Information technologies and Indigenous communities

This special issue of articles emerged from presentations delivered at the 2017 Information Technologies and Indigenous Communities (ITIC) Symposium, which was convened by Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker for the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) in conjunction with the 2017 ASA Annual Conference at the University of Melbourne. It was also held in conjunction with the 16th Symposium on Indigenous Music and Dance of the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia (NRPIPA) convened by Professor Aaron Corn.

The first ITIC Symposium was hosted by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra in 2010. A Statement on Key Issues documented the many innovative engagements of Indigenous Australians with the information technologies sector, and recorded the benefits arising from their increased participation with digital media and the digital economy. These uses of media and technology have become increasingly important in nurturing the intergenerational transmission of languages and culture, and developing new industry approaches.

This ITIC special issue features many fascinating and informative essays. The 2017 ITIC Symposium focused on technological advances and new linkages in archives, collections and Indigenous knowledges. It highlighted Indigenous engagements with archives and information technologies in native title, education, heritage, languages, mapping, performance and broadcasting. This special issue captures highlights from among its presentations that span insights into building and maintaining Indigenous resources in public and community archives, investigations of attendant policy and preservation concerns, and explorations of fresh approaches to representing Indigenous knowledges through collections. Also presented here are reviews of two recent books that have built significantly on research into archived Indigenous resources.

We hope that this special issue offers readers useful insights into the ways that Indigenous community needs and engagements with information technologies are working to transform archives.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the outgoing General Editor, Dr Katrina Dean, as well as Assistant Editor Dr Hannah Hibbert for their attentive work on this special issue of Archives and Manuscripts. We also gratefully thank Julia Mant (ASA President), Annelie de Villiers (2017 ITIC Symposium Coordinator), and Kathryn Dan and Katherine Howard (2017 ASA Annual Conference Convenors). Finally, thank-you to all our authors in this special issue, and to everyone who attended and presented at the 2017 ITIC Symposium for your valuable contributions.

The 2017 ITIC Symposium was dedicated to the late Joseph Neparrŋa Gumbula from northeast Arnhem Land, who worked to research his own family and community history in archives and other collections worldwide, and significantly enriched international understandings of Indigenous heritage resources. The ASA and the University of Melbourne Chancellery Engagement team sponsored three members of Gumbula’s close family, Pamela Gawura Ganambarr, Farrah Gumbula and Michael Muŋgula Gaykamaŋu, to attend and participate in the ITIC Symposium. The ASA also sponsored travel from Paris for our keynote speaker, Dr Jessica De Healy Largy. A special issue devoted to Gumbula’s scholarly contributions and legacy has recently been published in Preservation, Digital Technology and Culture (volume 47, issue 3–4).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker’s and Professor Aaron Corn’s work as Guest Editors of the special issue was supported by their joint Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Indigenous project grant with Dr Dominique Sweeney (IN180100014).

Notes on contributors

Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Lyndon Ormond-Parker is an ARC Discovery Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award (DAATSIA) Fellow in the Indigenous Studies Unit of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. He sits on the Australian Heritage Council, and the Australian Government Ministry for the Arts Advisory Committee for Indigenous Repatriation.

Aaron Corn

Aaron Corn is Director of the National Centre for Aboriginal Language and Music Studies (NCALMS), Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM), and a Professor of Music at the University of Adelaide. He is a Director of the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia (NRPIPA), and has sat on the ARC College of Experts.