Education for the creative economy : innovation, transdisciplinarity, and networks

The question posed in this chapter is: To what extent does current education theory and practice prepare graduates for the creative economy? We first define what we mean by the term creative economy, explain why we think it is a significant point of focus, derive its key features, describe the human capital requirements of these features, and then discuss whether current education theory and practice are producing these human capital requirements. The term creative economy can be critiqued as a shibboleth, but as a high level metaphor, it nevertheless has value in directing us away from certain sorts of economic activity and toward other kinds. Much economic activity is in no way creative. If I have a monopoly on some valued resource, I do not need to be creative. Other forms of economic activity are intensely creative. If I have no valued resources, I must create something that is valued. At its simplest and yet most profound, the idea of a creative economy suggests a capacity to compete based on engaging in a gainful activity that is different from everyone else’s, rather than pursuing the same endeavor more competitively than everyone else. The ability to differentiate on novelty is key to the concept of creative economy and key to our analysis of education for this economy. Therefore, we follow Potts and Cunningham (2008, p. 18) and Potts, Cunningham, Hartley, and Ormerod (2008) in their discussion of the economic significance of the creative industries and see the creative economy not as a sector but as a set of economic processes that act on the economy as a whole to invigorate innovation based growth. We see the creative economy as suffused with all industry rather than as a sector in its own right. These economic processes are essentially concerned with the production of new ideas that ultimately become new products, service, industry sectors, or, in some cases, process or product innovations in older sectors. Therefore, our starting point is that modern economies depend on innovation, and we see the core of innovation as new knowledge of some kind. We commence with some observations about innovation.

Queers doing theory : Australian queer student activist print media’s representations of capitalism

Queer university student print media often represents capitalism in a framework which could be classified as Marxism. However, at the same time, queer student media extensively publishes ideas which could be classified as academic queer theory. This chapter features analysis of these representations from the 2003, 2004 and 2006 editions of national queer student publication, Querelle, and from a sample of queer student media from four Australian universities. The perspectives of Marxism and academic queer theory are often argued to be contradictory (See for example, Hennessy 1994; Morton 1996b; Kirsch 2007), and thus the students’ application of these theories in tandem could be considered problematic. McKee asks ‘Who gets to be an intellectual?’ (2004) and suggests that the intellectualising undertaken by mainstream and alternative cultural creators is just as valid as that undertaken by university academics. He also raises concerns that the concept of theory is seen to be kept separate from everyday culture (McKee 2002). This chapter argues that in the construction and representation of their politics in this manner the queer student activists are creating their own version of queer theory. This analysis of queer student media contributes to research on queer communities and queer theory, demonstrating how one specific cultural subset theorises queerness and queer politics, thereby contributing to the genealogy of queer.

Pre-digital Virtuality: Early Modern Scholars and the Republic of Letters

This chapter explores the idea of virtual participation through the historical example of the republic of letters in early modern Europe (circa 1500-1800). By reflecting on the construction of virtuality in a historical context, and more specifically in a pre-digital environment, it calls attention to accusations of technological determinism in ongoing research concerning the affordances of the Internet and related media of communication. It argues that ‘the virtual’ is not synonymous with ‘the digital’ and suggests that, in order to articulate what is novel about modern technologies, we must first understand the social interactions underpinning the relationships which are facilitated through those technologies. By analysing the construction of virtuality in a pre-digital environment, this chapter thus offers a baseline from which scholars might consider what is different about the modes of interaction and communication being engaged in via modern media.

Queering Paradigms II : Interrogating Agendas

This book offers a fundamental challenge to a variety of theoretical, social, and political paradigms, ranging from law and justice studies to popular culture, linguistics to political activism. Developing the intellectual project initiated in Queering Paradigms, this volume extends queer theorizing in challenging new directions and uses queer insights to explore, trouble, and interrogate the social, political, and intellectual agendas that pervade (and are often taken for granted within) public discourses and academic disciplines. The contributing authors include queer theorists, socio-linguists, sociologists, political activists, educators, social workers and criminologists. Together, they contribute not only to the ongoing process of theorizing queerly, but also to the critique and reformulation of their respective disciplines.

Interaction in a Paired Speaking Test : the Rater's Perspective

Paired speaking tests are increasingly used in both low-and high-stakes second language assessment contexts. Until recently, very little was known about the way in which raters interpret and apply descriptors relating to interactional competence to a performance that is co-constructed. This book presents a study which explores the interactional features of a paired speaking test that were sailient to raters and the extent to which raters viewed the performance as separable. The study shows that raters use their own frames of reference to interpret descriptors and that they viewed certain features of the performance as mutual accomplishments. The book takes us 'beyond scores', and in doing so, contributes to the growing body of research on paired speaking tests.

The 2008 Tibet riots : perspectives, divided group protests and divergent media narratives

Awareness of the power of the mass media to communicate images of protest to global audiences and, in so doing, to capture space in global media discourses is a central feature of the transnational protest movement. A number of protest movements have formed around opposition to concepts and practices that operate beyond national borders, such as neoliberal globalization or threats to the environment. However, transnational protests also involve more geographically discreet issues such as claims to national independence or greater religious or political freedom by groups within specific national contexts. Appealing to the international community for support is a familiar strategy for communities who feel that they are being discriminated against or ignored by a national government.

Shouting from the rooftops : Queer digital storytelling for social impact

This chapter explores some of the practical and theoretical obstacles and opportunities for self-expression experienced by a group of Queer Dig- ital Storytellers who primarily make and distribute their stories online. “Queer” in this chapter encompasses a diverse range of gender and sexual identities and perspectives on same, including the heterosexual children of queer parents and heterosexual parents of queer children. As such it is also used as a unifying moniker by participants in the Rainbow Family Tree case study that is examined in this chapter. The Digital Storytellers in this case study are largely motivated by a desire to have an impact on social attitudes towards gender and sexuality, both in their personal province of friends and family, and in public domains constituted of unknown or invisible audiences. The privacy and publicity dilemmas that will be considered arise out of positioning personal stories in the public domain and the quandaries that emerge from an activist desire to speak truth to power that is located across a wide cross section of audiences.

Gay men, intimate partner violence, and help-seeking : the incomprehensibility of being a victim

A recurring finding within the research on same-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) is that victims rarely seek assistance from police or other service providers. A study by William Leonard et al (2008: 47) in Victoria, Australia, found that around two thirds of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender victims did not report such violence. It also appears that men are less likely than women to seek help for IPV (Turell and Cornell-Swanson 2005:79–80), and for those that do, informal support networks are approached more often than formal services (Merrill and Wolfe 2000: 16; Farrell and Cerise 2006: 4).

Introduction : queering paradigms, interrogating agendas

The introduction to the first volume of Queering Paradigms suggested that to queer a paradigm is to of fer a challenge to “the hetero/homonormative and gender binarist assumptions of any given academic discourse.” As queer subjects defy the “seduction of identity by exclusion,” and celebrate “the whole potential of sexuality and gender fluidity and diversity,” any attempt to understand them through the lenses offered by standard discourse is destined to fail (Scherer 2010: 2). “Queer” is not simply a synonym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning/Queer (LGBTIQ) subjects, as common use might suggest. Rather, it ought to be read as a reference to all who defy being pigeon-holed, pushed to the margins, or being pressured to adopt common social narratives regarding gender and sexuality.

What's happening down under : young adolescent education in Australia

The middle years are an important period of learning, in which knowledge of fundamental disciplines are developed, yet this is also a time when students are at the greatest risk of disengagement from learning. Student motivation and engagement in these years is critical, and can be influenced by tailoring approaches to teaching with learning activities and learning environments that specifically consider the needs of middle years’ students.

Cyberinfrastructure inside out : definition and influences shaping its emergence, development, and implementation in the early 21st century

The authors provide a theoretically generative definition of cyberinfrastructure (CI) by drawing from existing definitions and literature in social sciences, law, and policy studies. They propose two models of domestic and international influencers on CI emergence, development, and implementation in the early 21st century. Based on its historical emergence and computational power, they argue that cyberinfrastructure is built on, and yet distinct from the current notion of the internet. The authors seek to answer two research questions: firstly, what is cyberinfrastructure? And secondly, what national and international influencers shape its emergence, development and implementation (in e-science) in the early 21st century? Additionally, consideration will be given to the implications of the proposed definition and models, and future directions on CI research in Internet studies will be suggested.

Ruling Class Men: Money, Sex, Power

What is it like to be a master of the universe? The authors have researched the desires and fears of the world's most powerful men. The Murdochs, Packers, Kennedys, Agnellis and other men like them, directly determine the fates of thousands and influence the future of the world like no other people. Described as 'sacred monsters' by one of their own, they are carefully created to be what they are and to enjoy shaping the world in their own likeness. To learn about these often reclusive men, the authors extended the life-history technique to interrogate autobiographies, diaries and biographies and have created a composite picture, a collective portrait, of tycoons over three generations. The book carefully explores the childhoods, schooling, work and play, sexual activities, marriages and deaths of the wealthiest men who have ever lived. It exposes the nature of ruling-class masculinity itself.

Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news : the produsage of citizen journalism

Debates over the role and relevance of what has been described as citizen journalism have existed at least since the late 1990s; positions have ranged from the fulsome dismissal of such bottom-up journalism activities (and indeed, almost all user-led content creation) as being part of a new "cult ofthe amateur" (Keen, 2007) to nearly equally simplistic perspectives which predicted citizen journalists would replace the mainstream journalism industry within a short timeframe. A more considered, more realistic perspective would take a somewhat more moderate view. Aided by circumstances including the long-term financial crisis enveloping journalism industries in many developed nations, the creeping corporatization and politicization of journalistic activities in democratic and non-democratic countries alike, and the largely unmet challenge of new, Internet-based media fonns, citizen journalism (as well as other parajournalistic media, including TV comedy such as The Daily Show) has been able to make credible inroads into what used to be the domain of journalism proper.

Kaleidoscopes and contradictions : the legitimacy of social media for public relations

If the current discourses of progress are to be believed, the new or social media promise a kaleidoscope of opportunity for connecting and informing citizens. This is by allegedly revitalizing the fading legitimacy and practice of institutions and providing an agent for social interaction. However, as social media adoption has increased, it has revealed a wealth of contradictions both of its own making and reproduction of past action. This has created a crisis for traditional media as well as for public relations. For example, social media such as WikiLeaks have bypassed official channels about government information. In other cases, social media such as Facebook and Twitter informed BBC coverage of the Rio Olympics. Although old media are unlikely to go away, social media have had an impact with several large familybased media companies collapsing or being reintegrated into the new paradigm. To use Walter Lippman’s analogy of the phantom public, the social media contradictorily serve to both disparate the phantom in part and reinforce it...