Indigemoji

Indigemoji is decolonising the internet with Australia’s first set of Indigenous emojis, created on Arrernte land in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. Mod is very proud to be part of the team supporting this important cultural project. 

Kwertare (crown) image from the Indigemoji app.

In 2018 hundreds of young people and senior Arrernte cultural advisors participated in workshops over the summer school holidays as part of the Geek in Residence program at the Alice Springs Public Library. They designed a new set of emojis that represent life, culture and language on Arrente Country in Central Australia. Senior artists and digital mentors were supported by inDigiMOB to work with the young artists to realise their ideas.

The app was developed by Leigh Harris and ingeous studios. The 90 'digital sticker' emojis are on the Indigemoji app, which can be downloaded free from the App Store and Google Play. The emojis are for everyone to use and share - on social media, text, email or wherever emojis are shared. Each emoji is named in written and spoken Arrernte and in written English. 

Mod was invited by project producer, Caddie Brain to provide technical advice and support for the November 2019 launch phase. Mod's long-time network development partner, Sol1 also provided invaluable support. By happy coincidence, Sol1's founder, Dave Kempe, is a descendent of Hermann Kempe, who worked with Arrernte people in the 1800s to record the first compilation of Arrernte words translated into English.

The launch was enthusiastically welcomed, with 40,000 downloads in the first week alone. Indigemoji has since been internationally recognised as a Webby Awards Honoree in the Public Service & Activism category and has received a Prix Ars Electronica Honourable Mention in the Digital Communities category.

Indigemoji is an open source project, which makes it possible for other First Nations peoples to use it as the basis for creating emoji stickers representing their own languages, cultures and Countries.

Mod has continued to provide post-launch technical updates, advice and support for this deadly project.

For more information, including the full story, credits list and latest news, visit indigemoji.com.au.