A new Indigenous dialogue with the Australian people

MiA_Will's picture
Submitted by MiA_Will on 6 January 2010 - 11:18pm
What's this idea about?
In less than 100 words, what is your idea?: 
A plan for the communication of Indigenous Research conducted by universities & government including their work, progress & achievements. The intention is to communicate with all Australian's on these matters. This provides an opportunity for transparency which can develop trust & promote positive progress in aboriginal relations. It can ultimately unite & strengthen those in the non-aboriginal community who support this but whose voice has never been heard. There are 2 reasons for this venture: 1) The adoption throughout Australia of Information Communication Technological tools such as Social Media & Mobile. These tools now create a conversation with people & access to matters of interest which was before lost to big businesses' own interests 2) Millions of $ is invested in research by academia & government. This research is rarely used or seen outside the confines of these institutions
What is the social need or challenge your idea could address?: 
Thanks to these technological tools, an opportunity exists to engage and encourage dialogue, raise questions of importance and drive action on major issues of the 21st century: Enviornment/ Sustainability & a true respresentation/empowerment of Indigenous Culture. There is opportunity to create an eCommunity that can work together, empower itself with information & support which can in turn transform into offline broad social change.
What’s really new about your idea?: 
An opportunity for dialogue with innovators, leaders, entrepreneurs, key influencers who care about these issues, who would like to take part in encouraging and fostering empowerment of the original owners of the land. The tools are available to encourage this Social Change through eCommunities but none have focused or been fully mobilised to utilise research completed or engage in a dialogue such as this. Channels such as Twitter consist of people currently particpating in conversation but have not been engaged to take action. Groups existing for aboriginal issues feel segregated from general opinion. The main objective is to connect these segregated groups, encourage a flow of information & sharing while also encouraging the utilisation of highly regarded research from academia & government.
Stage of development
What inspired you to come up with your idea in the first place?: 
Always having an interest in Indigenous issues & feeling a strong connection to this land I recently attended the launch of the Indigenous Policy & Dialogue Research Unit. I listened to Professor Dodson speak about the assimilation of the Indigenous people & their culture, about the desire to put the past behind us, to mature as a nation and to work together especially on a global issue such as climate change & the degradation of our environment. He spoke of a desire to start a new dialogue based on these prinicples but did not know how. Due to my work in the Social Media space, of examples of Social Change occurring overseas via effective use of these tools and knowing a way to start this dialogue I could see an alignment.
From 1-5, what stage of development would you say your idea is in? - Explain further: 
Stage 4: The tools are available, key influencers have been connected with. Key people within this university are aware of this & can see the possibilities. The groups already engaging have been researched, media publications who could develop this story & encourage initial connection have been listed. Also an indication of the types of material & dialogue has been started.
What can we do for you?
Tell us what we can do for you: 
Assist with the execution of this plan. Provide connections for funding. Much funding is invested in researching what can be done. This idea provides a way of actioning & spreading the good work done. The more funding accessed the greater the development of the community & what can be achieved. A mentor who can provide guidance of connecting a young buddng entrepreneur with respected business people in community both online & offline. Plus any assistance in developing a 'story'/message accessible by mainstream society & not just those in my demographic.
Select which are the one or two most important things that you need to help the development of your idea: 
Mentor - to help you through the process of turning your idea into reality
Funder - to give you some initial cash
If Social Innovation Camp is able to help push your idea forward, do you have the time or desire to take ownership of it?: 
Yes
Anything else you want to tell us?: 
Recently created my business Fulfil This which provides digital marketing strategy & execution for Social Innovators. Living in Sydney, brought up in a beautiful environment & always aware of a rich aboriginal culture while witnessing their feelings of loss & out of place in our modern society I longed for a way to help provide empowerment & acknowlegement of their value & importance in & to the rest of Australia.
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Ozziemedes's picture

Re: A new Indigenous dialogue with the Australian people

by Ozziemedes - 27 Jan 2010 - 7:03pm
I think you're going to face some serious challenges getting academics to pool their work. Universities and journals derive income from publishing their work - you're going to need to give them an incentive to make this still possible once their output is in the public domain. That said, we also need to do more than just theorize about the problems and their potential solutions. If you can define a framework for direct action arising from the research, then I think you're in a better space. Maybe there's something that can be done to rate and rank the research in terms of "actionability" using some sort of reviewer scoring system, then make the results freely available to the public and to governments?
MiA_Will's picture

Re: A new Indigenous dialogue with the Australian people

by MiA_Will - 27 Jan 2010 - 9:50pm
Thanks for bringing up such well thought arguments to my idea. Firstly, regarding publishing of work. This is a problem faced by many thanks to the Internet & the ease of information distribution. The music industry has come up against this problem but is now stronger than it has ever been, simply because the distribution & tools used to broadcast provide wider coverage in mainstream society, easier access & therefore stronger development of act/message leading to new profit models. Universities & journalists have the same option. Sure, this is a new business model but, by releasing some of the material, they are able to strengthen their credibility as a reliable source & therefore be more highly regarded for "paid" material. I also found when discussing with a particular university & its various departments that even these areas create "silos"of information/data that is lost. This idea intends to release information across departments & encourage collaboration. As for your second point regarding turning theory into action: I agree that there has been alot of talk but no action. But there is also alot of action occuring which we do not know about, plenty of art & culture we have never connected with in mainstream society. The point of this exercise is as a communictaion tool, to inform of the action already taking place, distribute art & culture but also, and this answers your point, highlight what still needs to be done. Social Media & tools now are such that it is a process, a collaboration that builds over time. For this reason areas of action can be identified by parties who have a a fresh approach, who are interested in this area but never had an opportunity to become involved. And than, from this collaborative solutions can be actioned & become viable over time. I hope this illustrates my mindset about this idea. I welcome anymore fedback or questions that you have. This dicussion helps to further development of the idea.
Ozziemedes's picture

Re: A new Indigenous dialogue with the Australian people

by Ozziemedes - 27 Jan 2010 - 11:10pm
The issue with academia and government isn't really "Profit" per se. It's institutionalized process and the professional status one gets from "Managing revenue" in either silo. If you're a departmental director in a university and can get a further $5M in government grants for your research programs, then you look like a good, effective professional administrator. If you then share $2.5M of that original 5 with other departments (e.g. Economics sharing with sociology) then all of a sudden you're only "half as effective" when it comes to faculty boards of management, etc. Similar kinds of empire building in the public service are also infamously endemic. For the record, if you can get past the institutionalized admin cultures to build a product that makes this all work more effectively, I think your dissemination strategies will have to cross multiple delivery platforms. I think it's high time we (anglo-western culture in Australia) gave indigenous Australians a fairer go and I applaud the humanist thinking behind your desired outcomes. :) For the record, I'm a data management professional, so if you want help building something like a scoring/assessment tool or even a data model for progressive annotation of works under review, I'm happy to assist.
MiA_Will's picture

Re: A new Indigenous dialogue with the Australian people

by MiA_Will - 28 Jan 2010 - 2:41pm
Agree that opening up government & academic data is a challenge but if successful will be beneficial to all of society. Coincidentally, certain members of the Australian & US government are developing open government or gov2.0 projects. It is a change of thinking, a change of process & as is effident in the US at present, is somtimes painful but, done unobtrusively & utilising the support of those champions, those who would like to push this (such as yourself) it has the opportunity to be successful. The process of this model as a social innovation woud include being the collator of the information, data & pieces of art & culture. When I recently discussed with a particular university & its various departments (who did not know much about each other) they were all open to the idea, happy to share as long as their work was used to improve the indigenous situation. Thanks very much for the offer by the way, I will keep it in mind. You should attend the camp!
MiA_Will's picture

The link to the lecture form Professor Patrick Dodson

by MiA_Will - 28 Jan 2010 - 2:43pm
http://ipdru.arts.unsw.edu.au/media/File/UNSW_20_August_2009.pdf
glenm's picture

Re: A new Indigenous dialogue with the Australian people

by glenm - 20 Jan 2010 - 3:12pm
There are several questions that must be addressed before the feasibility of this proposal can be judged. The proposer believes utilizing technology and online resources will help aid in creating “new dialogue.” First, this begs the question, how willing are the Indigenous people to implement this technology? Will a broader social and cultural change be necessary to convince them to communicate their ideas, and then to communicate these ideas through the use of technology? How do you imagine the Indigenous people will react to this program? This makes it very difficult to determine the scope and scale of this project. The author claims to already have a few select contributors on board. However, does this adequately represent the culture and issues that Indigenous people find pertinent? What strategies do you have in place that will encourage further collaboration and cooperation from the Indigenous people? Second, the idea of “starting new dialogue, which empowers Indigenous Australians” is a complex and delicate task. The question remains how will this differ from previous dialogues? How will this succeed where others have failed? Another question that comes to mind is how willing is the general public to listen and reciprocate with the Indigenous people? How confident is the author that the general public will embrace these ideas and issues, and offer effective solutions? Other issues that must also be addressed are the operations of the business and the business model. What source of revenue will this program receive? Is this a self-sustaining business model or will this program require constant funding?
MiA_Will's picture

Re: A new Indigenous dialogue with the Australian people

by MiA_Will - 20 Jan 2010 - 7:00pm
Thanks for your feedback GlenM. When I originally wrote this I had the best intentions but was ill & my intended message was not clear enough. Based on this it would be very appreciated if you could re read this idea? I note you asking how Indigenous people would be able to access these tools. My intention was to provide a broadcast channel for government & research institutions. I trust that this re-written idea clarifies the intention.

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