When you fill a film with mutants, you apparently create a mutant film: one whose disparate DNA sequences and mismatched body parts refuse to coalesce into a coherent organism. There are signs that this should work. It has a reasonably strong cast led by both veteran action heroes and the right kind of nerds, as […]
I’m thinking again about how the interoperable and open nature of podcasts continues to be stymied by many of the industry players, and not just the usual suspects. For example, I listen to a lot of ABC content so I’d consider using ABC Listen as my main podcast app if it could *also* import RSS […]
The Creative Practice Circle research group, of which I am part, has been tinkering with a project called Not on My Watch, in which we aim to produce creative works related to or representing a threatened species from our region. I have chosen to focus on the platypus. The upper reaches of the Wambool (Macquarie […]
One of the various ways Universities have developed to metricise and measure academic performance is the notion of an engagement case study. This form of reporting is often used when formally-published academic papers are not produced from a project, or when other major components of a project revolve around external engagement and media rather than […]
Persona Studies With a couple of review requests sent out, I’m officially in the chair as an editor for the open-access Persona Studies journal, looking after the general/rolling issue for 2025. This is one of my favourite journals because the papers are honestly always delightful to read. I also published what I think is my […]
My newest academic article is now out in Media International Australia. Based on the ‘extended-mixed methods’ model developed by Janet Fulton and others, my paper looks at the role podcasting can play in communicating palaeontology, and science more generally. I completed the study mostly through actual podcast production (Fossils and Fiction) so in part I […]
Over summer 2023-24, I completed my latest formal qualification: the Undergraduate Certificate in Palaeontology from the University of New England, Australia. This is four undergrad subjects drawn from those available within the palaeobiology major of the Bachelor of Science. Some thoughts/reflections on the whole process and the course itself: Motivation I had been looking around […]
Kangaskhan: an extant, derived sthenurine kangaroo (Marsupialia, Diprontodotia, Macropodidae) Kangaskhanus macropodiens is a large, bipedal marsupial with several confounding diagnostic characteristics. The common name kangaskhan derives from the word kangaroo, which is colloquially used in reference to large macropods such as the extant species Macropus giganteus (Eastern grey kangaroo) (Shaw, 1790), Macropus fuliginosus (Western grey […]
WordPress + ActivityPub + Friends is the web we need decades in the making A decade ago, or more, there was talk all over the higher ed blogs about how best to use WordPress (+others) for blogging with students. Federation, syndication, wikis, badges, domains, and more were the talk of the web. Remember that? Here […]
Most elections in this country feel like a matter of degrees. But at 36, I’ve just voted for the first time for something that actually feels like it could make a positive change. If you’re considering voting no, and (as statistically likely), you’ve voted referenda down in the past, ask yourself: is this about me, […]