Internationalising Creative Industries: China, the WTO and the Knowledge-based Economy. This project investigates the challenges facing the creative industries internationally as the rationales for government support and industry development are seen variously as cultural, as part of the burgeoning services sector, and/or as contributing to the knowledge-based economy. To place the creative industries in an international frame, comparing developed countries? policy and industry strategies with t ....Internationalising Creative Industries: China, the WTO and the Knowledge-based Economy. This project investigates the challenges facing the creative industries internationally as the rationales for government support and industry development are seen variously as cultural, as part of the burgeoning services sector, and/or as contributing to the knowledge-based economy. To place the creative industries in an international frame, comparing developed countries? policy and industry strategies with those of China, the most important developing country, after its admission to the WTO, is a significant conceptual advance and innovation not attempted before. Australia will benefit from international comparisons of industry strategy and growth and from strategic knowledge of China's creative economy dynamics.Read moreRead less
Changing the media diet - Investigating the power of the news media to prevent obesity. Australia has 3.7 million obese people - twice as many are overweight. Australian experts say this epidemic, which costs Australia $58 billion a year, requires novel solutions at individual and societal levels. The news media are powerful shapers of public and policymakers' understandings of health issues. This project investigates competing arguments in news media and reality TV and how these frames influenc ....Changing the media diet - Investigating the power of the news media to prevent obesity. Australia has 3.7 million obese people - twice as many are overweight. Australian experts say this epidemic, which costs Australia $58 billion a year, requires novel solutions at individual and societal levels. The news media are powerful shapers of public and policymakers' understandings of health issues. This project investigates competing arguments in news media and reality TV and how these frames influence consumer understandings to discover what role the media are playing in the obesity epidemic. The goal is to relate the findings to scientific evidence and design novel strategic communication interventions to promote health through individual and societal interventions.Read moreRead less
Young, Mobile, Networked: Mobile Media and Youth Culture in Australia. Mobiles are a common part of life for young Australians, yet there is very little reliable data about how these are used and their social and cultural implications - especially new services such as mobile music, cameras and television. The qualitative and quantitative data from this project will give a detailed, national picture of mobile media use, and will be highly valuable for Australian companies, policymakers, regulator ....Young, Mobile, Networked: Mobile Media and Youth Culture in Australia. Mobiles are a common part of life for young Australians, yet there is very little reliable data about how these are used and their social and cultural implications - especially new services such as mobile music, cameras and television. The qualitative and quantitative data from this project will give a detailed, national picture of mobile media use, and will be highly valuable for Australian companies, policymakers, regulators, non-governmental organizations as well as researchers. It will provide new knowledge to inform planning and innovation, and contribute to a better understanding of the social and cultural implications of mobile technologies.Read moreRead less
Communication networks in Upper Egyptian monastic communities in the 6th to 8th centuries CE. This project will enhance Australia's hard-earned profile in the field of early Christianity in its Late classical context, contextualising Coptic studies within this wider field, and promoting internationally the quality of local research into early Christianity, Late Antique Egypt, and papyrology. It enables an understanding of the processes which stand behind the communication networks of the modern ....Communication networks in Upper Egyptian monastic communities in the 6th to 8th centuries CE. This project will enhance Australia's hard-earned profile in the field of early Christianity in its Late classical context, contextualising Coptic studies within this wider field, and promoting internationally the quality of local research into early Christianity, Late Antique Egypt, and papyrology. It enables an understanding of the processes which stand behind the communication networks of the modern world. It directly contributes to the preservation of the culture of Australia's own Coptic community, facilitating access to its cultural heritage, and provides a research focus to complement Macquarie's new commitment to the teaching of the Coptic language and history.Read moreRead less
Mobile Culture: A Biography of the Mobile Phone. The Mobile Culture project will investigate the mobile phone as cultural object, investigating its history, cultural production, consumption, political economy and regulation. It will contribute new knowledge on the culture of a widely used new media technology, mobile communications. The study will provide fresh insights into central theoretical questions in cultural and media studies, such as the relationship between culture and technology, and ....Mobile Culture: A Biography of the Mobile Phone. The Mobile Culture project will investigate the mobile phone as cultural object, investigating its history, cultural production, consumption, political economy and regulation. It will contribute new knowledge on the culture of a widely used new media technology, mobile communications. The study will provide fresh insights into central theoretical questions in cultural and media studies, such as the relationship between culture and technology, and the use of political economy for cultural analysis. The study will devise innovative methods for new media study. Outcomes include a two-volume book, and workshop proceedings on mobile consumption, use, and policy.Read moreRead less
Risk, Media and Identity in Kosovo: Local/Global Trends in Democratization. In the new, post-Cold War global order, overt conflict and everyday risk for national populations has been endemic. What some call military humanism, followed by democratic reform and human renewal have marked the recent and current histories of Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Afghanistan and various African states. Focussing on media and popular culture, this project will take Kosovo as a case study of democratic reform and ....Risk, Media and Identity in Kosovo: Local/Global Trends in Democratization. In the new, post-Cold War global order, overt conflict and everyday risk for national populations has been endemic. What some call military humanism, followed by democratic reform and human renewal have marked the recent and current histories of Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Afghanistan and various African states. Focussing on media and popular culture, this project will take Kosovo as a case study of democratic reform and renewal. Drawing centrally on cultural and risk theory, it will examine new journalism training, the expansion of local radio, religious pilgrimage/tourism, and media coverage of memories of violence and risk in today's Kosovo.Read moreRead less
Beyond the Bakelite Box: A History of Commercial Radio in Australia. Beyond the Bakelite Box is the first full-scale history of commercial radio in Australia. It is an economic history of commercial radio from its origins in the 1920s to the present day, examining the factors that transformed amateur telegraphy into a means of mass communication, the dynamics of radio advertising, and the emergence and expansion of interlocking media dynasties. It is a political history, addressing the awarding ....Beyond the Bakelite Box: A History of Commercial Radio in Australia. Beyond the Bakelite Box is the first full-scale history of commercial radio in Australia. It is an economic history of commercial radio from its origins in the 1920s to the present day, examining the factors that transformed amateur telegraphy into a means of mass communication, the dynamics of radio advertising, and the emergence and expansion of interlocking media dynasties. It is a political history, addressing the awarding and regulation of licences, the use of radio by politicians, and censorship. It is a cultural history, exploring programming genres, the construction of radio 'communities', and the relationship between commercial and public sector broadcasting.Read moreRead less
The Power of the Image: affect, audience and disturbing imagery. In a period of fear and uncertainty about terrorism and war there is a pressing need to examine the specific contemporary modes of teenagers' engagements with media violence and the ways it contributes to their understanding of violence in the world around them. This project will identify the links young people make between affective and emotional reactions to media imagery, their own values and attitudes about the violence in ever ....The Power of the Image: affect, audience and disturbing imagery. In a period of fear and uncertainty about terrorism and war there is a pressing need to examine the specific contemporary modes of teenagers' engagements with media violence and the ways it contributes to their understanding of violence in the world around them. This project will identify the links young people make between affective and emotional reactions to media imagery, their own values and attitudes about the violence in everyday life (e.g. sexual harassment, bullying, fights at school), and their assessment of their own power and agency. It adds much needed Australian research to a field lacking a distinctive Australian perspective.Read moreRead less
Disposing of the Tabloid? A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Developments in the Print Media. By critically analysing the concept of newspaper tabloidisation, this Project aims to: test its empirical validity and theoretical integrity; compare and contrast changes in both broadsheet and tabloid newspapers; and understand the management of the tabloid stigma by media institutions and professionals. This task is especially significant because 'tabloid' is the most used but least precise typifica ....Disposing of the Tabloid? A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Developments in the Print Media. By critically analysing the concept of newspaper tabloidisation, this Project aims to: test its empirical validity and theoretical integrity; compare and contrast changes in both broadsheet and tabloid newspapers; and understand the management of the tabloid stigma by media institutions and professionals. This task is especially significant because 'tabloid' is the most used but least precise typification of current media. Outcomes include: clarification of the existence and extent of tabloidisation; greater understanding of the forces influencing the production and consumption of contemporary media; stimulation of informed public debate; and international publications and conceptual advances in sociology, media and cultural studies.Read moreRead less
From Mass to Public: Discourses and Representations of Popular Sovereignty in Indonesia. The end of the New Order and transition to more representative government in Indonesia since 1998 have been unruly and violent. The process of political transition has been represented on Australian radios and television screens and has contributed to a perception that Indonesia is in crisis and inherently chaotic. This research aims to show that we can understand this unruliness in part as an outcome of a r ....From Mass to Public: Discourses and Representations of Popular Sovereignty in Indonesia. The end of the New Order and transition to more representative government in Indonesia since 1998 have been unruly and violent. The process of political transition has been represented on Australian radios and television screens and has contributed to a perception that Indonesia is in crisis and inherently chaotic. This research aims to show that we can understand this unruliness in part as an outcome of a rapid development of publicness: a desire for public discussion and activity, motivated by values of popular sovereignty, transparency and accountablity in governance which were seen as crucially lacking during the New Order period.Read moreRead less