Lesley Clemens, Research Analyst. Performance and Research Directorate,
Department of Training [HREF1],
Level 2/151 Royal St, East Perth 6004, Western Australia.
Email: Lesley.Clemens@training.wa.gov.au
Link to site: http://www.training.wa.gov.au/billabong
The research discussed in this paper has come about as a result of working on the Billabong project, a project which looked at building a site specifically for the use of Indigenous field staff in the regions of Western Australia.
There are specific considerations to bear in mind when communicating with Indigenous communities. This paper will explore the flexibility of the Internet as a technology to enhance this communications process and adapt to a range of cultural variations.
This paper will also look at how the traditional and modern communication networks of Indigenous peoples and their approach to communication can be seen as an advantage when entering an online environment.
Research shows us that a range of audio and visual techniques can be employed so that information exchange does not rely solely on text based forms. The ability of the Internet to provide these is evidence of its flexibility in catering to a range of different cultures and worldviews. Any process of website development must incorporate a comprehensive consultative process, and one that embraces the entire community's concerns. It must consider the relevance and viability of the information it presents as much as the forms it uses to impart the information.
The range of variables that exist between Indigenous peoples of common ethnography are vast. They include: regional location, community membership, age, gender, education, background and socio-economic status. The Internet does have its limitations but promises greater flexibility in delivering information and promoting interaction in a diverse highly variable audience group such as that found in communications between government bodies and Indigenous peoples.
Lack of access to the Internet caused by poor infrastructure in remote regions, can be a problem for many Indigenous users. However, for the purposes of this paper, access to infrastructure will not be discussed in great detail.
Specific cultural orientations will be discussed that are of relevance to site development. The aspects to be discussed are: the consultation process, traditional communication networks, a context specific orientation to information seeking and cultural differences that may affect site design. These will be discussed in terms of their effect on the communication process and how they can be harnessed to maximise useage and effectiveness.
The Billabong site development explored a number of issues and research in relation to improving Indigenous communications amongst field staff and developing a culturally relevant and appropriate site.
The Billabong project placed Indigenous community support as a key factor in maximising participation and approached this through the consultation process. The most positive feedback that occurred in the process of designing the Billabong site came through consultation at the development phase. The process of community consultation initially appeared to hamper tight project deadlines but in fact became a most effective communication process and a strong factor in the site's success. The introduction of the site began to be more integrative and possess a high level of Indigenous ownership and involvement.
Consultation commences with communication between the users and the web service providers, the developing website providing the prototype forum or mechanism where this can continue. Early consultation is even more important when working with Indigenous people, since they exhibit a preference toward community-based approaches to decision making. In effect, the consultation is the communication. A silence or lack of feedback on demand from an Indigenous target group may be misinterpreted as apathy or lack of interest by those not attuned to cultural based communication issues.
Research into Indigenous communication techniques and why they occur provided insight into their preferred approaches to communication. The consultation process with the Billabong project was not a paper-based process. It involved extensive verbal consultation and meetings with field staff and stakeholders. Along with the consultation process there had to be a continual reference back to the relevance of the site to the community. Questions such as, "How will the site help the community?" needed to be addressed and articulated, to ensure participation and relevance.
Indigenous peoples show a particular interest in authentic expression and representation, as well as moving with apparent ease into visual and aural areas of expertise. The medium or vessel which delivers the message is as much the message as the content, if not more.
The surprise and interest resulting from Indigenous stakeholders at first being asked and secondly discovering that their feedback would directly influence the shape and form of the Billabong site was evident. The feedback was surprising in terms of the in depth level of detail and consistency that was provided on a range of visual, audio, and design features as well as content and layout. The level of interest, participation and ownership increased with evidence of empowerment to influence the outcomes of the project.
Specific design features incorporated into the Billabong site (see below) are Day/Night Billabong. Users view a daytime Billabong when they log on before 5pm (W.A. time) and a night Billabong after 5pm (W.A. time). Both image files contain associated audio files to relate to the time of day.
| Day-time version front page. | Night-time version front page. |
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Further design features incorporated to enhance useage were:
Audio
Animations
Easter eggs ensure that a number of small animations ie possum in Night
Billlabong and a cockatoo in Day Billabong appear as the cursor goes over
areas of the screen.These are mainly inserted for interest and as the
site develops it is hoped that further pop-ups will be incorporated.
Invaluable suggestions regarding such things as appropriate links to other sites, personalised input for particular areas such as youth and training opportunities and provision of success stories and role models to promote and reinforce Indigenous successes were consistent and ongoing. This level of feedback came about through one on one meetings, taking the time to listen to the target group and providing effective feedback on how this information would be incorporated into the site design.
It is expected that the final outcome of this process will mean a ground level, word of mouth promotion that will be invaluable within a largely regional environment.
In the future, with these strong communication links, if the site does not meet the needs of the target group, it will not necessarily be seen as a failure. The Indigenous target group will most certainly inform the team of why it doesn't meet their needs and how it might be changed.
If further promotion of the site is required, it can be done more confidently as a participative and inclusive project rather than a complete package landing on an alien user community. Consultation methods were also important as a positive preference was shown toward using human contact and one-to-one or group meetings. This leaning showed a preference toward real-time communication and leads us to the next point of discussion, which is the present time orientation of Indigenous cultures.
One of the key aims of the Billabong project was to facilitate online interactivity between Indigenous field staff in regional areas. Behind that aim was a certain assumption that Indigenous people are perhaps more disadvantaged, especially in remote and regional areas, due to lack of infrastructure, access, education, literacy and skills.
Although this may be true, this paper would like to put aside the very real issues of lack of infrastructure and access in remote regions and look instead at Indigenous peoples' use and approach to communications within such an environment.
The issue of communication across a large geographical space has always been an issue to Aboriginal communities both prior to and post European colonisation. However, it is incorrect to assume that Indigenous people may balk at using technology or that they are not familiar with it. Instead it may be hypothesised that Indigenous communities in remote regions are predisposed towards technologies both culturally and geographically and the range of technology literacy varies along a spectrum related to specific communities, need, access and relevance.
Very little quantitative data exists on Indigenous peoples' usage of Internet technology in Western Australia. However, some interesting research by Fischer (1995) [HREF4] suggests that the Indigenous preferred methods of learning are in fact more predisposed to embracing a range of multi-media technologies in a learning environment than traditional Anglo-saxon methods of learning. Fischer suggests 'oral communication is composed of an extremely sophisticated, multi-layered, polysemic codification-system of simultaneous communication signals'. This implies that the Indigenous mode of learning and communication is more adaptable to understanding a range of signals and mediums approaching the receiver at the one moment, than traditional text-based methods of learning can provide.
Prior to European colonisation the Indigenous communities had a complex communications network across regions utilising such things as the message stick and various oral traditions.
Internet technology can be seen as partially helping to replace the traditional communication networks that have been lost.
While the Warlpiri no longer live their traditional lifestyle, they have maintained social structure, language and ceremony. Their traditional culture and social practices have mainly been enhanced by the new technology, which has helped restore, and possibly improve, traditional communications. (Buchtmann, 1999). [HREF2]
The above comments suggest that the Internet can be seen in a positive light by Indigenous communities and encourage the reconstruction of traditional networks that were lost through European colonisation. The synchronous nature of communication that is made possible by Internet technology as well as asynchronous, can facilitate the Indigenous communication process and encourage interaction between communities. Indigenous communities are continuing to communicate across networks as they have always done, it is only the medium that has changed.
Without underestimating the importance of computer literacy and access to technology and education, the Internet does provide a certain freedom in terms of cultural and personal identity. An Internet user is not necessarily inhibited by gender, age or culture in an online environment and can therefore move between an Indigenous world and an Anglo-saxon world with a greater degree of freedom. This in itself can allow for a re-interpretation of cultural identity or a freedom from it, as the user desires.
The methods Indigenous people traditionally use to impart knowledge and communicate can also be seen as an advantage when they approach an online environment. Research done on the Warlpiri community further supports the natural pre-disposition of Indigenous peoples to embrace a range of media simultaneously.
..Warlpiri have never really made a differentiation between the types of media, using the medium that is most effective for their needs at the time. They have moved between audio and video, as well as adopting music production and online media with enthusiasm. This is an interesting comparison with non-Indigenous media owners and policy makers who are currently struggling with the complexities of convergence where the various forms of media, radio, television, and online services move toward each other. (Buchtmann 1999). [HREF2]
The main impetus in highlighting these issues is to show how important it is for non-Indigenous people engaged in the development of Internet sites for Indigenous users to examine their definitions and assumptions regarding a specific cultural target group. It is not only generic cultural assumptions, but also assumptions that a cultural group is necessarily a homogenous one that can interfere with effective communication. There are tribal differences as well as regional, age and gender differences. A spectrum of need, relevance, access and literacy needs also should be considered and this is where the consultative process as well as a flexible approach to communications takes on such importance.
One of the key features of this project was the opportunity to observe cultural phenomena related to the development of an Internet site and to track the research to determine the rationale behind it. Through participation these phenomena could be experienced first hand.
In line with modern day issues of information overload, the consultative process and acknowledgment of the human element becomes increasingly important. Who are we? What are we trying to do? Of what relevance is it to anyone? These are valid questions that may lead us to more effective communication with a range of user groups.
As Fischer (1995) [HREF4] states,
We can now acknowledge that we are confronted with a situation in which the computer, as quintessential achievement of the alphabetic mind, is pulling the carpet from under the feet of its own mental structure...We are then confronted with information and communication structures that present decisive affinities with traditional information management...applied for example by the Warlpiri teaching mothers of Yuendumu in Central Australia.
The strong link between communicating and learning in traditional Aboriginal communities is evident. Traditional learning environments were usually context specific, which implies that the person was ready to receive the information in context of their age, readiness and in the presence of a respected and recognised teacher that was responsible for imparting the information. This method of learning is in stark contrast to our institutionalised impersonal learning structures. As Trudgen, R. (1983) states,
Traditionally the learning situation is always organised and intentional...Therefore Aboriginal people have been waiting for the Western society to come and teach them the foundation laws of our society, but Western education sits and waits for the people to come and ask for the information they want.
Assumptions of what Indigenous people may wish to learn or the methods with which they search for information are mostly formed by a non-Indigenous worldview. Western alphabeticized society and its established structures have traditionally confined definitions of literacy for Indigenous peoples. As McConaghy (ND) [HREF6] states,
Literacy involved standardised skills in relation to texts which were considered to be the best that society had to offer. In British colonies, such as Australia, becoming literate meant being able to read and write in English and in relation to 'the great books', a collection that canonised the work of what popular discourse now refers to as the work of 'dead white males'.
Byrnes (1993) reinforces this viewpoint and states that the Indigenous view of time and context means, "The individual only has status (hence relevance/empowerment) within the broader social construct. In this worldview, literacy and numeracy have very little relevance".
As the Internet technology develops and becomes more established, traditional western views of literacy are also changing. For example, computer literacy is now a skill required in many employment and training positions. Forms of literacy in Indigenous communities are now recognised and validated, such as oral traditions, which were previously thought of as lesser forms of literacy.
In the traditional Aboriginal teaching situations, other levels of information management like signing and dancing can be utilised...Within a number of Indigenous societies we are thus meeting an information and communication structure that utilises several information sources simultaneously, without a priority or hierarchy in its application...The pragmatic disposition of the savage parallel information processing necessitates a constant effort of creativity in the communication process. (Fischer, 1995). [HREF4]
Some important parameters of the learning environment in the Indigenous community were the environment and the relevance of the information to the individual. The form of communication was therefore not as important as the appropriate delivery of the message. As Remedio (1996) states:
Most important, is to provide the medium for the messenger, to pass on the voice of our people in our stories, in our songs, our images, now that technology has caught up with our voice. This is something to remember; technology has finally caught up with what we've been saying all these years and it has enabled our story to be heard across the land, around our nation, all over the world. Until now our voices have been unheard in the wilderness and no one was listening.
It is all too easy to assume that in developing a site for an Indigenous target group, we firstly have something worth communicating and secondly that we are making allowances for a disadvantaged group in order for them to participate in what has already been decided as valid in the existing social infrastructure.
Educational reform as Nakata (1995) observes is framed in cultural terms, and as a consequence, the institutions and structures of colonial education remain intact. To reverse this way of thinking, which in a sense is to reverse the process of 'othering', is both painful and difficult. To consider that the mind of the Indigenous person is not only able, but possibly more able than western alphabeticized nations, to effectively embrace the technology of the Internet is the subject of fascinating research.
Orality is only a tag non-alphabetical societies have received by alphabetical literate societies. In reality, so-called oral communication is composed of an extremely sophisticated, multi-layered, polysemic codification-system of simultaneous communication signals. Orality is actually multimediality (Fischer 1995) [HREF4]
The Internet does present a new system of information management as well as a convergence of technologies that can change our traditional view of communication.
As Fischer (1995) [HREF4] suggested, the Internet is coherent with the particular communicative systems that are culturally dominant among many Indigenous Australian communities. This inherent ability to make use of a system of simultaneous communication signals lends itself well to the range of technology and services offered by the Internet. This suggests that any site designed specifically for an Indigenous audience could easily incorporate a range of audio and visual techniques to encourage usage and that this, in theory, should easily be able to be embraced.
In remote regions of Western Australia where employment and training opportunities are more limited the Internet can not only allow greater access to regional users, it must also consider that interaction and communication across regions may still remain more important to the target group than wading through layers of information. The communication interchange may be the key to many users becoming interested or accessing information banks rather than a list of available information.
Without community support, ownership and involvement, a site could easily be under utilised and overlooked in the huge array of Internet sites available on the World Wide Web.
Fischer (1995) [HREF4] states that it is our cultural and self-identity that is put under question by the developments of digital technology. Assumptions we may have made previously about other cultures, western style of thought and our own place in it is brought to light and open to re-evaluation.
This issue is an important one as highlighted by McConaghy (ND) [HREF6] in the following:
In relation to adult literacy development and flexible delivery pedagogies Aboriginalism constructs notions of 'how Aboriginal people like to learn' and notions of 'culturally appropriate media for flexible delivery'. Frequently these notions are based upon fictions about 'Indigenous culture' and 'Indigenous identity', which fail to recognise within group diversity, and which also deny Indigenous people the right to voice and choice.
These shifts in perspective or the questioning of assumptions in terms of other cultures can be disturbing, but potentially positive as we re-identify ourselves in the context of a wider, global perspective.
Indigenous culture and target groups can be accommodated using Internet technology and one would hypothesise, a range of other cultures and worldviews can also be accommodated. The technology and the vast range of communicative processes and potential it encompasses, make it flexible enough to allow for these different approaches while not precluding others from access. The limitations may lie with our own worldviews, not necessarily those of others we seek to communicate with.
This paper does not make a statement on whether specific cultural adjustments are required in website design. Indeed, can it even be assumed at which moment in time an individual's use of Internet technology becomes culturally specific? Is a user Indigenous or not in an online environment or a blend of many characteristics as fluid as the range of information and media they interact with? The Internet as a technology has universal appeal and global flexibility.
It is the fluidity of moving between differing patterns of thought and approach accessible to us through different cultures and increasingly sophisticated software and Internet technology that we may seek to improve our own abilities to encompass truly global perspectives.
As technology begins to map the human brain and emulate in many fundamental ways it as much as possible, our brain in turn is affected by the technology and this shapes the way we think. This begins to form a cause and effect loop as each affects the other.
Internet technology appears to offer flexible solutions to address specific cultural variations, skill sets, abilities, literacy issues and a host of other variables. This potential, however, exists in stark contrast to the actual reality of today's available technology, fixed attitudes, existing infrastructure and a range of inhibitors that seem far removed from 'techno-dreamland'.
Internet site development of any type is a fluid process and a successful site needs to incorporate strong feedback mechanisms and the ability to transform along with its users needs and the technology's capacities. The Billabong site takes its first brave steps in this challenging environment, with the hope of being able to change as required, rather than trying to change its users to suit its features.
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Lesley Clemens, © 2002. The author assigns to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web.