PY Media Web Portal

Portal Home | History | Redevelopment

WEB PORTAL

PY media officially moved into cyberspace in 1997, when coordinator, Chris Ashby, and visiting American university professor, David Tafler, acquired a computer, a modem, an email address and a website for the organization.

During that time a small, simple, five page website was created containing a PY Media Homepage with a brief description of the organization; a PY Media equipment rental and rate page; an EVTV History page with no text and a series of photographs; a links page to other indigenous organizations; and a map of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands.

By 1998, the stats folder on the site showed that there were ‘hits’ from places as far away as England, America, India, Japan, Russia and Lithuania. The stats showed that every single day of each month (since the PY Media website had begun), someone somewhere in the world had looked at it. This was so impressive that members of APY communities started taking an interest in presenting their culture to the rest of the world.

The website has continued to grow as year after year, David has returned, to work on it: creating pages for video, radio, art centres; organizations such as NPY Women’s council, Nganampa Health and Land Management; and homepages for each of the communities and homelands.

In 2003, funding from the Australian federal government Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA), enabled PYMedia to continue the work towards making the waru site a portal for Anangu culture, and a communication tool for Anangu.

The numbers of people viewing the site around the world has also steadily increased. Currently an average of 212 people look at the site every day. The most visited sites include the waru homepage, and NPY Women’s Council.

Stats for the month of May show that there were 6086 ‘sessions’ (or people) visiting the website, who came from 38 American states, 8 Canadian provinces, 18 nations in Europe, 10 nations in Asia and from the countries of South Africa, Equador, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Trinidad and Argentina, as well as lots of ‘traffic’ from Australia.

Waru-the official name of the PY Media website is also the Pitjantjatjarra word for fire. The term was used originally in relation to the work of the Bracs program implying ‘fighting fire with fire”( as in the use of fire breaks to combat fire out bush). The meaning has been carried on in the naming of the PY media website.