“I woke up and realised the ground had shifted”: the shifting terrain of English curriculum

The theme of this conference comes from the epitaph on the Lewis Carroll’s gravesite. “Is All our Life then But A Dream?” This seems fitting for a time when so much change in the terrain of English makes us feel as if we are somnambulating through a surrealist landscape. Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, (Carroll, 2003) we might find ourselves at strange tea parties with bureaucratic mad hatters, and just when we think we have a grasp of applying new theory in our teaching, we fall down another rabbit hole, to swim in confusion as some queen calls out, ‘off with their heads!’. The shifting ground in English inevitably moves in response to waves of theory influencing classroom practice. Each new paradigm has claimed to liberate language learners from the flaws of the previous model. Each linguist or literary theorist who shaped the new paradigm no doubt dreamt of a new population emerging from school as more powerfully literate citizens than the previous generation.

The phenomenology of utopia : reimagining the political

This thesis argues that the end of Soviet Marxism and a bipolar global political imaginary at the dissolution of the short Twentieth Century poses an obstacle for anti-systemic political action. Such a blockage of alternate political imaginaries can be discerned by reading the work of Francis Fukuyama and "Endism" as performative invocations of the closure of political alternatives, and thus as an ideological proclamation which enables and constrains forms of social action. It is contended that the search through dialectical thought for a competing universal to posit against "liberal democracy" is a fruitless one, because it reinscribes the terms of teleological theories of history which work to effect closure. Rather, constructing a phenomenological analytic of the political conjuncture, the thesis suggests that the figure of messianism without a Messiah is central to a deconstructive reframing of the possibilities of political action - a reframing attentive to the rhetorical tone of texts. The project of recovering the political is viewed through a phenomenological lens. An agonistic political distinction must be made so as to memorialise the remainders and ghosts of progress, and thus to gesture towards an indeconstructible justice which would serve as a horizon for the articulation of an empty universal. This project is furthered by a return to a certain phenomenology inspired by Cornelius Castoriadis, Claude Lefort, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Ernesto Laclau. The thesis provides a reading of Jacques Derrida and Walter Benjamin as thinkers of a minor universalism, a non-prescriptive utopia, and places their work in the context of new understandings of religion and the political as quasi-transcendentals which can be utilised to think through the aporias of political time in order to grasp shards of meaning. Derrida and Chantal Mouffe's deconstructive critique and supplement to Carl Schmitt's concept of the political is read as suggestive of a reframing of political thought which would leave the political question open and thus enable the articulation of social imaginary significations able to inscribe meaning in the field of political action. Thus, the thesis gestures towards a form of thought which enables rather than constrains action under the sign of justice.

FAB-MAP + RatSLAM : appearance-based SLAM for multiple times of day

Appearance-based mapping and localisation is especially challenging when separate processes of mapping and localisation occur at different times of day. The problem is exacerbated in the outdoors where continuous change in sun angle can drastically affect the appearance of a scene. We confront this challenge by fusing the probabilistic local feature based data association method of FAB-MAP with the pose cell filtering and experience mapping of RatSLAM. We evaluate the effectiveness of our amalgamation of methods using five datasets captured throughout the day from a single camera driven through a network of suburban streets. We show further results when the streets are re-visited three weeks later, and draw conclusions on the value of the system for lifelong mapping.

Autoethnography in vocational psychology : wearing your class on your sleeve

This paper addresses reflective practice in research and practice and takes the issue of consciousness of social class in vocational psychology as a working example. It is argued that the discipline’s appreciation of social class can be advanced through application of the qualitative research method autoethnography. Excerpts from an autoethnographic study are used to explore the method’s potential. This reflexive research method is presented as a potential vehicle to improve vocational psychologists’ own class consciousness, and to concomitantly enhance their capacity to grasp social class within their own spheres of research and practice. It is recommended that autoethnography be used for research, training, and professional development for vocational psychologists.

My career chapter as a tool for reflective practice

This paper addresses reflective practice in research and practice and takes the issue of consciousness of social class in vocational psychology as a working example. It is argued that the discipline’s appreciation of social class can be advanced through application of the qualitative research method autoethnography. Excerpts from an autoethnographic study are used to explore the method’s potential. This reflexive research method is presented as a potential vehicle to improve vocational psychologists’ own class consciousness, and to concomitantly enhance their capacity to grasp social class within their own spheres of research and practice. It is recommended that autoethnography be used for research, training, and professional development for vocational psychologists.

My Victorian Waterway : Personal Connections with Rivers, Estuaries and Wetlands in Victoria. Report Commissioned by the Department of Sustainability and Environment

Victorians feel a strong connection to their local waterways and most have a good grasp of river health issues. The My Victorian Waterway report analyses how Victorians interact with their local waterways including rivers, lakes and estuaries. The report is based on the results of a survey completed by more than 7,000 Victorians who answered questions about how they use and care for their local waterways as well as their knowledge of river health issues and aspirations for the future of our waterways.

An exploration of young students' ability to generalise function tasks

The Early Years Generalising Project involves Australian students, Years 1-4 (age 5-9), and explores how the students grasp and express generalisations. This paper focuses on the data collected from clinical interviews with Year 3 and 4 cohorts in an investigative study focusing on the identifications, prediction and justification of function rules. It reports on students' attempts to generalise from function machine contexts, describing the various ways students express generalisation and highlighting the different levels of justification given by students. Finally, we conjecture that there are a set of stages in the expression and justification of generalisations that assist students to reach generality within tasks.

Particle wave

“Particle Wave” is comprised of six lenticular panels hung in an even, horizontal sequence. Each panel alternates between two solid colour fields as you move past it. There are six colours in total, with each colour represented twice in the spectrum. From left to right, the panels move through yellow, orange, magenta, violet, blue, green and back to yellow. The work’s title refers to the two competing theories of light, which can be understood as either paradoxical or complementary. Like these theories, the experience of viewing the work catches us in a double bind. While we can orient ourselves to see solid colour fields one by one, we are never able to fully capture them all at once. In fact, it is only through our continual movement, and the subsequent transitioning of visible colours that we register the complete spectrum. Through this viewing experience, “Particle Wave” actively engages with our peripheral vision and the transitory nature of perception. It plays with the fundamental pleasures of colour and vision, and the uneasy seduction of being unable to grasp multiple phenomena simultaneously.

Income Tax : Text, Materials and Essential Cases [8th ed.]

Tax law and policy is a vital part of Australian society. Australian society insists that the Federal Government provide extensive public programs, such as health services, education, social security, foreign aid, legal infra¬structure, regulation, police services, national defence and funding for sports development. These programs are costly to provide and are funded by taxation. The aim of this book is to introduce and explain the principles of tax law and tax policy in plain English. The book contains detailed commentary on tax principles together with extracts from cases and materials that illustrate the application of the principles. The book considers tax policy and the economic and social aspects of tax law. While tax students must develop technical competence in tax law, given the speed with which changes are made to the technical details of tax law, it is also important to grasp tax principles and policy to understand why tax law has changed or why it should change. The chapters are structured to direct readers to the key provisions of the tax law. Each case is introduced by an explanation of the facts, followed by the taxpayer’s arguments, the Commissioner’s assertions and the decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal or a court. The commentary guides readers through the issues considered in the judgments. The book contains extracts from: articles; materials dealing with tax policy; and the Commissioner’s rulings. The book also has references for further reading and medium-neutral citations (Internet citations) for cases decided since 1998.

Acting and knowing in temporary and project-based organizing : turning from the practice world to a liberation praxeology?

The purpose of this article is to offer a critical discussion about the “practice” lens and its weaknesses in addressing acting and knowledge & competence development in the context of temporary and project-based organizing. I demonstrate that “practice turn” and “phronetic proposal” are dual and opposite perspectives within the “practice” world, none of them being fully relevant to grasp project organizing and that each of them maintain the opposition between the “observer” and the “natives “of the practices. I suggest an alternate style of reasoning in order to address the dissatisfaction in face of problems, antinomies, perplexities and contradictions generated by the dichotomous thinking: a liberation praxeology rooted in Aristotle philosophy aiming, through praxis & phronesis and practical acquired experience & perfecting actualization, at reconciling facts & values and means & ends, and Ethics & Politics in the quest for human happiness and social good through project organizing.

Four Aces : Bringing Communication Perspectives to Corporate Social Responsibility

The purpose of this chapter is to address the question of how communication studies can prove its value in relation to corporate social responsibility (CSR). As many disciplines seek to understand CSR, the role of communication has been relatively underexplored despite its prevalence in demonstrating and shaping social responsibility positions and practice. Literature review. The literature review points to what we consider as four aces. Communication studies alert us to (1) how meaning is constructed through communication, something that has implications for the management of organizations as publics hold different views of CSR and expect different things from them; (2) how a dialogue between an organization and its publics should unfold; (3) how practices of transparency can assist organizations to come across as trustworthy actors; and, importantly, (4) how a complexity view is fruitful to grasp the CSR communication process. These four key themes could be instructive for practitioners who want to argue for and demonstrate the usefulness of strategic communication for the management of CSR and bridge meso and macro levels of analysis.

Communication : use multimedia in grant applications

The format of grant applications should be updated to incorporate multimedia video. This would help researchers to convey complex topics to grant-review panels. If time-poor research panels cannot quickly grasp the scientific ideas presented in a paper application, other factors, such as author affiliations and track records, may disproportionately influence project rankings...

Light of Extinction

Light of Extinction presents a diverse series of views into the complex antics of a semi-autonomous gaggle of robotic actants. Audiences initially enter into the 'backend' of the experience to be rudely confronted with the raw, messy operations of a horde of object-manipulating robotic forms. Seen through viewing apertures these ‘things’ deny any opportunity to grasp their imagined order. Audiences then flow on into the 'front end' of the work where now, seen through another aperture, the very same forms seemingly coordinate a stunning deep-field choreography, floating lusciously within inky landscapes of media, noise and embodied sound. As one series of conceptions slip into extinction, so others flow on in. The idea of the 'extinction of human experience' expresses a projected fear for that which will disappear when biodiverse worlds have descended into an era of permanent darkness. ‘Light Of Extinction' re-positions this anthropomorphic lament in order to suggest a more rounded acknowledgement of what might still remain - suggesting the previously unacknowledged power and place of autonomous, synthetic creation. Momentary disbelief gives way to a relieving celebration of the imagined birth of ‘things’ – without need for staples such as conventional light or the harmonious lullabies of long-extinguished sounds.

Exploring young student's functional thinking (Exploración del pensamiento funcional de estudiantes jóvenes)

The Early Years Generalizing Project (EYGP) involves Australian years 1 to 4 (age 5 to 9) students and investigates how they grasp and express generalizations. This paper focuses on data collected from 6 Year 1 students in an exploratory study within a clinical interview setting that required students to identify function rules. Preliminary findings suggest that the use of gestures (both by students and interviewers), self-talk (by students), and concrete acting out, assisted students to reach generalizations and to begin to express these generalities. It also appears that as students became aware of the structure, their use of gestures and selftalk tended to decrease.