Shut up and write! Some surprising uses of cafes and crowds in doctoral writing

This chapter discusses a ‘writing movement’, which is currently occurring in various parts of Australia through the support of social media. A concept emerging from the café scene in San Francisco, ‘Shut Up and Write!’ is a meetup group that brings writers together at a specific time and place to write side by side, thus making writing practice, social. This concept has been applied to the academic environment and our case-study explores the positive outcomes in two locations: RMIT University and Queensland University of Technology. This informal learning practice can be implemented to assist research students in developing academic skills.

Reconnection : a contemporary development in cultural landscape theory contributing to rehabilitation strategies for Australian open-cut coal mining landscapes

A value-shift began to influence global political thinking in the late 20th century, characterised by recognition of the need for environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable resource development. This shift entailed a move away from thinking of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ as separate entities – the former existing to serve the latter – toward the possibility of embracing the intrinsic worth of the nonhuman world. Cultural landscape theory recognises ‘nature’ as at once both ‘natural’, and a ‘cultural’ construct. As such, it may offer a framework through which to progress in the quest for ‘sustainable development’. This study makes a contribution to this quest by asking whether contemporary developments in cultural landscape theory can contribute to rehabilitation strategies for Australian open-cut coal mining landscapes. The answer is ‘yes’. To answer the research question, a flexible, ‘emergent’ methodological approach has been used, resulting in the following outcomes. A thematic historical overview of landscape values and resource development in Australia post-1788, and a review of cultural landscape theory literature, contribute to the formation of a new theoretical framework: Reconnecting the Interrupted Landscape. This framework establishes a positive answer to the research question. It also suggests a method of application within the Australian open-cut coal mining landscape, a highly visible exemplar of the resource development landscape. This method is speculatively tested against the rehabilitation strategy of an operating open-cut coal mine, concluding with positive recommendations to the industry, and to government.

Fourth wall removed : womens' liberation or entrapment?

Australian dramatic literature of the 1950s and 1960s heralded a new wave in theatre and canonised a unique Australian identity on local and international stages. In previous decades, Australian theatre had been abound with the mythology of the wide brown land and the outback hero. This rural setting proved remote to audiences and sat uneasily within the conventions of the naturalist theatre. It was the suburban home that provided the back drop for this postwar evolution in Australian drama. While there were a number of factors that contributed to this watershed in Australian theatre, little has been written about how the spatial context may have influenced this movement. With the combined effects of postwar urbanization and shifting ideologies around domesticity, a new literary landscape had been created for playwrights to explore. Australian playwrights such as Dorothy Hewett, Ray Lawler and David Williamson transcended the outback hero by relocating him inside the postwar home. The Australian home of the 1960s slowly started subscribing to a new aesthetic of continuous living spaces and patios that extended from the exterior to the interior. These mass produced homes employed diluted spatial principles of houses designed by architects, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe and Adolf Loos in the 1920s and 1930s. In writing about Adolf Loos’ architecture, Beatriz Colomina described the “house as a stage for the family theatre”. She also wrote that the inhabitants of Loos’ houses were “both actors and spectators of the family scene involved”. It has not been investigated as to whether this new capacity to spectate within the home was a catalyst for playwrights to reflect upon, and translate the domestic environment to the stage. Audiences were also accustomed to being spectators of domesticity and could relate to the representations of home in the theatre. Additionally, the domestic setting provided a space for gender discourse; a space in which contestations of masculine and feminine identities could be played out. This research investigates whether spectating within the domestic setting contributed to the revolution in Australian dramatic literature of the 1950s and 1960s. The concept of the spectator in domesticity is underpinned by the work of Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley. An understanding of how playwrights may have been influenced by spectatorship within the home is ascertained through interviews and biographical research. The paper explores playwrights’ own domestic experiences and those that have influenced the plays they wrote and endeavours to determine whether seeing into the home played a vital role in canonising the Australian identity on the stage.

Rock, paper, scissors : reflective practice for design process in the novice landscape architect

We describe a pedagogical approach that addresses challenges in design education for novices. These include an inability to frame new problems and limited-to-no design capability or domain knowledge. Such challenges can reduce student engagement with design practice, cause derivative design solutions as well as the inappropriate simplification of design assignments and assessment criteria by educators. We argue that a curriculum that develops the student’s design process will enable them to deal with the uncertain and dynamic situations that characterise design. We describe how this may be achieved and explain our pedagogical approach in terms of methods from Reflective Practice and theories of abstraction and creativity. We present a landscape architecture unit, recently taught, as an example. It constitutes design exercises that require little domain or design expertise to support the development of conceptual thinking and a design rationale. We show how this approach (a) leveraged the novice’s existing spatial and thinking skills while (b) retaining contextually-rich design situations. Examples of the design exercises taught are described along with samples of student work. The assessment rationale is also presented and explained. Finally, we conclude by reflecting on how this approach relates to innovation, sustainability and other disciplines.

Dermal fibroblast infiltration of poly(ε-caprolactone) scaffolds fabricated by melt electrospinning in a direct writing mode

Melt electrospinning in a direct writing mode is a recent additive manufacturing approach to fabricate porous scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. In this study, we describe porous and cell-invasive poly (ε-caprolactone) scaffolds fabricated by combining melt electrospinning and a programmable x–y stage. Fibers were 7.5 ± 1.6 µm in diameter and separated by interfiber distances ranging from 8 to 133 µm, with an average of 46 ± 22 µm. Micro-computed tomography revealed that the resulting scaffolds had a highly porous (87%), three-dimensional structure. Due to the high porosity and interconnectivity of the scaffolds, a top-seeding method was adequate to achieve fibroblast penetration, with cells present throughout and underneath the scaffold. This was confirmed histologically, whereby a 3D fibroblast-scaffold construct with full cellular penetration was produced after 14 days in vitro. Immunohistochemistry was used to confirm the presence and even distribution of the key dermal extracellular matrix proteins, collagen type I and fibronectin. These results show that melt electrospinning in a direct writing mode can produce cell invasive scaffolds, using simple top-seeding approaches.

Editorial: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008

This editorial first describes the workshop out of which the present special issue arose. The editors then identify the need for a multidisciplinary collection examining the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 from both legal and political perspectives, including the consultation process, campaigning and parliamentary debates leading to its passage, and the concluded legislation and its effects. The editorial provides an overview of the legislative reform process, key legislative changes, and the various contributions to the special issue. Cross-cutting themes include the value of a qualitative, discourse-based approach to research in this area; the need to understand the 2008 Act in historical context; unforeseen practical implications of the legislative provisions; and silences and missed opportunities in the legislation. Finally, a postscript covers the changing landscape of hybrid embryo research since the passage of the Act, and the uncertain future of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority at the time of writing.

Investigative Essentials for Journalists in Multicultural and Diverse Communities

This chapter describes how investigative journalism can uncover news that often goes unreported about personalities, problems, ways of life and pressing issues in ethnic and religious sub-communities. While investigative journalism is traditionally understood as reporting that exposes corrupt, inefficient, incompetent or other inappropriate conduct in politics and business circles, investigative reporters do far more than that. They also map human activities, landmarks, patterns and changes in the landscape, and connections across the whole of society. This type of investigative journalism can improve reporting of ethnic and religious sub-communities via identification, deep observation and analysis of trends, events, and issues that would otherwise remain hidden or obscured. The chapter includes details of techniques that investigative journalists can employ to identify interesting topics, find sources of information, analyse data and issues, and report compelling stories.

Landscape meaning and design : a new case study methodology

Understanding the effects of design interventions on the meanings people associate with landscapes is important to critical and ethical practice in landscape architecture. Case study research has become a common way researchers evaluate design interventions and related issues, with a standardised method promoted by the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF). However, the method is somewhat undeveloped for interpreting landscape meanings – something most commonly undertaken as historic landscape studies, but not as studies of design effect. This research proposes a new method for such interpretation, using a case study of Richard Haag’s radical 1971 proposal for a new kind of park on the site of the former Seattle gas works.

Designing an innovative approach to engage students in learning science : the evolving case of hybridized writing

Innovations are usually attributed to ideas generated in the minds of individuals. As we reflect upon the evolving design of an online project to engage students in learning science through hybridized writing activities we propose a more distributed view of the process of innovative design. That is, our experience suggests ideas are generated in the activity of interacting with human and material resources that expand and constrain possibilities. This project is innovative in that it is a new educational response to the problem of disengagement of students in science, and has proven to be effective in changing classroom practice and improving students’ scientific literacy. In this chapter, we identify the antecedents and trace the evolution of the project. This account illuminates the innovative design process, presents a summary of the evidence for the effectiveness of the project, and identifies future directions for further development and research. Keywords: Science learning, hybridized writing, case study, innovative approach

Auditor obligations in an evolving legal landscape

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at auditor obligations to their clients and potentially to third parties such as investors, with a focus on the quality of financial disclosure in an evolving legal framework. Design/methodology/approach – The article outlines and compares established and emerging trends relative to information disclosure and contractual performance in parallel contexts where information asymmetry exists. In particular, this article considers the disclosure regime that has evolved in the insurance industry to address the substantial imbalance in the level of knowledge possessed by the insured in comparison to the prospective insurer. Abductive reasoning is used to identify causal constructs that explain the data pattern from which the theorised potential for judicial revision of the interpretation of “true and fair” in line with “good faith” in legal regulation is derived. Findings – The authors conclude that there is little doubt that a duty of good faith in relation to auditor-company contractual dealings and potentially a broader good faith duty to third parties such as investors in companies may be on the horizon. Originality/value – In the context of stated objectives by organisations such as the International Federation of Accountants to reconcile ethical and technical skills in the wake of the global financial crisis, there is an increased need to rebuild public and investor confidence in the underpinning integrity of financial reporting. This paper offers a perspective on one way to achieve this by recognising the similarities in the information asymmetry relationships in the insurance industry and how the notion of “good faith” in that relationship could be useful in the audit situation.

Marking out the pitch : a historiography and taxonomy of football fiction

Football, or soccer as it is more commonly referred to in Australia and the US, is arguably the world’s most popular sport. It generates a proportionate volume of related writing. Within this landscape, works of novel-length fiction are seemingly rare. This paper establishes and maps a substantial body of football fiction works, explores elements and qualities exhibited individually and collectively. In bringing together current, limited surveys of the field, it presents the first rigorous definition of football fiction and captures the first historiography of the corpus. Drawing on distant reading methods developed in conjunction with closer textual analyses, the historiography and subsequent taxonomy represent the first articulation of relationships across the body of work, identify growth areas and establish a number of movements and trends. In advancing the understanding of football fiction as a collective body, the paper lays foundations for further research and consideration of the works in generic terms.

Trees along our travelling tracks

This creative non-fiction piece of writing speaks to the ‘tree’ themed edition of the About Place Journal. It begins with…“This tree stands steadfast along my inland travelling track, near the town of Mundubbera on the land of the Wakka Wakka people. It is in the region called North Burnett. When we travel, we follow the river systems and look out for distinct markers in the landscape. We acknowledge the lands of others as we move down to Booburrgan Ngmmunge (the language term used by many Aboriginal people to describe the Bunya Mountains) and beyond”. The piece includes photograph images also taken by the author.

Writing the visible page : a multimodal approach to graphic devices in literary fiction

This practice-led project has two outcomes: a collection of short stories titled 'Corkscrew Section', and an exegesis. The short stories combine written narrative with visual elements such as images and typographic devices, while the exegesis analyses the function of these graphic devices within adult literary fiction. My creative writing explores a variety of genres and literary styles, but almost all of the stories are concerned with fusing verbal and visual modes of communication. The exegesis adopts the interpretive paradigm of multimodal stylistics, which aims to analyse graphic devices with the same level of detail as linguistic analysis. Within this framework, the exegesis compares and extends previous studies to develop a systematic method for analysing how the interactions between language, images and typography create meaning within multimodal literature.

Education higher degree research students writing for publication

Higher Degree Research (HDR) student publications are increasingly valued by students, by professional communities and by research institutions. Peer-reviewed publications form the HDR student writer's publication track record and increase competitiveness in employment and research funding opportunities. These publications also make the results of HDR student research available to the community in accessible formats. HDR student publications are also valued by universities because they provide evidence of institutional research activity within a field and attract a return on research performance. However, although publications are important to multiple stakeholders, many Education HDR students do not publish the results of their research. Hence, an investigation of Education HDR graduates who submitted work for publication during their candidacy was undertaken. This multiple, explanatory case study investigated six recent Education HDR graduates who had submitted work to peer-reviewed outlets during their candidacy. The conceptual framework supported an analysis of the development of Education HDR student writing using Alexander's (2003, 2004) Model of Domain Learning which focuses on expertise, and Lave and Wenger's (1991) situated learning within a community of practice. Within this framework, the study investigated how these graduates were able to submit or publish their research despite their relative lack of writing expertise. Case data were gathered through interviews and from graduate publication records. Contextual data were collected through graduate interviews, from Faculty and university documents, and through interviews with two Education HDR supervisors. Directed content analysis was applied to all data to ascertain the support available in the research training environment. Thematic analysis of graduate and supervisor interviews was then undertaken to reveal further information on training opportunities accessed by the HDR graduates. Pattern matching of all interview transcripts provided information on how the HDR graduates developed writing expertise. Finally, explanation building was used to determine causal links between the training accessed by the graduates and their writing expertise. The results demonstrated that Education HDR graduates developed publications and some level of expertise simultaneously within communities of practice. Students were largely supported by supervisors who played a critical role. They facilitated communities of practice and largely mediated HDR engagement in other training opportunities. However, supervisor support alone did not ensure that the HDR graduates developed writing expertise. Graduates who appeared to develop the most expertise, and produce a number of publications reported experiencing both a sustained period of engagement within one community of practice, and participation in multiple communities of practice. The implications for the MDL theory, as applied to academic writing, suggests that communities of practice can assist learners to progress from initial contact with a new domain of interest through to competence. The implications for research training include the suggestion that supervisors as potentially crucial supporters of HDR student writing for publication should themselves be active publishers. Also, Faculty or university sponsorship of communities of practice focussed on HDR student writing for publication could provide effective support for the development of HDR student writing expertise and potentially increase the number of their peer-reviewed publications.

Writing eBooks to support first year students

A potential use of eBooks is to write them to specifically support first year students. Such eBooks have many advantages over published books, including tailored content and flexibility. One initiative was to write an eBook called “Getting Started” as part of a bridging course for 100-200 accelerated students in Nursing, who were about to have their first year at University at second year level. This was a formative activity to be undertaken by the students prior to the start of study. Another initiative was the writing of an eBook called “Pharmacology in One Semester”, which is available to all students, including the accelerated students, in a second year Unit. This is a plain English language version of pharmacology, which has been unpacked from the standard textbooks to improve the learning of the students. Both of these initiatives have been welcomed by the accelerated students.