ACID's Digital Songlines recognised at prestigious AIIA iAwards
7th April 2006
For immediate release
ACID has been recognised for innovation excellence Australia's most prestigious information
industry awards program, the 2006 Australian Information Industry Association iAwards.
ACID, the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design, received an Award of Merit in the iAwards
Education & Training category for the Digital Songlines virtual heritage tool.
"ACID's Digital Songlines project is an example of mobile digital technologies being taken into
new areas to provide new ways to improve people's lives in the real world," said ACID CEO Professor
Jeff Jones.
Digital Songlines is an immersive 3D experience that records the arts, culture, heritage and
country of Indigenous Communities.
"Indigenous Communities traditionally transfer their cultural heritage from generation to
generation through rituals, stories, dance and artworks in the context of the landscape
and country," Prof. Jones said.
"Digital Songlines is based on digital platforms and simulation technologies that perfectly
suit the non-linear, narrative-based, richly layered nature of Indigenous heritage and
knowledge, so it's a great way to record this information for future generations."
Prof. Jones said Digital Songlines was a toolkit for registering cultural heritage that
included a method to independently validate Indigenous knowledge and languages that
were rapidly disappearing.
The first iteration of Digital Songlines was Irene's World, a record of the material culture
and language of the Gunggari Community in the area around Mitchell in South-West Queensland, as told
to Gunggari woman Irene Ryder by her family and community.
"Irene's World records the traditional knowledge of the Gunggari community, only a few of whom
still speak Gunggari language," Prof Jones said. "It provides young people with an engaging digital
tool for education in their own culture and language."
Prof Jones said Digital Songlines has gained interest of other Indigenous Communities across
Australia and internationally. "It could also be of use to corporations working with Indigenous
Communities when recording cultural heritage values in a property development zone."
Prof Jones said that winning an Award of Merit at the iAwards was thrilling for ACID. "We work
hard to develop products and technologies that make a real difference for people and communities."
ACID was the only cooperative research centre to reach the finals of the iAwards.
ACID was also shortlisted for an iAward in the R & D Category for its Diversionary Therapy
Technology which uses augmented reality, webcam technology and engaging storylines to help make burns
treatment less painful for very young children.
"Kids use interactive devices to direct colourful, friendly characters through adventure stories,
and it takes their minds off treatment that can otherwise be excrutiatingly painful and stressful,"
Prof. Jones said.
"The Royal Children's Hospital Brisbane asked us to design diversionary therapy devices
specifically for kids aged under seven because their visual coordination isn't sufficiently
developed at that age to use other devices already on the market," Prof Jones said.
Prof Jones said that formal clinical trials had shown the devices to significantly reduce pain
scores, pulse and respiration rates in young patients, making burns treament less traumatic.
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For more information:
Jason Pickersgill, ACID. T: 07 3337 7929 or 0432 163 886. E: jason@acid.net.au
