Aboriginal Connections is an online gateway providing authoritative and in-depth information for and about the world's Indigenous Peoples. Its' services include a searchable web directory, discussion forums, advertising, and eCommerce. Aboriginal Connections is a solely operated web site created and maintained by Rob Wesley.

The person responsible for the creation and maintenance of this site is Rob Wesley. I am Cree and I currently live in my home town of Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada.

Please refer to the bio page for further information.

Most sites listed in Aboriginal Connections are suggested by users. All suggested sites are visited and reviewed by me, Rob Wesley. What I do is verify that the site is an Indigenous one in nature I then decide if the proper category was chosen and if not I then decide where they best belong. This is done to ensure that Aboriginal Connections is organized in the best possible way, making the directory easy to use, intuitive, helpful, and fair to everyone.

I organize the site this way for the benefit of those people living in those countries and/or for those people who are looking for information in those countries.

Aboriginal Connections provides a web directory that is searchable and technically is NOT a 'search engine'. Here's further information explaining the difference between the two.

The term "search engine" is often used generically to describe both true search engines and directories. They are not the same. The difference is how listings are compiled, one is automated the other is manual.

Search Engines Vs. Directories

Search Engines
Search engines, such as Google, create their listings automatically, using spidering technologies. Special software called 'spiders' or 'bots' roam the web following hyperlinks from one document to the next. The extracted textual information is then indexed and stored in databases, then people search through what they have found.

If you change your web pages, search engines eventually find these changes, and that can affect how you are listed. Page titles, body copy and other elements all play a role.

True search engines have massive storage and bandwidth requirements and also require very complex and expensive hardware and software strategies to reduce search times to ensure efficiency and speed when searching their indexes.

Directories
A directory such as DMOZ and Aboriginal Connections depends on humans for its listings. The information found in directories are provided by users who wish to be listed or by editors who write reviews for visited sites that they feel should be included in their directory.

Changing your web pages has no effect on your listing. Things that are useful for improving a listing with a search engine have nothing to do with improving a listing in a directory. The only exception is that a good site, with good content, might be more likely to get reviewed than a poor site.

You can also define this site as a specialized or localized directory in the sense that it is a directory that specializes in the topic of Indigenous Peoples.

The Aboriginal Connections - Web Directory is a database of links to other sites. It does not provide any original content, so this site can only reference sites that already exist.

To suggest a site to Aboriginal Connections, you must first register for an account or login to your account then go to the Add URL page.

If you have a site (URL) you'd like to suggest, please consider the following recommendations:

1. Check to See if it's Already in Aboriginal Connections. An important first step, because if the answer is "Yes" you need go no further. Check by searching Aboriginal Connections for your site by title, by URL or by browsing appropriate categories. Users often suggest their favorite sites, not necessarily their own creations, and I may have added your site this way. I also add sites myself. If this directory already lists your site, you're done!
   
2. Submitted site must in some way show Aboriginal/Native/Indigenous content or ownership. If it is neither of these then it should be a site that is resourceful and/or beneficial to our Native population.
   
3. Please choose a category based on geographical location. If a proper category is not available, please let me know.
   
4. Only one entry per URL (website address). If your site is extensive and one or more of your pages falls under a different category, feel free to add them as well. i.e. Bulletin Boards, Chat Rooms, Links Pages, and other resourceful pages.
   
5. Listings are free. FYI

I also add sites I come across in my own explorations online. When I do this I use descriptions based on either Mission Statements and/or the use of META TAGS. Meta Tags usage is something I find a lot of sites linked to in this directory do not use. These tags help some, not all, Search Engines index your site properly and provide you with a way to control your web site summary. Here's an example of meta tag usage.

<HEAD>
<TITLE>My Indigenous Site</TITLE>
<META name="description" content="This is my Indigenous site on the world wide web. If your site has a mission statement this would be a good place to have it!">
<META name="keywords" content="indigenous, native, aboriginal, indian, native culture, use words here you think people might use to find a site like yours">
</HEAD>

Use the META TAG Generator to help you create tags for your site.

I have also set up a useful tool which allows you to submit your site to other native web sites and to some of the major search engines.

To change any part (Title, URL, Description, Contact Name, Contact Email) of your listed site, please go to the Update URL page after signing in to your registered account.

NOTE: For listings added prior to the upgrade in 2005. You are required to create an account with Aboriginal Connections. You will then have to provide me with the desired URL and your username so that I can add your listing to your account. You will then see your listing under the Update URL link when this process is completed.

This is a request asking if you can establish a link somewhere on your own site which points to the homepage of this directory. This is sent out with the automated email informing you that your site has been added to Aboriginal Connections. This is strictly voluntary on your part.

Aboriginal Connections search scans three main areas: description, URL and title information for sites listed in the Aboriginal Connections database. Matches found in its database provide results ranked in an alphabetical order. First, by category then by listings.

Searches can be narrowed or broadened depending on the search options you choose. Basic search options are found on all Aboriginal Connections pages.
More advanced searches, using techniques such as phrase matching or using boolean operators, are possible through the Advanced Search Options page.

Searching the database uses the Boolean operators (AND, OR) to combine keywords in a search thereby allowing you to narrow or expand your search.

Using the 'Results must contain all words' option (default setting).
ALL TERMS will be present in any search results (uses boolean AND operator providing a more accurate result).
Example: 'native self government' will find results containing ALL of these words.

Using the 'Results can contain any of the words' option.
Searching will contain results that has ANY of the terms (uses boolean OR operator providing unnecessary results, least accurate).
Example: 'native self government' will produce results that contains ANY of these words.

 

Using the 'Find exact words' option.
Searching will produce results that contain the EXACT word(s).

Using the 'Find similar words' option.
Searching for words like 'cat' will also result in words such as 'category', 'catch', 'categories' appearing in the search results.

This is useful when results you obtain here are not exactly what you're looking for and/or for results that end in failure. So you will almost always find what you're searching for, well maybe!

Yes, a few have been provided on the Use Search Code page. TEMPORARILY DISABLED.

These search boxes do not allow you to 'pull search results' from this directory to your site. They are merely a short cut from your site to the search results.

Certainly. Although be aware that I can change the search interface without notice, so make sure the fields you use stay consistent over time.

Please report any errors to Rob Wesley if a link has been relocated, or disappeared, permission denied, or if I have made errors in the title, comments, URL, or classification of the link.

Since I have no control of what other people put on their servers, do not ask me to change contents on pages that do not reside on Aboriginal Connections. Any URL that does not contain aboriginalconnections.com in its path is not on Aboriginal Connections. For bugs involving contents on a non-Aboriginal Connections page, please contact that page's author(s).

You can use the feedback form or email me at robwesley@aboriginalconnections.com

When you follow a link and you get errors, there may be several reasons. First, the site may be busy or temporarily down. This happens a lot especially on overloaded sites. It may be that the site is denying people access. In which case, if you really want access, please write email to the site authors (usually webmaster@sitename). Of course it may be that the link no longer exists.

If you think that a listing no longer exists, please inform me and I'll remove it from the directory.

Sites come and go, URL's get bought for enormously outrageous prices, businesses go bankrupt. It probably means a number of things, most probably is that I may have removed the site because it is no longer functional. But to make sure, you should do a Search to make sure I haven't moved it elsewhere.

READ: I've seen a number of sites in this directory have their domain name purchased by expired domain name companies and domain name back-ordering companies. To avoid this simply perform a WHOIS domain name search for your organization and check the expiration date, chances are if the expiration date is near, and the appropriate action is not taken, that particular domain name will belong to someone else.

Network Solution | WHOIS Search | Canadian WHOIS at CIRA

I have absolutely no problem if you need to take screenshots of Aboriginal Connections, as long as proper attribution back to Aboriginal Connections is given. If you are not sure and/or require written permission, please contact Rob Wesley or use the feedback form.