Dear Mike or Wieslaw

I'm uncertain as to who is who but I hope you received my previous message on June 8th.

Ten Canoes is a different kind of story from the story told by the Flight of Ducks. By existing on film or video, Ten Canoes is what I call closed media in as far as it does not engage in conversation about its subjects.

The Flight of Ducks is also an bit like a garden sometimes I get behind in the maintenance. It should be more up to date now and our conversation is included.

Best wishes

Simon

Continue thread: Aug 12, 2007 12:10 AM

Dear Edward

I've now completed the rest of the text of the 'Journey to Horseshoe Bend'. You may be aware that there was an issue to cultural sensitivity associated with the format of this text. The text was blocked in response to a request from Aboriginal elders who were concerned about indexing by search engines. At the time (2003) PDF was considered to be a spider proof format. However, with advances in Adobe's PDF format this is no longer the case.

Lest you think me callous and that I have thrown my cultural sensitivity to the wind, I have implemented another simpler strategy. This involves the use of a small piece of code that disallows indexing.

Looking at you email address, you probably know much more about these things than I.

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you find any text anomalies.

It will take me a long time to complete 'The Songs of Central Australia' and there are some major markup challenges with the musical notation.

Continue thread:

Dear Edward

Just to let you know that I have now completed 8 of the 13 'chunks' of the 'Journey to Horseshoe Bend'. I found that they all needed a little character encoding clean up. This is pretty tedious and repetitive work and I tend to get a little bored by it. I've done up to the 17th October.

You can help me out by letting me know if you find any typos or strange anomalies in the text. Does the navigation work for you?

The first screen is: http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD1019.html

and - you may need to refresh your browser if you've previously visited the 'removed' screens.

Yes, Songs Of Central Australia is a very expensive book. At $2,500.00 it would be a bargain. I've heard that good copies have sold for as much as $6,000.00. My copy is an ex-US library copy and a bit worn.

I'll let you know when I've finished the rest of the screens for 'Journey to Horseshoe Bend' but I hope what's done will keep you going for a little while.

Best wishes

Simon

Continue thread: Aug 8, 2007 7:29 PM

Dear Edward

Funny that you should contact me now with this request. I was just on the point of removing the code that blocked access to 'Journey To Horseshoe Bend'. I was feeling a little reticent as I am reluctant to offend anyone but your message has tipped the balance in favour of setting the text free. As you probably have inferred - I'm all for unrestricted freedom of access to our cultural memory but I'm constantly surprised at how many people don't share this value.

I am laid up this week with cancer treatment (just sun damage) and am using the time to work on a translation (into hypertext) of Strehlow's great work 'The Songs of Central Australia'. It will be a major task that I expect to take years. I'm sure to run into difficulties along the way.

I'll follow this email soon with a notification that 'Journey To Horseshoe Bend' is accessible. I don't think that it won't take me long. But please understand that the text will be available in digestible chunks - not a great mass.

Best wishes

Simon Pockley

Continue thread: Aug 8, 2007 7:29 PM

Dear Don

Thank you for you kind words.

Most of the screens in the Flight of Ducks carry a metadata link to a rights statement associated with the material.

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0310.html

They also carry a link to a Creative Commons license

or

you can refer to the source of the actual contribution which you will find embedded in the material it describes at:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0034.html

In short, I give Routledge permission to publish this material.

Best wishes

Simon

Continue thread: Aug 8, 2007 1:50 AM

Dear Don

I have pruned this down to a smidgen less than 5 pages. But perhaps it is too sparse to be of any interest? Perhaps I have mismatched the tone? Would you cast your eye over it and let me know if it suits your purpose?

I'm quite happy to rewrite it or come up with something else if you think it necessary.

Possible intro: Simon Pockley was responsible for the world's first on-line doctoral thesis, The Flight of Ducks http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/. He receives invitations to speak at National and International forums and writes about values in the ecology of information management. He was a contributor to UNESCO's Guide to Preservation and Digital Heritage as well as the UNESCO Guide to Electronic Theses and Dissertations. He lives in Australia where he is in demand as a Ph.D supervisor, examiner and student mentor. He works from time to time as a consultant.

Best wishes

Simon

Continue thread: Aug 3, 2007 1:50 AM

Dear Don

Happy to contribute. I'll probably need a week to put some words down. What led you to me?

Best wishes

Simon

Continue thread: Jul 30, 2007 7:38 PM

Dear Dean

No problem with using any of the material. You should read this rights statement which you'll find in the metadata for each screen:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0310.html

The Flight of Ducks has been online now for more than 10 years. Over that time it has attracted a consistent audience of about 2.5 million people per year. I guess the difference between an online documentary and what I imagine you are proposing is that people can (and do) talk back. Closed media documentaries do not accommodate two way conversation.

Your great-grandfather sounds like quite a character. The journey my father embarked on in 1933 (as a 20 year old) changed his life and awakened his respect for traditional Aboriginal cultural practice. I think his journal is remarkable in that it demonstrates an awareness of Aboriginal sensitivities that I doubt I would have had when I as 20 years old.

I'd be interested in knowing how your project proceeds.

Best wishes

Simon

Continue thread: Jun 21, 2007 12:13 AM

Dear Craig

Thanks for your request. I'm always happy to be of assistance. 'The Flight of Ducks' encourages reuse and re-presentation of all of it's material. Ten years ago I participated in the development of protocols for using images of Aboriginal people and places and I look forward to seeing what you come with.

The metadata for each screen contains a link to the following rights statement:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0310.html

see also

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0758.html

Feel free to select any images and let me know if you need high resolution copies. I've just provided quite number of high res images to an exhibition in Poland.

Best of luck with your project.

Best wishes

Simon

Continue thread: Jun 14, 2007 10:26 PM

Dear Wieslaw Czajkowski

It's been a long time since I've heard from you. I think that the photos taken by Donald Thomson were the inspiration behind ten canoes. The Flight of Ducks is more focused on Central Australia rather than the Northern region depicted in the film.

Are you still writing?

Best wishes

Simon Pockley

Continue thread: Jul 11, 2007 4:51 PM