Archiving Australian Media Arts: Towards a method and national collection. The early years of Australian digital media arts heritage are at risk. Australians were significant contributors to the development of media arts internationally, as well as making and exhibiting work nationally, yet only a tiny portion of the digital artwork by Australian artists has made it into institutional collections. Deteriorating disks and reliance on obsolete hardware and software mean that innovative digital pre ....Archiving Australian Media Arts: Towards a method and national collection. The early years of Australian digital media arts heritage are at risk. Australians were significant contributors to the development of media arts internationally, as well as making and exhibiting work nationally, yet only a tiny portion of the digital artwork by Australian artists has made it into institutional collections. Deteriorating disks and reliance on obsolete hardware and software mean that innovative digital preservation and access solutions are needed if these artworks are to be saved. Working with key cultural institutions, this project will conserve key media art case studies from the archives of media arts organisations, and develop a best practice method for the preservation of our digital media arts heritage.Read moreRead less
Discovering a ‘good read’: Pathways to reading for Australian teens. This project aims to support the school, library, and book industries to increase teenagers’ recreational reading. Matching the right book to the right reader is essential to increase young people’s motivation to read. Yet how cultural intermediaries should operate to best effect within the complex ecologies that shape young people’s text selection is unclear. The project expects to generate robust evidence on how teens discove ....Discovering a ‘good read’: Pathways to reading for Australian teens. This project aims to support the school, library, and book industries to increase teenagers’ recreational reading. Matching the right book to the right reader is essential to increase young people’s motivation to read. Yet how cultural intermediaries should operate to best effect within the complex ecologies that shape young people’s text selection is unclear. The project expects to generate robust evidence on how teens discover books and the cultural factors that influence their choices. Expected outcomes include strategies that libraries, schools, and the book industry can use to promote Australian content for young adults, and equip young people to participate more fully in the social and economic benefits of pleasure reading.Read moreRead less
Digital Labour, Australian Women Authors, and Public Persona-Building . Women authors are vital to Australia’s creative economy and cultural life. To ensure their wider cultural resonance as well as commercial success, such authors have long been actively engaged in the business of image management. However, digital media have significantly altered how renown is manufactured and sustained, in ways that are yet to be understood in the Australian context. Generating new knowledge about the role of ....Digital Labour, Australian Women Authors, and Public Persona-Building . Women authors are vital to Australia’s creative economy and cultural life. To ensure their wider cultural resonance as well as commercial success, such authors have long been actively engaged in the business of image management. However, digital media have significantly altered how renown is manufactured and sustained, in ways that are yet to be understood in the Australian context. Generating new knowledge about the role of digital media in promoting women authors, this project's findings will be of use to authors, publishers, cultural policy makers and funding bodies to help better support these vital cultural workers in their digital media usage.Read moreRead less
Talking Country: Sharing Indigenous stories of place through mobile media. This project aims to investigate how media technologies can facilitate cross-cultural engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. There is a need to break down the barriers that limit cross-cultural engagement with heritage issues. Mobile media environments provide ways to build this engagement through place-based incentives. The project expects to develop a new model for practice-based research, two mobile a ....Talking Country: Sharing Indigenous stories of place through mobile media. This project aims to investigate how media technologies can facilitate cross-cultural engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. There is a need to break down the barriers that limit cross-cultural engagement with heritage issues. Mobile media environments provide ways to build this engagement through place-based incentives. The project expects to develop a new model for practice-based research, two mobile apps, two digital archives and a toolkit to guide people on driving, cycling and walking tours to Indigenous places of significance. This will offer valuable avenues to share knowledge on the importance of those sites, build cultural awareness and position Indigenous knowledges at the heart of place-based engagements.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101558
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,000.00
Summary
Taking humour seriously for online safety. Harmful humour impacts on women’s wellbeing online, but is poorly managed by social media platforms, and has not been integrated into online safety regulation and policy. This project aims to bring together sociocultural theory, social media analysis, and interviews to better understand the dynamics of harmful humour online in Australia. It will work with users, community leaders and industry stakeholders to evaluate current platform and policy response ....Taking humour seriously for online safety. Harmful humour impacts on women’s wellbeing online, but is poorly managed by social media platforms, and has not been integrated into online safety regulation and policy. This project aims to bring together sociocultural theory, social media analysis, and interviews to better understand the dynamics of harmful humour online in Australia. It will work with users, community leaders and industry stakeholders to evaluate current platform and policy responses and how they could be improved. The anticipated outcomes include theoretical advances, workable principles for better content moderation processes that reduce harm without restricting healthy expression, and evidence-based contributions to debates on online safety regulation.Read moreRead less
Making Australian TV in the 21st Century. Existing practices designed to enable Australian television to achieve national cultural and economic objectives have been deeply transformed by the impact of technological change and foreign ownership. This project investigates the intertwined implications of non-Australian ownership, technological adjustments, policy changes, and support adjustments enacted since the mid-00s that have challenged the making of ‘Australian’ television. The investigation ....Making Australian TV in the 21st Century. Existing practices designed to enable Australian television to achieve national cultural and economic objectives have been deeply transformed by the impact of technological change and foreign ownership. This project investigates the intertwined implications of non-Australian ownership, technological adjustments, policy changes, and support adjustments enacted since the mid-00s that have challenged the making of ‘Australian’ television. The investigation will develop data and analysis relevant to policy debates, terms of trade, and collective agreements useful to national policymakers, producers, content providers, industry bodies, media and communication researchers, and audiences.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100416
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$452,727.00
Summary
Beyond broadcasting: Community radio as a model community organisation. With 20,000 volunteers, almost six million weekly listeners, and 50 years of history, Australia has one of the most well-established community radio sectors in the world. Yet discussions about community radio are limited to debates about media. Community radio stations are diverse and community-engaged organisations, with much more to offer than just what's on air. This research aims to explore community radio as a model for ....Beyond broadcasting: Community radio as a model community organisation. With 20,000 volunteers, almost six million weekly listeners, and 50 years of history, Australia has one of the most well-established community radio sectors in the world. Yet discussions about community radio are limited to debates about media. Community radio stations are diverse and community-engaged organisations, with much more to offer than just what's on air. This research aims to explore community radio as a model for successful, sustainable, and diverse community organisations. The findings of this project will help other community organisations improve their community connections and engagement, and articulate their value, which will contribute to re-engaging Australians in civic life.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL210100051
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,518,080.00
Summary
Dynamics of Partisanship and Polarisation in Online Public Debate. Rapidly increasing partisanship and polarisation, especially online, poses an urgent threat to societal cohesion in Australia and other established western democracies; polarisation is also a critical cybersecurity concern when actively promoted by bad-faith actors to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. By introducing an analytical framework that distinguishes four key dimensions of polarisation, the Fellowship ....Dynamics of Partisanship and Polarisation in Online Public Debate. Rapidly increasing partisanship and polarisation, especially online, poses an urgent threat to societal cohesion in Australia and other established western democracies; polarisation is also a critical cybersecurity concern when actively promoted by bad-faith actors to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. By introducing an analytical framework that distinguishes four key dimensions of polarisation, the Fellowship aims to conduct the first-ever assessment of the extent and dynamics of polarisation in the contemporary online and social media environments of six nations, including Australia. The evidence is expected to enable an urgently needed, robust defence of our society and democracy against the challenges of polarisation.Read moreRead less
Valuing News: Aligning Individual, Institutional and Societal Perspectives. This project aims to identify the links between the preparedness of individuals to pay for news, the value of news brands and organisational cultures of news publishers, and the social value of news in promoting a democratic public sphere. Its significance arises with the ongoing crisis of news media business models, which is raising new questions about the future of journalism, and the changing role of governments worl ....Valuing News: Aligning Individual, Institutional and Societal Perspectives. This project aims to identify the links between the preparedness of individuals to pay for news, the value of news brands and organisational cultures of news publishers, and the social value of news in promoting a democratic public sphere. Its significance arises with the ongoing crisis of news media business models, which is raising new questions about the future of journalism, and the changing role of governments worldwide in financing news production. Its expected outcomes include advancing debates about how to support public interest journalism, and the value of news as both a commodity and a public good. It will be of benefit to industry, policymakers and the community in addressing the prospects for Australian journalism. Read moreRead less
Community Music Radio: Building the Music-Media Ecosystem. This project aims to investigate the economic and sociocultural impact of community music radio. It seeks to generate new knowledge about the detailed relationships between community music radio stations and the Australian music industry, documenting for the first time national activities and infrastructures. Anticipated outcomes include the identification of policies and strategies to improve the audibility and visibility of Australian ....Community Music Radio: Building the Music-Media Ecosystem. This project aims to investigate the economic and sociocultural impact of community music radio. It seeks to generate new knowledge about the detailed relationships between community music radio stations and the Australian music industry, documenting for the first time national activities and infrastructures. Anticipated outcomes include the identification of policies and strategies to improve the audibility and visibility of Australian music domestically and on global digital platforms; providing a new model for evaluating both economic and sociocultural outputs of creative industries; and building the music-media ecosystem as a vital component of the Australian creative industries. Read moreRead less