Congratulations to associate Professor Gregory Melleuish
It has just been announced by the Prime Minister's office that Greg is one of four "eminent historians" who have accepted membership of the australian History Prize advisory Committee.
The Prime Minister's Office advises that the P.M.'s Prize for australian History, which is awarded annually, is in recognition of an outstanding piece of work that contributed significantly to our understanding of australian history.
Greg will be joined on the advisory Committee by:
Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Blainey aC, former Ernest Scott Professor of History, University of Melbourne and former Chancellor of the University of Ballarat;
Ms Jackie Huggins, Deputy Director of the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland;
Dr Tom Frame - anglican Bishop to the australian Defence Force and acclaimed military historian and biographer.
The Prime Minister advises that "with such impressive combined expertise, I am confident that the committee's views on nominated works with be invaluable."
Well done Greg - this is quite an honour.
The Telephone: The Life Story of a Technology by associate Professor David Mercer
The telephone has played a central role in shaping the way we communicate. From the telegraph in the 19th century through the mobile phone of today, the technology of the telephone has drastically altered how people work, how they keep in touch with friends and loved ones, and how they organize their daily lives. It has also been crucial in enabling governments and large organizations to extend their influence, both within and across nations, and has required wide-ranging changes in the law and in business practices. This volume in the Greenwood Technographies series examines the life story of the telephone and shows how this ubiquitous technology so completely impacts out lives.
The Telephone: a Life Story of a Technology discusses significant developments in the technological and social lives of people during the history of the telephone:
The telegraph (1830s-1870s) and its impact on the expansion of empires
The invention of the telephone, and the early designs and priority disputes between such inventors as alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray
The spread of the telephone, and the emergence of "Universal Service"
The revolutionary impact of the mobile phone The volume includes a glossary of terms, a timeline, and a bibliography of the most useful resources for further research.
Congratulations to Jim Hagan on the publication of the two volumes of "People and Politics in Regional New South Wales"
People & Politics in Regional New South Wales Volume 1: 1856 to the 1950s Editor: Jim Hagan The Federation Press ISBN 1 86287 570 7
Volume 1 recounts 100 years of democratic government, with Members of Parliament elected under a franchise which for men was one of the most extensive in the world. It tells how electors and members in far-flung constituencies exercised their responsibilities, how they met the challenges posed by the vast distances, by the limitations of 19 th century communications, by war, by Depression, and by continuous economic and social change. It is initially the story of the more distant constituencies choosing a Sydney-based grandee to do service on their behalf. Time passes and local members are elected to represent local interests or to combine with neighbours or with constituencies with like interests, to send a phalanx of MPs to represent those interests in common. It is the story of men who exercised serious power at a local level and their realization that determining representation in the Parliament was intrinsic to their power and influence locally. It is the story of farmers and graziers taking possession of "their" constituencies, usually in the conservative interest. and working men, properly organized, challenging that power when they enjoyed a critical mass in industries like mining, the railways, and shearing. It is the story of changes in representation as towns became cities as a result of industrialization and the traffic through ports.
People & Politics in Regional New South Wales Volume 1: the 1950s to 2006
Volume 2 recounts half a century of democratic government at a time when old certainties were undermined and established economies were uprooted. It is the story initially of a settled world re-established after the trauma of drought and Depression and the trials of war. But the economic and social winds blow, some warm, some chill: old industries die and employment with them: towns wither. Education and technology and lifestyle become the drivers of new economies. The coastal regions boom, and universities replace agriculture and mining as hubs for inland economies and employment. Each region changes in its own direction, and the electors want representation reflecting their local world. The established parties struggle to satisfy these new, changing and sometimes competing demands. The day of the independent dawns. This book recounts the political history of each of the eleven regions of country NSW in the second half of the 20 th century. It shows how the different regions with varying and changing problems found political solutions to their particular local issues. It is the story of the men and women who took part in State politics at the local level. It explains why some people were elected to parliament, and what they promised, and why others were rejected. It is full of names and places and events, and provides a fresh and unparalleled view of New South Wales.
medi@sia: global media/tion in and out of context
Edited by Todd Holden and Tim Scrase. Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group) 2006
This is the latest book in the Routledge Studies in asia's Tranformations series. medi@sia is a path-breaking, cross-disciplinary study that employs ethnographic methods and sociological and cultural perspectives to examine the uses and influences of various media in a large number of contexts inside and flowing out of asia today.
The book introduces the concept of the media/tion equation where the compound of information technology (media) and its content (communication) are touched by and associated with the economics, politics, social organisation, cultural practices, and moralities in the everyday lives of users. The role of context - the complex spaces influenced by and within which media/tion transpires - is captured in 11 key studies of TV, film, music, videos, popular song, romance novels, internet bulletin boards, comics, brand characters, and advertising. Beyond the contexts of contemporary asia - many of which have been neglected by conventional media and cultural studies - are the spaces in the world touched by the sweep of asian-originated media flows. Through this perspective, medi@asia proffers a newer, antithetical "map" of globality; one that moves decidedly East to West.
Contributing to discourse in a large number of scholarly areas including globalization theory, media sociology, the anthropology of media, cultural studies, communication studies, and asian studies, medi@sia charts a new interdisciplinary area of inquiry within the current literature and, as such, establishes a precedent for future research.
Todd Holden is Professor of Mediated Sociology in the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan.
Tim Scrase is Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communication at the University of Wollongong, australia.
Congratulations on recent successful grant
Congratulations are extended to Gerry Lefoe (CEDIR), Rebecca albury et.al. on their recent successful grant of $180,000 from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching Leadership for Excellence (2006 Grants Scheme.
Project Title: Distributive leadership for learning and teaching: Developing the faculty scholar mode. Project Leader: Dr Gerry Lefoe Project Team University of Wollongong: Rebecca albury, Lenore armour, Steve Dinham, Tony Herrington and Sandra Wills University Tasmania: Gail Hart, Pam allen, Merle Iles Flinders University: Joan Cooper, Heather Smigiel.
Overview: This project will develop a distributive leadership framework for teaching and learning though a faculty-based scholars' network. It will support strategic change through leadership activities embedded in authentic learning tasks. These new leaders will provide a critical mass for extending the network by adopting a cascade model for distributive leadership through mentoring of future implementations within and across institutions.
Faculty farewells Dr Stewart Russell
The Faculty farewells for one year and sends best wishes to Dr Stewart Russell (Science and Technology Studies) who is taking up a year's secondment from July 2006 with the University of Edinburgh, as Deputy Director of the Research Centre for Social Sciences (RCSS), while Stewart's long-time colleague and collaborator Prof Robin Williams is taking a well earned sabbatical.
RCSS is one of the main centres (along with the well-known Science Studies Unit) in the new Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation (ISSTI), an amalgamation of several units and individuals at Edinburgh involved in Science and Technology Studies and S&T Management and Policy. ISSTI is one of the biggest and most prominent groups in Europe in the field. RCSS has worked on a variety of technology issues over the past twenty years in major EU and UK Research Council programmes, and currently hosts one of three UK centres on social and policy issues in genomics.
Stewart will continue collaboration with researchers here, particularly with the group that has been investigating social issues around water reuse as part of the DEST-funded Oz-aQUaREC project.
5th april: Book Launch
Professor adrian Vickers' new book was recently launched by Professor andrew Wells, Dean, Faculty of arts.
a History of Modern Indonesia
although Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world, its history is still relatively unfamiliar and understudied. Guided by the life and writings of the country's most famous author, Pramoedya ananta Toer, adrian Vickers takes the reader on a journey across the social and political landscape of twentieth-century Indonesia in this innovative and timely account. He begins by explaining the country's origins under the Dutch in the early part of that century, the subsequent anti-colonial struggle and the revolution which led to independence in 1949. Thereafter the spotlight is on the 1950s, a crucial period in the formation of Indonesia as a new nation, which was followed by the Sukarno years, and the anti-communist massacres of the 1960s when General Suharto took over as president. The concluding chapters chart the fall of Suharto's New Order and thirty-two years in power, and the subsequent political and religious turmoil which culminated in the Bali bombings in 2002. Drawing on insights from literature, art and anthropology, adrian Vickers portrays a complex and resilient people struggling out of a troubled past.
a History of Modern Indonesia by Professor adrian Vickers Cambridge University Press
People & Politics in Regional New South Wales
