"Express Yourself" Blogging and Social Media , a presentation for the Queensland Indigenous Youth Leadership Program. #qiylp

1. “Express Yourself.”
Blogging and Social Media
Leesa Watego
@IscariotMedia and @DeadlyBloggers

2. Current writings by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people belong within a cultural and historical continuity that
predates the invasion whilst utilising, adapting and
challenging the written genres and
forms of the colonising culture.
Anita Heiss

3. Representation of Indigenous People in the Media
● Representations of Aboriginal people
are informed by the media.
● “Theatre of pathology” Fiona Nicholls
“We have been portrayed … as
negligent and abusive parents,
extremely violent, sexually abusive,
corrupt, alcoholic, substance abusers
and bludgers on welfare, suffering from
cultural disfunction …”
Aileen Moreton-Robinson, 2012
http://caudallure.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/racist-headline-in-tasmanian-newspaper/

4. Some blogging/social media terms
self-hosted
platform
blog
post
Storify
Twitter
msm

5. This presentation
Issues –
● Protocol
● Be mindful
Making it yours
● Tools you can use

7. Protocol
● “Protocol” or “ways of being” matter, even
online.
● Does not mean you allow abuse or
exploitation to happen
● Be mindful of what, how, and when you say
something.

9. The net does not forget
● If it’s on a screen, it can be screen-captured
● Clean up your profile -
1. Search for your name and see what comes up
2. Look at your profiles wearing someone else’s hat
3. Look at comments you may have made on other peoples’ sites
(eg. YouTube)
4. Update all your profiles so they reflect who you are now
5. Check your settings (NOW) – What’s private? What’s public?
6. Where possible DELETE unused accounts

10. What’s wrong with
facebook?

11. Tools
Image Credit: CC Attribution No Deriv. Image by Moyan Brenn on Flickr earthincolours.wordpress.com

12. Tools
● What you use, depend on what you want to
do. Do you want to …
- increased professional profile
- share expertise
- improve your writing
- experiment with ideas
- connect with others in the field
- express your opinion and/or position
- make a living, start a business

13. Blogging is NOT about
technology, it’s about
communication

14. Who is blogging?
Anita Heiss (www.anitaheiss.wordpress.com)
Blonde Ink (www.blondeink.net)
The Koori Woman (www.thekooriwoman.wordpress.com)
Martin Hodgson (www.1deadlynation.wordpress.com)
Luke L Pearson (www.aboriginaloz.blogger.com)
Madame Bonbon (http://madamebonbon.com.au/blog/)
Celeste Liddle (http://blackfeministranter.blogspot.com.au)
Michelle Evans (http://michellemevans.wordpress.com)
Siv Parker (www.ondusk.blogspot.com)
Raymond Gates (www.raygates.me)
Ebony Allen (www.thetravellingunicorn.com)

15. YOU DO NOT NEED TO
BLOG!

16. ONLY SHARE WHAT YOU’RE
COMFORTABLE SHARING
Only share what you’re
comfortable sharing

17. There are
three basic
building
blocks.
You can either
pay $ for
some, all, or
none.

18. TIME TO CHOOSE A PLATFORM
Blogger
• Is owned by Google
• Is free
• You need a Google account to start
• It’s relatively easy to manage and shape
www.blogger.com
Wordpress
• Is open source
• Is free (wordpress.com)
• You need an email account
• A bit more complicated to manage and shape, but do-able
• Support comes from a “community”
www.wordpress.com

19. To get started with Blogger you must have a Google account
1) Sign in to Google
2) Go to blogger.com
3) Follow the prompts to create a new blog

20. To get started with Blogger you must have a Google account
1) Select a CREATE A NEW BLOG
2) Choose a title for your blog
3) Look for a URL for your site
4) CreateBlog!

21. Menu
URL
Title
Posts
Sidebar
Footer

22. ● Write about innovations in
your industry
● Write about articles or
theories that influence your
thinking and/or your
practice
● Thoughts & quotes
● Raise questions about
your practice in a
thoughtful and reflective
way. Show examples of
your work
● Showcase innovations by
other professionals
● Be you
What can you write about?
Adapted from: What should a networked educational leader tweet about: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1810

23. How to start
Learner Proficient
Focus of
your posts
Technology
& Connection
Functionality
of the
platform
Building it
into your
work flow

24. Image Credit: Nijmegan Racism by Digicla on Flickr.

25. How to start
If you’re unsure, take baby steps
o Start a blog but don’t tell anyone until you’re
ready
o See what other people are doing
o Ask for help

26. Case Study: Deadly Bloggers
Website www.deadlybloggers.com
Twitter www.twitter.com/deadlybloggers
Facebook www.facebook.com/deadlybloggers
Brief History -
1. Began as a “blogroll” on a
personal blog
2. A hashtag on Twitter
3. A blog of its own on Blogger
4. A Twitter profile
5. A Facebook page
6. A G+ Page
7. A self-hosted Wordpress site

27. Case Study: Blak History Month
Brief History
● Began by Proclamation
● Great Moments in Blakistory
● Twitter Account @BlakHistoryAust
● Facebook Page
● Website
www.blakhistorymonth.com

28. Case Study: IndigenousX
Brief History
● Began as a hashtag by
@LukeLPearson
● Became a Twitter Account
● Rotation Curation Account
● Weekly articles in the Guardian
● Soon a website
www.indigenousx.com.au

29. Blogging, & other forms of online publication, allow writers to define
themselves (and their Aboriginality). It can provide a space where
First Nations Peoples can play, explore, create, debate, rant and
vent, satirise, and philosophise the world in which we live.
Online publication, like other forms of publication, are defined by
particular structures. Issues of access, ownership, permanence,
and security all impact on the effectiveness of online publication for
First Nations Peoples. But the potential to throw down or bypass
the gatekeepers of traditional publication is too great to ignore.

31. Please join other Deadly Bloggers at
www.deadlybloggers.com
Or just connect with me:
@LeesaWatego
@DeadlyBloggers
@IscariotMedia
@CriticalClassrm