The development and testing of a theory of the processes that shape material culture diversity using a New Guinea dataset. Australian museums hold approximately 150,000 artefacts from the Pacific. Estimates of overseas holdings suggest another 500,000. From these collections, objects are selected for research or exhibition based on restricted themes. No attempt has yet been made to utilise these collections in a comprehensive way to maximise their research potential. This has now been done for t ....The development and testing of a theory of the processes that shape material culture diversity using a New Guinea dataset. Australian museums hold approximately 150,000 artefacts from the Pacific. Estimates of overseas holdings suggest another 500,000. From these collections, objects are selected for research or exhibition based on restricted themes. No attempt has yet been made to utilise these collections in a comprehensive way to maximise their research potential. This has now been done for the north-central region of New Guinea and the available information provides the opportunity to develop a theory of the processes that bring about diversity of material culture. Such a theory would be of international significance for ethnologists and archaeologists and add value to publicly-funded collections.Read moreRead less
New Information and Communication Technologies and The Elderly: Practice, Problems and Potential. Recent government reports (Costello 2002; 2004; Productivity Commission, Australian Government 2005) indicate that demographic ageing which will see a doubling of the aged population both numerically and as a proportion of the total population in the next quarter century presents a substantial challenge to Australia. One element of that challenge is to maintain and enhance the wellbeing of older Au ....New Information and Communication Technologies and The Elderly: Practice, Problems and Potential. Recent government reports (Costello 2002; 2004; Productivity Commission, Australian Government 2005) indicate that demographic ageing which will see a doubling of the aged population both numerically and as a proportion of the total population in the next quarter century presents a substantial challenge to Australia. One element of that challenge is to maintain and enhance the wellbeing of older Australians while controlling the costs of providing them with support services. New developments in ICT have the potential to facilitate achieving these twin goals but little is known of the take up of ICT among older Australians and those who will enter the older ages over the next three decades.Read moreRead less
Exploring Relationships between Material Culture and Language, Propinquity, Population, Subsistence and Environment in the Upper Sepik-Central New Guinea Regions. This project will explore relationships between material culture, language, geographical proximity, population size and density, subsistence systems, and environmental characteristics in two adjacent regions - the upper Sepik and the highlands of central New Guinea. The role of trade, inter-marriage, migration, ritual and warfare in af ....Exploring Relationships between Material Culture and Language, Propinquity, Population, Subsistence and Environment in the Upper Sepik-Central New Guinea Regions. This project will explore relationships between material culture, language, geographical proximity, population size and density, subsistence systems, and environmental characteristics in two adjacent regions - the upper Sepik and the highlands of central New Guinea. The role of trade, inter-marriage, migration, ritual and warfare in affecting relationships among the variables will be assessed. This is the first project to examine so many objects (8000+) in such detail for two contrasting regions in the Pacific. It will clarify the role of language vis-a-vis other variables in determining the identifiability of objects produced in those regions and has practical cultural heritage outcomes.Read moreRead less