Practice statement

The Aboriginal Languages of Australia Virtual Library aims to implement best practice in its category.
Comments on this page are welcome: please email the Library's editor, David Nathan

Indigenous protocol

The editor has active communication channels and links with Indigenous organisations and individuals

The editor applies Indigenous protocols to the full extent that he is capable.

The Library declares the proportion of sites that are produced or published by Indigenous people or organisations (these details not listed site-by-site)

Stability and reliability

This site is located at a server/address controlled by the editor, who has a commitment to publishing on the Internet about Aboriginal languages and to the Virtual Library. This avoids the common problem of the unreliability of sites at Universities and other institutions where resources change address (or even disappear) due to actions by administrators, technical persons etc.

Information quality

The editor has been an active participant in Aboriginal languages education and associated areas for more than ten years.

The editor evaluates every resource. Most resources have been located by the editor in active searches of the web. Only sites that contribute positively to knowledge about and promotion of Aboriginal languages are listed. The editor annotates each resource to help the reader choose a link and anticipate its content.

Warnings are given where appropriate if a site is judged worthy of inclusion but may present problems or inaccuracies to the reader.

Information currency

The Library is updated regularly, and typically undergoes a major update twice a year. Unlike many other sites, the update process includes:

• checking every single link to make sure the site is active
• if a resource has "disappeared"
  1. efforts are made to find the resource in a new location (in about 50% of cases of broken links, the resource has been moved)
  2. if the resource cannot be located, the link is removed from the published version of the Library (but see below under Information Management)
• checking for changes in content of sites
• reviewing and updating annotations
• listing new sites that have been suggested by readers
• a very active process of seeking out new sites

Information management

The library data is kept in a database that is independent of the web pages that appear on the Internet. This database is used to regenerate the Library web pages on each major update (using "eMU" software created by the editor).
The database stores more than five years' history of resources, including information about changes of content and address, and about resources that have since gone off-line. It therefore provides documentation of data collected and decisions made during the Library's history. It also constitues a valuable repository of information about the history and evolution of Internet resources for Aboriginal languages.

Usability

The Library does not use fancy technologies or graphics. It uses standard web-literacy formats to encourage the widest range of readers. All pages are optimised for display on the main browsers in use; however, the site is fully usable in older or severely problematic browsers such as Netscape 4.X.

The editor constantly strives to provide the greatest amount of information with the fastest download time. For example, in January 2003, the number of listed resources reached a level where single pages for each browsing type would have become too large. A new site architecture was created, so that readers start with a Yahoo-like opening page that provides a menu to all categories and languages under which resources are listed. Clicking any one of these links provides the page for the selected category/language only, and is therefore as compact as possible.

 

Other resources for Standards and Protocols

Several other sites include information about standards and protocols for web publishing in Indigenous affairs and studies.

http://abc.net.au/message/proper/ (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

This site contains much useful information, especially about broadcasting.

http://www.ntu.edu.au/library/protocol.html (ATSILIRN)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives and Information Services.

http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-InfoQuality.html (Matthew Ciolek)

Dr Ciolek's Information Quality WWW Virtual Library.

http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/corp/docs/EthicsGuideA4.pdf (AIATSIS)

AIATSIS' Guidelines for Ethical Research in Indigenous Studies.