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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><b><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Aboriginal culture is turning to technology, writes Lia Timson.</span></b><span
lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><a name=contentSwap1></a><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>In a true marriage of old
and new, the internet is set to perpetuate, if not, revive dozens of Aboriginal
languages facing extinction. The Miromaa software project - miromaa means
"saved" in Arwarbukarl language - was developed by two Aboriginal men
in Newcastle despite assurances from linguists that lay community members were
ill-equipped to save languages.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Daryn McKenny, general manager of the not-for-profit Arwarbukarl
Cultural Resource Association (<a href="http://www.arwarbukarl.com.au"><span
style='color:#003399'>www.arwarbukarl.com.au</span></a>) led the development of
the program. It will be used in a yet-to-be-launched website that aims to take
the linguistic salvaging effort worldwide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>It is estimated that from the 250 known Australian Aboriginal
languages, only 15 to 20 are fluently spoken today. The top five indigenous
languages are spoken at home by between 2500 and 5800 people only, according to
the 2006 census.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>"What culture is left is disappearing every day with each
elder who passes away," McKenny says. "We need not just linguists but
an army of people and technology to slow down the loss."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Arwarbukarl, originally spoken by the people of what is now
Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the lower Hunter Valley, is among those languages
in danger of disappearing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>"We were doing song and dance to educate the community and
our own kids, we wanted to teach them the culture, but without the language
there was something missing. Here we are teaching and talking about our
language but in English. It's not the same," McKenny says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>The project was almost killed four years ago when the now-defunct
ATSIC conducted a review that recommended funding be cut because "two
fellas without a linguist could not revive a language", he says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>"It was a big kick up the butt but it meant we had to change
our ways and work smarter."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>With a background in computing, he started a search for language
software around the world but settled for developing one from scratch when he
realised existing programs were aimed at professionals studying threatened
languages, not those practising them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Miromaa allows community users of different language groups to
post text, images, sound and video of words and phrases in a sort of communal
multimedia dictionary effort and in the process create a resource others can
use. It has a separate section for linguists.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>It has been licensed to cultural centres in Victoria, Western
Australia and north Queensland.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><a name=contentSwap2></a><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>But it is the Our
Languages website that will allow the wider community to learn indigenous
languages when it launches later this year. It will cater for multiple
dialects, so that an online search for the word "emu", for example,
will elicit several regional results, including audio of the correct
pronunciations. The site (www.ourlanguages.com.au) is still under development
and inaccessible but will be open to all when finished.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>"Everyone in Australia talks Aboriginal and they don't even
know it - it's in the street names, the places, everywhere," McKenny says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Our Languages will be launched with significant pro-bono help from
Microsoft under its Unlimited Potential program and technology-enabling
company, Dimension Data. It received partial funding from the Federal
Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) but
additional funds will be needed to add more languages.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>The first dedicated national Aboriginal TV channel was launched
last month. National Indigenous Television (nitv.org.au) carries 24-hour
programming and can be seen by Optus Aurora satellite subscribers and Imparja's
Channel 31 viewers in remote Australia. The $50 million venture, backed by the
federal department, will be available nationally via Foxtel and Austar from
October.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>The channel is calling for program submissions from the community,
including language-preservation ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:20.25pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Download the actual article from here: </span><span lang=EN
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://www.arwarbukarl.com.au/default.aspx?id=160">http://www.arwarbukarl.com.au/default.aspx?id=160</a>
<span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Regards</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Daryn McKenny</span></b><b><span style='color:#BFBFBF'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:#BFBFBF'> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#BFBFBF'>Arwarbukarl Cultural Resource Association Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#BFBFBF'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#E36C0A'>Read our Indigenous Language BLOG at <a
href="http://www.arwarbukarl.net.au/blog/"><span style='color:#E36C0A'>http://www.arwarbukarl.net.au/blog/</span></a></span></b><b><span
style='color:#E36C0A'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:#BFBFBF'> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#0D0D0D'>P | 02 4961 0515 F | 02 4940
8455 E | <a href="mailto:daryn@arwarbukarl.com.au"><span
style='color:blue'>daryn@arwarbukarl.com.au</span></a> W | <a
href="www.arwarbukarl.com.au"><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>www.arwarbukarl.com.au</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#BFBFBF'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:Webdings;
color:#0D0D0D'>P</span><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Comic Sans MS";color:#0D0D0D'> </span></b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#0D0D0D'> </span><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#0D0D0D'>Please
consider the environment before printing this</span><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#0D0D0D'> </span><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#0D0D0D'>email</span><span
style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#BFBFBF'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#BFBFBF'>The Arwarbukarl Cultural Resource Association Inc. respects
the privacy of individuals and strives to comply with all areas of the Privacy Act.
The contents of this email are intended for the purpose of the person or
persons named in either the "To" or "CC" boxes of the
email. Any person not named in these boxes in receipt of this email should
immediately delete this email and advise the sender accordingly.</span></i><span
style='color:#BFBFBF'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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