News
Update 2024
This site is no longer current and is not being updated. Since 2016, happily, the number of online sources of knowledge about Australian Indigenous languages exploded in number and diversity of sources, especially from Indigenous organisations and individuals. As a result, it became impossible to keep ALoA up to date. It is no longer a key resource.
As the main web portal for Australian Aboriginal languages on the web (part of Tim Berners-Lee’s official W3C Virtual Library (now defunct at https://www.vlib.org/ - see its history) this site provided summaries, guidance and links to quality resources on Aboriginal languages, especially those produced from communities and by community members. It was listed in most of the major international libraries and other institutions as a key site for Australian languages, and attracted over 500,000 hits a year.
Approximately half of the linked sites still exist and the site’s back-end database remains valuable because it contains data which tracks 20 years of the emergence, expansion and changes in the online presence of Australian First Nations languages from the birth of the web.
August 6, 2016
Another 75 items have been added since the last update in October 2015, bringing the total number of items to 515. About 4% of the previously listed sites have 'disappeared' or were no longer suited to the Library and were removed.
Trends I noticed in this latest update:
- as before, there are several new pages with video resources, and pages that link to apps
- a number of calendar and other ethno-scientific sites (several produced with the CSIRO) have been added
- there are now so many community-produced videos online that it is not practical to list them all in this Virtual Library. There are also some problems associated with videos, for example some are not viewable outside Australia, and many expire or are withdrawn after a specific time
- several additional language organisations have been added
Note that not all the newly added items are new web resources - they may be items that I haven't previously listed or items in categories that weren't previously included.
I (still) plan to redesign this Virtual Library site to make it easier for new or casual users to find useful and interesting information.
October 24, 2015
Another 84 items have been added since the last update in June, bringing the total number of items to 453, and the number added in 2015 to over 240. This large number of additions is due to 3 factors:
- the rapid current growth in the number of relevant sites/pages (see trends below)
- a gap in updating from late 2012 to 2014, during which time many new sites appeared, and many existing ones disappeared (see below)
Trends I noticed in this latest update:
- as before, many new video-based pages, on sites such as Vimeo and YouTube
- more pages that link to apps (so a new category "Apps & software" was added)
- see also trends noted in June 2015, below
There are still a couple of known issues:
- Unicode uploading to the database is not working properly so names such as Yolŋu are often not displaying properly
- the feedback form is not noting the item that the user had clicked on to send feedback
I plan to redesign this Virtual Library site soon to make it easier for new or casual users to find useful and interesting information.
June 17, 2015
This Virtual Library has had a major update - existing items were checked, over 150 new items were added, and the database was restructured and rebuilt enabling better presentation of records. The site now lists 370 resources. The database was rebuilt to aid search and browsing, as each item can now appear under all the languages and categories which apply.
Since the last major update (December 2012), about 130 (of 330) links had broken. Of these broken links, I re-found about 60% of the linked resources at other locations, but about 40% have disappeared and been removed from the library (i.e. removed from its public catalogue - I maintain a database of historic sites and address changes).
Trends I noticed during the update process:
- there are an increasing number of blogs, and also community and organisational websites based on content management systems (Joomla, WordPress etc.)
- there is an increasing amount of audio and video material
- the ABC is increasingly facilitating production and/or online publishing of materials (e.g. ABC Open, ABC Splash)
- links disappeared often as a result of institutions (presumably IT departments) rearranging addresses, often very poorly and without thought to users, sustainability, or accountability (this has been a consistent observation over nearly 20 years)
- links also disappeared due to community and organisational websites moving to content management systems and relocating (or losing) resources
- several language resources disappeared due to particular campaigns ending (e.g. You Me Unity took down many videos)
- some language resources are no longer available online because organisations have removed them in favour of printed or downloadable materials that must be purchased (with some exceptions, commercial material is not included in the Virtual Library)
June 8, 2015
This Virtual Library is undergoing a major update. The first step was to check links and fix broken ones. As of 8 June 2015, all links have been checked. About 130 (of 330) links were broken. Of these broken links, about 60% of the linked resources have been re-found at other locations, and 40% have been removed from the library.
In the next steps, over the next few weeks, about 150 new resources will be added, so please revisit this site.
December 29, 2012
Updated; 22 new resources added. About 70 resources added in 2012. Added the capability to see items added in the most recent update, plus items added in any particular year. Note that these are dates of first entry. Many items have since been updated. Note also that the total number of current items is less than the sum added over the years because items also regularly ‘disappear’.
June 24, 2012
Custom full-text search facility completed. Users can now search for any text in most fields of the catalogue, or for language names or codes.
June 15, 2012
Google free text search removed, as its results are too out of date, and attempts to coax Google to re-crawl the site and update their indexes were not successful.
June 11, 2012
Free text search added. This uses Google's indexing service, which is not always up to date; it inserts Google's advertisements, and it only returns the pages that contain your search term, not the specific resource items. I hope to provide a better free text search service soon.
June 7, 2012
16 new resources added, many of them videos for You Me Unity (find them under the Films and videos category).
The site now has annotated links to 312 resources for 99 languages. About 44% of these resources are produced or published by Indigenous people (a significant increase in the recent period from 35%).
June 3, 2012
Over 30 new resources added, many existing entries revised and updated. New resources include a significant number of videos, and interactive dictionaries.
The site now has annotated links to 294 resources for 95 languages. Over 40% of these resources are produced or published by Indigenous people.
March 2012
Minor updates to the interface:
- the date of each item's first appearance in this Virtual Library has been included
- items are now sorted by name as well as language
- linked items now open in a new tab or window (behaviour depends on browser and its settings)
- other minor formatting improvements
December 2011: The Aboriginal Languages Virtual Library has been updated!
The following changes have been made in this major update:
The new interface has made it possible to add features such as user feedback about resources (see Help). In the future, I will add further features to improve usability.
The site now has annotated links to 267 resources for over 80 languages. Over 35% of these resources are produced or published by Indigenous people.
Compared to the last complete update (2007):
- number of items that "disappeared" and were re-found: 40
- number of items that disappeared or went offline: 30
- number of newly added items: 90
- net number of listed resources has increased from 231 to 266
- number of languages represented has remained the same (about 80)
- proportion of resources produced or published by Indigenous sources has remained the same (about 35%)