Werte! (Hello!)
Welcome to The New Centralian, an experimental media project that is exploring the form and function of news distribution and curation in 2023-2024.
The New Centralian aspires to be more just a news source; we are a journey into the heart of our region, an attempt to share information that matters, engage audiences in new ways, and to celebrate the unique place that is Centralian Australia.
Our Mission
Our mission is to offer a platform for authentic, community-valued, and sometimes edgy content that resonates with the community in which we live, work and play.
We also want to curate a suite of platform products and services that encourages experimentation, innovation and an appropriate level of risk.
We are hopeful that we can develop a sustainable combination of content contributors, funding, supporters etc in order to make the project viable beyond 2024.
Our goal is to develop a unique media/platform model for the communities in which we live, work and play.
We also want to curate a suite of platform products and services that allows experimentation and innovation.
We are hopeful that we can develop a sustainable model (e.g. combination of content contributors, funding, supporters etc) in order to make this project viable into the long term.
FAQS
The New Centralian is a project developed by Spinifex Valley and is about exploring Innovation in Regional Publishing, Community Communication and the Economics of Content Curation.
The New Centralian is also a space for innovation and new ideas. We have taken industry-baseline technologies and are trialing different types of content and functionalities to see what is well received in the community (and beyond).
The New Centralian has no affiliation with other media organisations in Central Australia. I.e The Today News Group (i.e. Centralian Today), the NT News (i.e. Centralian Advocate) etc. Any naming similarities are because of the shared “Centralian”.
The New Centralian is not intended to be a printed publication.
You probably haven’t heard about the New Centralian because it is just something that has been ticking away in the background and is pretty experimental. If this is your first time browsing to our site, welcome! We’d love to get your feedback, first impressions and any ideas here.
There is so much happening in the media landscape across the world at the moment and The New Centralian allows Spinifex Valley to actively explore this space.
It will be fun to run a headline or two from time-to-time – but it remains to be seen how our content flow will grow or sustain itself.
As regards funding, we are primarily boot-strapping and working with a range of alternative funding tools we’ve developed.
We’re also hopeful that our innovative integrations will prove valuable to the information/data/news/data/digital sector which we are part of.
We are open to collaborating and partnering with organisations that can see the value of our offerings and approach.
As concerns advertising, this is an interesting consideration for us to consider at the right time in our journey. For now it is not a priority.
The New Centralian is an initiative of Spinifex Valley, a digital development and project management agency based in Alice Springs, NT.
Edan Baxter is the founder and principal of Spinifex Valley. Relevant roles and recent positions etc:
– Community Media Enthusiast (Assorted roles – 8CCC Alice Springs/Tennant Creek 2010 – 2018).
– Library & Archives Reference Group (2023 – Current).
– Chair of Innovation Central Australia Network (2023 – 2024).
Great… Pick up the phone and let’s chat. 04020209968
Get Involved
We invite you to be a part of our journey. Share your stories, your experiences, and your perspectives with us. Contribute content, engage in discussions, play our games, fill out our feedback surveys, and let us know what you want the New Centralian to become!
A huge thankyou to our contributors, the freelance journalists, writers, photographers, and artists who have helped us out to date by sharing hidden gems and various untold stories of our region.
Thank you for your interest and readership – we look forward to seeing where this journey takes us.
Warm regards,
Edan Baxter
Acting Editor/Developer
The New Centralian