This page is intentionally left blank. NGANA WUBULKU JUNKURR-JIKU BALKAWAY-KA: THE INTERGENERATIONAL CO-DESIGN OF A TANGIBLE TECHNOLOGY TO KEEP ACTIVE USE OF THE KUKU YALANJI ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE STRONG Jennyfer Lawrence Taylor BA ANU BInfTech ANU BInfTech(Hons) QUT FHEA Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Computer Science Science and Engineering Faculty Queensland University of Technology in partnership with Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council 2020 This page is intentionally left blank. KeyworDs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, active language use, co-design, community-based participatory design, human-computer interaction, Indigenous languages, intergenerational language transmission, language revitalisation, participatory design, social technologies, tangible user interfaces. i MessaGe to AboriGinal anD Torres Strait IslanDer ReaDers This thesis may contain images and content about people who have passed away. The names of people involved in the project are listed in the Acknowledgements section, and Figure 3, Figure 6, and Figure 14 contain images of Elders. MessaGe to All ReaDers Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council is the partner for this project. This publication, and quotes from participants included within this publication, should not be reproduced without permission from Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council. This thesis is freely available online on the QUT EPrints website, and the hard copies made available to the Wujal Wujal community are not for sale. Cover Artwork The cover artwork for this thesis was painted by Cedric Sam Friday, for this book about the project that will be displayed in the Wujal Wujal Indigenous Knowledge Centre Library. The Language Reference Group chose the images to appear on the covers. The front cover depicts the Crocodile, important to the Crocodile Language Friend design. The back cover shows the dukunjulu bird, a nickname given to me by the Language Reference Group, and also expresses the community’s connection to their local environment, and affinity with the Ambient Birdhouse design. The cover artwork is © Cedric Sam Friday and printed here with permission from the artist. ii Abstract Australia has a rich variety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, many of which continue to be spoken today. However, many Indigenous languages worldwide, including in Australia, are experiencing language shift which is resulting in a diminishing number of speakers. These languages are at risk of falling out of use unless they are passed down to, and actively taken up by, younger generations in their everyday lives. A range of language revitalisation work is currently being undertaken to document and teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. Many communities have collections of language materials, and are seeking to present them in engaging ways for young people using digital technologies. Yet, within the field of human-computer interaction, designing for endangered language revitalisation is an under-addressed area of research, and the potential for tangible technologies in particular to foster active language use by children is underexamined. This PhD project was carried out in partnership with the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council and community with the aim of co-designing a tangible and social technology to foster active use of the Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal language by young children and their families. I worked with a Language Reference Group of Elders and young children through an iterative, participatory design process to co-create the Crocodile Language Friend, a talking soft toy crocodile embedded with an electronics kit for people to create and experience their own language recordings. This work makes a number of methodological contributions to human-computer interaction and participatory design, adopting the analytical lens of postcolonial computing. The thesis articulates two novel design practices involving tangible iii technologies. Firstly, the role of tangible technologies as ‘design non-proposals’ that supported initial relationship building between the research team and Wujal Wujal community, presented through an empirical account of practice. Secondly, the use of existing tangible technologies designs to seed an iterative ‘participatory (re)design’ practice towards a new technology for Kuku Yalanji, as responsive to the design situation and facilitating input and decision making from Elders. This project uses the ‘field theory’ method to synthesize and communicate the findings from the contextual field research, in order to present a field theory of intergenerational Kuku Yalanji language use that identifies design questions and opportunities. The field theory advances a relational design orientation, recognising that the community’s language practices are enmeshed with family and community relations, and advocates for design that considers language use across longer timescales, and with a sensibility to whole-of-community engagement. This work also articulates ‘active language use’ as a lens for tangible technology design. This thesis builds on practice perspectives of technology in human-computer interaction and language revitalisation, to argue that participatory design practices involving tangible user interfaces can facilitate endangered language community alignment of resources and efforts through the design process beyond the direct use of the ‘end’ system, presenting new opportunities to grow active language use. While this project speaks to the area of community-based participatory design, this thesis demonstrates the potential for fruitful interdisciplinary collaborations at the nexus of human-computer interaction and language revitalisation work. The relational language technologies orientation and whole-of-community approach offer new perspectives that can support communities in mobilising their resources for language revitalisation, to keep languages strong into the future. iv Table of Contents Keywords ................................................................................................................................... i Message to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Readers ...................................................... ii Message to All Readers ............................................................................................................ ii Cover Artwork .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... viii Glossary ..................................................................................................................................... x Terminology .......................................................................................................................... xiii Statement of Original Authorship .......................................................................................... xiv Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. xv Foreword ............................................................................................................................. xviii Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Context ............................................................................................................................ 8 1.5 Research Scope ............................................................................................................. 10 1.6 Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 12 1.7 Thesis Outline ............................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2. Literature Review ........................................................................... 15 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Endangered Language Revitalisation ........................................................................... 16 2.3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages ......................................................... 26 2.4 Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Design ................................................................ 37 2.5 Gaps in Knowledge and Opportunities ......................................................................... 51 2.6 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................