Where did the idea spring from?
AR: Dog & Cat News was developed in 1999 as a TV series with an extensive online component. Initially we had trouble convincing broadcasters of the value of an accompanying website so eventually the project was produced as a standalone TV series. Two series were produced in 2002 and 2003 and were broadcast in Germany. HC: The project had its origins in requests from traditional elders in the Arrernte community in Central Australia who wanted a program that would allow their children to develop computer literacy skills while seeing the stories of their community validated on screen. All the stories came from community members who had shared them with David over the past decade. We researched many broadband projects from around the world. David and I attended different week-long interactive labs at Banff New Media Centre in Canada which informed how the project was shaped. CS: Dust On My Shoes was a book written by Peter Pinney in the early ’50s. Steve Thomas’ (the project’s co-director
