Improving local government solid waste management practices through deliberative citizen decision-making and behaviour change communication strategies. This project aims to provide a democratic procedure (deliberative processes) to enhance local government's ability to deal with contentious economic, social, and environmental issues. Instead of top-down communication methods (education and edict), two processes are evaluated: commitment and feedback to people as local leaders, and the deliberati ....Improving local government solid waste management practices through deliberative citizen decision-making and behaviour change communication strategies. This project aims to provide a democratic procedure (deliberative processes) to enhance local government's ability to deal with contentious economic, social, and environmental issues. Instead of top-down communication methods (education and edict), two processes are evaluated: commitment and feedback to people as local leaders, and the deliberation of a citizen jury with access to expert knowledge. These processes will be simultaneously tested in
a mature (Ipswich) and emerging (Springfield) community with different demographic profiles. The expected outcome is greatly enhanced recycling output based on the enhanced citizenship of those involved, and the responsiveness of the service provider to 'bottom-up' deliberation and communication.Read moreRead less
The University of Melbourne Book Industry Study. This project represents a university-industry partnership to document the state of play in Australian book publishing, an industry of central importance in Australian intellectual and cultural life. The data gathered will help to identify opportunities and risks for the industry at a time when it is undergoing rapid technological change and reorienting itself towards global markets. The project will be designed to facilitate comparison with studie ....The University of Melbourne Book Industry Study. This project represents a university-industry partnership to document the state of play in Australian book publishing, an industry of central importance in Australian intellectual and cultural life. The data gathered will help to identify opportunities and risks for the industry at a time when it is undergoing rapid technological change and reorienting itself towards global markets. The project will be designed to facilitate comparison with studies in other countries, identify the local impact of global trends and foster forward-looking industry responses. The information gathered will be invaluable for researchers, industry personnel and policy-making bodies, and will establish the groundwork for targeted research into key industry issues.Read moreRead less
Global Youth & Media - Notions of Cosmopolitanism in the Global Public Space. As Australia repositions itself in the globalized world of the 21st century, an understanding of new global communication spheres is increasingly important. Our research into the mediated experience and expectations of globalization among 14-17 year olds in 12 countries is explicitly concerned with the possibilities of future world citizenship among the most highly networked generation to date. Its findings will be of ....Global Youth & Media - Notions of Cosmopolitanism in the Global Public Space. As Australia repositions itself in the globalized world of the 21st century, an understanding of new global communication spheres is increasingly important. Our research into the mediated experience and expectations of globalization among 14-17 year olds in 12 countries is explicitly concerned with the possibilities of future world citizenship among the most highly networked generation to date. Its findings will be of value to education, media and cultural policy makers in Australia. Through the data and analysis it will provide insights into the changing forms of national and global citizenship, national and global public space, and the integration of both into regional identities and communications. Read moreRead less
Community, Identity and Media Use: Understanding the Turkish Community in Australia. This project is of direct and immediate benefit to the Australian community through its investigation of the Turkish community, a small but important ethnic minority group, which constitutes one of Australia's longest established Muslim populations. The research will enhance understandings of the emerging use of new technologies among diasporic populations and investigate the effects of the proliferation of elec ....Community, Identity and Media Use: Understanding the Turkish Community in Australia. This project is of direct and immediate benefit to the Australian community through its investigation of the Turkish community, a small but important ethnic minority group, which constitutes one of Australia's longest established Muslim populations. The research will enhance understandings of the emerging use of new technologies among diasporic populations and investigate the effects of the proliferation of electronic means of communications amongst Islamic groups within a liberal, secular, Western democracy.Read moreRead less
Time out of mind? Australians' experience of time in the network society. Computer mediated communication is profoundly affecting the ways in which individuals live. The rapidity of the process has left many changes unexplored and under analysed. The project will comprise a three-year ethnographic study to uncover the ways in which people think about time, about electronic networks, and by what means these influence how they make sense of their lives, their work, and their relationships in a fas ....Time out of mind? Australians' experience of time in the network society. Computer mediated communication is profoundly affecting the ways in which individuals live. The rapidity of the process has left many changes unexplored and under analysed. The project will comprise a three-year ethnographic study to uncover the ways in which people think about time, about electronic networks, and by what means these influence how they make sense of their lives, their work, and their relationships in a fast-changing and globalising world. The project will result in an international workshop on 'Time and Networks'; an edited collection of articles from workshop participants; and an internationally published book on the project's findings.Read moreRead less
Television, globalisation and social change in India. Since the economic liberalisation beginning in the late 1980s and the introduction of direct broadcast satellite television in 1991, television in India has become a highly dynamic and self-reflexive agent for an increasingly 'globalised' sensibility. This study seeks to examine the process in which a commercial, mass-mediated public culture has been generated. By engaging in an innovative and systematic approach which will integrate direc ....Television, globalisation and social change in India. Since the economic liberalisation beginning in the late 1980s and the introduction of direct broadcast satellite television in 1991, television in India has become a highly dynamic and self-reflexive agent for an increasingly 'globalised' sensibility. This study seeks to examine the process in which a commercial, mass-mediated public culture has been generated. By engaging in an innovative and systematic approach which will integrate direct studies of audiences, program production, modes of commercialization and the role of the state, the study will provide the basis for a definitive book on this key aspect of Indian media culture.Read moreRead less
Opportunities of Media and Communication Technology to Support Social Networks of Urban Residents in Mexico, South Africa, UK and Australia. This project will build advanced knowledge of how urban neighbourhood communities can be assisted to grow in healthy ways by the use of new media and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). By careful attention to cultural and social assets in the community, innovations will be engendered which enhance economic and social development. This will ....Opportunities of Media and Communication Technology to Support Social Networks of Urban Residents in Mexico, South Africa, UK and Australia. This project will build advanced knowledge of how urban neighbourhood communities can be assisted to grow in healthy ways by the use of new media and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). By careful attention to cultural and social assets in the community, innovations will be engendered which enhance economic and social development. This will lead to greater social inclusion, fair access to and smart use of information and services, urban sustainability and healthier local economies. Understanding the opportunities afforded by digital augmentation of social networks will help Australians negotiate the complex web of daily choices, access a greater social safety net and participate in the socio-cultural and socio-economic life of their neighbourhood and city.Read moreRead less
Online@asia/pacific: A comparative study of online networks in the Asia-Pacific. In the 21st century, the role of the Internet will increasingly become part of everyday life - for individuals, communities, businesses and government agencies. Thus it is imperative that we have a robust comparative understanding of online life in Australia and across the region, and its relation to local life offline. Such an understanding is fundamental to Australia's technology and cultural sectors, thus contrib ....Online@asia/pacific: A comparative study of online networks in the Asia-Pacific. In the 21st century, the role of the Internet will increasingly become part of everyday life - for individuals, communities, businesses and government agencies. Thus it is imperative that we have a robust comparative understanding of online life in Australia and across the region, and its relation to local life offline. Such an understanding is fundamental to Australia's technology and cultural sectors, thus contributing to National Research Priority 3 through one of the strongest currencies in 21st century global market, web 2.0, as well as contributing to the broader long-term project of locating Australia in the region.
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Australian news media and Indigenous policymaking 1988-2008. Our research will enhance both journalistic and policymaking practice by providing comprehensive, contemporary data about the relationships between journalism practices and Indigenous policymaking processes. We will examine media texts, policy documents, public statements and journalists' and policymakers' local knowledge. The ways in which Indigenous issues are discussed through the public media have concrete policy outcomes that impa ....Australian news media and Indigenous policymaking 1988-2008. Our research will enhance both journalistic and policymaking practice by providing comprehensive, contemporary data about the relationships between journalism practices and Indigenous policymaking processes. We will examine media texts, policy documents, public statements and journalists' and policymakers' local knowledge. The ways in which Indigenous issues are discussed through the public media have concrete policy outcomes that impact on the lives of Indigenous Australians, on the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and ultimately on Australia as a nation. As such, the research falls within theNational Research Priority area of maintaining good health, by aiming to strengthen Australia's social and economic fabric.Read moreRead less
Local Culture/Global Space: Japanese Minority Sexualities and the Internet. After English (43%), Japanese (9%)is the most used language on the Internet. No study has addressed the specific ways in which Japanese language use affects Internet communication or how the Internet is being used by minoritised groups and individuals. The project will examine Internet use by minority sexualities in Japan in order to ascertain how individuals and communities who fall outside the 'mainstream' of society i ....Local Culture/Global Space: Japanese Minority Sexualities and the Internet. After English (43%), Japanese (9%)is the most used language on the Internet. No study has addressed the specific ways in which Japanese language use affects Internet communication or how the Internet is being used by minoritised groups and individuals. The project will examine Internet use by minority sexualities in Japan in order to ascertain how individuals and communities who fall outside the 'mainstream' of society interact with this new technology. The project will contribute to our understanding of how the Internet, a supposedly global medium, also facilitates the emergence of very local subcultures. The project will result in a series of conference presentations, journal papers and a book.Read moreRead less