Mukurtu 1.0 launches in Sydney at Museums & Galleries NSW workshops

Some of the greatest revolutions begin with a whisper and on the International Day of Indigenous Peoples last week that whisper was Mukurtu.

Mukurtu 1.0, a free and open source platform that will create safe digital keeping places for Indigenous communities around the world was officially launched in Sydney at a Museums & Galleries NSW workshop at the State Library on 8 August.

The launch of Mukurtu 1.0 in Sydney was also significant as this adaptable content management system that responds to Indigenous protocols had its beginnings in Australia.

For Mukurtu Project Director Kim Christen from the Washington State University, the journey to Mukurtu 1.0 began in Tennant Creek, NT, in 1995. As an anthropology intern working with the Warumungu community, she thought there would be content management software (CMS) available to meet the community’s desire to organise, manage and share its digital cultural materials in line with their cultural protocols.

Instead, the few CMS systems available that attempted to respond to Indigenous protocols were limited in options, prohibitively expensive and required extensive training and proficiency. Since that time, government developed, Indigenous focused CMS programs have also stalled, particularly where communities have been reluctant to hand over precious information to state control.

Kim’s inspiration was mukurtu, the Warumungu world for dilly bag, used for collecting and gathering bush foods and in a particular Warumungu instance, holding their sacred objects and knowledge.

From her position at Washington State University, Kim was able to attract funding from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the US based National Endowment for the Humanities towards her social justice vision of empowering Indigenous peoples everywhere through digital management of their own cultural resources and knowledge.

The funding has grown as the project has gained momentum and feedback in test communities in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, North and South America. It also attracted some of the best technical input and advice available, including Michael Ashley, from University of California Berkley as Development Director.

Kim and Michael made a three-day stopover in Sydney en route to New Zealand where the interest in Mukurtu is even greater than here. Museums & Galleries NSW organised the 3 one day introductory workshops with support from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive (ATSIDA) at University of Technology (UTS) Sydney, the State Library through new Director Alex Byrne and Charles Sturt University Wagga Campus.

What makes Mukurtu special, apart from being free, powerful, secure and easy to use, is its adaptability to any form of Indigenous protocol in isolation or combination. It does this through an “And/Or” system of community and protocol relationship options.

As Kim and Michael say, the basis of the system is about people and relationships and the software just enables these to work together in an easy and instantaneous process.

The Drupal CMS platform Mukurtu uses is also open source and very secure, used by the White House and the World Bank.

Mukurtu will work with most scanned or stored digital material including text based archives and spreadsheets, photos and video, podcasts, multimedia and visual/graphic art. It can be geo located instantaneously, even sourcing longitude and latitude if you do not know these, just type in the name of your location.

Multi-component elements of the same object (text, video, photos) can be related and stored. Objects can be related to each other and collections built and shared as online exhibitions. Communities can be assured only the information and visuals they want to share will be seen by the relevant audience. For instance, other members of the same clan or community may see more or different material to what members of the general public may see, based on the associated protocols. 

Mukurtu also allows users to apply creative commons or standard copyright licenses, which automatically generate deeds of useage for licensees of material. Kim and the team is also working on a Traditional Knowledge label system, which WIPO is particularly interested in. While not legally enforceable it will educate and provide understanding to web image end users on the appropriate use and accreditation of Indigenous materials from a Mukurtu CMS. 

The Mukurtu publishable front page can be customised, as can much of the system so that, for instance, a local Aboriginal Land Council can use Mukurtu for its front page, displaying objects and images from its collection alongside the approved traditional knowledge. 

Users can choose either a secure web-based version of the freeware or download a free version to their computer, laptop, tablet or mobile which will make that device in effect their digital keeping place. In either case their data is protected and can only be seen by those to whom they choose to make it available. 

The Mukurtu 1.0 release means that all future upgrades (Mukurtu 1.1 being the first) can be pushed out as automatic and compatible upgrades, meaning no loss of data already entered.

An iphone application will follow in October and, with more funding, an Android version in 2013. As one of our workshop participants identified, this will be invaluable for Aboriginal field workers who can instantly record on tablets or iphones any site variations due to nature or vandalism. Where coverage is available, these can be immediately available in the localized version of Mukurtu for comparison.

The three workshops run by Museums & Galleries NSW at the State Library and the Wagga campus of Sturt University attracted a small, diverse and enthusiastic pool of potential users. These included Aboriginal achivists, academics, multimedia artists, photographers, filmmakers, researchers, historians and local Aboriginal Land Councils and community groups.

Having experienced the ease and power of Mukurtu for themselves, there was a 100% uptake of the online version which offers further training and advice support and video conferencing. In some cases, among those wanting to continue using Mukurtu were users who had only just learnt to use email.

If you would like to know more about Mukurtu, go to www.mukurtu.org and watch the three minute video and read its top ten features (there are many more).

Like all the other participants, I have become a fan of Mukurtu, believing we can create the digital future of our cultural heritage using it. Through spreading the word and further funding, I hope to be able to invite Kim and Michael back next year for a series of longer workshops for what will be by then a community of Mukurtu users and enthusiasts.

To see an interview with Kim Christen from the Washington State University click here.

Steve Miller
Aboriginal Programs Manager

Survivor at Lismore

On Friday 20 July, Lismore Regional Gallery hosted the Survivor performance which involved 24 local participants and the artist, Dadang Christanto. Survivor is a major performance that was initially developed by Christanto in 2008 as a live protest against an environmental disaster in East Java which saw hot volcanic mud wipe out eleven villages and destroy many lives. 

Like the original performance, volunteers from the local community covered themselves in mud and held photographic portraits of faces lost in the disaster, enduring and maintaining a still silence for two hours to memorialise the event and its ongoing impacts.

Following this significant and moving performance is the exhibition of the untouched remaining detritus, photographic documentation and video footage – showing at Lismore Regional Gallery until 25 August 2012.

To follow a ‘day in the life’ journey of one of the Survivor participants, see the video below. ABC Open North Coast producer Catherine Marciniak and contributor Jenny Grinlington follow Rebecca Kinsey as she takes part as a volunteer in a performance artwork. 

To hear more about the performance from the artist and Lismore Regional Gallery Director, Brett Adlington, see video below.


Courtesy of Echonetdaily. Video by Sharon Shostak.

Story by Lillian.

Archibald Prize 2012 at Newcastle

Winner of the 2012 Archibald Prize, Tim Storrier and his wife Janet
in front of his work,The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch). Image courtesy Newcastle Art Gallery. 

The NSW regional tour of the 2012 Archibald Prize kicked off in Newcastle last week. Always a crowd pleaser, some 400 guests assembled to hear new Director of the Art Gallery of NSW, Michael Brand, open the show. Brand spoke eloquently about the importance of galleries in the context of community and culture. He acknowledged the superb work undertaken at Newcastle Art Gallery and commended Ron Ramsey and his team as they move towards work commencing on a $21M redevelopment. 

Opening of the 2012 Archibald Prize at Newcastle Art Gallery.
Image courtesy Newcastle Art Gallery.

 Prize winning artist Tim Storrier also spoke, recounting humorous anecdotes about life as an artist with particular reference to the winning work. Thirty five guests, many associated with the Gallery Foundation and Society, then adjourned to the grand surrounds of The Newcastle Club to enjoy a delicious dinner, more conversation and to hear Michal Brand speak ‘off the cuff’ about his ambition for the Art Gallery of NSW. 

Tim Storrier during his speech at the 2012 Archibald Prize opening.
Image courtesy Newcastle Art Gallery.

Following Newcastle the Archibald heads to Cowra Regional Gallery where anticipation and excitement are already building. The exhibition then travels to Dubbo, Grafton, Hawkesbury and Armidale. Catch it if you can!

Further information of the regional tour: http://mgnsw.org.au/exhibit/archibald_prize_2012/

Story by Michael Rolfe.

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!