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An Introduction to the Spring 2002 Yuendumu-Philadelphia videoconference-webcast-email events
by Eric Miller
 

Robin Japanangka Granites, Chairperson of the Tanami Network, will be moderating on the Yuendumu side of the videoconference.  In addition to members of the Tanami Network, members of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association, the Warlpiri Media Association, and other members of the community are being invited to attend the event in Yuendumu.  Myself, Eric, will be moderating on the Philadelphia side of the videoconference.
 

Themes of these events include:

STORYTELLING, both as it occurs in everyday conversation and in more formal events, and the question of how the performing, teaching, and practicing of storytelling and other arts are changed when they are attempted via interactive media like videoconferencing.  Also -- what happens to storytelling when it is attempted via film, video, and other media?

The teaching of LANGUAGE.  We are hoping that in each session, the people in Yuendumu will present a small, introductory lesson about their language (oral and/or written). 

MIXTURES of local traditional verbal arts with popular and commercial music (rock, rap, etc.).  Many Indigenous popular musicians sing at least part of the time in their language.  It would be wonderful if such performers could attend and take in these videoconference-webcasts.

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Background

In the summer of 1966, Sol Worth, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, co-led a project that eventually resulted in the book, Through Navajo Eyes.  The project involved going to a reservation in Arizona and teaching six Navajo individuals how to use 16mm film cameras, and how to edit.  Worth was trying to determine if these people would make movies differently than people of the mainstream white culture (in terms of imagery, sense of time and space, editing style, etc.).  The six Navajo participants were paid an hourly wage. 

Then, in 1982, Eric Michaels -- after receiving a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Texas at Austin -- was hired by the Australian government to help them decide how to introduce satellite TV to Aboriginal peoples.  When Michaels arrived, he discovered that a number of Aboriginal peoples were already illegally -- that is, without a license -- broadcasting video locally.  Michaels became an outspoken advocate for various Aboriginal peoples, and he helped them continue to develop their own media-making, until he died of AIDS in 1988. 

It was partly due to Michaels' contribution that members of a number of Australian Aboriginal peoples, including the Warlpiri and the Pintubi, founded the Tanami Network in 1992 -- a videoconferencing network with multiple sites, in rural and urban Australia.  This network is used for many purposes, including selling art on the international art market, ceremonial family and kinship gatherings, and delivery of government services. 

Today, the situation is vastly different than it was in the 60's in that today many Indigenous peoples are using electronic communication to organize among themselves, to publicize and conduct their struggles for cultural and physical survival, to conduct commercial activities (selling art, arranging eco-tourism, etc.), and for other purposes. 

These videoconferences will be reciprocal interviews, otherwise known as "conversations."  On our part (Folklore graduate students), this project is not oriented toward studying Indigenous peoples.  Rather, it is oriented towards learning from members of those peoples, and towards the sharing of thoughts.

Following are some of the questions that might be asked of the Indigenous peoples in Yuendumu in the course of these events:

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What is your experience with and attitude toward electronic communication technology?  What are meanings of it for you?  How does it relate to traditional (face-to-face) communication?  In your experience, what is electronic communication technology useful for?  What is it not useful for?  Can you offer any advice, suggestions, or guidance regarding its use? 

Please share your thoughts about how people of Western and other dominant cultures tend to use various types of communication technology -- that is, please engage in anthropological and psychological analysis of white / Western / other dominant cultures. 

Do you use videoconferencing (and other interactive telecommunication technologies) for commercial purposes?  If so, please tell us about the goods and services you offer.  Do you use it to arrange for eco-tourism? To give demonstrations, performances, or instruction in storytelling and other arts?  For language instruction and practice? 

Please tell us about your efforts for your peoples' physical and cultural survival and growth.

Is there anything else you would like to ask or tell us?  ("us" being Folklore graduate students, the web audience in general, etc.)

***

One of the inspirations for this series is the following excerpt from the article, "Online In the Outback: The Use of Videoconferencing by Australian Aborigines," by Mark Hodges, Technology Review, April 1996 (This entire article, and two related articles, can be read at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/videoconference/series/indigenous.html ):

Perhaps the most intriguing use of the system is a continuing series of videoconferences among the Warlpiri aborigines and indigenous groups on other  continents, including the Scandinavian Saami, Alaskan Inupiat, Canadian Inuit, and the Little Red Cree nation in Alberta, Canada.  These videoconferences have so far focused primarily on land rights and language preservation -- two issues of deep concern among indigenous peoples worldwide.  But one recent session allowed an exchange of native dances with members of  the Little Red Cree nation.  Spurred on by the success of this dance exchange, the Warlpiri hope to collaborate this year with other groups in a global videoconference festival of traditional and contemporary music.