Into the New Millennium: The Role of Indigenous Media in Australia

Abstract

This article explores the nature of Indigenous media production in Australia in relation to a two-year study — the Millennium Project — which has begun to explore the implications and possibilities offered by new media technologies in Indigenous communities across the continent. Within a framework of the continuing misrepresentation of Indigenous people and issues, many communities have begun to develop alternative media systems with alternative approaches to information management by applying particular cultural frameworks to media production. This project explores the current and preferred future role of Indigenous media within the context of the impact of past, present and future media technologies and policies. The research will help to explain ways in which community-based media are being used and how they might be used as resources in the processes of cultural and linguistic maintenance.