Peer-reviewed Literature (including articles identified through database searching and citation snowballing) | |||||
Author/Year | Study Population/Topic Details | Type of Media | Methods/Limitations | Positive Impacts of Social Media | Negative Impacts of Social Media |
Kral I (2010) [16] | Indigenous youth participating in non-formal community-based media projects in remote communities | Radio, television | Ethnographic case study data | -availability of satellite rather than dial-up connections has allowed the Internet and mobile phones to reach remote areas -access to internet and media available at communal spaces such as youth programs or media centres -communication via social networking or SMS text messaging using text and symbols in inventive ways that reflect local culture and dialects of speech -sense of familiarity and control over modern technology -increased sense of belongingness to globalized youth culture | Not discussed |
Lumby B (2010) [17] | 26 current Indigenous university students or graduates who maintain Facebook profiles | Methods: Interviews | -allows Indigenous people to identify and share their Indigenous identity online -“Facebook acts as a modern site for kinship and connectivity” | -pressure to prove indigeneity and point out those who are ‘faking’ it due to the surveillance aspect of Facebook -“Facebook…acts as a restraining force that regulates who can and who cannot ‘be’ Indigenous” | |
Limitations: -limited due to small sample size -does not report the study in full | |||||
Kral I (2011) [18] | Indigenous youth uptake of new media technologies and implications for cultural practice | “new media technologies” | Ethnographic case study data | - youth increasingly in control of production and distribution of media content - youth increasingly comfortable to have their images/names in public space (less “shamed”) - new kinds of agency in learning enabled - increased social mobility due to changed agency/disposition and opportunities available through the internet -increased capacity to collaborate with researchers, increased reflexivity as a result | Not discussed |
Petray T (2011) [23] | Focus on the use of social media as tool for protest and activism amongst Aboriginal people in Townsville | Listserv, Facebook, | Does not stray too far from the key theme that social media is an effective tool for activism… focus is on the general use of social media by older Aboriginal people | Digital democracy - de-centres the role of the expert and places emphasis on the conversation –people can exercise their right to communicate, and in their own language, to an outside audience. | Not discussed |
Online networks enable people to create and present their identity to others. | |||||
Share information across a wide audience to motivate others to participate in action | |||||
Healy JDL (2013) [13] | Young Aboriginal men from Arnhem Land and wide discussion of Aboriginal media in general | YouTube, video, radio, television, Internet, Facebook, Diva Chat | Anthropological | -early involvement of Indigenous people in the Internet, partially due to multimedia visual and oral nature -ability to use Internet without control from non-Indigenous people -content-sharing platforms online provide opportunities for Indigenous people to transmit intergenerational knowledge and explore and express their modern selves | Not discussed |
Time Period: Video clip filmed in September 2007 | |||||
Sweet M, et al. (2013) [24] | @IndigenousX Twitter account | Case study | -provides an opportunity for Indigenous people to participate in the public forum, share stories, and challenge stereotypes | Not discussed | |
Sweet MA (2013) [28] | Not discussed | Not discussed | Social media based health promotion campaigns | -cited examples of successful programs that use social media, including the No Smokes Campaign, @IndigenousX Twitter account, the Rewrite Your Story initiative, HITnet, Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre virtual mental health resources | Not discussed |
Rae K, et al. (2013) [32] | Participants in the ArtsHealth program focused on pregnant mothers | Complex recruitment methods with heavy involvement from local community | -participants were more responsive in communications via a Facebook inbox compared to a phone call or text message -integrating social media into the research approach was very successful for the “rural” setting | -Internet access becomes increasingly difficult as remoteness increases | |
Time period: Implemented in 2009 | |||||
Herborn D (2013) [34] | Cyber racism and policy | Twitter, Facebook, newspaper article user comments | Policy discussion | Not discussed | -cyber racism as a negative impact of social media -policy is difficult to enforce → the Australian government has done little to try and take down user-generated content that is in violation of the Racial Discrimination Act |
Petray, T (2013) [25] | Social media and activism by Aboriginal people in Australia | Social activism using social media | -Social media is inexpensive, immediate and broad reaching -Promotes individual and collective identities - collective identity promotes collective agency -Social media can counter essentialised understandings of Aboriginal people initiate collective action against a perceived inequality -Social media contests stereotypical identifications, creates identity and is self-forming enabling anyone to write to a broad audience | Not discussed | |
Brusse K et al. (2014) [26] | Review article examining peer-reviewed evidence of benefit for social media and mobile technologies used in health promotion, intervention, self-management, and health service delivery | Social media, smart phones and text messaging | Systematic review of peer-reviewed literature, focused on health promotion | Noted the unique capacity of social media to reach Indigenous Australians as well as other underserved populations because of their wide and instant disseminability | Evidence of social media strategies being effective in health promotion for Indigenous populations is limited. |
Kral I (2013) [44] | Indigenous youth uptake of new media technologies and changes in social interaction and communication | “new media technologies” | Ethnographic case study data | - technologically assisted communication becoming normalized, even when literacy is low - changes in social interaction, communication and ways of being – increasingly comfortable in a more ‘public’ online world - youth create as well as consume – appropriating technology for own sociocultural purposes | Technology has disturbed traditional communication – increasingly only peer-to-peer, less intergenerational communication |
Radoll P (2014) [14] | Not discussed | All ICTs | Not discussed | -use of Smartphones and mobile devices even in communities where there is no mobile phone service → people use it as a multi-media device and then connect to the internet when it’s available | -potential for sex-texting and cyber bullying, which is hard to monitor → best way to address these issues is through educational programs such as Be Deadly Online |
Vaarzon-Morel P (2014) [20] | Lander Warlpiri settlement from Willowra | Radio-television, video, television, radio, mobile phones, other portable digital devices, Diva Chat | Anthropological | -use of mobile phones to “intensify family intimacy” and stay connected to kin who may live far away -continuities between technology and Warlpiri culture, such as mobile phones being viewed as extensions of person and often shared by family members | - difficult for elders to regulate relationships along skin groups as per traditional way -increased connectivity means that conflicts that previously remained local have the ability to spread through inform kin in other places about conflicts -use of Diva Chat for illegal sex-texting among teenagers, cyber bullying, and posts that are meant to incite violence between feuding families |
Time Period: 1970s-present | |||||
Grey Literature | |||||
Author/Year | Study Population/Topic Details | Type of Media | Methods/Limitations | Positive Impacts of Social Media | Negative Impacts of Social Media |
Edmonds F, et al. (2012) [1] | Young Aboriginal people in Victoria | Mobile phones, technology, and social media | -Lit review -formed an Aboriginal reference group -small group discussion -thematic analysis of transcripts | -Mobile technologies allow opportunities for alternative forms of learning and literacy, such as digital storytelling -mobile phones and social media used to stay connected to people -discussion of identity and media literacy | -e-learning in schools needs to be culturally sensitive to Indigenous students who may not have computers or internet at home and therefore may be less familiar with technology than other students |
Time period: March 2012 | |||||
Age: 12–24 years | |||||
Gender: 8 males, 3 females | |||||
Limitations: -Very small sample size | |||||
No Smokes (2012) [27] | No Smokes Campaign | Interactive website linked with social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube | Health promotion campaign | -developed using input from Indigenous young people → youth more drawn to multimedia, video, social networking, animation, music and mobile phones than traditional anti-smoking marketing campaigns → more widely accessible media forms because they help minimize language and literacy barriers | Not discussed |
Target population: Indigenous young people | |||||
Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety (2013) [19] | Cyber safety for Indigenous Australians | Internet, mobile phones, Facebook | Report | Not discussed | -factors such as socioeconomic status, family structure, education level, and employment status can serve as barriers to ICT use -generational gap in knowledge and use of mobile technology and social media between Indigenous youth and their parents and elders so cyber bullying can go on unaddressed → need for educational programs |
Hitnet (2014) [29] | Interactive kiosks in remote areas to address issues such as smoking, STIs, teenage pregnancy, depression, and suicide | -kiosks that use audio-visual touch interfaces - kiosks include connections to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube that can update local community content and applications that can be down-loaded to personal mobile devices | Health promotion | -utilizes multimedia nature of technology and social media -ability to connect with remote areas -ability to distribute and download content and incorporate local content uploaded by users | Not discussed |
Rewrite Your Story (2014) [30] | Anti-smoking initiative focusing on 16 local community ambassadors who share their stories via video about how and why they quit smoking | Online videos, Facebook, Twitter | Health promotion campaign | -utilizes the idea of rewriting your story by communicating and sharing via other social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook | Not discussed |
Cairnduff S (2011) [31] | It’s Your Choice! Have A Voice! campaign | Health promotion campaign | -active engagement, information sharing and activity on Facebook page to improve choices about sexual and reproductive health | Not discussed | |
Cherbourg Mojo Project (2013) [33] | Indigenous Youth job seekers with low levels of literacy and numeracy | iPhones (digital storytelling) | 10-week mobile journalism training pilot program | -incorporating media into education through mobile journalism and digital storytelling -youth participants gained job skills and improved their reading, writing, and math abilities | Not discussed |
Time Period: May-July 22013 | |||||
Age: 15–24 years | |||||
Kral (2013) [44] | Indigenous youth uptake of new media technologies and implications for cultural practice | “new media technologies” | Ethnographic case study data | - History of use of technology - Extended social connections - Increased reflexivity - Learning beyond school |