Touching Texts : Adaptations of Australian Picture Books for Tablets

In order to explore some of the possibilities and constraints of picture books on tablets, this chapter addresses adaptations of contemporary Australian picture books for tablet devices. It considers how publishing technologies shape form and meaning of picture books, and attends particularly to the impact of interactivity and adaptation on such meaning. After discussing some contextual issues for electronic literature, this chapter explores the print and tablet versions of three picture books: Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood’s Look, A Book! (2011), Nick Bland’s The Wrong Book (2009), and Shaun Tan’s Rules of Summer (2013).

Indigenous livelihoods policy reference group: Research priorities identified from the first meeting, 28th April 2010

The CSIRO Indigenous Livelihoods Project sought to work with Indigenous communities, government and non-government stakeholders to bring together western science and Indigenous knowledge in order to understand the potential livelihood benefits of enterprises based on natural resource management. The research focus was to enhance livelihood opportunities for Indigenous communities derived from new enterprises and activities based on natural resource management in regional and remote Australia. Underpinning outcomes were: · Identification of effective policy and institutional arrangements required to establish and maintain sustainable livelihoods; · Improved systems understanding of factors that enhance or inhibit sustainable livelihoods based on natural resource management; · Tools and methods for measuring the livelihood benefits of natural resource management; · Education, training, employment and capacity building for Indigenous communities and researchers.

The Artful Interpretation of Science through Picture Books

Science picture books offer pleasurable and educational reading experiences. These texts open up opportunities for cross-curriculum teaching and learning and a means for developing students’ visual literacy skills, aesthetic appreciation, and higher level thinking skills. Picture books demonstrate how one mode or semiotic system (visual and verbal) mediates the other, often complementing, extending, and filling-in the gaps between words and images. Students’ meaning making is further extended when they can understand the subtleties and effects (and affects) of the visual elements of art and design, and the different styles of writing and language use.

Introduction : Picture Books ... Then, Now and Beyond

Picture books are known and familiar objects to many children and adults. They have been variously described as art objects, cultural documents, hybrid texts and verbal-visual art forms. They have also been variously categorised according to their readership – ranging from very young children to older readers, the latter can extend through the primary years to high school and even into adulthood. Scholars and students study picture books as part of an evolving literary and cultural landscape which has given rise to new genres and trends, such as ‘multicultural picture books’, ‘environmental picture books’ and ‘postmodern picture books’, and what Cherie Allan terms, ‘postmodernesque picture books’, that is, ‘picturebooks about postmodernity’ (Allan, 2012, p. 141). Picture books are also the staple literature in many early years and primary school classrooms for literacy and literary development, thus supporting the designated strands for literacy, literature, and language in the Australian Curriculum: English.

Picture Books and Beyond

Picture books and beyond examines a wide selection of picture books, graphics novels, films, e-picture books and apps that reflects the diversity of these evolving cultural artefacts, and their opportunities for education and delight. Picture books and beyond aligns closely with the goals and directions of the Australian Curriculum: English, and considers the potential of texts for enabling students to respond critically and creatively. It also highlights links to other curricula, general capabilities, and cross-curriculum priorities.

Micronesia

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a group of 607 islands spread across 3 million sq mi in the North Pacific Ocean. The islands occupy a land area of 702 sq km, over half of which is taken up by the island of Pohnpei. FSM consists of four states, which from east to west include Kosrea, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Yap. The capital of FSM is Palikir.

Institutionalization

During the 18th and 19th centuries, prostitution came to be understood as a potentially disruptive element in the management of society. New forms of social control developed that sought to transform the souls of prostitutes to better control their bodies. Institutions for managing prostitutes, such as Magdalen Homes and lock hospitals, were introduced or increased in number throughout the British Empire, North America, and Western Europe. Often these institutions had as their stated objective the physical purification and moral reform of prostitutes, appearing to make a dramatic break with earlier methods of social control that had relied on practices of physical punishment and spatial segregation. Emergent institutions for the social control of prostitutes used a regimen of religious training, hard labor, and medical expertise. The objective of the Magdalen Home was not to punish sin but to absolve it, while the function of the lock hospital was not simply to confine the ill, but to confine the ill to "cure" them. The role of these institutions was not only symbolic, mirroring in some way the operation of earlier forms of social control, but was also practical and transformative. The mass institutionalization of prostitutes that occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries produced and emphasized sexual, class, and gender boundaries, grounded in the broad distinction between "pure" and "impure" women. Because of its association with sin, prostitution before the 18th century had been constructed as a religious problem relating to salvation and penitence. Throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages, prostitutes, like the medieval leper and the Jew, were subject to restrictions designed to distinguish and isolate them from other members of their communities. The repression of prostitution during the Middle Ages was neither systematic nor highly organized, although it reinforced the image of the prostitute as sinful "other".

Penal Colonies

Prostitution has been closely associated with the transportation of women convicts to British penal colonies. Convict labor was used to found a number of British colonies including Barbados, Jamaica, Maryland, Virginia, Singapore, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Western Australia. Between 1607 and 1939, Britain transported approximately 400,000 convicts, 162,000 of whom came to Australia and about 50,000 to North America. Significant numbers of women were among those transported to the Australian and North American colonies, although their numbers were relatively small in comparison to male convicts. Transportation was typically reserved for the most recalcitrant of female offenders. Most women transported came from working-class populations, resided in metropolitan centers, and were single at the time of their offense. Although few of these women were actually sentenced for activities associated with prostitution, large numbers had a history of involvement with prostitution. Transportation was considered to offer prostitutes a chance at redemption, with colonial commentators drawing contrasts between the Old World and its vice-ridden sensuality and the colonies, which offered opportunities for redemption through religious devotion and hard work. Many women transported to the Australian colonies were described by officials as being "on the town" at their time of apprehension and were collectively considered to be "damned whores, possessed of neither virtue nor honesty". Recently, historians have argued that these assessments were emblematic of middle-class prejudices toward the open and aggressive sexuality of working-class women. The number of convict women involved in prostitution may have been higher than recorded crimes, typically involving "larceny", suggest. A number of women were charged with theft from men who had paid them (or, in some instances, refused to pay them) for sex. Historians have estimated that one in five convict women were part-time or full-time prostitutes before transportation. Many continued in prostitution after transportation, with prostitution becoming an important element in the social and economic life of the Australian colonies, where, between 1788-1830, men outnumbered women six to one. Officially, prostitution was tolerated to dissuade men from vice. For women, prostitution presented a means of securing physical protection and accommodation at a time when general amenities and employment opportunities were restricted.

Balancing the books : an assessment of financial stress associated with social work and human service student placements

This report presents the findings from a study of the financial impact of work-integrated learning commonly referred to as 'placement' among social work and human services students. Based on a survey of 214 respondants, 14 in-depth interviews and two focus groups, the findings indicate that two thirds of the surveyed group felt tired and anxious about their experience of balancing paid work and placement, with 2 in 5 reporting their learning experience was compromised as a result. The significant implications and potential solutions are also discussed.

Engagement [Reference entry]

Engagement is an important multi-dimensional concept with relevance for corporate reputation and brand management, particularly in focal areas such as corporate social responsibility, stakeholder relations, and issues or crisis management. This entry examines the levels of analysis where engagement occurs, three types of engagement, the different contextual and disciplinary perspectives of engagement, and the implications of engagement for corporate reputation.

Knowledge unlatched: A global library consortium model for funding open access scholarly books: Full report on the Proof of Concept Pilot 2014

This special issue of Cultural Science Journal is devoted to the report of a groundbreaking experiment in re-coordinating global markets for specialist scholarly books and enabling the knowledge commons: the Knowledge Unlatched proof-of-concept pilot. The pilot took place between January 2012 and September 2014. It involved libraries, publishers, authors, readers and research funders in the process of developing and testing a global library consortium model for supporting Open Access books. The experiment established that authors, librarians, publishers and research funding agencies can work together in powerful new ways to enable open access; that doing so is cost effective; and that a global library consortium model has the potential dramatically to widen access to the knowledge and ideas contained in book-length scholarly works.

Impact of agricultural chemicals on the environment and human health in Asia: Are there solutions?

Modern commercial agricultural practices in Asia during the last three to four decades involving chemicals (fertilisers and pesticides) have been associated with large increases in food production never witnessed before, especially under the Green Revolution technology in South Asia. This also involves large-scale increases in commercial vegetable crops. However, the high reliance on chemical inputs to bring about these increases in food production is not without problems. A visible, parallel correlation between higher productivity, high artificial input use and environmental degradation and human ill-health is evident in many countries where commercial agriculture is widespread. In this chapter, we focus on the impact of chemical inputs, in particular the impact of pesticides on the environment and on human health in South Asia with special reference to Sri Lanka...

Encouraging Empathy through Picture Books about Migration

Australia has become one of the most highly multilingual and multicultural societies in the world today with people descending from 270 ancestries, who speak more than 260 languages (Commonwealth of Australia, 2011). Immigration is something that children encounter in their daily lives either through personal experience or through witnessing the lives of migrants at school, in the community, or through popular media, including children’s literature. Schools are frequently the initial interface for individuals who resettle in Australia and they ‘play a significant role in establishing meaningful connections to Australian society and a sense of belonging in Australia’ (Uptin, Wright, & Harwood, 2013, p. 1). Children's literature about cultural and ethnic diversity explores the impacts of migration and related issues creating ‘imaginary realms’ (Dudek & Ommundsen, 2007). These fictional interpretations of the migrant experience or the experience of migration are supported by distinctive “real life” cultural experiences. Picture books furnish teachers and students with an accessible means to investigate these complex issues through sensitive discussions. This chapter investigates how picture books about migration help deepen children’s perceptive understanding of migrants’ plights, and thereby nurture tolerance and empathy.

Foliar micromorphology and anatomy of Ugni molinae Turcz. (Myrtaceae), with particular reference to schizogenous secretory cavities

Background Ugni molinae Turcz. is one of the most studied species of South American Myrtaceae due to its edible fruits and foliar medicinal compounds. However, there is no anatomical study of the leaves or secretory cavities. This paper seeks to describe the leaf micromorphology and anatomy of the species using standard protocols for light and scanning electron microscopy. Secretory cavities were anatomically characterized in young and mature leaves. Histochemical staining of the cavities was performed. Results The leaves of U. molinae are hypostomatic, have a wavy surface and possess scattered hairs. Leaf anatomical features include dorsiventral mesophyll, two to three layers of palisade parenchyma with abundant chloroplasts, calcium oxalate crystals and internal phloem in vascular bundles. Schizogenous secretory cavities are present on the abaxial surface and are mainly located on the margins of the leaves. Histochemical tests of these cavities suggest the presence of lipophilic substances. Conclusions This is the first study of secretory cavities in Chilean Myrtaceae. In general, micromorphological and anatomical characters are similar to other species of the family. The present findings could provide valuable anatomical information for future research in South American Myrtaceae.