Stephen Young, University of Melbourne Part of CW12
Why ‘digital’ makes a difference in copyright
The rights of the author and the employer
Using the work of others; others using your work
Confusion in the cloud – who is the actor?
Highlights of the Australian Law Reform Issues Paper “Copyright and the Digital Economy’
– Speculation on outcomes and what they could mean for Higher Education
Helen Farley, University of Southern Queensland Part of CW12
Machinima is the art of using virtual worlds or games to make films. Second Life has proven popular venue for the creation of machinima for a number of reasons including the ability of users to create custom content, the facility to reuse items made by other users, and the capacity to readily alter avatars and landscapes. Though this medium is used by budding film makers to create fictional pieces and simulated documentaries, educators and researchers have also been quick to spot the potential of this form.
This paper reports on a project undertaken by the Australian Digital Futures Institute and the Centre for Sustainable Catchments both at the University of Southern Queensland to use machinima to inform sugarcane farmers’ decisions around sustainable farming practices. Future issues such as regional sustainability and predicted changes to climatic regimes will place an even greater burden upon struggling rural farming communities. This project will improve decision-making by regional communities, policy-makers and civil society through the development of an innovative, web-based, discussion support system, leading to sustainable and resilient regional areas.
457.2 KBSusan Yue Hua Sun, Auckland University of Technology Part of CW12
While many people are yet to be convinced that fully-online language courses are capable of developing learners’ oral/spoken language skills, strong empirical evidence is starting to emerge. It shows that online language learners’ oral skills can be adequately, if not exceedingly well, developed through the use of the increasingly sophisticated online tools, especially voice tools, e.g., Blackboard Wimba Voice Board, Voice Presentation, Voice Authoring, and the latest available Blackboard Collaborate, etc.
This study looks into two fully online Chinese language papers in a New Zealand University, and examines how the development of student oral skills takes place, i.e., their curriculum designs, technology choices, pedagogical considerations behind, and assessments related to oral language development. Needless to say, the technology choices are at the central place in the discussion, as the two papers are taught in the total absence of the traditional face-to-face classroom and its success or even just its survival are decidedly relied on online technology.
The examination will focus on the use of Wimba Voice Board, Voice Presentation, and Voice Authoring, and painstakingly point out their strengths and weaknesses. The inadequacy of technology and the frustrations which have been felt by the instructors along the way will also be detailed and discussed. Finally, commentary is made with regard to the latest available online tool – Blackboard Collaborate in Blackboard Learn.
This study concludes that through careful design and use of online voice tools such Voice Board and Voice Presentation, students’ oral skills can be well-developed in total-online language courses.
2.8 MB/dev/world/2012 was great success with over 110 attendees from around Australia & New Zealand. Our thanks to those who attended and special thanks to all those who presented, your contribution is greatly appreciated.
Recordings and slides of many of the sessions are now available on-line and more will be added soon.
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The first digital edition of Wheels for the Mind has finally arrived and is available for download from the iTunes App Store. A couple of important things to remember:
Take the time to explore all of the interactive & multimedia elements such as scrolling text boxes, embedded videos, swipe picture slide shows, portrait & landscape layouts & many more.
We hope you enjoy this special edition.
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CreateWorld is our 3 day performance, presentation, and professional development event, specifically for academic and technical staff who work in the digital arts disciplines.
The conference features a wide range of academic and technical presenters from the tertiary education and industry sectors, and includes several keynotes, panel sessions, hypotheticals, hands-on technical workshops, and regular presentation sessions.
We are seeking presenters from a wide range of disciplines for presentations, performance pieces and workshops. Presenters will be financially supported to attend the conference.
X World 2012 was held in July and was another first rate event attend by over 140 University IT and technical staff from Australia, New Zealand, USA and the wider Pacific.
Copies of the presentations and relevant links to further information are now available on the web site. Our thanks to the presenters who gave their time and effort to present and for making copies of their presentations available.
Building on the success of X World and CreateWorld, /dev/world/ is the AUC’s conference program for students and staff in AUC member Universities who have an interest in developing for Apple platforms. /dev/world/2012 will be held at the Rydges Bell City, Melbourne on 25 – 26 September with pre-conference workshops on 24 September.
At the May 2012 meeting of the AUC Executive Council, the AUC was informed that it would cease to receive further funding as of September 28, 2012. Funding is used by the AUC to provide programs to our members, such as our Cocoa and iOS training workshops, and our conference programs, including X World, CreateWorld, and /dev/world.
Alex Motyka, Univeristy of Sydney
When Apple announced the iPhone they turned everything we knew about the mobile user experience on it’s head. The iPhone and it’s radical gesture based touch screen user interface was considered 5 years ahead of it’s time and it lead to most radical shake up of smartphone industry ever. But did they get it all right? Many of the emerging standards in mobile user interface design and user experience/interaction are considered by some as almost self evident and natural but are they really? This talk will go through common and emerging UI/UX conventions and highlight what works and doesn’t work for the average user based on the findings of numerous usability studies performed by Neilson Norman Group.
The talk is intended for anyone interested in making usable native apps and/or mobile web apps that won’t confuse users. Participants will be taken through examples of apps and mobile web apps that work well and don’t work well. Areas covered will include button design and icons, gesture based navigation, task-flows, list design, forms and much more. The talk will have examples of web and iOS UI/UX design with a few Android examples thrown in for good measure.
This talk only requires a basic level of mobile and iOS programming knowledge.
