Disconnect RMIT University

Internet access might be something city dwellers take for granted. In town camps and remote communities across Australia, just sending an email isn't always straight forward.

Information spreads quickly online and so does misinformation. The early days of the internet were an optimistic time but today people talk more about fake news than the information superhighway. Online misinformation touches every community; in this episode we look at the way it spreads in indigenous communities and how a history of colonisation makes the problem worse.

In this episode you heard from:

Jordan
Tina Ngata
Deen Sanders

Music prior to credits: We Have Survived performed by DOBBY, licensed courtesy of Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The full transcript of this episode is available as a word document and PDF

Artwork: Soft sculpture of tin can telephone by Rhonda Sharpe, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists. Image design by Pam Koger.

This podcast is funded by Telstra

Access to phone and internet is not universal within Australia. In some places, just getting mobile phone service can be a logistical challenge. We follow the story of a family in Kwale Kwale, west of Alice Springs, as they try to get connected.
Disconnect is a podcast about the internet in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. Produced by RMIT University, led by Ellie Rennie, Indigo Holcombe-James and Tyson Yunkaporta, with producer James Milsom and production assistance from Campbell McNolty. Additional research assistance for this episode was provided by Sam Kininmonth. Special thanks to Alyson Wright. Disconnect was funded by Telstra as an action within their Reconciliation Action Plan 2018-2021.

In this episode you heard from:
Rhonda Inkamala
Trudy Inkamala
Mark Sulikowski, Telstra
Michael Perez, Telstra

Music prior to credits: Around Here by Tia Gostelow, licensed courtesy of Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The full transcript for this episode is available as a Word document or PDF.

The inDigiMOB program worked with us on this episode. inDigiMOB is a partnership between First Nations Media Australia and Telstra.
First Nations Media Australia is the national peak body for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media industry.
Soft sculpture of tin can telephone by Rhonda Sharpe, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists. Image design by Pam Koger.
The Home Internet Project mentioned at the start of the episode involved an infrastructure component, which was run through the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT) and funded by the Aboriginals Benefit Account. A research component accompanied the provision of internet, which was funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP110200440). The research was a collaboration between CAT, the Central Land Council, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, and university researchers (based at Swinburne University of Technology at the time). A book about the project is available open access

There are many ways to preserve language. We trace the story of Australia's first Indigenous emoji project, which is bringing Indigenous culture and the Arrernte language onto your smartphone. In the process we encounter emoji's bosses and find out why it is so hard to add a new emoji to the set.


Disconnect is a podcast about the internet in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. Produced by RMIT University, led by Ellie Rennie, Indigo Holcombe-James and Tyson Yunkaporta, with producer James Milsom and production assistance from Campbell McNolty. Additional research assistance for this episode was provided by Sam Kininmonth. Disconnect was funded by Telstra as an action within their Reconciliation Action Plan 2018-2021.


In this episode you heard from:

Joel Liddle Perrurle, Indigemoji

Caddie Brain, Indigemoji

Dr Kate Miltner, University of Edinburgh

Graham Wilfred Jr, inDigiMOB

Music prior to credits: Blackfellas by Nooky, licensed courtesy of Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The full transcript for this episode is available as a Word document or PDF.

You can download the Indigemoji sticker set now for iOS and Android

The inDigiMOB program worked with us on this episode. inDigiMOB is a partnership between First Nations Media Australia and Telstra.

First Nations Media Australia is the national peak body for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media industry.

There is a Māori emoji set too. Check out Emotiki developed by Te Puia in Rotorua, NZ.

Soft sculpture of tin can telephone by Rhonda Sharpe, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists. Image design by Pam Koger.

Indigenous Australians are losing tens of millions of dollars to scammers every year. In this episode, we travel around the country to look at how online scams are being targeted to remote communities, and trace their story back beyond social media.

Disconnect is a podcast about the internet in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. Produced by RMIT University, led by Ellie Rennie, Indigo Holcombe-James and Tyson Yunkaporta, with producer James Milsom, Disconnect was funded by Telstra as an action within their Reconciliation Action Plan 2018-2021 (hyperlinks below).

RMIT University: https://digital-ethnography.com/
Telstra's Reconciliation Action Plan: https://www.telstra.com.au/content/dam/tcom/about-us/community-environment/pdf/tel024_telstra-reconciliation-action-plan-2018-2021.pdf

In this episode you heard from:
Jennifer Barda
Pamela Lynch Kngwarraye
Lynda Edwards, Financial Counselling Australia
Tom Holder, PY Media
Chloe James, inDigiMOB
Percy Bishop, inDigiMOB
Delia Rickard, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Nathan Boyle, Australian Securities and Investment Commission

Music prior to credits: Mr La Di Da Di by Baker Boy courtesy of Lunatic Entertainment

The inDigiMOB program worked with us on this episode. inDigiMOB is a partnership between First Nations Media Australia and Telstra.

First Nations Media Australia (formerly known as Indigenous Remote Communications Association or IRCA) is the national peak body for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media industry.

Soft sculpture of tin can telephone by Rhonda Sharpe, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists.
Image design by Pam Koger.

If you've driven through the Northern Territory lately you may have seen these structures, always in places where there is no mobile phone reception. No reception, that is, until you rest your phone on one of these bush hotspots.

Disconnect is a podcast about the internet in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. Produced by RMIT University, led by Ellie Rennie, Indigo Holcombe-James and Tyson Yunkaporta, with producer James Milsom, Disconnect was funded by Telstra as an action within their Reconciliation Action Plan 2018-2021 (hyperlinks below).

The research underpinning this podcast series is as follows:

RMIT University: https://digital-ethnography.com/
Telstra's Reconciliation Action Plan: https://www.telstra.com.au/content/dam/tcom/about-us/community-environment/pdf/tel024_telstra-reconciliation-action-plan-2018-2021.pdf

In this episode you heard from:
Dennis Charles
Pamela Lynch Kngwarraye
Veronica Lynch Kngwarraye
Andrew Crouch, formerly Centre for Appropriate Technology Steve Rogers, Centre for Appropriate Technology

Music prior to credits: Ngarrikwujeyinama performed by Emily Wurramara. Licensed courtesy Wantok Music.

The inDigiMOB program worked with us on this episode. inDigiMOB is a partnership between First Nations Media Australia and Telstra.
First Nations Media Australia (formerly known as Indigenous Remote Communications Association or IRCA) is the national peak body for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media industry.

Soft sculpture of tin can telephone by Rhonda Sharpe, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists.
Image design by Pam Koger.