ARC Centre of Excellence in Cultural & Media Industries
Queensland University of Technology has
secured funding of $7 million (2005-2010) from the Australian Research
Council to establish a cultural and media studies centre in its creative
industries precinct. An additional $3 million will be provided by the
university and industry. Collaborating organisations include the Australian
National University, Swinburne University of Technology, University of
Wollongong, Charles Darwin University, Edith Cowan University, Australian
Film, Television and Radio School, Australasian CRC for Interaction Design,
Australian Film Commission, Department of Communications, Information
Technology and the Arts, Salvation Army, State Library of Queensland,
Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Museum, National Museum of
Australia and Queensland Museum. The Centre of Excellence aims to “drive the
development of Australia’s capacity to maximise the national economic and
cultural benefits of digital content industries.” It will integrate research
across a range of disciplines to develop “new modes of access and
distribution for user-led innovation.” [Source: Australian Research Council].
Arts Research in Progress or Planned Across Australia
The Australia Council has published the 20th
edition of its Arts Research in Progress or Planned Across Australia. Web:
http://www.ozco.gov.au/research_centre/arts_rippa
Ballets Russes project
The University of Adelaide has secured a
grant of $369,718 (2005-2008) from the Australian Research Council for a
research project, The Impact and Legacy of Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes
on Australian Cultural Life and Artistic Practice. Colonel de Basil’s
company toured Australia between 1936 and 1940. Australians were overwhelmed
by the company's high-modernist aesthetic, and inspired by the collaborative
ideals celebrated in its balletic, theatrical and musical masterpieces. The
project will generate a range of scholarly publications, physical and
virtual exhibitions, and, notably, performances by the Australian Ballet.
Partner organisations include the Australian Ballet and National Library of
Australia. Project personnel include Dr MS Carroll, Professor NE Fraillon,
Dr MA Potter, and Ms RF Holmes. [Source: Australian Research Council].
Commercialisation of research in the humanities, arts & social
sciences
The Council of Humanities, Arts and Social
Sciences has published Commercialisation of Research in the Humanities, Arts
and Social Sciences. The report examines impediments and incentives facing
researchers and educators in these fields at tertiary level in Australia. It
says that different disciplines face different issues in the process of
commercialisation and that there are significant variations in
opportunities. For many in the sector, money is not the driving force in
commercialisation of their work. Challenges include dealing with
unresponsive or ill-equipped university systems, finding the time and
resources for commercial engagements, and working within funding and reward
systems that recognise only a narrow band of activities. It recommends
improvements in university practices to make them more encouraging and
supportive of commercial activities, changes in government settings to
recognise and reward commercial activities, and development of new programs
to equip people working in the humanities, arts and social sciences with the
skills to handle commercial activities. Web:
http://www.chass.org.au
Creative industries
The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport
has released its Creative Industries Mapping Document, updating a
previous version published in 1998. It says that the creative industries in
the UK generate revenues of around £112.5 billion and employ 1.3 million
people. Exports contribute around £10.3 billion to the balance of trade, and
the industries account for over 5% of GDP. In 1997-98, output grew by 16%,
compared to under 6% for the economy as a whole. Web: http://www.culture.gov.uk/creative/mapping
Queensland University of Technology’s Creative Industries Research and
Applications Centre (CIRAC) is undertaking a similar three-year study to map
creative digital industries in Ausralia. The project will examine, among
other things, the impact of digital content and applications on areas such
as art, culture. health, education, business services, defence, agriculture
and mining industries. Web: http://www.creativeindustries.qut.com/research/cirac.
[Source: Artbeat].
In the meantime, the Queensland Department of State Development and
Innovation has made available a range of publications and tools on the
subject, including Creativity is Big Business: A Framework for the Future.
The government strategy involves five cross-cutting initiatives under the
headings finance, education and skills, innovation, procurement and
marketing, to be implemented across six market segments representing 23
industry sectors. The principal mechanisms are cluster leadership and
segment groups. Key performance indicators focus on increases, over the next
five years, in employment, exports, venture capital, training, utilisation
of emerging technologies, products, services, and state image. Web:
http://www.sdi.qld.gov.au
Cultural planning guidelines
The NSW Ministry for the Arts and the NSW
Department of Local Government have published Cultural Planning Guidelines
for Local Government. The guidelines are available at
http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au
E-resources for research in the humanities and social sciences
The British Academy’s E-resources for
Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences reviews: (1) the state of
e-resources in a rapidly developing technological context; (2) the ways
researchers are using e- and non-e resources; (3) the institutional
structure of resource provision for UK researchers; (4) the technical and
operational influences on access to e-resources; and (5) the issues that
must be addressed to ensure effective and efficient e-resource. It concludes
that there is much and varied enterprise, but e-resource and access
provision is ad hoc and fragmented, and often too conventional to match ICT
possibilities. It recommends that: (1) relevant UK institutions and bodies
adopt a coordinated and coherent strategic approach to e-resource provision
and access, based on research community needs; (2) e-resource conversion by
resource holders pay particular attention to secondary before primary
e-provision; (3) all those providing e-resources address means and
mechanisms for access from general information discovery systems such as Web
engines; (4) the national institutions, funding bodies and library
representatives collectively address the development of licensing and fair
use protocols for e-resources that balance the claims of providers and
users; (5) the national institutions and funding bodies conduct an in-depth
analysis of the requirements and options for long-term e-resource curation,
preservation and use; (6) higher education and other research institutions
ensure that HSS researchers have sufficient access to appropriately-trained
technical support staff; (7) HSS researchers actively seek guidance on
access to, and provision of, e-resources; and (8) HSS researchers actively
promote user community interests to both e-resource funders and providers.
Web: http://www.britac.ac.uk
Music and Musicians Pronouncing Dictionary
WOI Radio at Iowa State University has
published the 2nd edition of its Pronouncing Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, developed by E. Douglas Brown. The guide is available online
and as a PDF from http://woi.org/dictionary/.
Orchestras
Queensland University of Technology has
secured $265,100 from the Australian Research Council for The 21st Century
Orchestra: Researching and Developing Sustainable Models. The research
project will “investigate and prototype innovations which reinvent the
orchestra from its current 19th Century form to one which maintains high
quality but resonates with more recent changes in music consumption
patterns, musical tastes, performance modes (e.g. immersive), distribution
media, and the revolution in instrument design.” Partner Organisations are
Creative Media Warehouse, the Queensland Orchestra, and the Brisbane
Festival. Project personnel include Professor A Arthurs, Acting Professor JJ
Radbourne, and Mr DR Clark. [Source: Australian Research Council].
Performing arts centres
The Australian Research Council has awarded
$346,000 (2005-2008) to Griffith University for Sustaining Culture: the Role
of Performing Arts Centres. The project will evaluate the roles of major
performing arts centres in sustaining culture and encouraging participation,
drawing on developments in cultural economics, aesthetics and cultural
sociology. It will design tools for gathering qualitative data presently
unavailable in Australia and create a model for future studies of
Australia's cultural institutions. Partner Organisations are Queensland
Performing Arts Centre, Sydney Opera House, Victorian Arts Centre and
Adelaide Festival Centre. The project is being led by Professor LK Ferres.
[Source: Australian Research Council].
Value, indicators and statistics
The International Federation of Arts Councils
and Cultural Agencies has published the discussion paper Statistical
Indicators for Arts Policy (July 2004, http://www.ifacca.org). It says
that, even though indicators are not in widespread use in cultural policy,
thinking on cultural indicators is now well developed. However, analysis is
thwarted by confusion about what indicators are and how they should be used,
a lack of quality data, unwieldy frameworks, and vague policy objectives.
Coordination is impeded by replication of work worldwide and differences in
approaches.
Future development work would benefit from: greater clarity about the nature
of artistic activities (why people undertake arts activities and their
public and private benefits); greater clarity in the articulation of
objectives for cultural policies and in determining the appropriate
indicators for measuring performance against objectives; more strategic
targeting of development work on cultural indicators, especially the
prioritising of a limited number of indicators; and greater communication -
and even coordination - between researchers and policymakers involved in
developing indicators.
“Improving cultural indicators is not simply about supplying better
statistics and undertaking statistical development work: It is also about
understanding better the nature of arts activities, improving the
articulation of arts policies, and being aware of the interrelationships
between data and policy analysis and the impacts that measurement can have
on the arts and cultural sectors.”
John Holden, in Capturing Cultural Value: How Culture Has Become a Tool
of Government Policy (DEMOS, 2004, http://www.demos.co.uk), argues that
there is now a growing view within the cultural world that new and
convincing methods must be found to validate public funding. “The
identifiable measures and ‘ancillary benefits’ that flow from culture have
become more important than the cultural activity itself: the tail is wagging
the dog.” Cultural experience is the sum of the interaction between an
individual and an artifact or an experience. Interaction is unpredictable
and must be open rather the result of predefined outcomes. He shows how
alternative ways of valuing culture are possible by drawing on disciplines
as diverse as brand valuation by accountants and the language of
sustainability used by the environmentalists..
The British Academy’s That Full Complement of Riches: the Contributions
of the Arts, Hamanities and Social Sciences to the Nation’s Wealth (January
2004, http://www.britac.ac.uk) concludes that the contributions made by the
arts, humanities and social sciences are substantial. These subjects lead to
much deeper changes in the way in which policy-makers and others view the
world. Such research is important in its own right. It is part of a
scholarly function which sustains a strong tradition of analysis and
investigation extending beyond the immediate needs of the economy. On the
other hand, the disciplines make significant, but under appreciated
contributions to the economy, and facilitate wealth creation in a wide range
of tangible and intangible ways.
The UK could be better positioned to reap the full benefits of what the
arts, humanities and social sciences have to offer. It is illogical and
damaging to equate a real return solely with a measurable, immediate
economic return. Quantifying the impact on society and the economy is not
always straightforward. Broader criteria and less constricted definitions of
value-added teaching, scholarship and research areas are essential. It is
vital to adapt and embrace a more coherent and wider teaching and research
vision, so that the arts, humanities and social sciences are included at the
very beginning of strategic thinking on issues related to the future
development of the UK’s research and training base.
It recommends that more inclusive concepts, language and terminology be
adopted, funding bodies and employers re-examine the basis on which
resources are allocated, and that institutional frameworks be reviewed and
new bodies or collaborative activities be considered.
In Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with the National Centre
for Culture and Recreational Statistics, has embarked on a Heritage and Arts
Information Plan to identify statistical priorities locally. [Source:
Australia Council Arts RIPPA]
Visual arts and crafts
The University of Wollongong has secured
$150,000 from the Australian Research Council for Contemporary Art, Craft
and the Audience. The project will address relevant issues, particularly in
regional Australia and attempt to develop models for public galleries in
programming, presenting and interpreting contemporary work. Outputs will
include exhibitions and documentation. Partner organisations are Object (The
Australian Centre for Craft and Design) and Museums and Galleries NSW.
Project personnel are Professor A Lawson, Mr S Pozel, Ms M Stapleton, Miss
DS Merrillees and Mr BW Parkes. [Source: Australian Research Council].
Rose Holley, in Developing
a Digitisation Framework for Your Organisation (The Electronic Library,
vol 22, no 6, 2004: 518-522), writes on her experience at the University of
Auckland Library. Tasks included an inventory of projects, raising
awareness, training and re-skilling of staff, developing networks and
collaborations, obtaining funding, enhancing the IT infrastructure,
strategic planning and writing a digitisation policy. Web: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/el.htm
Australian business use of information technology
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has
released Business Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2003-04
(cat no. 8129.0). The number of Australian businesses using It has risen
from 49% at the end of 1994 to 83% by June 2003. The proportion of business
with a web presence has risen from 6% in June 1998 to 23% in June 2003. The
proportion of businesses with Internet access has risen from 29% in June
1998 to 71% in June 2003. A strong relationship exists between the size of
the business and the likelihood that the business is using IT. Web:
http://www.abs.gov.au
Australian copyright
The Australia/US Free Trade Agreement, which
came into force on 1 January 2005, changed the duration of copyright. The
new period of copyright duration will be 70 years from the end of the year
in which the creator died or the material was first published. There will be
no revival of copyright in material in which copyright has expired before 1
January 2005. For further details, see the Australian Copyright Council's
Information Sheet G23 Duration of Copyright. Web:
http://www.copyright.org.au/PDF/InfoSheets/GO23.pdf
Australian government information
The Australian Library and Information
Association, with sponsorship from the National Library of Australia and the
National Archives of Australia, held the seminar Digital Amnesia: Challenges
of Governments Online on 21 April 2005. Among observations and conclusions:
(1) a new set of questions needs to be asked about online services and
publications including whether appropriate technology and delivery
strategies are being used; (2) service models for resources and e-government
services are still in development and need to evolve to meet changing
understanding of consumer need and profile; (3) future resource discovery
tools are likely to be influenced through the semantic web and these tools
will rely on metadata which need to be intelligently and accurately applied;
(4) the publishing process needs to incorporate the supply of information
for resource discovery to support access and utilise cross linkages; (5)
ongoing management of resources is required to prevent link rot, and to
ensure that, as organisations change, their resources/publications remain
accessible; and (6) the National Library Australia needs to have the right
to collect, ensure access to and preserve electronic publications of all
Australian government agencies. Web:
http://conferences.alia.org.au/seminars/digital.amnesia2005/summary.html
Australian PM’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council
The Council was formed in December 1997 as
the Australian Governmnent’s principal source of independent advice on
issues in science, engineering and innovation and relevant aspects of
education and training. The Council consists of ministerial members
representing major industries, ex-officio members from about 15 bodies such
as the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Vice-Chancellors’
Committee, Australian Research Council, Business Council of Australia and
Defence Science and Technology, and members appointed in personal capacity.
Professor Iain McCalman, as a humanities specialist, is a member in the
latter category. Web:
http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/science_innovation/
Australian research and experiment
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has
published Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary (cat
no 8112.0) showing that gross expenditure on R&D has increased by 18%
from $10,417m in 1000-01 to $12,250m in 2002-03. With the exception of the
state/territory government, which remained steady, all sectors – business,
government, higher education, and private non-profit - showed an increase in
R&D expenditure compared with 2000-01. Web: http;//www.abs.gov.au
Canadian research strategy
The Canadian Association of Research
Libraries has released Towards an Integrated Knowledge Ecosystem: A
Canadian Research Strategy. The study looks at Canadian knowledge
systems, knowledge and data storage and retrieval, knowledge production and
social contract, power and infrastructure within the academy, and
intellectual property. It recommends, among other things, that the Canadian
Government formulate and implement a National Strategy for Knowledge
Dissemination integrated with appropriate government research and
development policies, and that it seek to create a more holistic knowledge
ecosystem integrated into the research processes. Web:
http://www.kdstudy.ca
CARL metadata harvester
The Canadian Association of Research
Libraries (CARL) has developed a metadata harvester to facilitate searching
of CARL institutional repositories. The CARL Metadata Harvester can be found
at: http://carl-abrc-oai.lib.sfu.ca. Information about the project can be
found at:
http://www.carl-abrc.ca/projects/ir/.
Information literacy
Stanley Wilder, in Information Literacy
Makes All the Wrong Assumptions (The Chronicle of Higher Education vol
51, no 18, 7 January 2005), makes the case that information literacy
programs are a bad idea. He suggests an alternative model for librarians as
teachers to deepen students' understanding of the disciplines they study."
Web:
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i18/18b01301.htm.
Metalis
METALIS is a free web harvester of metadata
about papers in library and information Science from several OAI-PMH
compliant repositories, including ArXiv, Caltech Library System Papers and
Publications, Digital Library of Information Science and Technology,
E-Prints in Library and Information Science, and Librarians' Digital
Library. Web: http://metalis.cilea.it.
Statistics
Steve Hiller, in Measure by Measure:
Assessing the Viability of the Physical Library (Bottom Line vol 17, no
4, 2004: 126-131), describes an approach at the University of Washington in
Seattle, which uses four broad categories and subsidiary measures to clarify
the value of spaces in supporting student work in a collaborative teaching
and learning environment. [Source: Current Cites]
Stephen Town, in View E-measures: a
Comprehensive Waste of Time? (Vine vol 34, no 4: 190-195), part of a
special issues devoted to library evaluation, argues that maintaining
statistics on the use of e-resources is a waste of time. Numbers only have
meaning when their context is fully understood. He praises methods like
LibQUAL+ which make satisfaction and experience measures a vital part of
overall evaluation. [Source: Current Cites]
Virtual reference
Brenda Bailey-Hainer, in Virtual Reference:
Alive and Well (Library Journal 15 January 2005),. says that collaboration
is essential to ensure the viability of virtual referenceservices. Sharing
costs on a statewide level yields savings on management, training and
software licensing. In Colorado, no single library participating in the
statewide AskColorado virtual reference service pays more than US$3,000
annually or contributes more than 10 to 12 hours per week of staff time.
Services by single institutions, however, can cost from US$6,000 to
US$12,000 per year for software and backup services alone. An alternative
approach in New Jersey uses individual contractors to provide its QandANJ
virtual reference service. Web: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA491140
Government Information Online is a national
pilot project in the United States that aims to establish a viable model for
cooperative virtual information services specialising in government
information. Collaborating institutions include public libraries, academic
institutions, state library and archive departments. Web:
http://govtinfo.org/
Macro-appraisal of records and archives
The National Archives of Australia is
developing and implementing a strategic policy framework for the
macro-appraisal of Commonwealth records to enable it to identify and give
appraisal priority to those functions of government that are considered to
be of high archival and public accountability significance and allow it to
identify and pursue opportunities for the appraisal of multi-agency
functions. Macro-appraisal will not replace the need for individual agencies
to identify their recordkeeping requirements, or to work with the National
Archives to develop records disposal authorities. Web: http://www.naa.gov.au.
[Source Aus-archivists]
Sound archivists
The Australasian Sound Recordings Association
and the National History Association of New Zealand have combined to present
the Sound Archiving and Oral History Conferences at Christchurch from 29
June to 3 July 2005. The ASRA component, Sound Ecology: Saving Our Sound
Environments, will explore the interface between composers and various
landscapes and cultures, musical criticism, sustainable digital
infrastructures and partnerships as a means to preserve and make sound
accessible. Web: http://www.oralhistory.org.nz and
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sound/
Website management and disposition
The National Archives and Records
Administration has published guidelines on responsibilities and requirements
for managing US federal Web sites. A section on disposition schedules for
Web records addresses the types of records to be covered in Web schedules,
how these schedules might be structured, and the factors to be considered in
determining how long records should be retained. Available from:
http://www.archives.gov/
Metadata
The Research Libraries Group has published
Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for RLG Cultural Materials (Menlo Park,
CA: Research Libraries Group, January 2005. Web; http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=214.
The Western States Digital Standards Group has published Western States
Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices version 2.0. Web: http://www.cdpheritage.org/.
Lynne Howarth, in Enabling Metadata: Creating Core Records for Resource
Discovery (International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control, vol 34
no 1, 2005: 14-17), discusses responses to a review conducted by the IFLA
Cataloguing Section Working Group on the Use of Metadata Schemas, and
outlines the next steps by the Working Group. The review focused on the need
to rethink and articulate more clearly the concept of the "core record"
framework. Web:
http://www.ifla.org/VI/3/admin/icbc.htm.
Monitoring developments in technology
The Cyberinfrastructure Partnership, a joint
venture of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications, has launched Cyberinfrastructure Technology
Watch (CTWatch) to assist in defining, creating, and deploying a national
cyberinfrastructure for science and engineering research. Web: http://www.ctwatch.org/.
[Source: CNI]
DigiCULT’s Core Technologies for the Cultural and Scientific Heritage
Sector (Technology Watch Report 3, January 2005) examines six core
technologies: open source software, natural language processing, information
retrieval technologies, location based systems, visualisation of data, and
telepresence, haptics and robotics. The first report (TWR1, 2003) examined
customer relationship management systems, digital asset management systems,
virtual reality, human computer interface technologies, smart tags and
labels, and games. The second report (TWR2, 2004) examined application
service models, the XML family of technologies, cultural Agents and Avatars,
mobile access technologies, rights management and payment technologies, and
collaborative mechanisms and technologies. Web:
http://www.digicult.info/
OAI rights specification
The Open Archives has released guidelines for
conveying rights expressions about metadata in the OAI-PMH framework. No new
rights expression language has been created. Instead, the specification
provides a mechanism to include existing and future XML rights expressions.
Web:
http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/guidelines-rights.htm
SRW/U and OAI
Robert Sanderson, Jeffrey Young and Ralph
LeVan, in SRW/U With OAI: Expected and Unexpected Synergies (D-Lib
Magazine, vol 11, no 2, February 2005) explore synergies between the Web
Services replacement for Z39.50, Search and Retrieve via the Web (SRW) and
the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. They
conclude that OAI's lower barrier to entry and specific goal make it easy
for anyone to implement, whereas SRW is somewhat more complicated. (It aims
to reproduce the essential functions of Z39.50 in facilitating distributed
searching rather than harvesting). Apart from the typical inverted pyramid
metasearch model, there are also great benefits to be had from implementing
OAI as a gateway interface to an SRW server. Web:
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february05/sanderson/02sanderson.html.
Wikis
Emma Tonkin, in Making the Case for a Wiki
(Ariadne January 2005), considers wikis in the context of emerging
technologies. It is important to specify user requirements, capabilities and
intended community before implementation. There are many factors that
conspire to reduce their usefulness. Wikis differ in all sorts of detail, so
it is generally worth test-driving a selection of possible software packages
before coming to a decision. Web:
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/
XML-based digital image library
Naicheng Chang, in Data manipulation in an
XML-based digital image library (Program, vol 39, no 1, 2005:62-72), gives
the case study of the Ching Digital Image Library, built on a three-tier
architecture using an SQL relational database, Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS) and Extensible Markup Language (XML). [Source: New
Technologies in Libraries].
This issue of Cross Currents
compiled by Paul Bentley
The
Wolanski Foundation would be grateful for feedback
on the scope, format and content of this bulletin..
