Aboriginal stories made visible (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Aboriginal stories made visible

[photo inset - Bush reality. Photo: Sahlan Hayes]
Leon Gettler
July 12, 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/aboriginal-stories-made-visible/2007/07/11/1183833598832.html#

ELEVEN years ago, teachers sent to indigenous outback schools in the
Northern Territory noticed one thing missing from the children's textbooks:
Aboriginal faces. Just white faces, white kids and white stories relayed to
remote Aboriginal communities.

It was a point picked up by Victoria University education lecturer Lawry
Mahon in 1996 on a visit to Atitjere, an indigenous community 240
kilometres north-east of Alice Springs.

With the local culture absent from any of the classroom books and stories —
something consistent with a nation that had lived there for thousands of
years being turned into an invisible people for the rest of the country —
Mr Mahon held informal astronomy classes for the children and got them to
write about what they had experienced together.

He returned to Atitjere the following year with plans for student teachers
from the university to come and help develop the children's literacy and
computer skills.

He approached IBM for assistance and SWIRL — Story Writing In Remote
Locations — was born.

The program, focused on a section of Australia's school population with poor
attendance and low literacy rates, offered Aboriginal children an education
based on their own world.

The partnership between IBM and the university allows children to write
their own books on all sorts of topics, from their family histories to bush
medicine, from rock art to what you can buy for $5 at the local shop, from
playing sport to building a garden.

Students as young as five and up to 16 take part in activities, documenting
them in English and then their own language. They are taught how to use
digital cameras and computers to tell their stories through the written and
spoken word. They learn how to use video and audio recording, artwork,
photos and even clay animation. The stories are then published in books
that are printed, laminated and bound, with copies for families, friends
and the school libraries. The result is an archive of many hundreds of
stories, giving teachers a unique tool to connect with the community.

When SWIRL is brought into a community, school attendance goes up by as much
as 100 per cent.

Over the past 10 years, IBM has provided more than 100 computers, ThinkPads
and printers. The equipment at the school gives the community access to
computing, printing, faxing and colour photocopying.

According to IBM's corporate responsibility report, SWIRL was conducted in
18 locations in 2006. The computer giant has also been working with the
university to encourage student teachers to pursue careers in outback
schools.

Andrew Hocking, IBM Australia and New Zealand's corporate citizenship and
corporate affairs manager, said negotiations were under way with the
Queensland and West Australian governments to expand the program. There
were also talks with the Department of Education, Science and Training
about building on the program. The plan was to make it a worldwide model
for engagement with indigenous communities.

"Our model is for corporate engagement with universities so it fits that
strategy," Mr Hocking said.

http://tinyurl.com/3dldmz