ICWFN meeting in Broome, WA

The first general meeting of the Indigenous Community Water Facilitators Network took place in Broome, Western Australia from May 12-14, and I had the privilege of offering a brief presentation on the HERTK project there. The response was a generally positive one, and there is great interest among the facilitators in the outcomes and possible benefits that action learning and participatory action research can bring to their efforts. It was very instructive for me to get an understanding of the origins and goals of the ICWFN and the different regions and catchments they are operating in. There were several guest presenters at the meeting as well, including leading experts from academia and major research institutions. Several opportunities for enhancing the HERTK support network arose, and some strategic links were made that will strengthen the content delivered to Indigenous associates. For example, a link was made with NAILSMA's communications officer to include an Information Communication Technology workshop in associates' orientation sessions, and develop a HERTK-specific media tool kit for associates to use in developing outputs. This is an important issue for the project, since developing effective means of documenting Traditional Knowledge and diverging epistemologies will be the cornerstone that will allow for peer review and tertiary level awards for the candidates. One very promising technology uses still images in conjunction with audio to create simple "videos" capable of telling compelling stories as well as synthesizing a great deal of information efficiently.