Free Pint No.81 - Economics and Aboriginal Sites Free Pint "Helping 35,000 people use the Web for their work" http://www.freepint.co.uk/ ISSN 1460-7239 15th February 2001 No.81 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES from Tim Houghton FREE PINT BAR In Association with Factiva a Dow Jones & Reuters Company Reviewed by Simon Collery TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "Economics sources" By Paul Pedley BOOKSHELF "The Non-Designer's Web Book" (2nd Ed.) Reviewed by Rachel Newcombe FEATURE ARTICLE "Aboriginal Australia on the World Wide Web" By Helen Clegg EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ********* The Best Kept Secret in the Information World!!! ********* Do you need accurate, relevant information tailored to your global needs? Esmerk's innovative methods can provide you with a strategic current awareness tool which will deliver abstracted information from the world's press directly to your desktop or your intranet. Competitor monitoring ** Strategic planning ** Industry trends ** Regulations ** Customer tracking ** Macro-economic developments** To see for yourself, visit us at www.esmerk.com and request a sample. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [es811] >>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<< Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for their research. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information on the Internet. Signing up at provides free access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews, industry news and events, with answers to your research questions and networking at the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter is best read when printed out and viewed in a Courier font. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EDITORIAL Practically every edition of the BBC's "Bare Necessities" survival series has seen my wife and me cheering the team which eventually lost the final challenge. It's been proven time and again that if you're the stronger team throughout the week then you're pretty much bound to lose in the end game. From the many emails and postings at the Bar on the topic, it seems that many of you enjoyed last week's edition too when I appeared with two fellow librarians in the Arizona Desert. You saw us have a great week but lose out on the luxury night in a hotel when we got stuck in the final challenge trying to throw horse droppings into a bucket ... "We were rooting for you all and on the edge of our seats in the final test. It was frustrating as the librarians were so obviously the better team all the way through. I think my overriding memory will be your expression as you ate those maggots and crickets!" AC "After all, not many people have come that close to throwing up on national TV" MH "Things looked like fun for the most part (including bedding down with your teammates) and I hope you're fully recovered. I haven't watched the programme before, but was hooked for the hour. Don't envy you the survival bloke, he looked like hard going." SC "I liked the expression on your face when you said you were going to bed with two lovely women!" DS "The librarian team should all get honorary Fellowships from the Library Association for service to librarianship." MW "The landscape was beautiful and you certainly experienced Arizona in a way that few other people have." LC "I suspect that you will all appreciate home comforts differently now!" CHW Thank you all for your support and the message that "We woz robbed"! There are a couple of photos on the site if you want to see the teams looking rugged (or ragged!) In today's edition of the newsletter we cover a wide range of topics, including economics resources, Aboriginal sites and a book about designing Web sites for the non-designer. Simon walks us through the latest happenings at the busy Bar which, as I mentioned in the last issue, had a record breaking month in January. My Free Pint Fact later in this edition reveals that usage of the Free Pint Web site is doubling every six months! In January 1999 we showed 21,000 pages, in January 2000 84,000 pages, and in January 2001 we served up a staggering 284,000 pages. Now that's exponential growth! Thanks as always to the sponsors of this issue (Factiva, Esmerk, NewsEdge, NetAlert and Learned Information) and do let them know where you saw their advert if you respond. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this issue then feel free to pass it on to them. Cheers William William Hann BSc MIInfSc Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ******HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS?****** NewsEdge is a leading provider of business-oriented eContent for websites and corporate intranets. We provide the highest quality, most cost effective and flexible solutions for serving the information needs of thousands of corporate and Internet online communities. To find out more about how to make your website stickier and your employees smarter, visit www.newsedge.com or call us now on +44 (0) 20 7448 4400 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [ne812] >>> WANT TO RESEARCH A UK COMPANY? <<< Get the low-down on a supplier, customer or competitor. Search Companies House records for free. Purchase financial reports and accounts by credit card or invoice. No setup or monthly charges. http://www.freepint.co.uk/icc/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES from Tim Houghton * C:net Search - A meta news searcher. Useful if you want to quickly overview media coverage of a subject. Plenty of customisation options. * BreakingViews.com - Pithy, incisive, opinionated and topical commentary on business and financial topics. Good journalism in other words. * The451.com - Comprehensive, well written technology news covering most sub-sectors. * Editor & Publisher News Media Listing - Need to find international online newspapers? This makes it simple. * MultiMap - Online mapping site that allows postcode searches. Great for finding out where you're supposed to be going next! Tim Houghton is a Director at Parallel54 , an online media monitoring and web research firm. Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at or email > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *** COMING SOON - THE FULL FT TO REUTERS BUSINESS BRIEFING *** Factiva is delighted to announce that from 1st March Reuters Business Briefing users will have access to the full Financial Times and all its supplements. In addition, RBB users will be able to access all the articles which are written exclusively for the FT.com web site. Watch our web site http://www.factiva.com for more details. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [fa813] >>> WANT YOUR MESSAGE HERE? <<< If you want to contact business information researchers then you need to advertise with Free Pint. You'll receive free banner exposures and discounts of up to 23%. "The cost per response was certainly lower than any other mechanism we used" Find out more at http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BAR In Association with Factiva a Dow Jones & Reuters Company Reviewed by Simon Collery Free Pint Bar - [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in the address or enter the number in the "Jump To" box on the Bar homepage] Search engines have been undergoing substantial changes recently and consequently attracting a lot of attention (7433). Now that Google are indexing PDF files, previously invisible to search engines, Altavista and others are sure to follow (7311). Maybe we'll get a rash of claims about trawling the parts other search engines can't reach. Apparently BigHub has disappeared (7363). Anyone know where it's gone? And Webrings have been taken over by Yahoo! (7352). Is this the end of Webrings or a new lease of life? The number of technical and Web mastering questions waxes and wanes but it's certainly been waxing recently. There have been questions about topic maps (7404), visual navigation tools (7229), Personal Data Assistants (7274), instant messaging (7192), free Web hosting (7281), software services (7199), domain names (7208), mobile phone alerts (7211), firewalls (7278), the Web as a whole (7306), portals (7233) and tracking Web site visitors (7184). Questions yet to be answered include one about a leasing management system called 'Flame' (7360), MS Exchange training (7210), telephone networks in contact centres (7405) and the best Web exhibitions (7188). There was also one about Web based disc space, but specifically in the UK (7247). You may think it doesn't matter where the provider is based but it might if there were any legal issues to be handled. If anyone knows about patenting software cheaply or free of charge in the UK, do get in touch (7412). Likewise, if you know about the copyright issues involved in digital libraries, don't keep it to yourself (7234). A good place to start may be the thread on copyright and business libraries, which elicited quite a number of responses (7381). Recent ecommerce related questions have mainly been about credit cards (7318, 7275, 7248). Any help with credit card queries would be much appreciated. We also had a request for help with finding sponsorship or finance of some kind for an ecommerce site (7266). We have received industry questions about insurance (7334), medical supplies in the UK health service (7336), training consultancy (7305), US defence standards (7409), cotton dealing (7237), genealogy (7374) and the history of lifestyle magazine publishing (7195). Following the ADSL article in the last issue of Free Pint there has been a healthy discussion of broadband on the Bar (7223). If you have any strong feelings on the matter you can air them here. The ebooks article also attracted some interesting comments on one of the ebook readers reviewed (7446). We have had the usual wide range of recommended resources, including ones on cine clubs (7242), royalty free maps (7185), telecommuting (7252), film extras agencies (7390), directories of TV documentary makers (7203), power and other commodity prices (7260), emarketing news (7365) and possible contacts in Kenya, Kerala (in India) and Peru (7330). Miscellaneous questions have ranged from Knowledge Management/Competitive Intelligence recruiters (7206) and bibliography (7263) to animatics (7316) and long term stock options (7434). There were also ones on tracing people (7317), autism training (7224), research in Ireland (7239), induction of new directors (7287) and a speech by Norman Tebbit which turned out to be an interview (7194). Free Pint Student Bar - [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in the address ] In the Student Bar we have had some questions raised about the history of interior design and interior design software (1139), summer placements in an information or communications environment (1128), funding for the gap year (1124) and copyright on the Internet (1121). We have also been reminded about the ARLIS event, for library students and trainees (1125). Students have been researching Web sites as communication tools (1114), the clubbing market (1126), information overload (1132) and lifelong learning (1136). If you can help out with any of these subjects, do pay a visit to the Student Bar. Simon Collery, Content Developer If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters then do post a message at the Bar or the Student Bar . Visit daily for "Today's Tipple" - a different Web site reviewed every working day at the Bar. Every Tuesday there is the "Pub Crawl", a look at full text articles from a range of information and Internet publications. Access the archive of Tipples and Pub Crawls at . To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day, send a blank email to . For the Student Bar Digest send an email to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Get up-to-date news, reviews, career moves and profiles, PLUS free access to the online archive, by subscribing to Information World Review - the information industry's leading monthly news magazine. http://www.iwr.co.uk >> Information World Review - addressing the agenda of information professionals and those working in an information-based career. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [li814] >>> FREE PINT PORTAL - SUBJECT ACCESS TO ALL OUR CONTENT <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/portal/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "Economics sources" By Paul Pedley It is essential in business today to have a thorough understanding of economic information; and, thankfully, there is now a wealth of economic information on the Internet. Indeed, over the past five years or so I have seen a major transformation of the Internet. Five years ago it was largely a resource for academics where the vast majority of material was of north American origin. Now, by contrast, there are a vast number of business and economy Internet resources, and the coverage is truly global. Portals ------- A useful starting point is to identify a good portal of economics data. There is a WWW virtual library covering economics . In fact, this URL actually leads to two portals - the Resources for Economists on the Internet site which is maintained by Bill Goffe and contains hyperlinks to around 1200 sites. Then there is WWW resources in economics which is maintained by Lauri Saarinen. Inomics: the Internet site for economists includes a search engine for economic information (EconSearch) as well as a directory (EconDir) of economics resources. Inomics also includes job openings for economists and conference announcements. Another portal - VIBES - virtual international business and economic sources covers around 1600 resources for economists which are available free of charge in English. This includes articles, research reports, statistical tables and graphs, and "meta pages" containing links to other resources. Economicsearch.com contains links to research, jobs information, courses in economics as well as study guides and practice questions, and a bulletin board to enable economists to network with one another. International organisations --------------------------- International organisations publish various national and international data. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) site is quite extensive, and includes the IMF staff country reports. There is also an email notification service to keep up to date with new developments. One of the most useful IMF publications - the International Financial Statistics (IFS) is currently available on the web to hard-copy subscribers of the publication, although at the moment it seems unclear as to how this service will develop in future, or on what basis the charging will work. The World Bank also has an extensive site. Information from a number of key publications is available on the site - for example World Development Indicators. However, when you explore this, you then find that only part of the data which appears in the hard copy publication is actually available on the website. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) website which underwent a makeover in 2000 organises its content into over 30 themes such as Economics, Emerging and transition economies, or Finance and Investment. "Source OECD" was launched in Autumn 2000. This service makes available on subscription the full text of OECD publications. Another international organisation whose website is worth looking at is that of the Bank for International Settlements . In addition to providing links to the central banks of member countries, the full text of a range of publications is available from the site. In the past I have found the reports on payment systems particularly useful. These cover the number of credit and debit cards in circulation, the number of ATMs, etc. Regional organisations ---------------------- In addition to the international organisations, it is also worth taking a look at the websites of the various regional organisations. The African Development Bank promotes economic and social development through loans, equity investments and technical assistance; Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation is a vehicle for promoting open trade and practical economic co-operation; the Asian Development Bank is a multilateral development finance institution; the mission of the Economic Community of West African States is to promote economic integration; the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation's primary objective is the acceleration of the process of economic and social development amongst the member states; the Southern African Development Community has a website at ; and the European Investment Bank exists to finance capital investment furthering European integration by promoting EU economic policies. Central banks ------------- The websites of central banks around the world are an excellent source of macroeconomic data. There are a number of listings of central banks. One of the best known is Mark Bernkopf's central banking resource centre ; the Bank for International Settlements also has a listing at ; and on my site I have listed other sets of hyperlinks to the websites of central banks at . The European Central Bank has a number of publications available in pdf format, both regular titles and ad-hoc publications on topics such as inflation, the euro, or payment systems; and the Bank of England website is at . Ministries of Finance --------------------- The websites of ministries of finance are a good source of economic data. A couple of websites that are good for locating the sites of ministries of finance are Worldwide Governments on the WWW where you can look up a specific country, and then the links to the websites of government departments for that country; and Mark Bernkopf's Central Banking Resource Centre which has a page of links to Ministries of Finance and Economy. Economics news -------------- There are lots of sources for economics news. But I have tried to select just a handful of sites which give a good overview. Moreover.com is a news aggregator drawing on news from around 1800 sources. There is a heading for economics news and it is possible to get the headlines sent to your email box on a daily or weekly basis; there is an excellent section of economic news on the BBC's website which covers the world economy; The Economist is a leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs. The website recently introduced a Global Agenda service with concise analysis of the most important international issues; while FT.com is another good source of economics news. The site has a section on the global economy plus an area covering economic indicators for the world's most important economies. Others ------ * The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the website of the central Bank of the United States * The Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis website includes GDP data, balance of payments data, and the national income and product account tables * The US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics website has data on the US economy, particularly about employment, including international comparisons * The Economics Policy Institute is an independent think tank whose mission is to provide high-quality research and education to promote a prosperous, fair and sustainable economy * The International Finance Corporation is part of the World Bank Group and promotes private sector investment in developing countries * ebusinessforum.com from the EIU provides insight and analysis to help senior executives build successful strategies for doing e-business in the global digital economy * About.com's economics home page is a guide to economic resources on the web, including articles on economics, and an economics glossary * Biz/ed is a catalogue of resources for students, researchers and practitioners in the areas of business, management and economics * The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has a number of publications available in full, including "Current issues in economics and finance" * The Economic & Financial Affairs directorate general of the European Commission has a website at * Both Middle East Economic Digest and Middle East Economic Survey have some free information on their websites, although it is necessary to take out a subscription to their sites in order to get full access to the resources available * ECLAC - the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean has detailed statistics on the region available from the site under the "statistics" heading * The Economist Intelligence Unit continuously assesses and forecasts political, economic and business conditions in 195 countries. It prides itself on a wholly international and impartial view * Finally, there is The World in 2001 from the Economist Group and EIU Viewswire which is a daily intelligence service on 195 countries. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Paul Pedley is Head of Research at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Paul is a Fellow of the Library Association and current Chairperson of the Industrial and Commercial Libraries Group of the Library Association. He is also a special libraries representative on the Library Association Copyright Alliance . Paul is the author of two Aslib Know How Guides - "Copyright for library and information service professionals" and "Intranets and push technology - creating an information sharing environment"; and the recently published "Free business and industry information on the web". Paul is currently working on a new book on "The invisible web". He also edits a large list of resources online at . > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * "Economy" links, articles and news in the Free Pint Portal * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks * Post a message to the author now at the Free Pint Bar * Access the entire archive of Free Pint content > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = IS YOUR WEB SITE WORKING RIGHT NOW? HAS IT BEEN HACKED? Last year over 5000 sites were defaced, and a recent survey showed only one out of 250 ISPs managed a month without downtime. If your site isn't working, your competitors are just a mouse click away. The NET ALERT remote monitoring system checks your site every 3 minutes, and if it is unavailable or there are unauthorised content changes, we let you know – by text message to a mobile, fax or e-mail, worldwide. TAKE A 30 DAY FREE TRIAL AT www.netalert247.com Available UK/US/Europe > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [na815] >>> FREE PINT FACT <<< Whilst preparing for a presentation I'm making soon in New York, I realised a staggering fact about the usage of the Free Pint Web site. The number of pages viewed each month has doubled every six months: Jan 99 21,000 Jul 99 46,000 Jan 00 84,000 Jul 00 128,000 Jan 01 284,000 William Hann, Managing Editor > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BOOKSHELF "The Non-Designer's Web Book" (2nd Ed.) Reviewed by Rachel Newcombe Now in its second edition, the "Non-Designer's Web Book" is aimed specifically at people without web design skills. Claimed as being an "award winning and best-selling" book, it offers a straightforward, jargon-free and easy-to-follow approach to helping people create, design and produce their own web sites. The new edition has been updated to include current web technology, new software tips, design ideas, and links to a variety of online sites and search engines. Aimed at both novices and the more experienced web users, the book covers a range of key issues and important questions likely to be associated with the whole process of web design. It assumes little or no previous knowledge and stresses the joy of using web authoring packages that automatically add the HTML coding for you and therefore take away some of the strain of designing. The content is split into five main sections: Using the World Wide Web, Making Web Pages, Design Issues on the Web, Colour, Graphics and Type, and You're Done - Now What? Each chapter is split into a number of short sections, offering bite-size, digestible elements and ensuring that information-overload is unlikely to occur. Interspersed throughout the text are colourful graphics, hints, examples and advice that help to make even the complicated aspects seem easier. Many of the sections also have quizzes, "Self-guided Tours" and checklists of key points that help the reader to learn how to use the information given and to start spotting particular techniques when surfing the web. It's good to note that the authors do not only focus on good web design, but bad design, too. They highlight some of the areas where beginners often go wrong -- flashy sites, too many colours, strange background designs that make text impossible to read -- and attempt to lure people away from making those same mistakes. They also actively encourage people to continually question their own sites and consider the functionality, design and usability and from all angles. The final part of the book deals with the all-important task of what do to when you've finished your site, an area that is often overlooked by design books. Step-by-step guides on how and where to register your site, how to use meta tags and ways to ensure your site is noticed and not forgotten the minute it goes live, are all covered. Overall, the book clearly and precisely deals with every aspect of web design. It takes the mystery away from the process and opens up a world of opportunity for beginners. It would be perfect for anyone who's ever dreamed of creating a site, but has been put off due to lack of technical or design experience, but would also make a great reference guide for the more experienced user. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rachel is a writer and researcher for online and print media. She writes features, news, web site and book reviews for a range of publications including UK Plus, iCircle, Health Media, Freelance Market News, Inkspot and Handbag.com. She can be found on the web at: . > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * "Webmaster" links, articles and news in the Free Pint Portal * Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf * Read about other Internet marketing books on the Free Pint Bookshelf * Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com * Details: ISBN 0201710382 published by Peachpit Press and written by Robin Williams and John Tollett * Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf To propose an information-related book for review, send details to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> FREE PINT STUDENT BAR - A HELPING HAND WITH YOUR STUDIES <<< The Free Pint Student Bar is there to help you. Post a question about your dissertation, funding or recruitment. Find links to agencies, courses and associations. http://www.freepint.co.uk/student/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FEATURE ARTICLE "Aboriginal Australia on the World Wide Web" By Helen Clegg Introduction ------------ There was much media coverage of Australia in September, October and November 2000 due to the city of Sydney hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This article looks at a different Australia - Aboriginal Australia - and evaluates some useful websites aimed at promoting an understanding of Australia's indigenous people, their history and culture. It also gives examples of how some Aboriginal groups are using Internet technology to promote an awareness of their groups on the World Wide Web. Official websites ----------------- The Australian government's main indigenous agency is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission- ATSIC. The agency is "an important international resource for information on indigenous programs, activities and issues". Its website is a good starting point for anyone wanting to know more about Aboriginal affairs. The site is divided into five main areas - Media, Programs, Issues, Fact versus Myth and Our People. The media section gives details of the material ATSIC has produced for inclusion in mainstream TV programs to highlight Aboriginal issues, whilst the Programs section is aimed at highlighting some of the Commission's projects, which play an important role in maintaining, protecting and developing the different cultures of Aboriginal Australians. One of the links in this section is to a Visual Arts and Crafts Resource Directory. The section on Issues gives information on the major issues which have affected Aboriginal people since the First Fleet arrived in 1788, including Native Title, Indigenous Rights and Law and Justice. A list of ATSIC's publications and fact sheets can be found in the Fact v Myth section. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established in 1991 by the Commonwealth Parliament. It comprises 25 community leaders drawn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Upon formation, the Council set up a formal nine year reconciliation process, which culminated in National Reconciliation Week in May 2000. This website is clearly laid out and easy to navigate. It has informative sections on the Council's goals, the Coroborree 2000 Document (the formal Australian Declaration Towards Reconciliation) and the Roadmap for Reconciliation. The Roadmap is another good place to look for information on the history of Aboriginal people. Moreover, it also examines the present day national strategy aimed at sustaining this reconciliation process. A host of pictures showing events which took place throughout Australia during National Reconciliation Week have been posted on the website. For example there is a picture showing Cate Blanchett and Yvonne Goolagong-Cawley taking part in the Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk. Seeing the pictures of the events in Alice Springs, Brisbane, Lismore and Adelaide brings the theme of reconciliation alive and underlines the importance of this movement in Australia today. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is the place to start serious research on Aboriginal history and culture. AIATSIS is an independent Commonwealth government statutory authority dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies. Although this is much more of an academic site, there are sections of it which are of interest to the casual visitor. For example, the section on Native Languages has a "Language of the Month" webpage. Here you can find poems and songs in different Aboriginal languages, with both a proper and literal English translation. The most recent addition to this section is a thought- provoking poem by Emily Walker called "Ownership". It is written in her native Gumbaynggir language, which is spoken around the north coast of New South Wales. Language enthusiasts should also visit David Nathan's aboriginal language resource webpage . Although this is not an official website, is an excellent place to discover which indigenous languages are still in use. When the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay in 1788, around 270 indigenous languages existed. Today, that number has been reduced to about 40 and these are all in danger of dying out. Thirty percent of the resources on this website are maintained by Aboriginal people. As land issues are an important theme in Australia, two sources providing useful information on this topic are The Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) and the Central Land Council 9CLC. The Indigenous Land Corporation was established in 1995 and has two main functions: * to assist indigenous people to acquire land * to manage indigenously held land The ILC's website gives information on land acquisition policy, land management and land needs. The Central Land Council on the other hand, is a council of Aboriginal people, representing a number of communities in Central Australia. This website gives excellent information on land-related issues, from land acquisition and land use to mining and travel permits. There is a webpage on the Council's Rural Enterprise Unit, which provides a range of services to support the planning and execution of new Aboriginal tourism ventures. The Council's 16 page publication entitled "The Truth about Mining on Aboriginal Land" is also available as a free PDF download from the website. One last official website worth mentioning is that run by the National Native Title Tribunal . This is a Commonwealth Government body that facilitates "the making of agreements among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, government, industry and others, whose rights or interest may co-exist with native title rights and interests." One of the most useful parts of the website is the Fact Sheet section, where online visitors can download free fact sheets in PDF or HTML format. Some of the topics covered are: * What is Native Title? * What does Native Title mean for rural Australia? * What's the difference between Native Title and land rights? The website also posts a list of its publications, most of which are available for free. An online order form is available for those publications which have to be purchased. Art, Culture and History ------------------------ The National Indigenous Media Association of Australia (NIMAA) has put together an indigenous portal , to assist online visitors to access information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture in Australia. Through this portal, NIMAA aims to ensure that indigenous people are both the source and providers of the content. The website covers a whole spectrum of subjects and concentrates more on present day issues rather than the historical aspect of indigenous culture. There are interesting sections on Education, Womens' Issues, Mens' Issues, Elders, Kids, Teenagers, Tourism and Business. The most recent article in the Teenager section has a report on the first cyber café for indigenous youth, which has just opened in Brisbane. One of my favourite websites is . This website aims to offer Internet users "unique opportunities to discover and explore the history, culture and spirituality of Aboriginal people throughout Australia". Moreover, the website has significant Aboriginal ownership and offers direct web access to indigenous communities and enterprises. The homepage is clearly divided into nine main areas - Shop, Travel, Postcards, Education, Arts Centres, Areas of Interest, Special Features, Forum and Businesses. All of these areas are fascinating, but particularly the section on Areas of Interest, which has sub-sections on spirituality, art and bush medicine. The sub-section on bush medicine requires online visitors to register with the site, but this is free. The section on education delves deeper into Dreaming and sensitive issues, providing visitors to the site with a good overview of these topics. For visitors who are primarily interested in Aboriginal art, the Art Centre section is a must. Here you can see and buy wonderful paintings by talented artists, for example the Warlayirti Artists, Iwantja or Warumpi Group artists. Before leaving the site, don't forget to send a postcard! Some great Aboriginal designs are available in postcard format for online visitors to e-mail for free. Another interesting website concentrating mainly on Aboriginal art is the Tobwabba website. This website promotes the Tobwabba artist collective, which provides employment and income for 22 artists and staff and advertises their paintings, which can be bought online in a secure environment in either Australian or US dollars! As well as being a showcase for some beautiful paintings, the website is informative, telling the history of the Worimi people, who were the original inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of coastal New South Wales, from where the Tobwabba collective now operates. Five years ago, Joanne Nangala, an Aboriginal artist originally from Papunya in Central Australia, started selling her work at a small stall at Mindil beach market in Darwin, where she now lives. Gradually she sold to galleries in Australia and now she is using Internet technology to reach potential buyers all over the world. Her website depicts authentic Aboriginal arts and crafts, ranging from boomerangs, carvings and digeridus to Top End paintings, bark paintings and prints. These are offered for sale on behalf of artists from the Northern Territory. Biographical details of the artists have been posted on the site too - an easy way of learning something of the lives of Aboriginal people today. "Dreaming" is an English word associated with Aboriginal culture for which there really is no good definition. Find out more about it by visiting , which provides a good selection of stories, both in text and audio format. Turning to music, one of the most famous Aboriginal bands, Yothu Yindi, is making the World Wide Web work for them. The band has its own website and is using it to promote itself as well as other aspects of Aboriginal life. Aboriginal Groups ----------------- There are many, many different Aboriginal cultural groups in Australia today and each has its own history. Four such groups which have embraced Internet technology to promote an awareness of their history and culture are the Puerte Marnte Marnte, the Tjapukai and the Yarrabah and Wadeye Aboriginal Communities. has been created by the Southern Arrernte Aboriginal Group - the Puerte Marnte Marnte, whose homelands are in Central Australia, about 100 kilometres south of Alice Springs. The website is divided into a number of different sections, two useful ones being Culture and Tourism. The Culture section looks specifically at the Arrente culture, describing in detail their family systems, languages, music, ceremonies and religion. The Tourism section gives details of tours operated by the Group. Some examples are a two-day Uluru trip or a six-day Uluru and Simpson Desert tour, which no doubt will emphasize the Aboriginal aspects of the places visited. In the Digeridu section, traditional Aboriginal music is explained, as well as the history of this instrument and how to play one. The Tjapukai, a people who originally inhabited the region around Cairns, Port Douglas and Kuranda in Far North Queensland run the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park near Cairns. This group is using the Internet to promote their Cultural Park, which includes 5 theatres, a museum, an art gallery as well as a traditional Aboriginal camp. Using the website, online visitors can also find out about different tour packages, book the tours online and even shop at their art gallery. There is an excellent section on Aboriginal Art too. See The Yarrabah Aboriginal Community is another Aboriginal group of just over 3000 people, living near Cairns in Far North Queensland. This community's website describes their history, from a very traditional lifestyle to settlement on a mission station founded in the early 1900's by Anglican Ernest Gribble. There is a section advertising pottery made by community members, which is sold in local retail outlets and another webpage is very informative about the community's tea tree plantation. Situated on the western edge of the Daly River Aboriginal Reserve in the Northern Territory lives the Wadeye Community, also known as the Port Keats Community. The Wadeye Community has put together an interesting website covering the community's history, the role its Council plays in community life, languages and clans, literacy, paintings and crafts. Amongst the crafts made by this group are beautiful dilly bags and batik T-shirts, with original Aboriginal designs. Online visitors to this website can also send an e-mail to the community. Further resources ----------------- One of the best maintained resources on the World Wide Web for all things Aboriginal is Professor Ciolek's website. His website is divided into different subject areas. The second resource worth consulting is the Indigenous Australian Resource Directory, hosted by the University of Sydney. This website attempts to maintain a register of all current World Wide Websites for/about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Like Professor Ciolek's website, it is divided into a number of subject areas, such as Education, Music, Dance, Literature, Justice and Law, Government, Art and Artifacts. Conclusion ---------- The World Wide Web offers a large variety of resources on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history, from official government and Aboriginal cultural organization websites to those privately run. Whatever angle these websites take, they all have the same fundamental aim - to raise the profile of Australia's indigenous people. Online visitors to any of the websites mentioned in this article will find food for thought on one of the world's most ancient and fascinating cultures. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Helen Clegg is Market Analyst with RR Donnelley and Sons Company Europe, in Amsterdam. She holds an M.Sc. in Library and Information Studies and has worked for a number of organizations in Europe including Bain and Company, BNFL plc and AT Kearney Ltd. Helen is a member of the Special Libraries Association and has recently compiled a list of Internet marketing resources for its Business and Finance Division. One of her main interests is Australia - its geography, culture, history and music. Helen can be contacted at . 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