I am a professor and discipline lead for the Curtin iSchool in the Humanities at Curtin University. My research and writing focuses on the three overlapping areas of the Internet, eLearning and Disability.
s Due 1 March 2018 Disability media studies is a new and growing area of interdisciplinary academ... more s Due 1 March 2018 Disability media studies is a new and growing area of interdisciplinary academic interest and particularly at the intersection of media studies and disability studies. Trying to build a dialog between these related yet separate disciplines around disability and media is a challenging process. This edited collection will have a focus on disability media in Africa. It seeks to expand some of the existing, often western and Global North facing, scholarship in this area and expand it to include African perspectives. In this collection we are looking to gather writing about disability and media in Africa and also writing by academics from Africa about disability and media. Dahl (1993) noted that one cannot legislate attitude change. While the media can be a vehicle that reinforces existing prejudice and discrimination towards people with disabilities, it also has the potential to bring about positive change in public perceptions and positively influence attitudes, beliefs, and misconceptions around disability. The idea to develop this book came from day-today informal conversations, formal research and observing media material where people with disability are portrayed differently from other people both in Africa and throughout the world. It is these differences which this book hopes to highlight and reshape towards people with disability where the same media which previously reinforced their inequality can be used to bring justice and equity to their lives.
Kent, M., Ellis, K., & Xu, J. eds, (2018). Chinese Social Media: Social, Cultural and Political... more Kent, M., Ellis, K., & Xu, J. eds, (2018). Chinese Social Media: Social, Cultural and Political Implications, Routledge.
Scholars have long recognized the media’s role in shaping and reflecting the way we see the world... more Scholars have long recognized the media’s role in shaping and reflecting the way we see the world, ourselves, and others. In particular, they have understood that the media plays a vital part in the social and cultural construction of disability. Moreover, as new types of media proliferate, and become increasingly important in our daily lives, addressing the sometimes difficult questions surrounding the relationship between disability and the media is more important than ever. In particular, what is the media’s role in the disablement of people with impairments and can it also act as a powerful agent of change? And how are attitudes towards people with disabilities constantly reinscribed through media such as television, film, and the Internet?
Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series enables users readily to access and make sense of the essential texts of disability-and-media scholarship. The collection is organized into four principal parts: Disability and the Mass Media; Disability and Film; Disability and Popular Culture; and Disability, the Internet, and New Media.
Fully indexed and with an introduction newly written by the editors, Disability and the Media is an indispensable reference resource for researchers and students.
Since the first MOOC was launched at the University of Manitoba in 2008, this new form of the mas... more Since the first MOOC was launched at the University of Manitoba in 2008, this new form of the massification of higher education has been a rollercoaster ride for the university sector. The New York Times famously declared 2012 to be the year of the MOOC. However, by 2014, the number of academic leaders who believed the model was unsustainable doubled to more than 50%. While the MOOC hype has somewhat subsided, the attitudes and anxieties of this peak time can still be seen influencing universities and their administrations.
This is the first volume that addresses Massive Open Online Courses from a post-MOOC perspective. We move beyond the initial hype and revolutionary promises of the peak-MOOC period and take a sober look at what endures in an area that is still rapidly growing, albeit without the headlines. This book explores the future of the MOOC in higher education by examining what went right, what went wrong and where to next for the massification of higher education and online learning and teaching. The chapters in this collection address these questions from a wide variety of different backgrounds, methodologies and regional perspectives. They explore learner experiences, the move towards course for credit, innovative design, transformations and implications of the MOOC in turn.
This book is valuable reading for students and academics interested in education, eLearning, globalisation and information services.
This chapter examines the place of people with disabilities in the context of digital everyday wo... more This chapter examines the place of people with disabilities in the context of digital everyday worlds. It starts with an overview of the social construction of disability, and introduces the social model of disability as a way of approaching the challenges faced by people with disabilities, particularly online. It then argues why these issues need to be considered and addressed, particularly from a human rights perspective, before turning to look more specifically at the contested areas of access and visibility that the digital everyday world presents. Finally, the chapter addresses future challenges as what we might think of as online and offline worlds increasingly overlap and intersect
Call for Papers:
Gaming Disability: Disability perspectives on contemporary video games
Edited ... more Call for Papers: Gaming Disability: Disability perspectives on contemporary video games Edited by Dr Katie Ellis, Dr Mike Kent & Dr Tama Leaver Internet Studies, Curtin University
Abstracts Due 15 February 2017 Video games are a significant and still rapidly expanding area of popular culture. Media Access Australia estimated that in 2012 some twenty percent of gamers were people with a disability, yet, the relationship between video gaming, online gaming and disability is an area that until now has been largely under explored. This collection seeks to fill that gap. We are looking for scholars from both disability studies and games studies, along with game developers and innovators and disability activists and other people with interest in this area to contribute to this edited collection. We aim to highlight the history of people with disabilities participating in video games and explore the contemporary gaming environment as it relates to disability. This exploration takes place in the context of the changing nature of gaming, particularly the shift from what we might consider traditional desktop computer mediation onto mobile devices and augmented reality platforms. The collection will also explore future possibilities and pitfalls for people with disabilities and gaming. Areas of interest that chapters might address include • Disability narratives and representation in gaming • Accessibility of gaming for people with disabilities • Mods, hacks and alterations to games and devices for and by people with disabilities • Augmented reality games and disability • Disability gaming histories • Mobile gaming platforms and disability • Specific design elements (such as sound) in terms of designing accessible games • Gaming, television and disability • Future directions for disability and gaming
Submission procedure:
Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstracts of no more than 500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to Dr Mike Kent <m.kent@curtin.edu.au> by 15 February 2017. (Please indicate in your proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a response by 15 March 2016, with those provisionally accepted due as chapters of approximately 6000 words (including references) by 15 June 2016. If you would like any further information, please contact Mike Kent.
About the editors: The editors are all from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University and have a history of successfully publishing edited collections in the areas of and gaming, disability, and new media.
Dr Katie Ellis is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability and the media extending across both representation and active possibilities for social inclusion. Her books include Disability and New Media (2011 with Mike Kent), Disabling Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing and Obesity: Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan & Pia Lebeck), Disability and the Media (2015; with Gerard Goggin), Disability and Popular Culture (2015) and her recent edited collection with Mike Kent Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives (2017).
Dr Mike Kent is a senior lecturer and Head of Department in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Mike’s research focus is on people with disabilities and their use of, and access to, information communication technology and the Internet. His other area of research interest is in higher education and particularly online education, as well as online social networking platforms. His book, with Katie Ellis, Disability and New Media was published in 2011 and his edited collection, with Tama Leaver, An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, was released in 2014. His latest edited collection, with Katie Ellis, Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives is available 2017, along with his forthcoming edited collections Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: What went right, what went wrong and where to now, with Rebecca Bennett and Chinese Social Media Today: Critical Perspectives with Katie Ellis and Jian Xu.
Dr Tama Leaver is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. He researches online identities, digital media distribution and networked learning. He previously spent several years as a lecturer in Higher Education Development, and is currently also a Research Fellow in Curtin’s Centre for Culture and Technology. His book Artificial Culture: Identity, Technology and Bodies was released through Routledge in 2012 and his edited collections An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, with Mike Kent, was released in 2014 through Routledge, and Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape, with Michele Wilson, was released through Bloomsbury Academic in 2016.
An Education in Facebook? examines and critiques the role of Facebook in the evolving landscape o... more An Education in Facebook? examines and critiques the role of Facebook in the evolving landscape of higher education. At times a mandated part of classroom use, at others an informal network for students, Facebook has become an inevitable component of college life, acting alternately as an advertising, recruitment and learning tool. But what happens when educators use a corporate product, which exists outside of the control of universities, to educate students?
An Education in Facebook? provides a broad discussion of the issues educators are already facing on college campuses worldwide, particularly in areas such as privacy, copyright and social media etiquette. By examining current uses of Facebook in university settings, this book offers both a thorough analytical critique as well as practical advice for educators and administrators looking to find ways to thoughtfully integrate Facebook and other digital communication tools into their classrooms and campuses.
Disability and New Media examines how digital design is triggering disability when it could be a ... more Disability and New Media examines how digital design is triggering disability when it could be a solution. Video and animation now play a prominent role in the World Wide Web and new types of protocols have been developed to accommodate this increasing complexity. However, as this has happened, the potential for individual users to control how the content is displayed has been diminished. Accessibility choices are often portrayed as merely technical decisions but they are highly political and betray a disturbing trend of ableist assumption that serve to exclude people with disability. It has been argued that the Internet will not be fully accessible until disability is considered a cultural identity in the same way that class, gender and sexuality are. Kent and Ellis build on this notion using more recent Web 2.0 phenomena, social networking sites, virtual worlds and file sharing.
Many of the studies on disability and the web have focused on the early web, prior to the development of social networking applications such as Facebook, YouTube and Second Life. This book discusses an array of such applications that have grown within and alongside Web 2.0, and analyzes how they both prevent and embrace the inclusion of people with disability.
This book considers the specific and at this stage largely unexplored impacts of our increasing r... more This book considers the specific and at this stage largely unexplored impacts of our increasing reliance on social media for people with disability through a number of international case studies.
Audio description (AD) – also referred to as video description, video programming or descriptive ... more Audio description (AD) – also referred to as video description, video programming or descriptive video – is a track of narration included between the lines of dialogue which describes important visual elements of a television show, movie or performance. It is an essential feature in order to make television accessible to audiences who are blind or vision impaired. As the human rights of people with disability become more prioritised and expanding technologies allow an individualisation of the experience of television, AD is becoming increasingly available across the world. For example, from its rudimentary beginnings in Spain in the 1940s, to date AD is available through terrestrial broadcast television in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Korea, Thailand, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and a number of other European countries. However, it is not available on Australian broadcast television, despite the federally funded agency Screen Australia having created a back catalogue of AD content. Screen Australia is the key funding body for the Australian film industry and according to several policy documents requires funded dramas to create an AD track. While producers may create these tracks, there is no mechanism to broadcast them on television. The Australian government and broadcast industry have stated that they believe it to be too technically complicated and financially prohibitive to offer here. This report outlines an AD position paper based on 5 years of research with Australian audiences with disability conducted by researchers in the Department of Internet Studies and the Critical Disability Research Network at Curtin University Australia. The report focuses in particular on the views of Australians with blindness and vision impairments who have taken part in these projects. The report is divided into three sections. Part 1 considers the broader context of the role of television in facilitating social inclusion, including the idea that television access is a fundamental human right. Part 2 considers the ways AD can be delivered, and begins with a brief history of AD, from its beginnings in the middle part of last century to the modern and innovative formats available today. The Big Access Media (BAM) app is presented as an immediate solution, and we argue the industry, especially the public Audio description position paper • page vii broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), utilise this app to immediately offer AD content to Australians. It will consider how standards, guidelines and legislation have shaped the AD industry worldwide and offer some common guidelines regarding principles, objectivity and voicing. The provision of AD in Australia is also discussed, specifically in relation to a similar accessibility issue – the provision of closed captions. The section concludes by providing case studies on two aspects of Australian media – the two ABC AD trials and the efforts of Screen Australia to increase AD content in this country. While the insights of blind and visually impaired audience members who require AD are featured throughout the report, Part 3 moves on to discuss these observations in more detail. This focuses on feedback from people regarding their access to television which had been carried out in two earlier research projects – this included 13 interview participants with vision impairment and a further 64 who participated in online surveys. Common themes that emerged included: § The importance of the public broadcaster. § Television being a social activity. § The feeling of exclusion – television is considered integral for inclusion. § Issues surrounding cost – the “economics of disability”. § Contradictory approaches to technology – some were willing to try new technology, others preferred older technology and were unwilling to upgrade. § The frustration that Australian content is audio described when exported overseas or released on DVD but is not available on local broadcast television. § Frustration with watching non-AD television content once AD has been experienced. The section concludes by also considering the potential benefits of AD to other audiences, including the elderly, people with intellectual disabilities and people whose first language is not English. The following recommendations are therefore proposed: § AD be made available on Australian free-to-air television either via terrestrial broadcast, catch-up portals or a dedicated app. § Any imported programming with an AD track created for international audiences must be licensed with the AD track for distribution in Australia. Audio description position paper • page viii § Further research is conducted to establish the mainstream benefits of AD and talking electronic programing guides (EPGs). The ways people consume media is constantly changing – if these formats and technologies can be embraced by the mainstream,…
People with disabilities report a number of consistently disabling access issues while moving thr... more People with disabilities report a number of consistently disabling access issues while moving through urban environments. These can result in social isolation and cause people with disability to avoid going to new or hard to get to places, often being late due to public transport issues, getting disoriented, experiencing fatigue, having to ask strangers for help, and needing a support person to accompany them. Mobile devices and accessible applications (apps) are becoming an integral part of navigating urban space for all Australians, including those with disabilities. Mobile phones increasingly characterise our experiences of public spaces, replacing both interpersonal interactions and transforming the way we traverse these spaces. The participants in this research were therefore recruited to determine whether it is possible for people with disabilities to become more adept at navigating urban environments using technological advances like Google Maps and Google Street View, technology which is easily accessible via their smartphones. This report details findings of the research project Using smartphones to navigate urban spaces – People with disabilities and the role of mobile technologies in three WA locations. This 9-month pilot study was carried out to test the feasibility of this type of research before undertaking a larger scale study. It reviewed prior research in this area, tracked how people with disabilities used their smartphones via focus groups, gathered data from one-on-one interviews, and designed and monitored the use of a unique research app (the Urban Spaces app) to discover initial answers to the following key questions ? How are people with disabilities using smartphones to mitigate the effects of their impairments and compensate for inaccessibility in urban spaces? ? Are people with longer term impairments more adept at this navigation? ? Does the use of smartphones improve social inclusion? The research focused specifically on two cohorts – people with vision impairments and wheelchair users – in two distinct Western Australian locations, namely the Perth metropolitan area and in the less urbanised southwest region of Western Australia around the regional city of Bunbury. This report begins with a brief overview of the history and current use of smartphones – by the general population and by people with disabilities. A comprehensive literature review then follows, covering the two main foci of current research in this area – the design of smartphones and their use as assistive technology (AT), and the use of smartphones as a socially empowering device. The report then considers the methodology used in the study. The findings of the pilot report are then outlined. These are divided into three sections. The first details findings from focus groups held in Perth at the disability support centre VisAbility and Curtin University. These groups captured insights from a total of ten people with disabilities living in the Perth metropolitan area – three wheelchair users and seven with a vision impairment. Participants acknowledged that their smartphone was an essential requirement for navigating urban spaces and decreasing social isolation. Key benefits mentioned included: ? GPS built-in functionality – examples include the ability to provide your location to taxis and other transport services and the ability to identify the location of objects and places nearby such as accessible toilets. ? Mapping – specific guidance on going to a particular place. ? Quick web search – use of digital assistants such as Siri to provide an easy hands-free option to perform quick searches and find locations. ? Environment monitoring – identification of specific weather conditions in a localised area. ? Optical character recognition (OCR) and image recognition – identification of documents, signage and landmarks for blind and low vision users. The second details findings from focus groups and interviews with people with disabilities living in the southwest region of Western Australia. Five people participated in this stage of the research – three participants that used wheelchairs, one who was blind and one who was an orientation and mobility specialist with Guide Dogs WA. These participants believed the smartphone was a useful tool and a number of essential smartphone features were noted, including GPS – for example Apple maps – and route finding, voice over and text-to-speech technology, SMS messages, simple phone calls, weather apps or websites, digital assistants such as Siri, in-built voice recognition services and the notetaking function. However, participants determined that these features did not necessarily change how accessible spaces were for them, although they did note the usefulness of apps such as Snap Send Solve which could be used to report on inaccessible spaces. The results section concludes with an assessment of the apps available to people with disabilities that may improve their navigation…
Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge&#39;s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Medi... more Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge&#39;s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series enables users readily to access and make sense of the essential texts of disability-and-media scholarship
Abstract Over a six week period, 845 people with low vision or blindness responded to our survey ... more Abstract Over a six week period, 845 people with low vision or blindness responded to our survey regarding how they used their smartphone, contributing to the first ever large-scale research project on the importance of smartphones in the Australian blind community. The results were significant − 79% of people with vision impairment use smartphones. They are part of their everyday lives and used for a broad range of purposes. Furthermore, the broad adoption of this device is a recent phenomenon – there has been a 365% increase in smartphone use in less than five years. While the rapid uptake of the smartphone by the vision impaired community demonstrates one level of ‘access’ is being achieved, we also identified ongoing issues impacting users. Our research demonstrates that people with disability must be included in the development process in order to ensure technological advancements are empowering and inclusive, especially in challenging times.
s Due 1 March 2018 Disability media studies is a new and growing area of interdisciplinary academ... more s Due 1 March 2018 Disability media studies is a new and growing area of interdisciplinary academic interest and particularly at the intersection of media studies and disability studies. Trying to build a dialog between these related yet separate disciplines around disability and media is a challenging process. This edited collection will have a focus on disability media in Africa. It seeks to expand some of the existing, often western and Global North facing, scholarship in this area and expand it to include African perspectives. In this collection we are looking to gather writing about disability and media in Africa and also writing by academics from Africa about disability and media. Dahl (1993) noted that one cannot legislate attitude change. While the media can be a vehicle that reinforces existing prejudice and discrimination towards people with disabilities, it also has the potential to bring about positive change in public perceptions and positively influence attitudes, beliefs, and misconceptions around disability. The idea to develop this book came from day-today informal conversations, formal research and observing media material where people with disability are portrayed differently from other people both in Africa and throughout the world. It is these differences which this book hopes to highlight and reshape towards people with disability where the same media which previously reinforced their inequality can be used to bring justice and equity to their lives.
Kent, M., Ellis, K., & Xu, J. eds, (2018). Chinese Social Media: Social, Cultural and Political... more Kent, M., Ellis, K., & Xu, J. eds, (2018). Chinese Social Media: Social, Cultural and Political Implications, Routledge.
Scholars have long recognized the media’s role in shaping and reflecting the way we see the world... more Scholars have long recognized the media’s role in shaping and reflecting the way we see the world, ourselves, and others. In particular, they have understood that the media plays a vital part in the social and cultural construction of disability. Moreover, as new types of media proliferate, and become increasingly important in our daily lives, addressing the sometimes difficult questions surrounding the relationship between disability and the media is more important than ever. In particular, what is the media’s role in the disablement of people with impairments and can it also act as a powerful agent of change? And how are attitudes towards people with disabilities constantly reinscribed through media such as television, film, and the Internet?
Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series enables users readily to access and make sense of the essential texts of disability-and-media scholarship. The collection is organized into four principal parts: Disability and the Mass Media; Disability and Film; Disability and Popular Culture; and Disability, the Internet, and New Media.
Fully indexed and with an introduction newly written by the editors, Disability and the Media is an indispensable reference resource for researchers and students.
Since the first MOOC was launched at the University of Manitoba in 2008, this new form of the mas... more Since the first MOOC was launched at the University of Manitoba in 2008, this new form of the massification of higher education has been a rollercoaster ride for the university sector. The New York Times famously declared 2012 to be the year of the MOOC. However, by 2014, the number of academic leaders who believed the model was unsustainable doubled to more than 50%. While the MOOC hype has somewhat subsided, the attitudes and anxieties of this peak time can still be seen influencing universities and their administrations.
This is the first volume that addresses Massive Open Online Courses from a post-MOOC perspective. We move beyond the initial hype and revolutionary promises of the peak-MOOC period and take a sober look at what endures in an area that is still rapidly growing, albeit without the headlines. This book explores the future of the MOOC in higher education by examining what went right, what went wrong and where to next for the massification of higher education and online learning and teaching. The chapters in this collection address these questions from a wide variety of different backgrounds, methodologies and regional perspectives. They explore learner experiences, the move towards course for credit, innovative design, transformations and implications of the MOOC in turn.
This book is valuable reading for students and academics interested in education, eLearning, globalisation and information services.
This chapter examines the place of people with disabilities in the context of digital everyday wo... more This chapter examines the place of people with disabilities in the context of digital everyday worlds. It starts with an overview of the social construction of disability, and introduces the social model of disability as a way of approaching the challenges faced by people with disabilities, particularly online. It then argues why these issues need to be considered and addressed, particularly from a human rights perspective, before turning to look more specifically at the contested areas of access and visibility that the digital everyday world presents. Finally, the chapter addresses future challenges as what we might think of as online and offline worlds increasingly overlap and intersect
Call for Papers:
Gaming Disability: Disability perspectives on contemporary video games
Edited ... more Call for Papers: Gaming Disability: Disability perspectives on contemporary video games Edited by Dr Katie Ellis, Dr Mike Kent & Dr Tama Leaver Internet Studies, Curtin University
Abstracts Due 15 February 2017 Video games are a significant and still rapidly expanding area of popular culture. Media Access Australia estimated that in 2012 some twenty percent of gamers were people with a disability, yet, the relationship between video gaming, online gaming and disability is an area that until now has been largely under explored. This collection seeks to fill that gap. We are looking for scholars from both disability studies and games studies, along with game developers and innovators and disability activists and other people with interest in this area to contribute to this edited collection. We aim to highlight the history of people with disabilities participating in video games and explore the contemporary gaming environment as it relates to disability. This exploration takes place in the context of the changing nature of gaming, particularly the shift from what we might consider traditional desktop computer mediation onto mobile devices and augmented reality platforms. The collection will also explore future possibilities and pitfalls for people with disabilities and gaming. Areas of interest that chapters might address include • Disability narratives and representation in gaming • Accessibility of gaming for people with disabilities • Mods, hacks and alterations to games and devices for and by people with disabilities • Augmented reality games and disability • Disability gaming histories • Mobile gaming platforms and disability • Specific design elements (such as sound) in terms of designing accessible games • Gaming, television and disability • Future directions for disability and gaming
Submission procedure:
Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstracts of no more than 500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to Dr Mike Kent <m.kent@curtin.edu.au> by 15 February 2017. (Please indicate in your proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a response by 15 March 2016, with those provisionally accepted due as chapters of approximately 6000 words (including references) by 15 June 2016. If you would like any further information, please contact Mike Kent.
About the editors: The editors are all from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University and have a history of successfully publishing edited collections in the areas of and gaming, disability, and new media.
Dr Katie Ellis is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability and the media extending across both representation and active possibilities for social inclusion. Her books include Disability and New Media (2011 with Mike Kent), Disabling Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing and Obesity: Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan & Pia Lebeck), Disability and the Media (2015; with Gerard Goggin), Disability and Popular Culture (2015) and her recent edited collection with Mike Kent Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives (2017).
Dr Mike Kent is a senior lecturer and Head of Department in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Mike’s research focus is on people with disabilities and their use of, and access to, information communication technology and the Internet. His other area of research interest is in higher education and particularly online education, as well as online social networking platforms. His book, with Katie Ellis, Disability and New Media was published in 2011 and his edited collection, with Tama Leaver, An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, was released in 2014. His latest edited collection, with Katie Ellis, Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives is available 2017, along with his forthcoming edited collections Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: What went right, what went wrong and where to now, with Rebecca Bennett and Chinese Social Media Today: Critical Perspectives with Katie Ellis and Jian Xu.
Dr Tama Leaver is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. He researches online identities, digital media distribution and networked learning. He previously spent several years as a lecturer in Higher Education Development, and is currently also a Research Fellow in Curtin’s Centre for Culture and Technology. His book Artificial Culture: Identity, Technology and Bodies was released through Routledge in 2012 and his edited collections An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, with Mike Kent, was released in 2014 through Routledge, and Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape, with Michele Wilson, was released through Bloomsbury Academic in 2016.
An Education in Facebook? examines and critiques the role of Facebook in the evolving landscape o... more An Education in Facebook? examines and critiques the role of Facebook in the evolving landscape of higher education. At times a mandated part of classroom use, at others an informal network for students, Facebook has become an inevitable component of college life, acting alternately as an advertising, recruitment and learning tool. But what happens when educators use a corporate product, which exists outside of the control of universities, to educate students?
An Education in Facebook? provides a broad discussion of the issues educators are already facing on college campuses worldwide, particularly in areas such as privacy, copyright and social media etiquette. By examining current uses of Facebook in university settings, this book offers both a thorough analytical critique as well as practical advice for educators and administrators looking to find ways to thoughtfully integrate Facebook and other digital communication tools into their classrooms and campuses.
Disability and New Media examines how digital design is triggering disability when it could be a ... more Disability and New Media examines how digital design is triggering disability when it could be a solution. Video and animation now play a prominent role in the World Wide Web and new types of protocols have been developed to accommodate this increasing complexity. However, as this has happened, the potential for individual users to control how the content is displayed has been diminished. Accessibility choices are often portrayed as merely technical decisions but they are highly political and betray a disturbing trend of ableist assumption that serve to exclude people with disability. It has been argued that the Internet will not be fully accessible until disability is considered a cultural identity in the same way that class, gender and sexuality are. Kent and Ellis build on this notion using more recent Web 2.0 phenomena, social networking sites, virtual worlds and file sharing.
Many of the studies on disability and the web have focused on the early web, prior to the development of social networking applications such as Facebook, YouTube and Second Life. This book discusses an array of such applications that have grown within and alongside Web 2.0, and analyzes how they both prevent and embrace the inclusion of people with disability.
This book considers the specific and at this stage largely unexplored impacts of our increasing r... more This book considers the specific and at this stage largely unexplored impacts of our increasing reliance on social media for people with disability through a number of international case studies.
Audio description (AD) – also referred to as video description, video programming or descriptive ... more Audio description (AD) – also referred to as video description, video programming or descriptive video – is a track of narration included between the lines of dialogue which describes important visual elements of a television show, movie or performance. It is an essential feature in order to make television accessible to audiences who are blind or vision impaired. As the human rights of people with disability become more prioritised and expanding technologies allow an individualisation of the experience of television, AD is becoming increasingly available across the world. For example, from its rudimentary beginnings in Spain in the 1940s, to date AD is available through terrestrial broadcast television in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Korea, Thailand, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and a number of other European countries. However, it is not available on Australian broadcast television, despite the federally funded agency Screen Australia having created a back catalogue of AD content. Screen Australia is the key funding body for the Australian film industry and according to several policy documents requires funded dramas to create an AD track. While producers may create these tracks, there is no mechanism to broadcast them on television. The Australian government and broadcast industry have stated that they believe it to be too technically complicated and financially prohibitive to offer here. This report outlines an AD position paper based on 5 years of research with Australian audiences with disability conducted by researchers in the Department of Internet Studies and the Critical Disability Research Network at Curtin University Australia. The report focuses in particular on the views of Australians with blindness and vision impairments who have taken part in these projects. The report is divided into three sections. Part 1 considers the broader context of the role of television in facilitating social inclusion, including the idea that television access is a fundamental human right. Part 2 considers the ways AD can be delivered, and begins with a brief history of AD, from its beginnings in the middle part of last century to the modern and innovative formats available today. The Big Access Media (BAM) app is presented as an immediate solution, and we argue the industry, especially the public Audio description position paper • page vii broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), utilise this app to immediately offer AD content to Australians. It will consider how standards, guidelines and legislation have shaped the AD industry worldwide and offer some common guidelines regarding principles, objectivity and voicing. The provision of AD in Australia is also discussed, specifically in relation to a similar accessibility issue – the provision of closed captions. The section concludes by providing case studies on two aspects of Australian media – the two ABC AD trials and the efforts of Screen Australia to increase AD content in this country. While the insights of blind and visually impaired audience members who require AD are featured throughout the report, Part 3 moves on to discuss these observations in more detail. This focuses on feedback from people regarding their access to television which had been carried out in two earlier research projects – this included 13 interview participants with vision impairment and a further 64 who participated in online surveys. Common themes that emerged included: § The importance of the public broadcaster. § Television being a social activity. § The feeling of exclusion – television is considered integral for inclusion. § Issues surrounding cost – the “economics of disability”. § Contradictory approaches to technology – some were willing to try new technology, others preferred older technology and were unwilling to upgrade. § The frustration that Australian content is audio described when exported overseas or released on DVD but is not available on local broadcast television. § Frustration with watching non-AD television content once AD has been experienced. The section concludes by also considering the potential benefits of AD to other audiences, including the elderly, people with intellectual disabilities and people whose first language is not English. The following recommendations are therefore proposed: § AD be made available on Australian free-to-air television either via terrestrial broadcast, catch-up portals or a dedicated app. § Any imported programming with an AD track created for international audiences must be licensed with the AD track for distribution in Australia. Audio description position paper • page viii § Further research is conducted to establish the mainstream benefits of AD and talking electronic programing guides (EPGs). The ways people consume media is constantly changing – if these formats and technologies can be embraced by the mainstream,…
People with disabilities report a number of consistently disabling access issues while moving thr... more People with disabilities report a number of consistently disabling access issues while moving through urban environments. These can result in social isolation and cause people with disability to avoid going to new or hard to get to places, often being late due to public transport issues, getting disoriented, experiencing fatigue, having to ask strangers for help, and needing a support person to accompany them. Mobile devices and accessible applications (apps) are becoming an integral part of navigating urban space for all Australians, including those with disabilities. Mobile phones increasingly characterise our experiences of public spaces, replacing both interpersonal interactions and transforming the way we traverse these spaces. The participants in this research were therefore recruited to determine whether it is possible for people with disabilities to become more adept at navigating urban environments using technological advances like Google Maps and Google Street View, technology which is easily accessible via their smartphones. This report details findings of the research project Using smartphones to navigate urban spaces – People with disabilities and the role of mobile technologies in three WA locations. This 9-month pilot study was carried out to test the feasibility of this type of research before undertaking a larger scale study. It reviewed prior research in this area, tracked how people with disabilities used their smartphones via focus groups, gathered data from one-on-one interviews, and designed and monitored the use of a unique research app (the Urban Spaces app) to discover initial answers to the following key questions ? How are people with disabilities using smartphones to mitigate the effects of their impairments and compensate for inaccessibility in urban spaces? ? Are people with longer term impairments more adept at this navigation? ? Does the use of smartphones improve social inclusion? The research focused specifically on two cohorts – people with vision impairments and wheelchair users – in two distinct Western Australian locations, namely the Perth metropolitan area and in the less urbanised southwest region of Western Australia around the regional city of Bunbury. This report begins with a brief overview of the history and current use of smartphones – by the general population and by people with disabilities. A comprehensive literature review then follows, covering the two main foci of current research in this area – the design of smartphones and their use as assistive technology (AT), and the use of smartphones as a socially empowering device. The report then considers the methodology used in the study. The findings of the pilot report are then outlined. These are divided into three sections. The first details findings from focus groups held in Perth at the disability support centre VisAbility and Curtin University. These groups captured insights from a total of ten people with disabilities living in the Perth metropolitan area – three wheelchair users and seven with a vision impairment. Participants acknowledged that their smartphone was an essential requirement for navigating urban spaces and decreasing social isolation. Key benefits mentioned included: ? GPS built-in functionality – examples include the ability to provide your location to taxis and other transport services and the ability to identify the location of objects and places nearby such as accessible toilets. ? Mapping – specific guidance on going to a particular place. ? Quick web search – use of digital assistants such as Siri to provide an easy hands-free option to perform quick searches and find locations. ? Environment monitoring – identification of specific weather conditions in a localised area. ? Optical character recognition (OCR) and image recognition – identification of documents, signage and landmarks for blind and low vision users. The second details findings from focus groups and interviews with people with disabilities living in the southwest region of Western Australia. Five people participated in this stage of the research – three participants that used wheelchairs, one who was blind and one who was an orientation and mobility specialist with Guide Dogs WA. These participants believed the smartphone was a useful tool and a number of essential smartphone features were noted, including GPS – for example Apple maps – and route finding, voice over and text-to-speech technology, SMS messages, simple phone calls, weather apps or websites, digital assistants such as Siri, in-built voice recognition services and the notetaking function. However, participants determined that these features did not necessarily change how accessible spaces were for them, although they did note the usefulness of apps such as Snap Send Solve which could be used to report on inaccessible spaces. The results section concludes with an assessment of the apps available to people with disabilities that may improve their navigation…
Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge&#39;s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Medi... more Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge&#39;s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series enables users readily to access and make sense of the essential texts of disability-and-media scholarship
Abstract Over a six week period, 845 people with low vision or blindness responded to our survey ... more Abstract Over a six week period, 845 people with low vision or blindness responded to our survey regarding how they used their smartphone, contributing to the first ever large-scale research project on the importance of smartphones in the Australian blind community. The results were significant − 79% of people with vision impairment use smartphones. They are part of their everyday lives and used for a broad range of purposes. Furthermore, the broad adoption of this device is a recent phenomenon – there has been a 365% increase in smartphone use in less than five years. While the rapid uptake of the smartphone by the vision impaired community demonstrates one level of ‘access’ is being achieved, we also identified ongoing issues impacting users. Our research demonstrates that people with disability must be included in the development process in order to ensure technological advancements are empowering and inclusive, especially in challenging times.
Objectives Providers who work closely with ethnic minority people with dementia and their familie... more Objectives Providers who work closely with ethnic minority people with dementia and their families are pivotal in helping them access services. However, few studies have examined how these providers actually do this work. Using the concept of “boundary crossers,” this article investigates the strategies applied by these providers to facilitate access to dementia services for ethnic minority people with dementia and their families. Methods Between 2017 and 2020, in-depth video-recorded interviews were conducted with 27 health, aged care, and community service providers working with ethnic minority people living with dementia across Australia. Interviews were conducted in one of seven languages and/or in English, then translated and transcribed verbatim into English. The data were analyzed thematically. Results Family and community stigma associated with dementia and extra-familial care were significant barriers to families engaging with services. To overcome these barriers, participa...
IntroductionIn a 2013 press release issued by Blind Citizens Australia, the advocacy group announ... more IntroductionIn a 2013 press release issued by Blind Citizens Australia, the advocacy group announced they were lodging a human rights complaint against the Australian government and the ABC over the lack of audio description available on the public broadcaster. Audio description is a track of narration included between the lines of dialogue which describes important visual elements of a television show, movie or performance. Audio description is broadly recognised as an essential feature to make television accessible to audiences who are blind or vision impaired (Utray et al.). Indeed, Blind Citizens Australia maintained that audio description was as important as captioning on Australian television:people who are blind have waited too long and are frustrated that audio description on television remains indefinitely beyond our reach. Our Deaf or hearing impaired peers have always seen great commitment from the ABC, but we continue to feel like second class citizens.While audio descri...
This article explores how a lack of access to increasingly complex and overlapping digital commun... more This article explores how a lack of access to increasingly complex and overlapping digital communications platforms in times of disaster for people with disabilities has the potential to make already life-threatening situations considerably more dangerous. As we are increasingly coming to rely on a social media mash-up of digital platforms to assist in communications during disaster situations, the issue of accessibility for people with disabilities is as dire as if it was high ground during a tsunami or transport during a typhoon. The contemporary social media environment is characterised by a complex and overlapping network of complementary platforms, populated by user-generated content, where people communicate and exchange ideas. In this environment, YouTube videos are posted to Facebook and embedded in blogs, and Twitter is used to link to these other sites and is itself embedded in other platforms. These networks are increasingly supplementing and supplanting more traditional communication platforms, such as the television and radio, particularly in times of disaster. The concern of this paper is that the elements from which this mash-up of communications channels is made are not always accessible to people with disabilities. This evolving network of social media-based communication exposes the limits of existing Internet-based universal design.
The Fibreculture Journal:
Issue 26 2015 Entanglements - Activism and Technology
Editors: Pip Shea... more The Fibreculture Journal: Issue 26 2015 Entanglements - Activism and Technology Editors: Pip Shea, Tanya Notley, Jean Burgess, Su Ballard Articles: FCJ-188 Disability’s Digital Frictions: Activism, Technology, and Politics—Katie Ellis, Gerard Goggin, Mike Kent FCJ-189 Reimagining Work: Entanglements and Frictions around Future of Work Narratives—Laura Forlano, Megan Halpern FCJ-190 Building a Better Twitter: A Study of the Twitter Alternatives GNU social, Quitter, rstat.us, and Twister—Robert W. Gehl FCJ-191 Mirroring the Videos of Anonymous: Cloud Activism, Living Networks, and Political Mimesis—Adam Fish FCJ-192 Sand in the Information Society Machine: How Digital Technologies Change and Challenge the Paradigms of Civil Disobedience—Theresa Züger, Stefania Milan & Leonie Maria Tanczer FCJ-193 Harbouring Dissent: Greek Independent and Social Media and the Antifascist Movement—Sky Croeser & Tim Highfield FCJ-194 From #RaceFail to #Ferguson: The Digital Intimacies of Race-Activist Hashtag Publics—Nathan Rambukanna FCJ-195 Privacy, Responsibility, and Human Rights Activism—Becky Kazansky FCJ-196 Let’s First Get Things Done! On Division of Labour and Techno-political Practices of Delegation in Times of Crisis—Miriyam Aouragh, Seda Gürses, Jara Rocha & Femke Snelting FCJ-197 Entanglements with Media and Technologies in the Occupy Movement—Megan Boler & Jennie Phillips
Practitioner Reports: FCJMESH-005 Technology and Citizen Witnessing: Navigating the Friction Between Dual Desires for Visibility and Obscurity—Sam Gregory FCJMESH-006 From Information Activism to the Politics of Data— Maya Indira Ganesh and Stephanie Hankey FCJMESH-007 Our Enduring Confusion About the Power of Digital Tools in Protest—Ivan Sigal and Ellery Biddle FCJMESH-008 Solutions for Online Harassment Don’t Come Easily—Jillian C. York FCJMESH-009 Ranking Digital Rights: Keeping the Internet Safe for Advocacy—Nathalie Maréchal FCJMESH-010 Getting Open Development Right—Zara Rahman FCJMESH-011 : ‘We don’t work with video, we work with People’: Reflections on Participatory Video Activism in Indonesia—M. Zamzam Fauzanafi & Kampung Halaman
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Books by Mike Kent
Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series enables users readily to access and make sense of the essential texts of disability-and-media scholarship. The collection is organized into four principal parts: Disability and the Mass Media; Disability and Film; Disability and Popular Culture; and Disability, the Internet, and New Media.
Fully indexed and with an introduction newly written by the editors, Disability and the Media is an indispensable reference resource for researchers and students.
This is the first volume that addresses Massive Open Online Courses from a post-MOOC perspective. We move beyond the initial hype and revolutionary promises of the peak-MOOC period and take a sober look at what endures in an area that is still rapidly growing, albeit without the headlines. This book explores the future of the MOOC in higher education by examining what went right, what went wrong and where to next for the massification of higher education and online learning and teaching. The chapters in this collection address these questions from a wide variety of different backgrounds, methodologies and regional perspectives. They explore learner experiences, the move towards course for credit, innovative design, transformations and implications of the MOOC in turn.
This book is valuable reading for students and academics interested in education, eLearning, globalisation and information services.
Gaming Disability: Disability perspectives on contemporary video games
Edited by Dr Katie Ellis, Dr Mike Kent & Dr Tama Leaver
Internet Studies, Curtin University
Abstracts Due 15 February 2017
Video games are a significant and still rapidly expanding area of popular culture. Media Access Australia estimated that in 2012 some twenty percent of gamers were people with a disability, yet, the relationship between video gaming, online gaming and disability is an area that until now has been largely under explored. This collection seeks to fill that gap. We are looking for scholars from both disability studies and games studies, along with game developers and innovators and disability activists and other people with interest in this area to contribute to this edited collection.
We aim to highlight the history of people with disabilities participating in video games and explore the contemporary gaming environment as it relates to disability. This exploration takes place in the context of the changing nature of gaming, particularly the shift from what we might consider traditional desktop computer mediation onto mobile devices and augmented reality platforms. The collection will also explore future possibilities and pitfalls for people with disabilities and gaming.
Areas of interest that chapters might address include
• Disability narratives and representation in gaming
• Accessibility of gaming for people with disabilities
• Mods, hacks and alterations to games and devices for and by people with disabilities
• Augmented reality games and disability
• Disability gaming histories
• Mobile gaming platforms and disability
• Specific design elements (such as sound) in terms of designing accessible games
• Gaming, television and disability
• Future directions for disability and gaming
Submission procedure:
Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstracts of no more than 500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to Dr Mike Kent <m.kent@curtin.edu.au> by 15 February 2017. (Please indicate in your proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a response by 15 March 2016, with those provisionally accepted due as chapters of approximately 6000 words (including references) by 15 June 2016. If you would like any further information, please contact Mike Kent.
About the editors:
The editors are all from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University and have a history of successfully publishing edited collections in the areas of and gaming, disability, and new media.
Dr Katie Ellis is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability and the media extending across both representation and active possibilities for social inclusion. Her books include Disability and New Media (2011 with Mike Kent), Disabling Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing and Obesity: Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan & Pia Lebeck), Disability and the Media (2015; with Gerard Goggin), Disability and Popular Culture (2015) and her recent edited collection with Mike Kent Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives (2017).
Dr Mike Kent is a senior lecturer and Head of Department in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Mike’s research focus is on people with disabilities and their use of, and access to, information communication technology and the Internet. His other area of research interest is in higher education and particularly online education, as well as online social networking platforms. His book, with Katie Ellis, Disability and New Media was published in 2011 and his edited collection, with Tama Leaver, An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, was released in 2014. His latest edited collection, with Katie Ellis, Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives is available 2017, along with his forthcoming edited collections Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: What went right, what went wrong and where to now, with Rebecca Bennett and Chinese Social Media Today: Critical Perspectives with Katie Ellis and Jian Xu.
Dr Tama Leaver is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. He researches online identities, digital media distribution and networked learning. He previously spent several years as a lecturer in Higher Education Development, and is currently also a Research Fellow in Curtin’s Centre for Culture and Technology. His book Artificial Culture: Identity, Technology and Bodies was released through Routledge in 2012 and his edited collections An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, with Mike Kent, was released in 2014 through Routledge, and Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape, with Michele Wilson, was released through Bloomsbury Academic in 2016.
An Education in Facebook? provides a broad discussion of the issues educators are already facing on college campuses worldwide, particularly in areas such as privacy, copyright and social media etiquette. By examining current uses of Facebook in university settings, this book offers both a thorough analytical critique as well as practical advice for educators and administrators looking to find ways to thoughtfully integrate Facebook and other digital communication tools into their classrooms and campuses.
Many of the studies on disability and the web have focused on the early web, prior to the development of social networking applications such as Facebook, YouTube and Second Life. This book discusses an array of such applications that have grown within and alongside Web 2.0, and analyzes how they both prevent and embrace the inclusion of people with disability.
Papers by Mike Kent
Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series enables users readily to access and make sense of the essential texts of disability-and-media scholarship. The collection is organized into four principal parts: Disability and the Mass Media; Disability and Film; Disability and Popular Culture; and Disability, the Internet, and New Media.
Fully indexed and with an introduction newly written by the editors, Disability and the Media is an indispensable reference resource for researchers and students.
This is the first volume that addresses Massive Open Online Courses from a post-MOOC perspective. We move beyond the initial hype and revolutionary promises of the peak-MOOC period and take a sober look at what endures in an area that is still rapidly growing, albeit without the headlines. This book explores the future of the MOOC in higher education by examining what went right, what went wrong and where to next for the massification of higher education and online learning and teaching. The chapters in this collection address these questions from a wide variety of different backgrounds, methodologies and regional perspectives. They explore learner experiences, the move towards course for credit, innovative design, transformations and implications of the MOOC in turn.
This book is valuable reading for students and academics interested in education, eLearning, globalisation and information services.
Gaming Disability: Disability perspectives on contemporary video games
Edited by Dr Katie Ellis, Dr Mike Kent & Dr Tama Leaver
Internet Studies, Curtin University
Abstracts Due 15 February 2017
Video games are a significant and still rapidly expanding area of popular culture. Media Access Australia estimated that in 2012 some twenty percent of gamers were people with a disability, yet, the relationship between video gaming, online gaming and disability is an area that until now has been largely under explored. This collection seeks to fill that gap. We are looking for scholars from both disability studies and games studies, along with game developers and innovators and disability activists and other people with interest in this area to contribute to this edited collection.
We aim to highlight the history of people with disabilities participating in video games and explore the contemporary gaming environment as it relates to disability. This exploration takes place in the context of the changing nature of gaming, particularly the shift from what we might consider traditional desktop computer mediation onto mobile devices and augmented reality platforms. The collection will also explore future possibilities and pitfalls for people with disabilities and gaming.
Areas of interest that chapters might address include
• Disability narratives and representation in gaming
• Accessibility of gaming for people with disabilities
• Mods, hacks and alterations to games and devices for and by people with disabilities
• Augmented reality games and disability
• Disability gaming histories
• Mobile gaming platforms and disability
• Specific design elements (such as sound) in terms of designing accessible games
• Gaming, television and disability
• Future directions for disability and gaming
Submission procedure:
Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstracts of no more than 500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to Dr Mike Kent <m.kent@curtin.edu.au> by 15 February 2017. (Please indicate in your proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a response by 15 March 2016, with those provisionally accepted due as chapters of approximately 6000 words (including references) by 15 June 2016. If you would like any further information, please contact Mike Kent.
About the editors:
The editors are all from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University and have a history of successfully publishing edited collections in the areas of and gaming, disability, and new media.
Dr Katie Ellis is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability and the media extending across both representation and active possibilities for social inclusion. Her books include Disability and New Media (2011 with Mike Kent), Disabling Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing and Obesity: Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan & Pia Lebeck), Disability and the Media (2015; with Gerard Goggin), Disability and Popular Culture (2015) and her recent edited collection with Mike Kent Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives (2017).
Dr Mike Kent is a senior lecturer and Head of Department in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Mike’s research focus is on people with disabilities and their use of, and access to, information communication technology and the Internet. His other area of research interest is in higher education and particularly online education, as well as online social networking platforms. His book, with Katie Ellis, Disability and New Media was published in 2011 and his edited collection, with Tama Leaver, An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, was released in 2014. His latest edited collection, with Katie Ellis, Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives is available 2017, along with his forthcoming edited collections Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: What went right, what went wrong and where to now, with Rebecca Bennett and Chinese Social Media Today: Critical Perspectives with Katie Ellis and Jian Xu.
Dr Tama Leaver is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. He researches online identities, digital media distribution and networked learning. He previously spent several years as a lecturer in Higher Education Development, and is currently also a Research Fellow in Curtin’s Centre for Culture and Technology. His book Artificial Culture: Identity, Technology and Bodies was released through Routledge in 2012 and his edited collections An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, with Mike Kent, was released in 2014 through Routledge, and Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape, with Michele Wilson, was released through Bloomsbury Academic in 2016.
An Education in Facebook? provides a broad discussion of the issues educators are already facing on college campuses worldwide, particularly in areas such as privacy, copyright and social media etiquette. By examining current uses of Facebook in university settings, this book offers both a thorough analytical critique as well as practical advice for educators and administrators looking to find ways to thoughtfully integrate Facebook and other digital communication tools into their classrooms and campuses.
Many of the studies on disability and the web have focused on the early web, prior to the development of social networking applications such as Facebook, YouTube and Second Life. This book discusses an array of such applications that have grown within and alongside Web 2.0, and analyzes how they both prevent and embrace the inclusion of people with disability.
Issue 26 2015 Entanglements - Activism and Technology
Editors: Pip Shea, Tanya Notley, Jean Burgess, Su Ballard
Articles:
FCJ-188 Disability’s Digital Frictions:
Activism, Technology, and Politics—Katie Ellis, Gerard Goggin, Mike Kent
FCJ-189 Reimagining Work: Entanglements and Frictions around Future of Work Narratives—Laura Forlano, Megan Halpern
FCJ-190 Building a Better Twitter: A Study of the Twitter Alternatives GNU social, Quitter, rstat.us, and Twister—Robert W. Gehl
FCJ-191 Mirroring the Videos of Anonymous: Cloud Activism, Living Networks, and Political Mimesis—Adam Fish
FCJ-192 Sand in the Information Society Machine: How Digital Technologies Change and Challenge the Paradigms of Civil Disobedience—Theresa Züger, Stefania Milan & Leonie Maria Tanczer
FCJ-193 Harbouring Dissent: Greek Independent and Social Media and the Antifascist Movement—Sky Croeser & Tim Highfield
FCJ-194 From #RaceFail to #Ferguson: The Digital Intimacies of Race-Activist Hashtag Publics—Nathan Rambukanna
FCJ-195 Privacy, Responsibility, and Human Rights Activism—Becky Kazansky
FCJ-196 Let’s First Get Things Done! On Division of Labour and
Techno-political Practices of Delegation in Times of Crisis—Miriyam Aouragh, Seda Gürses, Jara Rocha & Femke Snelting
FCJ-197 Entanglements with Media and Technologies in the
Occupy Movement—Megan Boler & Jennie Phillips
Practitioner Reports:
FCJMESH-005 Technology and Citizen Witnessing:
Navigating the Friction Between Dual Desires for Visibility and Obscurity—Sam Gregory
FCJMESH-006 From Information Activism to the Politics of Data—
Maya Indira Ganesh and Stephanie Hankey
FCJMESH-007 Our Enduring Confusion About the
Power of Digital Tools in Protest—Ivan Sigal and Ellery Biddle
FCJMESH-008 Solutions for Online Harassment Don’t Come Easily—Jillian C. York
FCJMESH-009 Ranking Digital Rights: Keeping the Internet Safe for Advocacy—Nathalie Maréchal
FCJMESH-010 Getting Open Development Right—Zara Rahman
FCJMESH-011 : ‘We don’t work with video, we work with People’:
Reflections on Participatory Video Activism in Indonesia—M. Zamzam Fauzanafi & Kampung Halaman