OnDusk

H ello and welcome to my blog. This home blog is a chronicle of memoirs, a repository of short stories and where I post updates and pitches for new work.  It used to be big and where I come from, we still call it the wireless. Take Johnny Cash for example, if you need convincing. Two sounds as a young boy he heard at night - a distant train across the flat, and songs out of a bakelite box.   That's what you hear in those Johnny Cash songs - the driving, unstoppable, rhythmic steel of a wide gauge freight train, with a well timed warning blast, transformed into song that pierced the darkness.   Radio, it still excites me. And I'll be on it, this Saturday night.  Two things I wanted to let you know...I've got a special Twitter event you may be interested in, starting this coming weekend...and also I wanted to let you know about the free anthology recently released via itunes. I'm in it. Beyond Unaipon: Part2 AWAYE! this Saturday 6.05pm Thrilled to c...

Firstly, I’d like to say thankyou to everyone who retweeted and had a look at my first attempt at a weekly survey and especially thankyou with my deep appreciation – really! - for those who took the time to complete the survey. I have learnt a lot from this exercise and will be making some improvements to future surveys. I explain more about “why a survey?’ here . _______________________________ Q 1. Do you like cat pics on Twitter? Result: Yes: 50% No: 50% Early results showed somewhat of an aversion to cats – and announcing interim results, saw a climb in support for felines in social media.     Notes - to accommodate the preferences of at least half of Twitter who prefer zero cats, I will not be including any more ice breaker survey questions about cats. Q 2. This question sought feedback around familiarity (from 1 to 5) with some common phrases in the Indigenous affairs lexicon : Constitutional Recognition, Sovereignty, S...

I like surveys.  I have been reading them for most of my working life.  Though it's true Aboriginal issues, and in more recent times 'racism', are frequently the subject of surveys, I'll read just about any polls and data about preferences and dislikes, eg politics, popular culture, tv ratings, and pirated download figures.  In the interests of transparency – and there needs to be some, if you are thinking about running a regular online survey, I’ll explain how my idea to run a weekly online survey developed.   There are two reasons why I will click on a survey: INFORMATION. I am interested in the results. TRUST. I have some confidence that the methodogy is sound, and the results are confidential. I have a lot of questions on my mind most of the time, and no one else was providing the information I was looking for, so I decided to ask the questions myself. I thought there might be an interest in the results, from time to time,...

Check out my new survey here Why a survey?  For me.... I'm always interested in 'what do people think?' My interest doesn't stop with the survey - I see it as an icebreaker. For you ... You may also be interested, so I'll post the results to my blog. The results are anonymous and will only be reported on my blog.  If there is sufficient interest, I plan to post... Survey questions - topics will vary - at 6pm each Monday.  Survey closes midnight Monday.   Results posted after midday Tuesdays EST  Updated -11pm for the benefit of respondents  across the timezones, survey results will be posted Midday Tuesdays. :)  Today's survey includes questions include...  Do you know what 'Constitutional Recognition' means? Sovereignty? Assimilation? Redfern Now Vs Gods of Wheat Street...which did you prefer? What do you think is the most important issue requiring support: possible answers include racism? self determination? job...

When it comes to black social media – and I'll say now, Twitter and blogging is where I started but not where my interests end – there is one person who can take the credit for making it all possible. One person who enabled the whispering in the corners to become a shout out. Creative people ... Colour outside the lines One person who set us all up to be able to speak for ourselves and start a new conversation....where Indigenous   people -  Aboriginal mob, black fullas -   could broadcast I am excellent at what I do, I have dreams, I am here and I am not going away … One person responsible for all the blogs. All the twitter handles. One person responsible for all the campaigns, the protests and the growth of Indigenous opinion online. All this was made possible by one person… ...this guy ~~~> the bloke who invented the internet. Ever since then we are all working it - refining it, learning from it, improving how we use it, an...