Special guests at the launch included Governor Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir, The Hon. Victor Dominello
It
was my absolute delight to launch the NCIE’s Community of Excellence today, having only arrived back in Sydney last
night from Cowra, where I worked on literacy projects at Yalbillinga Boori Day
Care Centre and ran workshops at Malyun State School. I was excited to tell the
community about this one example of digital literacy and the importance for us
as Indigenous people to be part of the social media revolution. Exciting and innovative
facilities such as this ensure that we are not left behind in terms of sharing
knowledge, building professional profiles, enhancing community engagement and
supporting the future generations of Indigenous leaders.
I’d like to congratulate and thank the Telstra Foundation and the NCIE –
who have demonstrated through this initiative how two leading national institutions
can build a partnership designed to support the present and future well being
of young Indigenous people.
Jason Glanville (CEO, NCIE), moi and Tim O'Leary (Chief Sustainability Officer at Telstra)
The Community of Excellence demonstrates the foresight and progressive
approach of the Telstra Foundation to be driving ‘digital inclusion’, and I’d
like to acknowledge their commitment to making it possible – for our people, that is our members, to
connect whenever, and wherever, we may be.
On
my recent trip to Santa Teresa for ARMtour, myself and other team members signed up students to be part of the Community
of Excellence. Through this facility those who participate will be able to
follow the personal training video that Michael Hennessey created and / brain warm up video
prepared by the current Australian Karate champion Anthony Tockar. These are
the ‘special benefits’ being part of this community can afford you, and me, for that matter. And
these are the innovative ways in we can and are using the digital environment
to improve the health of young people nationally.
CofE members demonstrate the site
Following
ARMtours, many of us feel what some call the blues, but because our uniform is
orange, we get the oranges. Our role models come from around the country and
from across a range of sporting arenas and professions. As teams we share a significant
amount of time doing what many feel are life-changing experiences in remote
communities, and then we go home alone. It can be difficult to manage the
post-natal-kind-of emotions one feels after ARMtour, but this new facility
provides a way for role models and the students we work with 1000s of miles
away, to maintain at a high level of engagement and positive affirmations on a
daily basis, if so desired.
Minister Dominello with students of Marist Brothers, Pagewood and teacher Mark Heiss
As
an author, I must declare my bias. Naturally one of the things I like most
about the Community of Excellence is the role the ‘blog’ plays. Outside this
space, we have relatively few bloggers to speak of and we pretty much follow
each other. Within the CoE (not to be mistaken for the Church of England) we
have bloggers all over the country, finding their voice and their writing
skills right here. Thanks to the National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy
(NIYLA) , members are directed to do activities that require them to blog. This
is a major achievement not only in literacy, but Indigenous publishing of
sorts. I can see the community of excellence being a breeding ground for future
novelists, poets, even speech writers.
And
I might add, while members are perfecting their writing skills, they are also improving
their capacity of working in the digital environment. I do feel the CoE should
serve as a template for education nationally.
The other aspect of the CoE I appreciate is the goal setting facility. I’m
a goal-setter; I have been for many, many years. But I work alone as a writer
and the Community of Excellence now means I can share, support and be inspired
by the goals of others. Some of my on-line peers have goals such as: completing
marathons, reading certain titles, another wants to improve their fitness and
lose 4kg – this is one I am trying to do with her –because in our digital
community, the opportunity exists for members to reach goals together. Another
wants finish their masters in 2013. One was as specific as Fight strongly in Japan at the Kyokushin WWC Tournament!
The amazing Gondwana Choir with young people from around Oz totally capitavated the audience with their talent and passion.
And can I just say, socially I’m not short of things to do, but my diary
gets a lift when I check out the events stream of the CoE – and this is another
fabulous way that digital inclusion leads to greater community engagement off-line. You can be kept up to date
about and receive invitations to exhibitions, launches, and even author talks!
Finally,
I think it’s important to say that the Community of Excellence as a social
media tool is NOT the place where we read status updates that complain about
family members, hangovers or any other negative statement, the kinds that weigh
us down emotionally and psychologically when reading. Rather, our community is
the exact opposite. It is an affirming, positive, mentoring space where we set
goals – professional, personal, health related - and we gain support from those
doing the journey with us.
It
is a space where we can congratulate without shame, the successes of our peers
around Australia.
It
is a space that embraces the cores values of the NCIE as a national organization:
Excellence, Inclusiveness, Growth and Integrity. These are my own values, and
that is why I am here. To quote Jason Glanville, Excellence is the new black,
and it is also authentic. And we are proud to celebrate it.
And so, having given it the biggest Digitally
Inclusive Gold Star possible it was my pleasure to officially
launch the Community of Excellence and wish the NCIE and Telstra Foundation a
long and prosperous future together, working towards the digital inclusion of
Indigenous people of ALL ages!
Luke Murray, Indigenous Community Engagement Officer, Korin Gamadji Institute will be enlisting his young people also.
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