About

Welcome to ABC Indigenous - our new online portal for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Indigenous portal has replaced the Message Stick gateway. The portal was developed in consultation with the ABC Indigenous Programs Unit and with members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community from around Australia.

The portal is designed to reflect current issues in the Indigenous community. It is a highly informative, dynamic and interactive space, showcasing creativity, developing online communities, encouraging social engagement in a rich media, multi-platform environment, offering audio and video downloads and user-upload opportunities.

The primary target audience for the portal is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged from early 20's to 55. However given the level of interest in Indigenous issues across the wider audience we expect it will also attract many non-Indigenous users and be an important resource for students and teachers.

As well as producing the regular weekly Indigenous programs Awaye!, Message Stick and Speaking Out, the ABC generates a large body of Indigenous content across its other networks and platforms. The Indigenous portal aggregates this content and widens it's accessibility to a broader audience. The portal also features new content, such as 'Your Voice' (editorials), 'Local Heroes' (personal profiles) and arts reviews. There is also audience generated content, including 'Add a Recipe', 'Add a Review' and 'Add an Event'.

The Indigenous portal was ‘soft-launched’ on Tuesday 2 June, 2008. It will be officially launched later this year.

After an initial project scope was created, focus groups were held with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Alice Springs, Brisbane and Sydney’s northern suburbs. Information Architecture was created, design commenced and focus group participants were invited to comment on two design directions via an online survey. Once a design direction was established, site development commenced. About two thirds of the way through the site build, usability testing was conducted with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to determine how the site was performing. A usability report was generated from the testing and recommendations were implemented.

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