Indigenous Nations Information & Traceability System (INITs)
Additional Info
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | The Indigenous Nations Information & Traceability System (INITs) is an Indigenous‑owned (Dr Mark McMillan - Wiradjuri gibir) and Indigenous‑led digital infrastructure system that places the jurisdictional spaces of Indigenous Nations into the digital environment. INITs does not represent cultural law, cultural knowledge, or historical narratives. Instead, it provides a technical, geodetic, and jurisdictional layer for how the modern digital world recognises Indigenous Nations as sovereign jurisdictions. INITs assigns a unique AUIN identifier (0001–0390) to each Nation and provides a secure, standards‑based digital index of these jurisdictional spaces. The system is built on Indigenous Nation Building, UNDRIP principles, and modern spatial standards including GDA2020 (EPSG:7844) and was made possible by CSIRO Kick-Start Program and CSIRO's Indigenous Research Grants Program. In particular the Data61 led project: "Forging Futures: Indigenous Information and Place Tracing through Cutting-Edge Science and Collaboration", the Data61 team led by Professor Sherry Xu is: Senior Indigenous Researcher Dr Mark McMillan; and technical specialists Dr Mengyu Chen (Dynamic UI), Dr Kit Lo (Adaptive AI, Generative AI and Blockchain) ; and Senior Research Scientist Dr Waqar Hussain (Ethical and Responsible AI). The purpose of INITs is to enable accurate, respectful and sovereign traceability in the digital world—connecting data about "Country" including but not limited to: economic, environmental, ESG or infrastructure activity - to the correct Indigenous Nation jurisdiction at geodetic certainty. This is about creating the digital conditions for Indigenous Nations to be visible as jurisdictions, not about storing or interpreting cultural information. INITs activates present Indigenous jurisdictional knowledge in ways that are technically interoperable and fully under Indigenous control. All intellectual property is Indigenous‑held and owned by Dr Mark McMillan and centred on sovereignty, responsibility, and jurisdiction of territorial data. The system exists so Indigenous Nations can participate on equal footing in digital, economic, and environmental systems—without surrendering cultural law or knowledge. |
| Parent | |
| Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Australia |
| Geospatial Coverage | Australia |
| Website | www.inits.au |
| Faye.McMillan@uts.edu.au | |
| Telephone | N/A |