Mukurtu - new Indigenous minded content management freeware

Mukurtu is new content management freeware created with Indigenous protocols in mind. Ahead of M&G NSW workshops in Sydney and Wagga in August we asked Mukurtu team leader Kim Christen from the Washington State University how Aboriginal communities across NSW could apply this digital tool to their collections.

What has been the Australian experience so far of Mukurtu? (feedback)

Mukurtu began with the Warumungu community in Tennant Creek, this year is the first opportunity for us to make the software available free to anyone. We have worked over the last year to produce a system that will work for any community in Australia and elsewhere who want to have an archive for their materials using their own protocols.

Can I learn to operate Mukurtu if I have only basic computer skills such as Word and email?

Yes, it is designed to be user-friendly. It also depends on the level at which you will be using Mukurtu. Someone in your organization needs to set up the system on a server or on a dedicated computer, there are some steps to doing this and we have help along the way. We have worked hard to make it as easy a process as possible.

Can other people, for example in my organisation, other Mukurtu users elsewhere or even the University of Washington, access my stored material?

No, your material is housed on your instance of Mukurtu either on your own server or your own hard drive. Even if you choose to host your material on one of our Pantheon servers only your system administrator and you have your user name and password to access your materials.

How does Mukurtu safeguard my copyright and intellectual property rights? 

No piece of software can actually protect your intellectual property rights alone, what Mukurtu does is give you a step by step process to license your materials in your own way, either using traditional copyright, creative commons licenses or our traditional knowledge licenses and labels. You can license your materials within Mukurtu to make it very clear what your intentions are with every piece of content.

As a non-Indigenous person, can I attend a workshop with the intention of finding Aboriginal people in my community that I can help use the system ata later date?

Yes, anyone is welcome.

Will there be more workshops? 

We hope so and there will be online tutorials and educational materials as we progress on our website www.mukurtu.org

M&G NSW is organising Mukurtu workshops during August with support from the State Library of NSW, Charles Sturt University (Wagga Campus) and the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Data Archive (ATSIDA) at UTS. For info, contact Aboriginal Sector Development Program Manager Steve Miller stevem@mgnsw.org.au