Launch Press
About the Story Mosaic “Agathokakological Aussie Summer”
Etymology: From the Greek agathos (good) and kakos (bad). …
A nonce word: i.e. a word coined or used for a special occasion.
Video Tour of the story mosaic website created by Helen Whitehead:
Indranil Halder
How did we develop the project?
It was a small idea that did not have any shape or form. The idea was to bring Indian and Australian writers together to celebrate Aussie summer. There’s nothing like an Aussie summer. It is about the sun, beaches and beers but there is more . . . it is about surfing, polo, cricket, relationships and reflection on the past. Summer is a time to be who we are. But not every Aussie summer is benevolent. Last summer, it was a devastation all around with ravaging bush fires that had a devastating effect on life, properties and cattle. This summer, 2020, we remain restricted by the Covid19 pandemic. These uncontrollable natural events reduce the feeling of celebration that Aussie summer evokes, nonetheless our spirits remain strong. Our authors highlight that human spirit with their stories in Agathokakological Aussie Summer. #aaussiesummer
Helen Whitehead was essential to the project and willingly came on board to create the technology and to design and edit the website to host the story mosaic. She has twenty-five years’ experience in developing innovative uses of technology for online interactive storytelling, writing communities and universities.
What are our core objectives?
The core objective is to bring India and Australia together to share our cross cultural influences, human experiences and literature; and to increase and celebrate human understanding. The connection between Australia and India can be stretched back to 1797 when Bengali Men landed in Australia with the English. The landscape that would become known as Australia changed forever. The contributions from South Asians to Australia over the following years have been part of our history. We want to celebrate that continuity of communal human connection to Australia through storytelling and technology.
Why is it important for Australian society to have a multiplicity of such high calibre projects?
Australia is a young country with a plethora of opportunities to look forward to. Our project has grown organically into an interactive online story mosaic that has the capacity to bring two communities closer together and discover the world of possibilities. This will benefit communities across the two countries and continue engagement through the Arts and stories.
About the Technology
The Story Mosaic is built in WordPress with the Mosaic main page created as an imagemap in Adobe Dreamweaver. This keeps it as simple as possible to showcase the stories in an engaging way.
Opening music for the Agathokakological Aussie Summer Story Mosaic Launch – Song “Hurt“, featuring singer Wednesday, an original composition by FLYN.
#aaussiesummer
This is so original and engaging as well as sharing the friendship of Indian and Australian writers and community
Fabulous, Helen. You are a genius!