Enhancing the content and experience of Interactive Childrens Television. Interactive television (iTV) as a participatory, on-demand communication provides a unique opportunity to significantly engage, entertain and educate preschool children. Through considerable industry partner collaboration and participation, this project will evaluate three distinct interactive options produced from selected children's television programs with proven success in Australia. Usability studies employing a vari ....Enhancing the content and experience of Interactive Childrens Television. Interactive television (iTV) as a participatory, on-demand communication provides a unique opportunity to significantly engage, entertain and educate preschool children. Through considerable industry partner collaboration and participation, this project will evaluate three distinct interactive options produced from selected children's television programs with proven success in Australia. Usability studies employing a variety of surveillance techniques will evaluate content design and user response. Children's viewing habits will be evaluated within a social context (the home) and a mobile lab setting using qualitative and quantitative assessment. The results will identify effective ways to produce meaningful interactivity and will encourage future industry based research.Read moreRead less
The Visual Mediation of a Complex Narrative: TGH Strehlow's Journey to Horseshoe Bend. TGH Strehlow's biographical memoir, Journey to Horseshoe Bend, is a vivid ethno-historiographic account of Aboriginal, settler and Lutheran communities of Central Australia in the 1920's. This project intends to construct an extensive digital hub elaborating key textual thematics of Aboriginal identity and sense of ?place?, supplemented with oral histories. Consistent with the Strehlow Research Centre's missio ....The Visual Mediation of a Complex Narrative: TGH Strehlow's Journey to Horseshoe Bend. TGH Strehlow's biographical memoir, Journey to Horseshoe Bend, is a vivid ethno-historiographic account of Aboriginal, settler and Lutheran communities of Central Australia in the 1920's. This project intends to construct an extensive digital hub elaborating key textual thematics of Aboriginal identity and sense of ?place?, supplemented with oral histories. Consistent with the Strehlow Research Centre's mission in the management and preservation of the Strehlow Collection's vast archival materials, the project will provide access to and foster engagement with Strehlow's works. The project will employ innovative visual methodologies in the production and mediation of Indigenous knowledge related to the text. Read moreRead less
Conceiving Connections: Increasing industry viability through analysis of audience responses to dance performance. The development of audiences is identified by the Australian dance industry as vital to the future of the sector. The current project will investigate how audiences respond to highly evolved dance-works. It will explore the kinds of meaning communicated by such works, and the value assigned to them by tutored and untutored audiences. Methods for enhancing audience engagement will be ....Conceiving Connections: Increasing industry viability through analysis of audience responses to dance performance. The development of audiences is identified by the Australian dance industry as vital to the future of the sector. The current project will investigate how audiences respond to highly evolved dance-works. It will explore the kinds of meaning communicated by such works, and the value assigned to them by tutored and untutored audiences. Methods for enhancing audience engagement will be tested through studies in both metropolitan and regional centres. Dance-scholars, artists and cognitive psychologists collaborate with three industry partners to identify and address significant concerns for artists, presenters, advocates and funding bodies, and to train postgraduate reserachers in inter-disciplinary modes.Read moreRead less
Crisis management simulation: developing a methodology for transforming communication response. The ability of any large corporation or public institution to handle a crisis can have major economic, environmental, social or cultural consequences. For the Australian Defence Force (ADF), effective crisis management communication can literally mean life or death. This project merges cutting-edge digital games technology with applied drama techniques to produce a crisis management game to simulate ....Crisis management simulation: developing a methodology for transforming communication response. The ability of any large corporation or public institution to handle a crisis can have major economic, environmental, social or cultural consequences. For the Australian Defence Force (ADF), effective crisis management communication can literally mean life or death. This project merges cutting-edge digital games technology with applied drama techniques to produce a crisis management game to simulate conflict and crisis scenarios. Working closely with the ADF to better understand organisational communication under extreme pressure, this new approach will build teamwork and break down barriers to effective crisis management. The methodology developed will have global application to public and private organisations.
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Bridging worlds, linking cultures: an electronic planning tool for the Western Sydney region. This project aims to address, theoretically and practically, goals and demands for cultural planning in the information age. It will develop principles and procedures for using the immense power of digital resources within a framework that is aware of the richness and diversity of societies, communities and cultures, integrating subjective and objective data holistically into local government planning p ....Bridging worlds, linking cultures: an electronic planning tool for the Western Sydney region. This project aims to address, theoretically and practically, goals and demands for cultural planning in the information age. It will develop principles and procedures for using the immense power of digital resources within a framework that is aware of the richness and diversity of societies, communities and cultures, integrating subjective and objective data holistically into local government planning processes. It will use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) digital infrastructure to develop new information architecture, new interface designs and new strategies to interrogate and use available databases and information systems relevant to regional strategic cultural planning in Greater Western Sydney.Read moreRead less
The Dictionary of Sydney. Sydney is a global metropolis with a complex identity and continuously changing form. The Dictionary of Sydney will leverage the contributions of hundreds of researchers to re-present the history of the city using scholarly text, digital multimedia and the Internet. The Dictionary will deliver primary sources, analysis and synthesis to diverse audiences, building on the information delivery expertise of the project partners. The Dictionary will form an invaluable resour ....The Dictionary of Sydney. Sydney is a global metropolis with a complex identity and continuously changing form. The Dictionary of Sydney will leverage the contributions of hundreds of researchers to re-present the history of the city using scholarly text, digital multimedia and the Internet. The Dictionary will deliver primary sources, analysis and synthesis to diverse audiences, building on the information delivery expertise of the project partners. The Dictionary will form an invaluable resource informing urban, heritage and planning policy; providing resources for education and cultural tourism; advancing the application of digital technology in the humanities; and internationally showcasing Australian scholarship.Read moreRead less
Real-time Porosity: Using computer gaming technology to map and analyse pedestrian movement in public and private space. This project will make a major, and ongoing, contribution to our understanding of urban space in a major Australian city. The Porosity Lenses will enable a more complete understanding of pedestrian movement that the Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU) believes will directly contribute to protecting Australia from terrorism and crime. In the case of terrorism the soc ....Real-time Porosity: Using computer gaming technology to map and analyse pedestrian movement in public and private space. This project will make a major, and ongoing, contribution to our understanding of urban space in a major Australian city. The Porosity Lenses will enable a more complete understanding of pedestrian movement that the Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU) believes will directly contribute to protecting Australia from terrorism and crime. In the case of terrorism the socio/economic benefits of even the smallest success can be immeasurable. The need to anticipate and mitigate the impact of catastrophic events on the city will be balanced, in this study, by a concern to maintain freedom of circulation and promote civic opportunities within previously under-utilised zones.Read moreRead less
Information and Cultural Exchange: a study of best practices in community building, participation and cultural citizenship through creative practices. This study relates to the NRP 2: 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'. This project offers new approaches to questions of cultural diversity beyond multiculturalism by bringing together the notions of culture and citizenship, thereby reframing the international debate over cultural citizenship within the Australian context. The p ....Information and Cultural Exchange: a study of best practices in community building, participation and cultural citizenship through creative practices. This study relates to the NRP 2: 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'. This project offers new approaches to questions of cultural diversity beyond multiculturalism by bringing together the notions of culture and citizenship, thereby reframing the international debate over cultural citizenship within the Australian context. The project places Australia at the leading edge of research on new media, creative practices and citizenship by developing models of 'evaluating evaluation' and benchmarking participation, belonging and cultural citizenship. The research will contribute to improved funding, evaluation and policy priorities for key Arts agencies such as The Australia Council and Arts NSW.Read moreRead less
Haptic-Rendered Bell Synthesis for a Practice Carillon Clavier. This project will explore new methods of audio synthesis that respond to haptic sensing. It seeks practical ways to control the synthesis of bell sounds using the mechanical playing action of a carillon keyboard as the human interface in a virtual instrument. Sensing technology developed will also benefit other areas of new performance media where multiple forms of sensory control are required to navigate interactive virtual environ ....Haptic-Rendered Bell Synthesis for a Practice Carillon Clavier. This project will explore new methods of audio synthesis that respond to haptic sensing. It seeks practical ways to control the synthesis of bell sounds using the mechanical playing action of a carillon keyboard as the human interface in a virtual instrument. Sensing technology developed will also benefit other areas of new performance media where multiple forms of sensory control are required to navigate interactive virtual environments. The project also creates new postgraduate research training opportunities in an area that crosses disciplinary boundaries between frontier technology and the creative arts.Read moreRead less
Investigating, prototyping and trialling interactive online youth counselling tools. This project prototypes and trials interactive online counselling tools and evaluates their effectiveness in partnership with Australia's largest youth counselling service, Kids Help Line. There is a demonstrable need for Internet counselling practice and theory to incorporate opportunities offered by new information and communication technologies, especially to engage with the multimedia literacies of young peo ....Investigating, prototyping and trialling interactive online youth counselling tools. This project prototypes and trials interactive online counselling tools and evaluates their effectiveness in partnership with Australia's largest youth counselling service, Kids Help Line. There is a demonstrable need for Internet counselling practice and theory to incorporate opportunities offered by new information and communication technologies, especially to engage with the multimedia literacies of young people. The project will investigate multi-user graphical interactivity in youth counselling and develop an evidence base for advances in online counselling worldwide. It will research and prototype graphical tools based on traditional counselling methods to improve service delivery, and benefit the wellbeing of young Australians.Read moreRead less