The Australian Anthem Incorporating Aboriginal Culture and Sound

Jack Dikian

December 2010

KEVIN Rudd offered a broad apology to all Aborigines and the Stolen Generations for their "profound grief, suffering and loss" that was greeted by a standing ovation in February 2008.

Thousands of Aboriginal Australians gathered in Canberra to watch the historic apology, which was televised around the nation and shown at special outdoor settings in remote indigenous communities.

What of continuing with that commendable act and having a version of our national anthem bringing together Indigenous culture and a modern Australian theme. The alternations may be minor but the impact profound. Uniting a nation, preserving the unique culture, it’s people, and sound.

The national anthem gets played at many important events around the country and around the world. The minor alteration may include some of the words of Advance Australia Fair sung in perhaps Pijantjatjara, Western Arrernte, Eastern Arrernte, or Luritja, with the didgeridoo as an accompaniment.

After all, many words of Australian Aboriginal origin are almost universal in the English-speaking world, such as kangaroo and boomerang. Many such words have also become loan words in other languages beyond English, while some are restricted to Australian English.

wumba

Cartoons Come To Facebook World - Noble Cause

Jack Dikian

Decembeer 2010

A few days ago I reactivated my Facebook account after not having used it for almost a year. As well as the usual messages, invitations, and friend suggestions – I was amazed by the number of people who had switched their profile pictures. The standout for me was a seemingly emergent use of cartoon characters as profile pictures.

Using one of Google’s lesser known product, "trends", it become obvious that there is something, probably not quite enough to call it a trend just yet, but certainly enough to follow a hunch. Google trends is reporting a huge jump in the volume (Search Volume Index) of people searching Facebook cartoon profile pictures. This is from an almost flat line (for all intensive purposes) to a large spike appearing in late 2010.

Interestingly, the United States and the United Kingdom represent spikes in search volume for the terms “facebook cartoon profile picture” while the countries Malaysia and the Philippines represent spikes in volume for search words “facebook cartoon picture”.

It seems in recent weeks, users of Facebook have been searching for pictures of beloved cartoon characters from their childhood. People are switching their profile pictures to cartoon characters dating from as far back as the 50′s. Also cartoons which aired in the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s are also popular, with cartoon characters from the 90′s not lagging far behind.

And the reason for this trend, I might have been better informed if I had only stoped to read about Facebook’s latest campaign to raise awareness of child abuse. User’s have apparently been asked to change their profile picture to a cartoon character for the short campaign which ends December 7, 2010.

So why then have people in Pakistan been searching for “facebook cartoons” since late 2008?

Another term (word) that has a large search volume is “Slacktivism”. According to Wikidepia, Slacktivism (sometimes slactivism) is a portmanteau formed out of the words slacker and activism. The word is considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. The acts also tend to dilute awareness campaigns and require minimal personal effort from the slacktivist.

While Facebook’s campaign intentions are very admirable, I sincerely hope that change occurs beyond pictures. With further browsing, many who now display cartoons picture profiles have not change their status.