bell). It’s no surprise that she so successfully bridges the digital and anthropological worlds to work with human centred design after hearing about her father and Grandmother (both engineers) combined with her childhood learning traditional lore, our culture and our old ways.

Needless to say, Bell understands our work facilitating digital innovation and connections which are self determined by our mob, and from a culturally relevant paradigm.

Genevieve talked about our transition from human computer interactions to human computer relationships - something that one of our invited digi-gili's understands innately.

Biologist and Cabrogal woman, Mikaela Jade from [Paramodic.com] and pictured below, brought along her beautifully painted boat paddles representing 100 Indigenous nations linking 55 custodian communities through the stories technically embedded within the individually painted paddles, brought to life with Augmented Reality and your Smart Phone. She used the paddles to demonstrate the AR also part of their Digital Rangers project, which she talked at length about to a number and range of people - all impressed with her concept, vision and creative design and delivery of Digital Rangers. Mikaela has written here as part of her experiences of digi-gili @ Web Directions.

Liam Ridgeway (Gumbaynggirr) and John Saulo (Wergaia, Wemba Wemba & Gunnditimara) pictured above, from Ngakkan Nyaagu presented an array of ways how the two men can provide all services required for your digital identity. “We believe all Indigenous businesses and organisations should control their digital presence. Through the use of platforms, tools and succinct strategy NGNY will work will you to achieve your goals and give you the skills to manage your presence into the future, no matter what stage your at currently”. With only having started out within the year, NGNY has taken on the design and development of Indigenous online solutions by storm. John and Liam recognised the value of forming an advisory committee to capture the expertise all small to medium enterprises require of a business. Through our digi-gili workshopping process they were able to identify and then meet a range of people they are now currently developing relationships with.

The other Indigenous Entrepreneurs and their project’s ranged from app’s developed for youth engagement to culturally specific web applications combining an innovative and divergent blending of practical search functions, social and open sourced. Progressive, and yet culturally grounded is what our mob are all about.

Furthermore, what unifies all the digi-gili people and their projects is their ability to represent our diverse backgrounds: contemporary, yet traditional - re-contextualisation of our old ways, and hence, emancipating our cultural identity. Yet, in my opinion, the most critical factor digi-gili achieved was to communicate our ability to self-determine how Indigenous Entrepreneurs are creating and navigating our way through the digital landscape, while inviting the Web Directions delegates to come on board for the journey.

The invitation remains open so, please contact us to find out more about how you can be involved in Indigenous Digital Excellence.

As part of the #digigili camp fire at Web Directions, Liam Ridgeway from NGNY has kindly shared what they’re up to with their new business. ^GY

Ngakkan Nyaagu (NGNY) was founded by myself (Liam Ridgeway) and John Saulo earlier this year. Proudly 100% Aboriginal owned, NGNY is focused on delivering digital services to Indigenous businesses and community organisations.

Ngakkan Nyaagu means “see” in Wergaia and Gumbaynggirr languages. NGNY assists organisations & individuals to develop a digital communication strategy and establish an online presence so their audiences can “see” who they are, what their story is and what they are doing.

Both John and I are advocates of growth in digital literacy and employment opportunities. So a big part of NGNY’s vision is to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) participation in the digital economy and create a sustainable and collaborative ATSI Information Technology (IT) community.

With the rapid changes in the way people are using technology today for their work and personal lives, we see a rise in the need for the ATSI community to have a better understanding and influence of the technologies which they are using. The reason for this is to enable the ATSI community to utilise technology more effectively and influence the development of new solutions that are culturally relevant and appropriate. The aim of this is to enhance digital literacy, general learning standards and provide potential productivity outcomes for ATSI communities.

The ATSI community is far underrepresented in the IT industry in both technical and non-technical roles. While there has been some increase in ATSI representation in the tech sector, we would love to see a much more rapid shift…

For NGNY, we want to put a dent in this and aim to contribute to this vision. We are developing a business strategy to employ, train and develop ATSI people in design and technology. By 2017 we at NGNY want to employ 8–12 ATSI people across the business.

We are also strong believers and actively practice in enabling our clients to have the empowerment and opportunity to manage and contribute to their own digital presence.

The majority of our clients are small to medium businesses with an existing online presence. For these clients, having an online presence is both a privilege and a major expense. The problem here is that far too often we see our clients are unable to make changes to their own content either because they have not been equipped with the knowledge and skills to do so, or the cost that web services providers are charging are too exorbitant. This has often led to untouched and outdated websites with old content that are years old.

As part of the #digigili camp fire at Web Directions, Mikaela Jade from Paramodic has kindly shared what they’re up to with the Digital Rangers project. ^GY

“Imagine: Standing at a national park cultural site, holding your smart device up to the rock art and the custodian appears on your phone/device and tells you the significance of the place, in her language and yours.

You are so compelled by her story that you jump online and start having a real-time conversation with the Indigenous Digital Ranger about your experience at their place. And you start making a personal connection with the Aboriginal people in your community.

This experience is so life-changing that you can’t wait to share this with your friends in the community face-to-face or via social media. When you have interstate visitors, this will be top of your list of cultural experiences”.

When I was a child, I was very aware of those who had walked before us.

Looking at the bush tracks around Sydney I would imagine the footprints in the sand of the various Dharug, D’harawal and Kur-ring-gai people, then later, the convicts and even modern day explorers. I wondered about the lives of these people, and where they would be going or returning from. I wondered what wisdoms they would share with the people making footprints today.

As I grew up and moved to remote areas of Australia, I began to understand the complexities of economic development, and the lack of opportunities for our people. I saw the demand for this knowledge by visitors to Country, and managers of land. I saw us give this knowledge freely while trying to make ends meet in western ways. This didn’t make sense to me and needed to change.

Putting people, narrative and technology together last year saw the birth of Digital Rangers.

Digital Rangers is an exploration mobile application that combines Aboriginal wisdom, augmented reality, social media, GPS mapping and tourist information for the enhancement of visitor experiences to natural areas while enabling economic development for the traditional custodians of Country.

It turns your mobile phone camera in to an ‘eye’ that can see landmarks, Aboriginal artwork, petroglyphs, objects and landscapes.  Our platform enables visitors to Country to hear Aboriginal cultural heritage stories and other information on site through augmented reality, with future-builds to incorporate wearable technologies. The app will be free, with in-app purchases up to $10.

This is a profit AND purpose initiative that seeks to provide high quality enhancements to people visiting national parks, and other natural areas, while providing economic development opportunities for the Indigenous communities that hold the stories.