Making demonstrably reliable forensic voice comparison a practical everyday reality in Australia. To assist Australian law-enforcement agencies and courts in the process of the conviction of the guilty and the exoneration of the innocent, this project will develop and test a practical and demonstrably reliable forensic voice comparison system for use with Australian voices. This will allow forensic scientists to produce reliable strength of evidence statements for presentation in court using the ....Making demonstrably reliable forensic voice comparison a practical everyday reality in Australia. To assist Australian law-enforcement agencies and courts in the process of the conviction of the guilty and the exoneration of the innocent, this project will develop and test a practical and demonstrably reliable forensic voice comparison system for use with Australian voices. This will allow forensic scientists to produce reliable strength of evidence statements for presentation in court using the same evaluative framework as used with DNA. In addition, application of the system during criminal investigations may lead to the refocussing of investigations on other suspects, or may help leverage guilty pleas, thus saving substantial time and money.Read moreRead less
Tonal language development in Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking children with cochlear implants. Cochlear implantation in children is expanding in countries where tonal languages are spoken, despite limited evidence of the effectiveness of implant use in these settings. This project will examine the impact of implant use on children's perception of tone, their production of speech and assesses how this affects functional communication.
Vocal resonances in speech: rapid, precise measurements of how tract resonances vary with time, with applications to speech and language training. This project will track dynamically with significant precision the resonances of the vocal tract which produce much of the phonetic information in speech and important features of accent. The information and technology developed will be useful for speech science, benefiting speech synthesis, speech training and language acquisition.
Supporting the sustainability of Australia's local news ecosystem. This project aims to understand how Australia’s main public broadcaster, the ABC, can best support public interest journalism in rural and regional communities, with a specific focus on fragile and underserved areas of the nation’s local news ecosystem. The project will develop new knowledge around media power and how news providers can work together to secure the sustainability of local news. Expected outcomes include a framewor ....Supporting the sustainability of Australia's local news ecosystem. This project aims to understand how Australia’s main public broadcaster, the ABC, can best support public interest journalism in rural and regional communities, with a specific focus on fragile and underserved areas of the nation’s local news ecosystem. The project will develop new knowledge around media power and how news providers can work together to secure the sustainability of local news. Expected outcomes include a framework to identify and define areas of news need, an assessment of existing interventions and road-tested approaches to improve information quality. The project should provide benefits by supporting forms of local journalism that ultimately enhances the demographic health and social fabric of small towns and cities.
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Amplifying Indigenous news: a digital intervention. This project aims to road-test, document and analyse an innovative strategy for amplifying Indigenous voices in news media. The project will deploy and assess the impact of a new digital application designed to enable access to a diverse range of Indigenous voices, stories and agendas. The anticipated outcomes will assist the project’s industry partners meet their strategic goals of increasing the level of Indigenous media representation in Aus ....Amplifying Indigenous news: a digital intervention. This project aims to road-test, document and analyse an innovative strategy for amplifying Indigenous voices in news media. The project will deploy and assess the impact of a new digital application designed to enable access to a diverse range of Indigenous voices, stories and agendas. The anticipated outcomes will assist the project’s industry partners meet their strategic goals of increasing the level of Indigenous media representation in Australia, and consolidate their roles as leading outlets for Indigenous content and coverage. These outcomes are also expected to improve public understanding of issues affecting Indigenous Australians and contribute to more informed and inclusive policy discussions.Read moreRead less
Nurturing Australia's Little Multilingual Minds. Despite its substantial multilingual capacity of more than 300 languages, Australia has been described as a 'graveyard for languages'. In partnering with community organisations we will facilitate polyglot early learning, commencing with Spanish and Vietnamese. Expected outcomes are a deep understanding of multilingual families’ experiences, a model to support lifespan multilingual education, and openly-accessible database of child language in her ....Nurturing Australia's Little Multilingual Minds. Despite its substantial multilingual capacity of more than 300 languages, Australia has been described as a 'graveyard for languages'. In partnering with community organisations we will facilitate polyglot early learning, commencing with Spanish and Vietnamese. Expected outcomes are a deep understanding of multilingual families’ experiences, a model to support lifespan multilingual education, and openly-accessible database of child language in heritage languages. Benefits include a pivotal contribution to early childhood education with the creation of a tailor-made, principle-based program, which will enhance children’s academic achievement, familial social and mental wellbeing, and cultural and economic opportunities for all Australians. Read moreRead less
Creativity and cultural production in the Hunter: an applied ethnographic study of new entrepreneurial systems in the creative industries. This project will be an applied study of key collaborative groups across all the major creative industries in the Hunter region in New South Wales. Mapping these industries' approach to creativity and cultural production in the digital realm will provide detailed insights into the dynamic systems at the heart of creative industries.
Places in Transition: A Case Study of Cultural Planning in an Australian City. The overwhelming majority of local governments in Australia are developing cultural plans and placemaking strategies. Despite claims that cultural planning can achieve an ever-expanding range of social, aesthetic, economic and cultural objectives, there has been little systematic academic research investigating these claims, their framing assumptions, or the shifting relationship between place, social change, culture, ....Places in Transition: A Case Study of Cultural Planning in an Australian City. The overwhelming majority of local governments in Australia are developing cultural plans and placemaking strategies. Despite claims that cultural planning can achieve an ever-expanding range of social, aesthetic, economic and cultural objectives, there has been little systematic academic research investigating these claims, their framing assumptions, or the shifting relationship between place, social change, culture, art and policy within specific localities. Through a combination of policy analysis, case study and ethnographic research, this innovative interdisciplinary Project will explore cultural planning at both micro and macro levels. The Project contributes to international debates concerning the formation of cultural policy priorities and practices.Read moreRead less
Social media in times of crisis: learning from recent natural disasters to improve future strategies. This project will analyse and evaluate how social media was used by emergency authorities, media organisations and citizens during recent natural disasters, including the January 2011 Queensland floods and Tropical Cyclone Yasi. The project will develop a framework for longer-term strategies for public communication during emergencies.
Engaging with Social Media in Museums. This project will prototype the use of social media in museums to produce a new source of high-quality cultural information, and link regional, rural and international users with city-based institutions. It implements National Research Priority Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries: promoting an innovation culture and economy and smart information use.
The Australian museum sector is undergoing a period of substantial c ....Engaging with Social Media in Museums. This project will prototype the use of social media in museums to produce a new source of high-quality cultural information, and link regional, rural and international users with city-based institutions. It implements National Research Priority Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries: promoting an innovation culture and economy and smart information use.
The Australian museum sector is undergoing a period of substantial change in response to policy and technology initiatives, yet little formal collaboration exists between museums and researchers. This project brings some of the country's major museums together with the Smithsonian Institution, one of the world's foremost cultural institutions.Read moreRead less