Croakey co-hosted #IHMayDay – an annual Twitter event, standing for Indigenous Health MayDay – for five years, from 2014-2018. All of the related reports can be seen here.
#IHMayDay provided a full-day of programming with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people tweeting about Indigenous health issues. Non-Indigenous people were encouraged to participate by retweeting and listening. We thank and acknowledge all who were involved in contributing to, participating in, supporting and developing this event over the years.
The event is the brainchild of James Cook University Nursing, Midwifery and Research academic Dr Lynore Geia – @LynoreGeia – a Bwgcolman woman from Palm Island.
It was held for the first time in 2014, when it was moderated by Dr Lynore Geia and hosted by Croakey.
In 2015, Summer May Finlay – @OnTopicAus – a Yorta Yorta woman, a public health practitioner and PhD candidate, who was then based in Canberra, also helped to moderate the event, which was also co-hosted IRL by Nursing, Midwifery and Nutrition at James Cook University in Townsville.
In 2016, the event was again led by Dr Geia and co-hosted by Associate Professor Bronwyn Carlson and Dr Tanja Dreher at the University of Wollongong. It was moderated by Dr Geia, Dr Carlson and Summer May Finlay. On this occasion, it was held in conjunction with a day-long program of workshops at the University of Wollongong, on Indigenous health and social media advocacy.
In 2017, #IHMayDay17 was co-hosted by the University of Canberra, in conjunction with Croakey. At the University of Canberra, #IHMayDay17 was supported by: Professor Peter Radoll, Dean of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership and Strategy; the University of Canberra Collaborative Indigenous Research Initiative (UC CIRI); the Faculty of Arts and Design; and the Faculty of Health. It was also supported by Dr Holly Northam, Associate Professor Kerry McCallum, Ms Tamara Posch, Ms Felicity Corben, and Dr Glen Fuller.
In 2018,#IHMayDay18 was co-hosted on Palm Island by the Palm Island Centenary Committee and local TAFE, in conjunction with Croakey, and with support from Jennifer Ketchell. We acknowledge and warmly thank Professor Andrew Day for providing funding support for Melissa Sweet and Mitchell Ward’s travel and accommodation costs, to participate in #IHMayDay18 on Palm Island.
The roles of Croakey members included: contributing editor Summer May Finlay involved in the organisation and moderation; editor Melissa Sweet assisting in the organisation and reporting; editor/journalist Marie McInerney providing editorial coverage of the day’s discussions; and creative director Mitchell Ward providing design services. Other members of the Croakey team, including Dr Megan Williams, also supported the event through participating on the program and re-tweeting to amplify the discussions. #IHMayDay is held in association with @IndigenousX and @WePublicHealth.
Read the Croakey coverage:
• From 2014
• From 2015
• From 2016
• From 2017
• From 2018
#IHMayDay is primarily an example of cross-disciplinary practice and was not developed as a research project. However, as part of reflexive practice, it has resulted in some conference presentations and publications.
In 2015, Dr Lynore Geia presented to the 13th National Rural Health Conference in Darwin about #IHMayDay14, examining its processes and outcomes through a decolonising lens.
Read the paper here: #IHMayDay: Showcasing Indigenous knowledge and innovation.
In 2015, Dr Lynore Geia and Melissa Sweet presented to the Creating Futures conference in Cairns: Creative cyber-connections and counter-narratives.
A paper arising out of the presentation has been published:
Sweet M, Geia L, Dudgeon P, McCallum K, 2015. #IHMayDay: tweeting for empowerment and social and emotional wellbeing. Australasian Psychiatry.
Other publications include:
Sweet, M, Geia, L, Dudgeon, P, McCallum, K, Finlay, SM, Williams, M, McInerney, M, Armstrong, R, Doggett, J, Coopes, A, Ward, MJ, Senior, T, Ricketson, M, 2017. Outlining a model of social journalism for health. Australian Journalism Review.
Geia, L, Pearson, L , Sweet, M, 2017. Narratives of Twitter as a platform for professional development, innovation, and advocacy. Australian Psychologist.
Watch this clip about #IHMayDay in 2014
Watch this Periscope interview about #IHMayDay15:
Watch these Periscope interviews from #IHMayDay16
