Documentary display : re-viewing nonfiction film and video

Not all documentary films and videos are sober depictions of the real world. Documentary representations can present expressive, entertaining and spectacular images. This book examines such innovative approaches as they occur within the process of 'documentary display' - a practice which emphasises the visual attractions of documentary representation. Works of documentary display explore modes of exhibitionistic 'showing' in which sensation is frequently the vehicle of cognition and knowledge. Such a display is analysed within the popular and prominent forms of found-footage film, 'rockumentary', the city film, nonfiction surf film and video, and certain views of natural science topics. This accessible and informed study - with its focus on entertaining, popular, spectacular and sensational froms of nonfiction representation - makes an important contribution to theoretical analyses of documentary film and video

Confidentiality and disclosure : assessment and intervention issues

This portfolio addresses the moral, ethical and legal issues that impact upon decisions to maintain or disclose confidential communications. The tensions and moral dilemmas that are created when a conflict between these aspects arises are considered. Risk assessment procedures that inform decisions to maintain or disclose confidential information are discussed, as are issues related to the practical implementation of planned interventions. The topic is addressed by firstly reviewing professional codes of conduct and legal requirements to maintain confidentiality. The limits of confidentiality and privileged communication are then reviewed together with legal requirements of “duty to warn” or “duty of care”. These requirements are then related to risk assessment procedures and relevant interventions. Four case studies that illustrate the practical application of assessment techniques in the decision process and planned interventions are presented. They cover such diverse topics as disclosure and suicidal intent, threat of harm to a third party, risk of transmission of the AIDS virus and “duty to warn” and maintenance of a minor’s confidential communications. The ways in which these issues were addressed and the outcome is presented. NOTE: All names and details that have the potential to identify the people whose cases are presented here have been changed to protect their anonymity.

Victorianisms in twentieth century young adult fiction

Abstract: This thesis investigates the origins of contemporary fictional constructions of childhood by examining the extent to which current literary representations of children and childhood have departed from their Victorian origins. I set out to test my intuition that many contemporary young adult novels perpetuate Victorian ideals and values in their constructions of childhood, despite the overt circumstantial modernity of the childhoods they represent. The question this thesis hopes to answer therefore is, how Victorian is contemporary young adult fiction? To gauge the degree of change that has taken place since the Victorian period, differences and points of continuity between representations of nineteenth century childhood and twentieth century childhood will be sought and examined in texts from both eras. The five aspects of fictional representation that I focus on are: notions of innocence; sexuality; the child as saviour; the use of discipline and punishment to create the ideal child; and the depiction of childhood and adulthood as separate worlds. The primary theoretical framework used derives from Michel Foucault’s concepts of the construction of subjectivity through discourse, discipline and punishment, and his treatment of repression and power, drawn mainly from The History of Sexuality vol. 1 (1976) and Discipline and Punish; the Birth of the Prison (1977). I have chosen to use Foucault primarily because of the affinity between his work on the social construction of knowledge and the argument that childhood is a constructed rather than essential category; and because Foucault’s work on Victorian sexuality exposes links with current thinking rather than perpetuating assumptions about sexual repression in this period.

Beyond mimesis : place, interpretation and response

My study examines the subjective nature of artistic interpretation through the notion of mimesis as process or transformation of material. Influential factors that mediate in the artistic process, such as memory, reflection and an awareness of cultural analogy and metaphor, are examined and related to a specific project in the studio, where the mediation process is further influenced by the materials used to produce the images. My studies of the concept of mimesis have revealed an intermediary realm that exists in the space between empirical reality and its interpretation. Throughout history the process of mimesis has been integral to all forms of the arts. In Plato's time the production of an image that simulated things as they appeared to the eye was considered a desired ideal. Aristotle later introduced developments which extended this concept to include a refiguring or reforming of material derived from the original source, making new connections between existing factors and in this transformation bringing new meanings to a symbolically constituted world. This discussion of the representation of reality, the influence of a dialogue between notions of imitation and the recreation of material continues throughout the exegesis. My study emphasises the interpretive stage of the mimetic process where a consideration of these themes is most relevant and some of the factors that can influence its outcome. It is my opinion that the production of images in response to the particularities of place can be defined in three stages. Firstly, the experience of the place; secondly, the beginning and maturation of the idea or concept; where mimesis takes place, and thirdly, the production of the art work in response. This process is illustrated in Part 2 of the exegesis, where the development of the studio work is documented and linked with the themes discussed in Part 1. The geographic site or place I selected to study is adjacent to Mt. Noorat, a volcanic site in the Western district of Victoria; the surrounding plains are littered with scoria that has been thrown out of the volcano thousands of years ago. Early British, Scottish and Irish settlers to this region used the stone to construct fences reminiscent of their homeland, through this activity they cleared the land and confined and protected their stock. My interests are in factors that include - the material of the stone, notions of enclosure and safety, of boundaries and circumscribed space, and of the cultural reflection that has taken place in this reconstruction of Eurocentric vision. These walls also represent the means by which land was enclosed and property defined, moving from a situation of public access to notions of ownership and the annexation of land for individual gain. Around each point of eruption, the craggy volcanic scoria has been used to create a constructed landscape which both symbolises and mirrors the Anglo - Celtic origins of the people. I have used the legend of Narcissus to illustrate the self-reflective and introspective processes that the settlers invoked in their attempts to come to terms with a strange land. I consider that the story of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection, finds a parellel in the creation of the walls. The re-creation of artifacts from their own cultural environment provided the settlers with a familiar 'face' in an alien world; a reassurance of the familiar in an unfamiliar terrain. Part of this study is an investigation of this notion of landscape as cultural reflection. Geographers have long known that landscape is a cultural construct, an historically evolving ideal manifested in painting, prints and drawings as well as poetry, gardens and parks. One can view these constructions as illustrations or images of meaning which constitute representations of cultural ideals. The neo-classical influence reflected in the paintings of artists who accompanied the early expeditions to Australia demonstrates these themes. The medium of the mirror provides the opportunity to suggest aspects of a cultural reflection and an awareness of identity that has relevance to contemporary Australian culture, therefore, I have allowed it to play a major role throughout this study. Its role in mimesis, firstly, as a reflection in an imitative sense is established, then in its refigurative role, in which the similarities between the original and the reformed rely more on correlative factors than representation. I have used examples from the history of art to illustrate this potential. The formation and development of a narrative involving reflection threads throughout the thesis, both in the visual presentation and in the exegesis. The production of a body of paintings, drawings and sculpture reflect my interpretation and response to the particular site. The correspondences between these works and my theoretical concerns is articulated in the exegesis. The metaphor implied by the use of the walls as agents of enclosure also refers to the capacity of the individual to be confined by notional boundaries and restrictive practices where totalising systems of thought dominate theoretical debate and restrict its freedom. I have used images where gaps in the walls represent the potential implicit to the concept of liminal space, where the spectator moves from one physical space to another and from one stage of development to another. The threshold of this opening in the walls becomes the site where transformation can take place, a metaphor for the mimetic process where the initial experience is translated and transformed into the final product. The paintings, drawings and other works in this series fulfil the role of marks on the surface of the mirror, separating the initial experience from the processes of memory, reflection and speculation. The works draw attention to the materiality that they represent and yet provide the opportunity for new insights and experiences, allowing the subjective nature of artistic activity to combine symbolic elements relating to the site, resulting in the production of meaning.

Developing mathematical understanding

The notion of scaffolding is used to introduce research on differentiated learning trajectories that make use of activities termed 'prompts'. The prompts are used to enable children to develop the necessary mathematical understanding and skills to keep up with the rest of the class.  They focus on aspects of teaching that teachers identified as important aspects of classroom interactivity that contribute to the understanding: the use of physical representation of concepts: actions aimed at building conceptual links; and the use of language based activity.

Knowing schooling, identity and pedagogy visually

This research produced in one region in Ghana examines the production of educational practices, relations of power and student experiences within teaching and non-teaching spaces in junior secondary settings. The strength of the visual approach in interrogating school cultural norms and the problematising of the tangled complexities of knowing about schooling, identity and pedagogy are outlined. An important aspect of the study is the foregrounding of educational practice as a social act occurring in response to historical circumstances and changing social contexts (Brown & Jones, 2001). We see this work as an important step towards democratization of the research relationship and empowerment of students to contribute to the way they are educated. But also we are wary of how representation through visual methods also can 'frame' participants and the researchers. We recognise that one way to uncover how school practices are exemplified in Ghana is to put students in the middle of researching their experiences. In this way, our research moved from constructing students as simply consumers of adult designed and managed products to practices based on democratic participation (Thomson & Gunter, 2007). Throughout the research journey we were guided by the fact that knowledge is not neutral or to be discovered. Culture and communicative processes are essential determinants of reality. In this study the students as researchers, produced photographs that trigger dialectical conversations of students’ perspectives that foreground their experiences at school. This enabled us to digress from dominant positivistic empiricism to a more legitimate ethical practice, and understanding of the intricacies of educational practice, the norms and structures that underpin everyday actions in schools.

Multi-media and real fiction theatre making

Visual images, in the process of both the imagination and conception of a theatre production, are central to contemporary practice in drama-making. The use of multi-media in theatre is not only a fruitful way to represent the visual component of a particular experience, it but also constitutes a way of speaking the unspoken. Visual language expresses through multi-media and allows broaching taboo subjects, speaking directly to the audience in spite of the indirect form and drawing subtle connections with the live action so as to make meaning. The tension between live action and any form of visual art blurs the lines between imagination and reality. The multi-media theatre is a metaphor for the human mind exposed to social reality. It consists of interruptions, half-finished conversations and ideological aspersions including its primary function of meta-representation.

Alchemy & ambiguity : poetic responses to visual art, primarily portraiture

The author critiques the contemporary definition of poetry responding to art (the verbal representation of visual representation), and shows that this process is unstable and introduces changes, and by this means the visual work of art and the poem complement each other to influence the viewer/reader to produce new meanings.

A procedural, minimal input, natural terrain plug-in for Blender

This project uses methods of terrain representation, creation and realism described in literature. We find that using a combination of Fractional Brownian Motion and procedural formation of rivers via squig curves to form initial terrain, with hydraulic erosion for post processing, we have full control over the style of terrain: from jagged mountains to flat regions; and the phase of river from tightly rock controlled to flood plain regions.

Everyday risks and professional dilemmas : fieldwork with alcohol-based (sporting) subcultures

This article discusses some of the everyday risks and professional dilemmas encountered when conducting participant-observation based research into the use and meaning of alcohol among fans of Australian Rules football. The key risks and dilemmas were those that emerged from female researchers entering into a predominantly male football subculture in which alcohol is routinely (and often excessively) consumed, the negotiation of key gatekeepers, the potential dangers of conducting research with participants who are inebriated and the duty of care to research participants. The article draws on an eighteen-month period of ethnographic fieldwork to highlight the risks and dilemmas negotiated and re-negotiated throughout the research process. The article argues that a failure to attend to these and other risks and dilemmas can threaten the viability of research among drinking-based communities and subcultures.

Double horizons : shifting figure and ground in some Australian photography

Is Web 2.0 a threat to representative democracy? A deliberation through the Australian carbon tax debate

The influence of social media is intensifying in global societies. As the technologies become cheaper and the acceptance of Web 2.0 becomes widespread, the power of social media on citizens, particularly the integrated influence of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs cannot be underestimated. In this paper, we attempt a deliberation through the lens of carbon tax debate in Australia where the influence of social media has perhaps begun to portend the role of elected representation in this representative democracy.

Learning science through representational generation/negotiation

This paper will describe the key features and theoretical underpinnings of a representation-intensive pedagogy developed in a six-year research program, and its relationship to the epistemic practices of science. The pedagogy draws on socio cultural, pragmatist perspectives on learning and cognition that view knowledge as grounded in multi modal representations that are discursively generated, negotiated and coordinated in science classrooms. From this perspective, the learning challenges identified by research in the conceptual change tradition are seen as inherently representational in nature, and the central feature of the pedagogy involves students generating representations in response to structured challenges. The paper will interrogate the key aspects of the pedagogy and the way it supports learning, using evidence from a range of units designed by the researchers working in partnership with a small group of teachers. The role of representations in supporting learning will be explored in terms of the way they afford and productively constrain knowledge generation, mirroring the epistemic practices of science. Lesson transcripts, and examples of student artefacts will be presented to demonstrate significant reasoning and learning outcomes.

Forces : teaching ideas with a representational focus

These teaching notes were generated from an Australian Research Council (ARC)
research project titled ‘The Role of Representation in Learning Science’ in which
the topic of Forces was taught to Year 7 students through the adoption of a representation construction approach. A description of several of the activities that were undertaken is given as well as examples of students’ work. Insights into the representation construction apporach that was adopted by the teachers are also provided.

Ideas about matter : teaching ideas with a representational focus

These teaching notes were generated from an Australian Research Council (ARC)
research project titled ‘The Role of Representation in Learning Science’ in which
the topic of Ideas about Matter was taught to Year 7 students through the adoption of a representation construction approach. A description of several of the activities that were undertaken is given as well as examples of students’ work. Insights into the representation construction approach that was adopted by the teachers are also provided.