The family history project provides an inclusive, and culturally and socially meaningful pathway into digital literacy for community members. The Tangentyere inDigiMob Digital Access Worker and Digital Mentors have been supporting community members to undertake genealogy mapping using the Mac genealogy software on iPads and computers. The family history project has been running in five town camps in Alice Springs; Hidden Valley, Larapinta Valley, Trucking Yards, Karnte and Charles Creek. The family trees created with the software are extensive, with the genealogy chart at Hidden Valley including over 300 people, and the printed descendent chart at Trucking yards being longer than the community centre.
The project provides a valuable forum for developing a range of digital skills. The software is easy to use, making it an accessible tool for the creation of living archives. As the project has grown, community members have made contact with other institutions, including the Strehlow Centre and The South Australian Museum, to access further genealogical information, enabling the development of online research and communication skills. The weekly project focus has enabled more casual conversations around the use of phones, computers and other elements of digital technology to occur.
The development of digital genealogies has prompted mentors and community members to engage with broader ideas around digital culture, and the intersections between digital technology, intellectual property and cultural preservation. Conversations between Digital Mentors across town camps has led to the inclusion of skin names within the family charts, and broader understandings of digital archives as a legitimate tool to document and access cultural and social information. Community members and mentors have started conversations about guidelines for access to social and cultural content created through the digital archives as these are kept on community centre computers.
The project has started to gain interest from outside the town camps. Digital Mentors from Larapinta Valley and community members involved in the project from Hidden Valley recently presented a workshop on genealogy mapping using iPads to youth workers from MacDonnell Regional Council at a skills development training day at Ross River. The Tangentyere Research Hub has made contact with the Digital Access Worker to explore intersections with Ayeye - an online Arrernte archive that includes videos, images, sound recordings and documents, and has various levels of access to ensure content is accessed in accordance with cultural protocols. The Digital Mentors are beginning to learn about this archive, and options for forming a steering committee to oversee further collaboration will be explored in 2018.
The family history project provides a socially and culturally meaningful model for whole of community engagement with digital culture and technology. Easily accessible software is used as a starting point for engagement with digital technology, and provides a springboard for the development of further skills, such as online research and emailing. Providing opportunities for Digital Mentors to lead conversation and skill transfer between communities and organisations allows for the development of broader understanding of the ongoing role of digital technology in supporting the preservation and dissemination of important community cultural knowledge.