An essay formerly known as ‘How to say “sophomoric wankery” in High Valyrian.’ I once wrote a thinkpiece that clumsily linked an obscure theory of philosophy with the fantasy worlds created by George RR Martin and his contemporaries. Old Valyria (source) I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively high readership of that piece, due in no […]
Category: Academia
There is a clear pattern of thinking about the value of higher education in purely economic terms. Questions about how much graduates earn dominate mass media discussion of the industry (1, 2, 3) while university marketers talk almost endlessly about employability (4, 5, 6). Meanwhile, academics themselves squabble about higher purposes. The mismatch in this […]
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Fit for Bodily Surveillance
The description of new media technologies as being screen-based is increasingly problematic as bodily tracking devices like fitness trackers become more common. And yet, it is hard to think of these devices as anything but media objects. While they are rather obviously reliant on mobile phones, they also mediate (ie, get in the middle) our […]
I’d like to say I’m unsurprised that the two local Fairfax papers in the Southern Highlands/Tablelands have failed to cover a massive local story that will come to the point of no return tonight, but I’m not.
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#CSAA14 by the numbers
I was at the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia (CSAA) annual conference last week, which gathered around the hashtag #CSAA14 on Twitter.
This post first appeared on the Media, Audience, Place Hub blog. (Or, more precisely, “getting to the movies”, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to drag David and Margaret into it!) This week, students in BCM240 are asked to consider their experiences of going to the movies and think about things they might not have […]
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Remembering Robin Williams
I’ll leave it to others to honour Robin Williams with words about his genius, skill, impact, and the implications of his death. For me, the news was particularly sad and poignant coming close on the back of the death of Dr Peter Spitzer, founder of the Humour Foundation and the Clown Doctors. Spitzer is said […]
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They All Come Tumbling Down
Rural and regional journalism in Australia might soon be a lot poorer if suggestions in The Australian of a rout at Fairfax come to pass. The Murdoch daily says Fairfax is considering closure of between 30 and 65 regional and rural papers, including at least six in the Illawarra-South Coast. They include: Illawarra Mercury Wollongong […]
May 1 is something of an anniversary for me – it’s a year today since my thyroid and the tumour attached to it were removed. So, what’s changed? What’s happened? What did I learn in that time? Perhaps just as importantly, what has stayed the same? I’ll start with a change. A colleague and teacher, […]
Given my experiences of the last year, and my impending wedding, I’ve started to wonder whether staying enrolled in my PhD as a full-time student and part-time worker is the best option for my stage of life. You need to fit these things to your life, and it might be right for me to have […]