Designing digital aquatic play to foster Australians’ engagement with water. From the beach to the pool, aquatic play is key to Australians’ quality of life and advances physical, mental and social wellbeing. This project harnesses our increasing use of interactive technology (such as wearables) to develop the world’s first design theory on interactive aquatic play. The project creates and evaluates three inspirational aquatic play prototypes, advancing confidence in water skills, self-expressio ....Designing digital aquatic play to foster Australians’ engagement with water. From the beach to the pool, aquatic play is key to Australians’ quality of life and advances physical, mental and social wellbeing. This project harnesses our increasing use of interactive technology (such as wearables) to develop the world’s first design theory on interactive aquatic play. The project creates and evaluates three inspirational aquatic play prototypes, advancing confidence in water skills, self-expression through movement and employment of safe practices to enrich Australian’s physical engagement with water. Digital media developers, government interventions and wellbeing groups can use the derived design knowledge to leverage digital technology and aquatic interactivity to foster Australians’ physical engagement with water.Read moreRead less
Rethinking timelines: a new methodology for describing and communicating history. The project will lead to better ways of understanding historical events in context through active engagement of learners in the construction of timeline visualisations. It will contribute to the development of better strategies for collaborative content creation and quality control in web-based community resources, and facilitate creation of significant online collaborative databases by communities of interest, wit ....Rethinking timelines: a new methodology for describing and communicating history. The project will lead to better ways of understanding historical events in context through active engagement of learners in the construction of timeline visualisations. It will contribute to the development of better strategies for collaborative content creation and quality control in web-based community resources, and facilitate creation of significant online collaborative databases by communities of interest, without the technical requirements and costs of one-off programming. It will add value to Australian online resources such as MacquarieNet, contribute to new methods of information visualisation in Australian museums and visitor centres, and generate national and international consultancies for the project partners.Read moreRead less
Enabling Situated Immersive Science Collaboration with Remote Sensing Data . This project aims to help scientists communicate and collaborate in immersive environments. Fieldwork is more valuable to scientists than looking at abstract remote data, but expense, danger, or inaccessible locations often stand in the way. This project will address this issue by researching and designing immersive environments that combine remote data with visualisations and new interaction tools for science teams to ....Enabling Situated Immersive Science Collaboration with Remote Sensing Data . This project aims to help scientists communicate and collaborate in immersive environments. Fieldwork is more valuable to scientists than looking at abstract remote data, but expense, danger, or inaccessible locations often stand in the way. This project will address this issue by researching and designing immersive environments that combine remote data with visualisations and new interaction tools for science teams to make sense of spatial and temporal aspects of data. Outcomes will include new presentation and interaction methods, an evaluation with geoscientists, and a framework for designing interactive systems that enable situated interactions. Benefits will include helping Australian scientists overcome distance in their research. Read moreRead less
Aboriginal remote narrowcast TV and the audio-visual archive. This project aims to investigate the world’s best practices in community narrowcast digital TV and contemporary methods for the long-term storage of both digital and analogue audio-visual cultural materials. This will assist in the long-term preservation of Indigenous languages and culture and will investigate whether health promotion and other messages in Aboriginal languages community impacts on community well-being.
Remote presence for guidance on physical tasks. This project aims to transform remote collaboration on physical tasks. Current systems for remote collaboration on physical tasks are not as effective as working face-to-face. This could be overcome by sharing non-verbal cues, designing systems to account for cultural issues, and using a new model of communication. This project will develop theories and interaction methods for remote guidance based on natural non-verbal communication cues and cultu ....Remote presence for guidance on physical tasks. This project aims to transform remote collaboration on physical tasks. Current systems for remote collaboration on physical tasks are not as effective as working face-to-face. This could be overcome by sharing non-verbal cues, designing systems to account for cultural issues, and using a new model of communication. This project will develop theories and interaction methods for remote guidance based on natural non-verbal communication cues and cultural issues. This project is expected to benefit industries with widely distributed multi-cultural workforces such as mining, defence and medicine.Read moreRead less
Digital noticeboards for remote Aboriginal communities: bringing web 2.0 participation to non-western cultures with low English and technical literacy. Remote Aboriginal communities suffer from geographic and cultural isolation. Web 2.0 offers a solution yet is ill-suited to traditional collective cultures, those with low English and technical literacy, and the poor. This project will produce novel public web-enabled touchscreen noticeboards and table tops suited to traditional cultures.
The unwired horizon: clouded and mobile delivery platforms for early collections of Yolngu cultural heritage in Arnhem Land, Australia. Led by the Yolngu Elder and researcher Joseph Gumbula, this project will develop a clouded database engine and networked applications for streaming digitised heritage resources in ways appropriate for Indigenous peoples, particularly those in remote communities. Trial content will be selected from records of Gumbula's own heritage dating from 1924.
Development of computer-based decision support tools using population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models. Diabetes is an epidemic that presents an enormous burden to health systems of both developed and developing nations. Australia spends an estimated $35 billion on the condition annually, with costs set to rise with increasing diagnosis rates. Additionally, the burden of diabetes is more prominent in indigenous Australians. We intend to improve management of this disease in non-indigenous ....Development of computer-based decision support tools using population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models. Diabetes is an epidemic that presents an enormous burden to health systems of both developed and developing nations. Australia spends an estimated $35 billion on the condition annually, with costs set to rise with increasing diagnosis rates. Additionally, the burden of diabetes is more prominent in indigenous Australians. We intend to improve management of this disease in non-indigenous and indigenous Australians by development of a user-friendly computer-based decision support tool for doctors. Once established, this tool will have applications in other fields of health care where support is needed to make informed dosing decisions for critical medications and have the potential to reduce financial and social impacts of chronic disease.Read moreRead less
Making eMaking Accessible for People with Intellectual Disabilities. This interdisciplinary research will create an evidence based eMaking program that empowers people with Intellectual Disabilities. eMaking benefits include collaborative problem solving and employment pathways; however, people with disabilities are often excluded. Through a unique, inclusive, outreach van, strategies to build accessible eMaking will be generated. Project outcomes include replicable, scalable eMaking activities ....Making eMaking Accessible for People with Intellectual Disabilities. This interdisciplinary research will create an evidence based eMaking program that empowers people with Intellectual Disabilities. eMaking benefits include collaborative problem solving and employment pathways; however, people with disabilities are often excluded. Through a unique, inclusive, outreach van, strategies to build accessible eMaking will be generated. Project outcomes include replicable, scalable eMaking activities and toolkits to facilitate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for all. Project benefits include opportunities for people with Intellectual Disability to participate in meaningful recreational or work-focused eMaking, and changing community attitudes through shared eMaking participation.Read moreRead less
Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework. Given the challenges facing rural and regional Australia, it is essential that communities and decision-makers have the information and resources to make informed and sustainable decisions. While there is a plethora of data that can provide this evidence-base, it is often complex, disorganised and inaccessible to those who need it. Hence, to facilitate smart information use, this research develops and implement ....Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework. Given the challenges facing rural and regional Australia, it is essential that communities and decision-makers have the information and resources to make informed and sustainable decisions. While there is a plethora of data that can provide this evidence-base, it is often complex, disorganised and inaccessible to those who need it. Hence, to facilitate smart information use, this research develops and implements a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework and decision support modelling tool that integrates environmental, economic and social data into a single user-friendly source. This will provide a platform for evidence-based decision-making that will lead to a sustainable future for rural and regional Australia.Read moreRead less