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

Indigenous leadership workshop adventure

Leadership workshops and courses, particularly Indigenous Leadership, have been popular for sometime now. There’s the Australian Leadership Centre in Canberra, the Federal Department of Family, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FAHCSIA) Indigenous Leadership courses, various Indigenous Youth Leadership courses and the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous fellowship program at the National Gallery of Australia to name just a few.

So it’s refreshing that Debbie Abraham, Director at the Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, recently took a different tack in combining Indigenous leadership with working with your Aboriginal community. Like many great opportunities it was born out of adversity and credit to Regional & Public Galleries NSW (RPG NSW) for picking up on the initiative when it didn’t get the green light elsewhere.

I was part of this inaugural workshop at Lake Macquarie Gallery and can report it was successful at both an individual and group level. Mark Wright from People Create UK, fresh from running the Accelerate Indigenous Leadership Program for the British Council and Australia Council was a wonderful facilitator. He allowed the discussion to open up around issues of working with Aboriginal communities from both sides and brought us back to leadership tools and techniques that might help as needed.

Mark’s leadership tutorials and exercises really formed the spine and core interest for all in attendance, an even split of four and four between Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Mark opened by explaining working with Indigenous communities was not his background but he was aware of sensitivities and learning a lot as he went. The 'British' thing never came up again, though I mentioned in passing that the goal of two weeks in UK for successful Accelerate participants wasn’t my cup of tea.

Mark explained that much of leadership theory wasn’t new and cited Alexander the Great as a student of Aristotle as an example. Over the next two days we charted a path not unlike the classic Hero’s Journey. So it was no surprise really when the Hero’s Journey was offered as a leadership template. What surprised was how effectively it worked, whether the goal was long term of short project, personal, organisation or community.

The Hero’s Journey has been made popular by US scholar Joseph Campbell is a classic narrative found in stories around the world: the hero lives in a normal world (for them), receives a call to adventure but has “threshold guardians” before he venturing forth, receives instruction from a mentor, refers often to a talisman symbol, faces various trials and tribulations including nemesis and temptations from Sirens before obtaining an elixir which will be well received by their community, creating a new normal world.

See how easy it is? Now put down that Siren (cup of coffee, email distractions) and find that elixir!

Steve Miller, M&G NSW's Aboriginal Sector Programs Manager

Not the Nation's Attic 2: Collection Management at Rouse Hill House and Farm

On Thursday 28 June, 30 representatives from 11 museums and historical societies converged on Rouse Hill House and Farm for a workshop on Collections Management.

The new Visitor Centre on Annandale Road provides a wonderful venue for delegates from Western Sydney to get together and discuss common issues.

          Rouse Hill House & Farm Visitor Centre: Delegates warming up at the start of the day

Delegates started by sharing stories about their own museum and collections and with little prompting from presenter Margôt Jolly, the contributions kept rolling in throughout the day, providing entertainment as well as information. 

                    Margôt Jolly presenting an “Introduction to Collections Management”

A Museum Advisor for the Bland/West Wyalong Shire, Margôt is familiar with the trials and triumphs that the smaller community museums face. Her PowerPoint presentation started by asking delegates to consider the difference between a collection and a museum. When asked what museums are most impressive and why, the Berrima District Museum got strong reviews for its thematic approach. Other organisations that rated highly amongst the delegates included the Wollondilly Heritage Centre, the Lady Denman Heritage Complex and the Tarella Museum (Blue Mountains Historical Society).

The sessions were very interactive and feedback indicated that delegates appreciated the opportunity to workshop thorny issues such as what to do when offered an object that doesn’t meet your collecting themes, reasons for deaccessioning objects and methods of disposal. These issues roused a lot of discussion, and in the end there was general agreement that while museums are custodians of community history, they are not the nation’s attic. Don Graham of the Blue Mountains Historical Society has had success finding an alternative home through using a list of specialised museums that he put together.

          Breakout session on veranda at the Visitor Centre at Rouse Hill House & Farm

The following organisations were well represented: Fairfield City Museum and Gallery, Penrith Museum of Printing, The Oaks Historical Society, Brislington Nursing Museum, Blue Mountains Historical Society, Prospect Heritage Trust, Hawkesbury Regional Museum, Nepean District Historical Society, Parramatta Heritage Centre, Riverstone Historical Society and the Blacktown and District Historical Society. 

M&G NSW expresses their appreciation to the National Library of Australia for funding this workshop through a Community Heritage Grant.

Tamara Lavrencic

Not the Nation's Attic: Collection Management in Yamba

As part of a follow up to our 2006 Standards Program, Tamara and I travelled up to the Northern Rivers to put on a Collection Management workshop with Museum Consultant Margot Jolly. The three of us flew into Ballina airport, and had a lovely drive south to Yamba where we met up with Marea Buist, President of the Port of Yamba Historical Society.

The next morning we sourced an excellent coffee from town, and made our way to the Museum to set up for the workshop. We were delighted to see that we were to hold the workshop in the beautiful little church on the side of the museum.

               Margot Jolly outside the church at the Yamba Museum

Delegates from all across the Northern Rivers began to arrive and were greeted with an amazing morning tea!

             Morning tea is set up as delegates arrive at the Museum

We began the day hearing a brief report from each museum present, and were really impressed to hear about all the hard work that has been going on since the Standards Program. Some museums had updated or developed new policies such as Marketing Plans, Collection Policies and IT Policies. Others had conducted Significance Assessments of their collections and several had been undertaking Strategic Planning.

Marea Buist (Yamba Museum) and Dr Richard Gates (the Evans Head Living Museum) share their museum's achievements since completing the 2006 Standards Program

Margot Jolly then began her lively presentation on the basics of Collection Management, which was highly interactive and encouraged a lot of group participation and feedback. A highlight was her talk on how to diplomatically say ‘no’ to potential donors of collection items! There was also an interesting discussion as people shared their experiences of deaccessioning, why it is important and how to go about it.

We are looking forward to getting together again with everybody for a workshop on Preventive Conservation in September in Alstonville. Thanks so much to Marea and the team at Yamba Museum for hosting us and for such a lovely day!

Digitising Collections: Presentations Online

Below are various presentation from the all day symposium Digitising Collections (31 May 2012). M&G NSW would like to thank the Powerhouse Museum for making these videos available.

The sound is sometimes very low, we would recommend watching the videos with headphones.

Ryan Donahue,  Senior Information Systems Developer, The Museum of Metropolitan Art

Ryan Donahue is Senior Information Systems Developer at The Museum of Metropolitan Art, and Director of the Spinny Bar Historical Society. Previous to taking his position with The Met, he was with George Eastman House, the oldest and best museum of photography and film. You can follow Ryan via Twitter - @ryand.  

 
Scott Wajon, Manager, Digitisation, State Library of New South Wales

Scott has been working in photography and imaging at the State Library of NSW since 1989 and has been critically involved in all aspects of the Library’s reformatting and digitisation programs. Scott has given talks to Librarians, local historians , professional photographers on a range of issues relating to photography, archival permanence, collection reformatting, digitisation workflow and digital preservation. In his current role as Manager, Digitisation, Scott is responsible for shaping the current and future digitisation priorities of the State Library of NSW to deliver client-focused, digital collections and services.

Keir Winesmith, Manager, Digital Media, MCA

Keir has a wide and diverse background in new media acquired during his work at the Centre for Art and Media in Germany, the Mixed Reality Laboratory in the United Kingdom, the iCinema Centre of Interactive Cinema Research and the Special broadcasting Service (SBS) in Australia.

Keir completed an interdisciplinary New Media Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales's College of Fine Arts in 2008. In contrast, his undergraduate degree was in Physics and Computer Science at the University of Sydney.

Although his interests and practices cut across art, technology, design and education, Keir's main interests are interactive digital media experiences, supporting the interpretation of art, video production, postgraduate teaching, augmented reality technology, smartphone apps and graffiti in Sydney's inner west.

Paula Bray, Manager, Visual & Digitisation Services

Powerhouse Museum

Paula Bray is the Manager of the Visual and Digitisation Services department at the Powerhouse Museum that includes: Photography, The Image Resource Centre, The Photo Library and Rights and Permissions and Audio Visuals. Paula is responsible for managing the digital collections to the highest standard whilst coordinating photographic and AV projects for exhibitions, publications, events and the website. Paula runs a blog for the Museum and manages the Museum’s two Flickr accounts.


Paula has several years of experience in the creative concept, production and delivery of digital projects and services that are cross media and cross platform. She is passionate about building communities, networked audiences, technology, linked open data and geo-location services that are all changing the way that content is consumed and shared.

Robyn Ayers, Executive Director, Artslaw

Robyn has been a lawyer for over 20 years and the Executive Director of Arts Law since 2003. She is committed to ensuring that artists and arts organisations properly understand their rights as well as their legal responsibilities and are fairly rewarded for the work they do. Robyn is currently the Deputy Chairperson of CLCNSW. Prior to joining Arts Law, Robyn spent a significant part of her legal career working to achieve social justice for different groups in the community, including as a lawyer with Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1988-1991), a Public Interest lawyer at the Aboriginal Legal Service WA (1993-1998); and as Executive Director of the Mental Health Law Centre WA from 1998 to 2002. Robyn has Bachelors of Arts and Law from the University of NSW.

M&G NSW's journey to Tamworth

Michael Rolfe, CEO and the M&G NSW Board with volunteers from the Tamworth Powerstation Museum and staff from Tamworth Regional Art Gallery outside the Powerstation Museum.

Recently, the M&G NSW Board met in Tamworth and also visited Armidale and Uralla, as part of a packed two day visit and regional tour designed to familiarise members with a selection of galleries, museums and Aboriginal cultural centres within the region. Following the meeting, which was held at Tamworth Regional Gallery, the board visited Tamworth’s Powerstation Museum, the Historical Society’s Calala Cottage and well-known Country Music Hall of Fame. The Powerstation Museum celebrates all things electric, transforming an astounding historical fact (that Tamworth was the first city in the southern hemisphere to install electric street lighting) into a wonderful story about the impact, design and use of power generation in the region. Ron Greer and his associate volunteers have done a remarkable job carefully restoring and designing a set of displays of huge interest for visitors and residents alike.

Similarly, Calala Cottage captures the essence of early Tamworth life around the time of white settlement. The Historical Society, under President John Vickery, patiently volunteers time and resources to keep Tamworth stories alive. Their work, reflected in similar efforts all around NSW, is to be applauded for its commitment and contribution to the region. Similarly the Country Music Hall of Fame relies on the energy and commitment of volunteers to capture the history and storytelling that abounds in the town’s now world famous Country Music Festival.

Sandra McMahon, Director of the Tamworth Regional Gallery, helped organise a dinner to complete a busy first day. Board members were able to mingle with a range of local government reps (staff and councilors), local arts professionals and invited special guests. It was a great night and a chance for board chair, Professor Colin Rhodes, to acknowledge the commitment from a community that has produced a strong arts and cultural legacy in regional NSW.

The following day the board traveled to Armidale, visiting the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place (during which they participated in a community charged celebration as part of Reconciliation Week) and then on to the New England Regional Art Museum for a tour of the collection and lunch with Director, Caroline Downer (and what a lunch it was)!

Kent Mayo welcomed us to the ‘must see’ McCrossin’s Mill in Uralla that features engaging displays in a beautifully restored three story granite and brick flour mill. Kent introduced the board to the planned developments of McCrossin’s Mill before returning to Tamworth and flights home.

Michael Rolfe, M&G NSW CEO.

Rapping at Walla Mulla

Museums & Galleries NSW continues its Reconciliation Action Plan journey and is on track to deliver its first ever RAP at the end of this month.

Our second workshop built on the importance of place and continuity of existence of people and culture in the local area of Woolloomooloo, where M&G NSW’s office is located. While our first workshop focused on the local people and culture pre-European contact, this time we looked at some aspects of contemporary Aboriginal life.

It was only a five minute walk from our office to those of the Walla Mulla Family and Community Support Centre around the corner in McElhone Street. Walla Mulla is a quiet achiever you may not have heard of before. The not-for-profit organisation has been around for many years offering counseling, family support, information, referral and advocacy on a range of issues including health, housing, education & training, employment and legal. It is there for the whole community but its work with the Aboriginal community and particularly court support and legal advocacy has drawn requests for the team’s help from across greater Sydney.

Walla Mulla means place of plenty in the local Gadigal language. Even so, we made sure we brought plenty of chicken, salad and bread with us to share with the Aunties. Food is important in so many cultures and for the mob even lunch becomes a relaxed celebration of stories, laughter and connection. The simple lunch was also our offering for the stories and knowledge the Aunties shared with us.

Everyone loved the Aunties for their strength and good humour as they shared stories of their lives and their current work at Walla Mulla. Although they receive some funding from the Department of Community Services, they provide critical Aboriginal perspectives at the grassroots case management level and go to great lengths particularly to try to keep children with their family wherever possible. Some of their stories made for difficult listening but are the reality of many Aboriginal families today, long after the assimilation and stolen generations policies have been abandoned and the impact of those policies echoes through subsequent generations.

After lunch we stayed on at Walla Mulla to work in teams on our RAP plan. The Reconciliation Australia website is fantastic with plenty of examples of successful RAPs, a toolkit with a RAP template and further advice only a phone call away. Working through the template we looked at what work we already embraced such as Welcome to Country at M&G NSW events and what more we could do in the three key areas Reconciliation Australia recommends: relationships, respect and opportunities. Happily everyone agreed we should engage more with the local community through places such as Walla Mulla and events such as the Woolloomooloo annual NAIDOC Week celebration and encouraging our arts neighbours at the Gunnery to join us. RAPs are very practical so we have committed, as one example, to some annual fundraising for the local community through Walla Mulla. Standby for news about the raffle!

Steve Miller, M&G NSW's Aboriginal Sector Programs Manager.