Mayor Desmond Tayley and Deputy Mayor Talita Nandy welcomed several international dignitaries this week, including visitors from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indians.

Amongst the visitors were the Dot Com Mob, who is seeking corporate partners to help the Wujal Wujal council to upgrade the computer room in the Indigenous Knowledge Centre.

The State Library of Qld already supports the community with books and training events as well as supporting the centre co-ordinator Carol Toby but currently the community only has access to one public computer.

The Mayor presented the Dot Com Mob with a copy of the book "Yalanji, Warranga Kaban", which details the history of the Yalanji people.

The children and youths of Wujal Wujal treated the visitors to a wonderful display of traditional dancing.

Many thanks to the whole community for such a warm welcome!

Limmud-Oz is a major Australian Jewish community-wide conference and festival celebrating Jewish learning and creativity, which began in 1999 and alternates between Sydney and Melbourne. It is a unique, volunteer-led, cross-communal and multi-generational event, catering for the broad diversity of opinions within the wider Jewish community.  Hand in Hand: Aboriginal and Jewish People Working

Together Jennifer Hillman, Josef McDonald, Raymond Minniecon, Anne Sarzin, Lisa Sarzin, Jennifer Symonds, Gaye White Aboriginal and Jewish people in NSW are working together on many inspiring projects. The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies commissioned Dr Anne Sarzin and Lisa Sarzin to research and write a book about these projects and the people involved. Anne and Lisa spoke about the book and introduced some of the Aboriginal and Jewish people involved in some of these uplifting projects such as the Dot Com Mob founded by Robert Magid.

Limmud-Oz is just one of over 50 similar events under the umbrella of Limmud International , which is at the forefront of a revolution in global Jewish education and thinking, and is creating a learned, open, dynamic and respectful community. Limmud worldwide attracts over 32,000 people annually and continues to see unprecedented growth, even while more traditional community institutions suffer from decreasing numbers.

The Dot.Com.Mob wants you to check out their new YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/dotcommob

Watch Robert Magid explain the history of the Dot.Com.Mob as well as a selection of other videos by the Mayor of Hope Vale, Greg McLean, the State Library of Qld and videos made by members of the Hope Vale community and uploaded to YouTube.

Please subscribe to our channel, so you can keep up with the latest progress of helping Indigenous people, living in remote locations, have access to the Internet so they might participate in opportunities that simply did not exist before.

The Rotary Club of Sydney Cove's Indigenous Community Benevolent Fund  has been hard at work participating in a number of initiatives in Northern Australia.   You will all be aware of the efforts to date of Andy Buttfield at Baniyala to improve the lot of that community in a variety of ways.  Ably assisted by Robert Bradshaw, he is up there again right now contuning his push on the educational front.

Our Indigenous activities have been expanded recently by partnering with the Dot Com Mob and their prinipal benefactor the Magid Foundation in helping to develop a number of community learning centres in Cape York.  Working with the Queensland State Library and other supporters such as WorkVentures, Corporate Express, Internet facilities and computing skills are being upgrades at 18 remote locations in Queensland.

The objective is to attract the locals, particularly the younger ones, to the process of learning via aspects of the World Wide Web that truly interest them - such as musical and sporting sites, blogs, FaceBook and YouTube.  These projects also harness the power of peer involvement by first getting a few people onto the Net and then using them as role models to attract others.  Each centre is run by the local community council so they have ownership and thus want to take care of it and improve it themselves.

To get a taste of what is being achieved by the combined effots of a few dedicated people, we suggest you visit the site links below:

www.dotcommob.org
www.youtube.com/user/dotcommob

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Hope Shire Council passes a Resolution of support at their Council meeting held 14 Dec 2006 to partner with the Dot Com Mob to develop a community learning centre.

The resolution states that the Council will make available, where possible, the necessary facilities for the purpose of developing a learning centre in Hope Vale. This facility will encourage the use of computers and other electronic devices for education and learning to assist community members in the development and enhancement of their computer skills.

The centre will promote the use of technologies such as computers and associated software with the aim of building self confidence and esteem as well as other benefits to community members.

Following the visit of the Dot Com Mob to Hope Vale and thanks to funding
provided by Microsoft under the Unlimited Potential program, WorkVentures trained
local volunteers from Hope Vale so they in turn could train others in the community.'

Microsoft has also provided software and interactive computer learning material
through the community Technology Centre in Cape York so that the locally trained
volunteers can build the skills of others in the community.

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In July 2006, five students from Djarragun College visited Hope Vale Aboriginal Community in Cape York as tutors to pass on their IT skills and show others the exciting potential of the Internet.

Young people from Hope Vale Aboriginal Community were chosen to pair-up with the students of Djarragun to learn how to send emails, surf the Internet, make posters, business cards and telephone calls through Skype.

Online Introduction to Computers course run by JobFind to demonstrate the learning tools available to students in remote locations. The teacher for this course was in Tasmania and the young people enjoyed a week of learning where the teacher could remotely control their computers.

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We are the Dot Com Mob

The Internet, World Wide Web, information superhighway, and cyberspace are all words used to describe an exciting and fun learning tool.

At the touch of a keyboard or the click of a mouse it is possible to listen to music, find assistance with your science projects, watch a movie trailer, or send electronic messages by e-mail, instant messages, or chat, to a friend across the street, in another town, or another country.

Check out our links to deadly web sites. These sites are sites we like and we hope they will get you started on your journey through the Internet.