This page outlines some of my current research projects Disability and New Media Collaborator: Katie Ellis Proposed Outcomes: 1 Academic Book, 4 Refereed Journal Articles, 4 Academic Conference Presentations Time Frame: 12 Months “The power of the Web is in its universality.
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” This project in conjunction with Dr Katie Ellis at the University of Western Australia Disability Office is the largest I am currently working on. It explores how this early promise of the World Wide Web for access for all people regardless of disability has been challenged by more recent developments in the online environment from Web 2.0 to virtual worlds. The main outcome of this project
will be the production of a full manuscript on the topic over the next 12
months which has been accepted for publication by Routledge in New York. It has currently produced one refereed journal paper: Kent, M & Ellis, K 2008, ‘iTunes is pretty (useless) when you’re blind: Digital design is triggering disability when it could be a solution’, M/C Journal. Vol 11, Issue 3. July. <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/55>. As well as two refereed conference paper: Kent, M & Ellis, K 2008, ‘Disability and Web 2.0: Opportunity lost?’, paper for the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia Annual Conference, Kalgoorlie, 6–9 December. Kent, M & Ellis, K 2009, ‘Your
Avatar Looks Normal to Me’ Paper for the Towards A
National Disability Studies Agenda: Disability Studies Conference, Australia
UNSW June 26-27. Dr Ellis gave a
talk about our research in this area at the Workshop for Disability, Democracy,
Media & Listening in Sydney on the 10th October 2008 as part of
The Listening Project 2008. http://www.transforming.cultures.uts.edu.au/pdfs/listening_project_workshop_download.pdf
Both Dr Ellis and myself presented a paper ‘Online Virtual Communities and Disability’ at the Centre for Everyday Life Symposium ‘Media Technologies, Community and Everyday Life’ on 2 September 2009 at Murdoch University. http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/cfel/cfel_symposium.htm
We will produce three additional refereed journal articles, one that explores disability in the context of Virtual Worlds and Second Life and another that focuses on Disability and Social Networking Sites. We also hope to disseminate this research through a number of academic conferences. Collaborator: Kirsty Best Time Frame: 12 Months I am working with Kirsty Best on her Australian Research Council Funded research exploring how the virtual world of Second Life might be used to overcome elements of the isolation experience by people who suffer from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The study focuses on people with the condition in both cities and regional centres in Australia and Canada and involves the construction of a support centre on the Murdoch University campus in Second Life. Tuvalu and .tv Collaborators: Professor Tara Brabazon Proposed Outcomes: 1 Refereed Journal Article Time Frame: 3-6 Months This is an expansion of some research I had been working on for a few years and looks at the nature of digital postcolonial relations and country code top level domains.
Translating between cultures and the Northern Territory Emergency Response Collaborators: Jay Martin, Karen McKenna, David Cake Proposed Outcomes: 1 Refereed Journal Article Time Frame: 6-9 Months This project is in its early stages. I am writing with Ms Jay Martin who formerly worked for the Indigenous Housing Branch of the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Dr Karen McKenna from the Alice Springs hospital. Drawing on Martin’s experience legislating aspects of the land and housing response and McKenna’s experience and contacts within the health system in central Australia the article focuses on the difficulties presented when communicating and translating between different indigenous and non-indigenous Australians as part of the Howard Government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response policies. Looking at issues such as medical doctors from coastal cities being unable to recognise third world diseases prevalent in remote communities in the Northern Territory, through to radically different interpretations of connections to the land from a legal perspective through to a spiritual connection. The article seeks to provide a theoretical construct to these difficulties through subaltern theory and particularly the complexities inherent for any expert or ‘intellectual’ who seeks to act as a translator.
Dancing Matt and ‘New’ Colonialism: The Happy Intersection Between Tourism and Web 2.0 Collaborator: Rebecca Bennett Proposed Outcomes: Refereed Journal Article and Conference Presentation Time Frame: 6-12 Months This research will explore the intersections between Tourism, Web 2.0, and Cultware. We use the ‘Dancing’ videos of Matt Harding posted on YouTube and at his website http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/ as a starting point to critically interrogate how these technologies and cultures are coming together. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate on this piece with Dr Bennett of Murdoch University.
Media Studies in the United Kingdom: History and Context Collaborator: Stephen Mallinder Proposed Outcomes: 1-2 Refereed Journal Articles, 1-2 conference presentations. Time Frame: 12-18 Months Following on from our recent research into the Media and Communications sector of Higher Education in the United Kingdom in this article Stephen Mallinder of the Art Design Media Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy and I track the development of Media Studies and particularly its history and development as a discipline tracing back through its Communications and Cultural Studies influences. This project will place this development in the context of the development of analogous fields of study such as Sociology and Economics. Examining the different strategies for facing the challenges made to the legitimacy of these fields. A second paper related to this area will specifically address and respond to issues raised in the National Subject Profile for this discipline area when it is released in late 2008. This research will be further disseminated by papers to be presented at appropriate academic conferences both in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Differences in Education Collaborator: Paul Kent Proposed Outcomes: Refereed Journal Article and Conference Presentation Time Frame: 12-18 Months This research is still in the planning stage. It will explore the contrast between different types of further and higher education, specifically contrasting University based Higher Education in the humanities, where students may strive for a mark of 100% but in practice will never receive one with vocational education, particularly in the for profit information technology sector where students are seeking an industry recognised corporate qualification, and are expected to be able to apply what they learn 100% of the time. Mr Kent has trained to teach at both a university and vocational level and is an experienced teacher in the vocational setting.
Currently Under Review and In Press
In Press Kent, M & Mallinder, S 2008, The National Subject Profile – Media and Communications. The Higher Education Academy. York.
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