IJDesign Manuscript Template, Version 1 (August 2007) 1 Capturing Culture and Community in the Design of an Indigenous Website Reece George, Keith Nesbitt, John Maynard, Michael Donovan School of Design, Communication and IT The University of Newcastle Callaghan 2308, NSW reece.george@newcastle.edu.au , keith.nesbitt@newcastle.edu.au john.maynard@newcastle.edu.au , michael.donovan@newcastle.edu.au This study examines the relevant issues and required practices for designing a website that best reflects the identity and culture of an Indigenous Australian community. We ground the study using previous work in cultural design, considering general issues related to the representation and capture of Indigenous knowledge. We adopt a user-centric prototyping approach that builds on this existing knowledge while engaging closely with the community in an ethnographic fashion to create the final design. The design process began with a focus group that involving representatives of the community of intended users with the intention of capturing the requirements of the site and the cultural concerns of the group. The outcomes from this phase were used to inform the development of a prototype web site that incorporated key design elements such as virtual walkthroughs, storytelling and video, interactive games and wikis for knowledge creation. The prototype web site was then used as a prop for further one on one interviews with individuals in the community. We found that many existing guidelines for cultural design were affirmed in the study, including simple language, use local imagery and an interaction and design style appropriate to the Indigenous group. However, the process also identified some unexpected requirements in terms of the need for fun activities and humorous content if it was to appropriately capture the identity of the community. Keywords - Indigenous Web Design, Cultural Design, Capturing Community Relevance to Design Practice - This study examines the process of designing cultural requirements into an Indigenous web site. As well as proving further findings in the area of cultural design it raises many issues regarding the design of community and the representation of non-western knowledge. Introduction This project aimed to investigate general cultural design issues as well as the design process itself in relation to the capture of cultural identity of a specific Indigenous community. The project involved the development of a website for the Wollotuka Institute. The Wollotuka Institute is located in the