ASK AN AUNTY
Indigenous and Pacific digital street smarts for an AI-powered world
For Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori and Pacific young people, families, whānau, mob and communities.
Technology is changing rapidly.
Our rangatahi and young people are growing up surrounded by smartphones, social media, algorithms, gaming, artificial intelligence and constant connectivity.
Their parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, Elders, kaumātua, whānau and families are trying to navigate many of the same changes.
Ask an Aunty and Ask a Niece bring the generations together.
They are culturally grounded programmes designed to strengthen digital self-determination, critical thinking, cognitive sovereignty, cultural connection and digital resilience.
We are not anti-technology.
We want our young people and communities to be confident users and creators of technology while remaining grounded in culture, Country, whakapapa, whānau, family, kinship, community and identity.
Disconnect to Reconnect
ASK AN AUNTY | ASK A NIECE
ASK AN AUNTY
Ask an Aunty creates an interactive space where young people can talk about the digital world they actually live in.
For Māori communities, this includes our rangatahi, whānau, kaumātua and wider hapori.
For Aboriginal communities, it means recognising relationships with Country, family, kinship, community and Elders.
For Torres Strait Islander communities, it means recognising Ailan Kastom, family, kinship, community, Elders and connection to Sea and Country.
Across Pacific communities, it means recognising the importance of family, aiga, kāinga, whānau, vanua, fonua, community, culture, spirituality and collective responsibility, while respecting that terminology, language and cultural practices differ considerably between Pacific peoples.
The programme explores:
Social media and the attention economy
TikTok, Reels, Shorts and endless scrolling
Artificial intelligence
Algorithms and online influence
Gaming and online communities
Misinformation and disinformation
Scams and manipulation
Online relationships
Online harms and radicalisation pathways
Sleep and learning
Digital identity and data
Critical thinking
Culture and identity
Connection with Country, Sea, whenua, vanua and fonua
Connection with whānau, family, aiga, kāinga, kin and community
Digital confidence does not require leaving culture behind.
Culture can be one of our greatest strengths in navigating the digital future.
For our young people
Ask a Niece is the intergenerational companion to Ask an Aunty.
It is designed for the people surrounding and supporting our young people:
Parents. Aunties. Uncles. Grandparents. Elders. Kaumātua. Whānau. Aiga. Kāinga. Families. Kin. Mob. Community leaders.
It recognises that older generations also need opportunities to understand rapidly changing digital environments.
Ask a Niece isn't about teaching adults how to police young people's phones.
It is about strengthening relationships and understanding between generations.
Older generations bring enormous strengths into these conversations: cultural knowledge, lived experience, community knowledge, relationships, judgement, storytelling and intergenerational memory.
Young people bring their own knowledge of emerging platforms, online communities, language, technology and contemporary digital culture.
Both have something to teach.
Both have something to learn.
Together, Ask an Aunty and Ask a Niece create an intergenerational approach in which young people strengthen their agency and digital self-determination while older generations build their digital confidence.
For our whānau, families, mob and communities
ASK A NIECE
COUNTRY | WHENUA | VANUA | FONUA | CULTURE | COMMUNITY
Our digital lives exist within relationships
Western conversations about digital wellbeing can sometimes focus heavily on the individual:
My phone. My screen time. My attention. My data.
Indigenous and Pacific worldviews can offer something broader.
We exist within relationships.
Relationships with people, ancestors, Country, Sea, whenua, vanua, fonua, culture, language, spirituality, family and community.
Technology can strengthen those relationships.
It can allow someone living far from home to connect with family, hear language, share stories, learn culture and participate in community.
But permanent digital connectivity can also begin to displace meaningful human and cultural connection.
Ask an Aunty and Ask a Niece explore that tension.
The programmes are grounded in relationship, collective wellbeing, cultural identity, knowledge stewardship and self-determination.
CULTURAL AUTHORITY STAYS LOCAL
There is no single Indigenous worldview.
There is no single Pacific worldview.
Aboriginal peoples are diverse.
Torres Strait Islander peoples are diverse.
Māori iwi, hapū and communities are diverse.
Pacific peoples, nations, islands, languages and cultures are extraordinarily diverse.
Ask an Aunty therefore provides a framework rather than imposing one cultural model on another.
In Australia, programmes should be co-designed with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, Elders, community representatives and Indigenous facilitators, recognising local Country, culture, language, kinship and community protocols.
Pacific delivery should similarly recognise the specific cultural context of the community involved rather than treating “Pacific” as one culture.
A programme with a Samoan community may appropriately draw upon aiga and Samoan values.
A Tongan context may emphasise kāinga and fonua.
A Fijian context may draw upon concepts including vanua.
A Māori programme may draw upon whakapapa, whanaungatanga, whenua, whānau, hapū and iwi.
The framework travels.
Cultural authority does not.
DISCONNECT TO RECONNECT
Reconnecting with what matters
Disconnect to Reconnect is a defining part of both programmes.
Participants experiment with reducing notifications, social-media feeds and constant smartphone connectivity — sometimes including using a basic or “burner” phone for an agreed period.
The purpose isn't to abandon technology.
It is to create space for something else.
Space for:
Whānau.
Family.
Aiga.
Kāinga.
Mob.
Elders and kaumātua.
Country and Sea.
Whenua, vanua and fonua.
Culture and language.
Conversation.
Sleep.
Thinking.
Creativity.
Being present.
Disconnect to Reconnect turns digital wellbeing into lived experience.
INDIGENOUS & PACIFIC AI FUTURES
Artificial intelligence is not only a technological question.
It is also a cultural question.
AI systems are trained on human knowledge. That raises important issues for Indigenous and Pacific peoples around knowledge, language, cultural authority, data sovereignty, intellectual property and whose worldview is represented within emerging technologies.
Dr Gareth Jones' doctoral research at the Australian National University School of Cybernetics investigates whether AI can meaningfully engage with Indigenous worldviews through a comparative focus on Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori and Pacific epistemologies.
That research directly informs the evolving Ask an Aunty and Ask a Niece programmes.
The objective is not to keep our communities away from AI.
It is to help ensure our communities have the confidence, knowledge and cultural grounding to participate in shaping what comes next.
OUR COMMUNITIES. OUR KNOWLEDGE. OUR DIGITAL FUTURE.
Ask an Aunty and Ask a Niece bring together:
Indigenous knowledge + Pacific knowledge + digital street smarts + critical thinking + AI literacy + human connection.
Our young people should be able to walk confidently in the digital world without having to leave their culture at the door.
Our older generations have knowledge that remains profoundly important in an AI-powered world.
And our communities should have a voice in deciding how technology enters our lives.
ASK AN AUNTY | ASK A NIECE
Disconnect to Reconnect.
Country | Sea | Whenua | Vanua | Fonua
Whānau | Family | Aiga | Kāinga | Kin | Mob
Culture | Community | Connection